Śesha bears the entire world, like a diadem, upon his head, and he is the foundation on which the seven Pátálas rest. His power, his glory, his form, his nature, cannot be described, cannot he comprehended by the gods themselves. Who shall recount his might, who wears this whole earth, like a garland of flowers, tinged of a purple dye by the radiance of the jewels of his crests. When Ananta, his eyes rolling with intoxication, yawns, then earth, with all her woods, and mountains, and seas, and rivers, trembles. Gandharbas, Apsarasas, Siddhas, Kinnaras, Uragas, and Chárańas are unequal to hymn his praises, and therefore he is called the infinite (Ananta), the imperishable. The sandal paste, that is ground by the wives of the snake-gods, is scattered abroad by his breath, and sheds perfume around the skies.

The ancient sage Garga 6, having propitiated Śesha, acquired from him a knowledge of the principles of astronomical science, of the planets, and of the good and evil denoted by the aspects of the heavens.

The earth, sustained upon the head of this sovereign serpent, supports in its turn the garland of the spheres, along with their inhabitants, men, demons, and gods.

Footnotes

204:1 In the Bhágavata and Padma P. they are named Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talátala, Mahátala, Rasátala, and Pátála. The Váyu has Rasátala, Sutala, Vitala, Gabhastala, Mahátala, Śrítala, and Pátála. There are other varieties.

204:2 Allusion is here made, perhaps, to the description given in the Mahábhárata, Udyoga Parva, p. 218, of Nárada's and Mátali's visit to Pátála. Several of the particulars there given are not noticed in the Puráńas.

204:3 There is no very copious description of Pátála in any of the Puráńas. The most circumstantial are those of the Váyu and Bhágavata: the latter has been repeated, p. 205 with some additions, in the first chapters of the Pátála Khańd́a of the Padma Puráńa. The Mahábhárata and these two Puráńas assign different divisions to the Dánavas, Daityas, and Nágas; placing Vásuki and the other Nága chiefs in the lowest: but the Váyu has the cities of the principal Daityas and Nágas in each; as in the first, those of the Daitya Namuchi, and serpent Kálíya; in the second, of Hayagríva and Takshaka; in the third, of Prahláda and Hemaka; in the fourth, of Kálanemi and Vainateya; in the fifth, of Hirańyáksha and Kirmíra; and in the sixth, of Pulomán and Vásuki: besides others. Bali the Daitya is the sovereign of Pátála, according to this authority. The Mahábhárata places Vásuki in Rasátala, and calls his capital Bhogavatí. The regions of Pátála, and their inhabitants, are oftener the subjects of profane, than of sacred fiction, in consequence of the frequent intercourse between mortal heroes and the Nága-kanyás, or serpent-nymphs. A considerable section of the Vrihat Kathá, the Súryaprabhá lambaka, consists of adventures and events in this subterraneous world.