Bengali Ramayana - Get Ganga

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Time passed. Seeing his sons not return with the

horse, Sagar was worried; what had happened. Asmanjus's

son Anshuman was staying with Sagar. Sagar instructed

his grandson to findout what happened. The young

prince rode. He searched the heavens and the earth. Then

he chanced upon the hole his uncles had dug. H went

down the hole carefully. He saw a beautiful blue

elephant holding the earth on its back. He realized he was

in teh nether world. He bowed down before the

elephant. Pleased, the elephant said, "you will find what

you have come for. Go Eastwards." Going East, he saw

a beautiful white elephant. "Have you seen my

uncles go this way", he asked the elephant. "Carry on

this way, and you will find what you need". The prince

went on. He did not find any trace of his uncles, but

he saw a blood-red elephant. This elephant, too like

the others, was supporting the earth; except that

this elephant was supporting the earth on its tusks.

If these elephants shooks theirs heads, earthquakes

occured. <br>In the south-east direction, Anshuman saw the

horse tied to a tree. Also, he saw Kapil Rishi. He

approached the rishi and bowed before him. He asked whether

he (the rishi) had seen the 60 thousand sons of

Sagar. Kapil said "yes. They passed this way. They

called me a thief and hit me. I burnt them to

ashes".<br>"I happen to be their nephew, son of Asmunjus and

the grand son of Sagar. You are a great Rishi, know

all over for your great deeds. Help me. Advice me

what I should do." Pleased, the sage said "If Ganga

flows on Earth and flows down into the nether world,

over your uncles' ashes, they will attain heaven."

"Tell me about Ganga", said the Prince.