KING.

This is the reason, I suppose, that a sensation of calm repose pervades all my senses.

[Looking down at the wheels.]

Ah!  Matali, we are descending towards the earth’s atmosphere.

MATALI.

What makes you think so?

KING.

The car itself instructs me; we are moving
O’er pregnant clouds, surcharged with rain; below us
I see the moisture-loving Chatakas[112]
In sportive flight dart through the spokes; the steeds
Of Indra glisten with the lightning’s flash;
And a thick mist bedews the circling wheels.

MATALI.

You are right; in a little while the chariot will touch the ground, and you will be in your own dominions.

KING. [Looking down.

How wonderful the appearance of the earth as we rapidly descend!

  Stupendous prospect! yonder lofty hills
  Do suddenly uprear their towering heads
  Amid the plain, while from beneath their crests
  The ground receding sinks; the trees, whose stem
  Seemed lately hid within their leafy tresses,
  Rise into elevation, and display
  Their branching shoulders; yonder streams, whose waters,
  Like silver threads, were scarce, but now, discerned,
  Grow into mighty rivers; lo! the earth
  Seems upward hurled by some gigantic power.

MATALI.

Well described!

[Looking with awe.]

Grand, indeed, and lovely is the spectacle presented by the earth.

KING.

Tell me, Matali, what is the range of mountains which, like a bank of clouds illumined by the setting sun, pours down a stream of gold?  On one side its base dips into the eastern ocean, and on the other side into the western.

MATALI.

Great Prince, it is called ‘Golden-peak[113],’ and is the abode of the attendants of the god of wealth.  In this spot the highest forms of penance are wrought out.

  There Ka[s’]yapa[114], the great progenitor
  Of demons and of gods, himself the offspring
  Of the divine Marichi, Brahma’s son,
  With Aditi, his wife, in calm seclusion,
  Does holy penance for the good of mortals.

KING.

Then I must not neglect so good an opportunity of obtaining his blessing.  I should much like to visit this venerable personage and offer him my homage.

MATALI.

By all means.  An excellent idea!

[Guides the car to the earth.

KING. [In a tone of wonder.

How’s this?

Our chariot wheels move noiselessly.  Around
No clouds of dust arise; no shock betokened
Our contact with the earth; we seem to glide
Above the ground, so lightly do we touch it.

MATALI.

Such is the difference between the car of Indra and that of your
Majesty.