SECTION 211
(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, 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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