21. They like silent sages, hailed with complaisance, whatever of good or evil, or desirable or undesirable befell to their lot, as the unavoidable results of their prior deeds; and had their repose in the heavenly felicity, to which they had assimilated themselves. (So the sruti: The Divine are one with Divine felicity). CHAPTER LXXVI THE DESCENT OF GANGÁ ON EARTH. Argument:--Reinstatement of Bhagíratha in his Kingdom, and his bringing down the heavenly stream by means of his austere Devotion. Vasishtha continued:--It came to pass at one time as Bhagíratha was passing through a large metropolis, he beheld the ruler of that province, who was childless to be snatched away by the hand of death, as a shark seizes a fish for its prey. 2. The people being afraid of anarchy and lawlessness for want of a ruler, were in search of a proper person joined with noble endowments and signs to be made their future king. 3. They met with the silent and patient prince in the act of begging alms, and knowing him as the king Bhagíratha himself, they took him with them escorted by their own regiments, to install him on the throne as their king. 4. Bhagíratha instantly mounted on an elephant, and was led by a large body of troops, who assembled about him as thickly, as the drops of rain water fall into and fill a lake. 5. The people then shouted aloud, "Here is Bhagíratha our lord; may he be victorious for ever", and the noise thereof reached to the furthest mountains, and filled their hollow caves (which reached to the sound). 6. Then as Bhagíratha remained to reign over that realm, the subjects of his own and former kingdom came reverently to him, and thus prayed unto their king saying:-- 7. The people said:--Great king! the person who thou didst appoint to rule over us, is lately devoured by death as a little fish by a large one. 8. Therefore deign to rule over thy realm, nor refuse to accept an offer which comes unasked to thee (so it is said:--It is not right to slight even a mite, that comes of itself to any body, but it is to be deemed as a God-sent blessing). 9. Vasishtha said:--The king being so besought accepted their prayer, and thus became the sole manager of the earth, bounded by the seven seas on all sides. 10. He continued to discharge the duties of royalty without the least dismay or disquietude, though he was quite calm and serene in his mind, quiet in his speech, and devoid of passions and envy or selfishness. 11. He then thought of the redemption of his ancestors, who excavated the coast of the sea (and made this bay of Bengal); and were burned alive underneath the ground (by the curse of sage Kapila); by laving their bones and dead bodies with the waves of Ganges, which he heard, had the merit of purity and saving all souls and bodies. (The ancestors of Bhagíratha were the thousand sons of sagara, who were masters of Saugar islands in the bay of Bengal).