4. Alas! that the once delightsome earth, is now polluted by the impure carrion and blood; and covered under the garniture of its forests, as the sky is over shadowed by clouds. 5. The big bones of its bulky body, form the mountains of this earth; and what is this high Himálaya, but the huge back bone of <the> gigantic skeleton. 6. Vasishtha said:--As the gods were speaking in this manner, the demons were employed in the meantime to construct the earth anew with the materials of the carcass, after which they flew in the air, and kept on dancing and flouncing there. 7. As the ghosts were disporting in their giddy dance in the air, the god commanded the liquid portion of the dead body, to be collected together in one great basin of the ocean the abodes of whales and sharks. 8. And as this ocean was from the pleasure (_gaudium_) of the gods, it is thenceforth styled the ocean of wine (or merriment of the deities; in distinctions from the oceans of milk and other beverages). 9. The demons having done their dancing in the pandemonium in air, come down to drink their full draughts of that Stygian pool; after which they repair to their aerial abysm to dance again. 10. The demoniac orgies are still wont, to indulge themselves in drinking of that bloody pool; and to dance in their airy circles, in company with their co-partners. (It refers to strong drink and drunken sots). 11. And because the earth was besmeared, with the fat and flesh (_medhas_) of the corpse, it is thenceforward termed the _mediní_ or corpus. (The earth is said to have been formed of the flesh of the dead body of the demon Madhu, killed by Hari in the beginning of creation). 12. At <the> last disappearance of the dead body of the demon, there appeared again the succession of day and night; and the lord of creatures having formed all things anew, restored the earth to its former shape. (This is event of the war between the gods and titans of yore). CHAPTER CXXXVI. STORY OF THE GNAT AND HUNTER. Argument:--Explication of the story of the carcass, and the Narrative of Asura and others. Bhása said:--Hear now, O lord of the earth, what I then said to the god of fire, from my seat under the wing of his riding parrot, and the answer which the god made to my query. 2. I said, O lord, of the sacrificial fire and sacrifice, deign to explain unto me the mystery of the carcass, and the accompanying events (of the goddess and her demons). 3. The god <of> fire replied:--Attend, O prince, and I will tell you all of what has happened; and relate to you all about the carcass, as it is well known in all the three worlds (_i.e._ in the traditions of all people). 4. Know there is an eternal formless and transcendent Intellect, in the form of the boundless and formless vacuity; wherein there are countless worlds, subsisting as minute atoms in endless space.