19. They were not afraid of the rising or falling waters; but passed over the sea as upon sheet of cloth; and shrouded by the drizzling clouds, which formed a canopy over them.
20. Thus the companions of the king crossed the ocean, which was full of sharks and alligators, and tremendous eddies; they were sprinkled by water like showers of flowers, and adorned with marine gems and pearls; and they crossed over on foot, as others do in navies.
CHAPTER CXXIII.
The King’s Excursions on all Sides.
Argument:—The King and his train, pass over the islands and proceed towards the west.
Vasishtha related:—Thus they proceeded onward, to explore into the visible phenomena, exposed before them by Ignorance (avidyá or external nature); and continued to walk on foot, over the watery maze and the islands it contained.
2. They passed over the ocean to some island, and then from that island to the sea again; and in this manner they traversed on foot, over many a mountain and wilderness in interminable succession.
3. Then as the king was proceeding towards the western main, he was seized and devoured by a voracious fish, which was as the undying breed of Vishnu’s fish, and as fleet as a boat in the stream of Bitasta Beyah. (Vishnu’s fish was the deathless incarnation of himself).
4. The fish fled with him in his belly to the milky ocean; but finding him too hard for his digestion, he bore him in his bowels to a great distance in another direction.
5. He was then borne to the saccharine ocean on the south, and was there cast out in the island of Yakshas; where he was overpowered to the love of a female fiend by her art of enchantment, (or) where he was enchanted into the amour of a female Yakshí, by her skill in sorcery. (The yakshas are the present yakhas of Ceylon, or Egypt, and are said to be equally adept in the art of máyá or magic).
6. He then went towards the east, and passing by the Ganges, he killed a shark that had pursued him, and arrived at last at the district of Kánya Kubja the modern Cawnpore.