On hearing this, the Monkey King, Sugriva, despatched a number of messengers, who invited an brought together all the great sages, who installed an emblem of Shiva and worshipped it with due solemnity. ‘None is so dear to me as Shiva,’ said the Lord;

He who is opposed to Shiva and is called my worshipper can never dream of attaining to me; he who is opposed to Shankara and yet aspires after faith in me is doomed to perdition, stupid and dull-witted as he is.

Those who are devoted to Shankara and are hostile to me, and those who are opposed to Shiva but would fain be my servants, shall have their abode in the deepest hell for a full aeon.

Those who make a pilgrimage to Rameshvara shall, on quitting the body, go direct to my realm, and he who brings the water of the Ganga and pours it on the Lord will attain liberation and be absorbed into my divine essence.

Again, whosoever waits on Rameshvara in a dis-interested spirit and with a guileless heart will be blessed by Shankara with devotion to me; and he who visits the bridge built by me shall without effort cross the ocean of birth and death.’

Rama’s words gladdened the hearts of all, and the great sages thereupon returned each to his own hermitage. Girija, (says Shiva,) such is the way of Raghunatha; he is ever gracious to his suppliants.

Nala and Nila, clever craftsmen, constructed the bridge and by Rama’s grace their renown spread far and wide. The rocks, which themselves sink and cause ever other things to sink, floated like so many rafts;