The institutes of Vishnu (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880)

I, 41. VISHNU AND THE GODDESS OF THE EARTH.

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entially, and proceeded to the Kshiroda sea, in order
to see Ke^ava (Vishnu).
34. She beheld (then) the ocean, from which the
Amrzta arose. It was lovely, like the rays of the
moon, and agitated by hundreds of waves produced
by stormy blasts of wind.
35. (With its waves) towering like a hundred
Himalayas it seemed another terrestrial globe, call-
ing near as it were the earth with its hands, the
rolling waves.
36. With those hands it was as it were constantly
producing the radiancy of the moon ; and every
stain of guilt was removed from it by Hari’s
(Vish/zu’s) residence within its limits.
37. Because (it was entirely free from sin) there-
fore it was possessed of a pure and shining frame;
its colour was white ; it was inaccessible to birds ;
and its seat was in the lower regions.
38. It was rich in blue and tawny gems (sap-
phires, coral, and others), and looking therefore as
if the atmosphere had descended upon the earth,
and as if a number of forests adorned with a multi-
tude of fruits had descended upon its surface.
39. Its size was immense, like that of the skin of
(Vishnu’s) serpent xSesha. After having seen the
milk-ocean, the goddess of the earth beheld the
dwelling of Kesava (Vishzzu) which was in it:
40. (His dwelling), the size of which cannot be
expressed in words, and the sublimity of which is
also beyond the power of utterance. In it she saw
the destroyer of Madhu seated upon Sesha.
41. The lotus of his face was hardly visible on

37. See 15, note.