Souti said: -
1. O Rishi, when the night was gone and the sun rose in the morning, the sisters, Kadru, and Vinata.
2. Having laid and wager of slavery, and burning in jealously, started to see the horse Uchaisrava.
3. On their way they saw the great ocean, vast and deep, agitated by wind, making a tremendous roar.
4. It was full of whales, fishes large-enough to swallow whales, Makaras, tortoises, and creatures of various forms by thousands.
5. It was inaccessible by any creatures on account of the presence of terrible, monster-shaped, dark and fierce acquatic animals. It was full of crocodiles and tortoises.
6. It abounded with all kinds of gems; it was the home of Varuna, the beautiful and excellent abode of the Nagas; it was the lord of all rivers.
7. It was the abode of subterranean fire, the friend of the Asuras, the terror of all creatures, the great reservoir of waters, haring no deterioration.
8. It was holy, it was beneficial to the celestials, it was the great mine of Ambrosia, it was infinite, inconceivable, sacred and highly wonderful,
9. It was fearful with the terrible roars of acquatic creatures, tremendously roaring, and full of deep whirlpools. It was an object of terror to all creatures.
10. Moved by winds, heaving high with agitation and disturbance, it seemed to dance everywhere with uplifted hands represented by its waves.
11. It was full of heaving billows, caused by the changes of the moon, it was the parent of (the great conch of Krishna) Panchajanya, it was the great mine of gems.
12. It was in days of yore disturbed by the greatly powerful Lord Govinda (Vishnu) when he assumed the form, of a boar for raising the earth.
13. The Rishi Atri of great austerity could not fathom its bottom, lower than the nether regions, though he tried to do it for one thousand years.
14. It became the bed of lotus-navelled Vishnu when at the end of every Yuga the immeasurably powerful Deity fell asleep in spiritual meditation.
15. It was the asylum which (the hill) Mainaka took under the fear of the falling thunder. It was the retreat of the Asuras, overcome (by the celestials) in the fearful battle.
16. It was the ghee, in the shape of its waters, in the (sacrificial) fire that issued forth from the mouth of Varava. It was without limits, fathomless, vast, immeasurable and the lord of rivers.
17. They saw that thousands of great rivers were rushing into it in great pride like rivals of its love. They [saw that it was full, always dancing in its waves.
18. They saw that it was deep and resounded with the terrible uproar of Makaras Timees, and other acquatic creatures; they saw it was vast, unlimited as space, unfathomable, infinite and the great reservoir of waters.
Thus ends the twenty-first chapter Sauparna, in the Adi Parva.