SECTION CCXI
(Rajya-labha Parva continued)
"Vaisampayana said, 'Hearing these words of
Yudhishthira, Narada replied, 'O son of Pritha, listen with thy brothers to me
as I recite this old story, O Yudhishthira, exactly as everything happened. In
olden days, a mighty Daitya named Nikumbha, endued with great energy and
strength was born in the race of the great Asura, Hiranyakasipu. Unto this
Nikumbha, were born two sons called Sunda and Upasunda. Both of them were
mighty Asuras endued with great energy and terrible prowess. The brothers were
both fierce and possessed of wicked hearts. And those Daityas were both of the
same resolution, and ever engaged in achieving the same tasks and ends. They were
ever sharers with each other in happiness as well as in woe. Each speaking and
doing what was agreeable to the other, the brothers never were unless they were
together, and never went anywhere unless together. Of exactly the same
disposition and habits, they seemed to be one individual divided into two
parts. Endued with great energy and ever of the same resolution in everything
they undertook, the brothers gradually grew up. Always entertaining the same
purpose, desirous of subjugating the three worlds, the brothers, after due
initiation, went to the mountains of Vindhya. And severe were the ascetic
penances they performed there. Exhausted with hunger and thirst, with matted
locks on their heads and attired in barks of trees, they acquired sufficient ascetic
merit at length. Besmearing themselves with dirt from head to foot, living upon
air alone, standing on their toes, they threw pieces of the flesh of their
bodies into the fire. Their arms upraised, and eye fixed, long was the period
for which they observed their vows. And during the course of their ascetic
penances, a wonderful incident occurred there. For the mountains of Vindhya,
heated for a long course of years by the power of their ascetic austerities,
began to emit vapour from every part of their bodies. And beholding the
severity of their austerities, the celestials became alarmed. The gods began to
cause numerous obstructions to impede the progress of their asceticism. The
celestials repeatedly tempted the brothers by means of every precious possession
and the most beautiful girls. The brothers broke not their vows. Then the
celestials once more manifested, before the illustrious brothers, their powers
of illusion. For it seemed their sisters, mothers, wives, and other relatives,
with disordered hair and ornaments and robes, were running towards them in
terror, pursued and struck by a Rakshasa with a lance in hand. And it seemed
that the women implored the help of the brothers crying, 'O save us!' But all
this went for nothing, for firmly wedded thereto, the brothers did not still
break their vows. And when it was found that all this produced not the
slightest impression on any of the two, both the women and the Rakshasa
vanished from sight. At last the Grandsire himself, the Supreme
Lord ever seeking the welfare of all, came unto
those great Asuras and asked them to solicit the boon they desired. Then the
brothers Sunda and Upasunda, both of great prowess, beholding the Grandsire,
rose from their seats and waited with joined palms. And the brothers both said
unto the God, 'O Grandsire, if thou hast been pleased with these our ascetic
austerities, and art, O lord, propitious unto us, then let us have knowledge of
all weapons and of all powers of illusion. Let us be endued with great
strength, and let us be able to assume any form at will. And last of all, let
us also be immortal.' Hearing these words of theirs, Brahman said, 'Except the
immortality you ask for, you shall be given all that you desire. Solicit you
some form of death by which you may still be equal unto the immortals. And
since you have undergone these severe ascetic austerities from desire of
sovereignty alone I cannot confer on you the boon of immortality. You have
performed your ascetic penances even for the subjugation of the three worlds.
It is for this, O mighty Daityas, that I cannot grant you what you desire.'
"Narada continued, 'Hearing these words of
Brahman, Sunda and Upasunda said, 'O Grandsire, let us have no fear then from
any created thing, mobile or immobile, in the three worlds, except only from
each other!' The Grandsire then said, 'I grant you what you have asked for,
even this your desire'. And granting them this boon, the Grandsire made them
desist from their asceticism, and returned to his own region. Then the
brothers, those mighty Daityas, having received those several boons became
incapable of being slain by anybody in the universe. They then returned to
their own abode. All their friends and relatives, beholding those Daityas of great
intelligence, crowned with success in the matter of the boons they had
obtained, became exceedingly glad. And Sunda and Upasunda then cut off their
matted locks and wore coronets on their heads. Attired in costly robes and
ornaments, they looked exceedingly handsome. They caused the moon to rise over
their city every night even out of his season. And friends and relatives gave
themselves up to joy and merriment with happy hearts. Eat, feed, give, make
merry, sing, drink--these were the sounds heard everyday in every house. And
here and there arose loud uproars of hilarity mixed with clappings of hands
which filled the whole city of the Daityas, who being capable of assuming any
form at will, were engaged in every kind of amusement and sport and scarcely noticed
the flight of time, even regarding a whole year as a single day.'"
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