देवतानां वचः श्रुत्वा भगवान् वै पितामहः ।
प्रत्युवाच सुसंत्रस्तान् कृतांत बलमोहितान् ॥
'Hearing those words of Devas who were greatly alarmed and were confounded by fear , Brahma the Lord of creation spoke as follows'.

Balakanda
Fortieth Sarga

Viswamitra continued his narration.

' Hearing those words of Devas who were greatly alarmed by the actions of sixty thousand sons of Sagara and were confounded by fear , Brahma the Lord of creation spoke to them reassuringly. Brahma said,"Vasudeva who is the protector of the whole world , having taken the form of Kapila Maharshi , is carrying the burden of this earth. The sons of that king Sagara will die in the fire of anger of Kapila, that great soul. The instance of the earth being dug up and the destruction of sons of Sagara with limited life has already been foretold." Hearing those words of the creator the thirty three Devas again went back in the same way they have come'.

The all powerful sons of Sagara who were digging up the earth came across a stunning sound. Then the sons of Sagara who went around the world digging up the earth told their father as follows."Oh Father ! We searched all over the earth . We destroyed the Devas, Rakshasas, Pisacha's, Naga's, Kinnara's and other living beings. We could find neither the sacrificial horse nor the one who stole that horse. You should now think about what we should be doing. May you be safe ".

' Oh Raghunandana ! Sagara the best of kings , having heard their words and thinking of the same spoke to his sons'."You may dig again. May you be successful. Dig up the whole earth capture the one who stole the sacrificial horse and having succeeded return home".Those all powerful sixty thousand sons of Sagara having heard their father's words went on digging reaching the nether world. The sons of Sagara who were digging thus , saw a great elephant by name Virupaksha. Oh Raghunandana ! That great elephant by name Virupaksha was carrying the earth with all its forests and mountains. Oh Rama ! on special days when the the great elephant moved its head for resting the same, the whole earth shaked. Oh Rama ! The Sagara's sons then cirumbulated the great elephant , and then went on digging towards the nether world. They dug towards east , they then dug up the earth in the southern direction. In the southern direction also they saw the great elephant. Seeing the powerful and great elephant by name Mahapadmam , which is equal in size to a mountain, they were all wonder struck. The powerful sixty thousand sons of Sagara, then circumbulated that great elephant and started digging in the westerly direction. Then those powerful ones saw the great elephant by name Saumanasa which is also equal in size to that of a mountain. They enquired after her welfare and then started digging the direction of north'.

Viswamitra continued

'Oh Best of Raghus ! In the northern direction also they saw an elephant which is white like snow , bearing the burden of earth in a careful manner. The sixty thousand sons of Sagara then touched the same and having circumbulated they continued digging up the earth. Then the sons of Sagara full of anger then started to dig in the famous northeasterly direction. There the all powerful and great ones who are capable of moving at great speeds saw Kapila Maharshi who is an incarnation of Sri Vishnu'.

'Oh Raghunandana ! They also saw a horse walking nearby that venerable sage and were happy. Then thinking that he is the one who stole the sacrificial horse they became angry . They ran after him with trees, stones and other weapons shouting " stop!" , "stop !". They said "Oh Ill-mannered one ! You have stolen our sacrificial horse and brought the same, Know that we are the sons of Sagara."

Viswamitra continued.

'Oh Raghunandana ! the Kapila Maharshi having heard their words uttered "Humkara" with anger. Oh Kakuthsa ! then all the sons of Sagara were turned into a heap of ashes.'

Thus the fortieth Sarga of Balakanda in the Valmiki Ramayana comes to an end ".

|| om tat sat ||

ततस्तेनाप्रमेयेण कपिलेन महात्मना ।
भस्मराशीकृता स्सर्वे काकुत् स्थ सगरात्मजाः ॥

'Oh Kakuthsa ! then the great soul Kapila turned all the sons of Sagara into a heap of ashes'.

|| om tat sat ||

|| Om tat sat ||