The Earth said:—O god, do thou uphold me. By thee the whole universe has been sustained. Thou art protecting the creatures and three worlds (14). Whatever thou dost sustain by thy energy and strength, I do afterwards hold it by thy favour (15). Whatever thou dost hold I do hold it and whatever thou dost not sustain I too do not keep it. There is no element in the universe which thou canst not sustain (16). O lord Nārāyana, at various cycles thou dost relieve me of my burthen for the behoof of the world (17). Being possessed by thy energy I have gone to the region underneath. O foremost of gods, I am at thy mercy. Do thou save me (18). I have been assailed by the wicked Dānavas and Rākshasas. Thou art my eternal saviour and I am always at thy mercy (19). I know it for hundred times that as long as I shall not seek refuge with Nārāyana who relieves me of all loads so long I shall be under the influence of a mighty fear (20). Before agriculture, merchandise and other means of livelihood were instituted by the lotus-sprung Brahmā, in the days of yore, I was reduced in dimension. Binding me two great Asuras, made of earth, were born before (21). While this high-souled Vishnu was sleeping in the mighty deep they originated from the dirt of his ears and remained like two logs of wood (22). Despatched by the Grand-Father, air, in the shape of vital breath, entered into the body of those two Dānavas. Thereupon covering the sky those two great Asuras began to grow up (23). Brahma gradually touched them both who were gifted with vital breaths. One of them appeared to be soft and the other hard (24). The water-born Lord Brahmā then gave them names. The one, who was soft, was named Madhu and the other, who was hard, was called Kaitava (25). When those two Daityas were thus named they, elated with the pride of their strength and being fearless, began to range in the world converted into one sheet of water, seeking battle (26). Beholding them thus approach Brahmā, the grand-father of all, disappeared in the water of the universal ocean (27). The four-mouthed grand-father desired to live secretly in the lotus sprung from the navel of the lotus-navelled Vishnu (28). When Nārāyana’s grand-sons, Madhu and Kaitava thus lived in the water, they, living there for many long years, were not the least agitated (29). Thereupon after many years, those two demons, Madhu and Kaitava, came where Brahmā was stationed (30). Beholding those two dreadful, huge-bodied and irrepressible Dānavas, Brahmā, with the stalk of the lotus, disturbed Nārāyana. Thereat the highly-effulgent lotus-navelled Deity rose up from his bed (31). At that time the three worlds were covered with water and so in that one sheet of water there took place a terrible encounter between Nārāyana and Madhu and Kaitava (32). That dreadful battle continued for thousand years and those two Dānavas did not experience least exhaustion in the encounter (33). After a long time