The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section XXV
Section XXV.
( Astika Parva continued. )
Sauti said, "Then that bird of great strength and energy and capable of going at will into every place repaired to his mother's side on the other shore of the great ocean. For thither was Vinata in affliction, defeated in wager and put into a state of slavery. And sometimes after, on a certain occasion, Kadru calling Vinata who had prostrated herself to the former, addressed her these words in the presence of her son: 'O gentle Vinata, there is the midst of the ocean, in a remote quarter, a delightful and fair region inhabited by the Nagas. Bear me thither.' And then the mother of that bird of fair feathers bore (on her back or shoulders) the mother of the snakes. And Gadura also, directed by his mother's words, carried (on his back) the snakes. And that ranger of the skies born of Vinata began to ascend towards the Sun. And thereupon the snakes, scorched by the rays of the Sun, swoon- ed away. And Kadru seeing her sons in that state adored Indra, saying, 'I bow to thee, thou lord of all the deities: I bow to thee, thou slayer of (the Asura) Vala! I bow to thee, thou slayer of Namuchi, O thou of thousand eyes, thou lord of Shachi! By thy showers, be thou the protector of the snakes scorched by the Sun! O thou best of the deities, thou art our great protection! O thou Purandara, thou art able to grant rain in torrents! Thou art Vayu (the air), thou art the clouds, thou art fire, and thou art the lightning of the skies! Thou art the propeller of the clouds, and thou hast been called the great cloud (i. e. that which will darken the universe during the end of the Yuga)! Thou art the fierce and incomparable thunder, and thou art the roaring clouds! Thou art the creator of the worlds and their destroyer! Thou art unconquered! Thou art the light of all creatures, thou art Aditya, thou art Vibhavasu, thou art the highest knowledge, thou art wonderful, thou art the greatest being! Thou art wonderful and thou art a King! Thou art the best of the deities! Thou art Vishnu! Thou hast thousand eyes, thou art a god, and thou art the final resource! Thou art, O deity, all amrita, and thou art the most adored Soma (juice)! Thou art the moment, thou art the lunar day, thou art the lava (minute), thou art the kshana (4 minutes). Thou art the fortnight of the full moon and the fortnight of the new moon! Thou art the kala, thou the kashtha, and thou the Truti. (These are all divisions of time.) Thou art the year, thou the seasons, thou the months, thou the nights, thou the days! Thou art the fair Earth with her mountains and forests! Thou art also the firmament resplendent with the Sun! Thou art the great Ocean with heaving billows and abounding with timis, swallowers of timis, makaras, and various fishes! Thou art of great renown, always adored by the wise, and by the great Rishis with minds rapt in contemplation! Thou drinkest, for the good of creatures, the Soma juice in sacrifices and the clarified butter offered with Vashats (mantras of a kind). Thou art always worshipped in sacrifices by Brahmanas moved by desire of fruit. O thou incomparable mass of strength, thou art snug in the Vedangas! It is for that reason that the learned Brahmanas bent upon performing sacrifices study the Vedangas with every care.'"
And so ends the twenty-fifth Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.