Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 753

THE TEMPLE UNEARTHED
713
place at the foot of the mountain of Nila, a magnificent
temple, the walls of which were of massive gold, while the
interior was embellished with most precious stones.
Time,
that universal destroyer, has respected this edifice, and it
is still in existence perfectly uninjured.
But for a long
time past it has been swallowed up by the sands of the sea.
It is true that the god who inhabited the sacred spot has
nevertheless, he could not entirely
ceased to dwell there
forsake a mountain that had once been consecrated by his
presence, and he has taken up his abode there in the shape
One day the famous penitent
of a vepu or margosa-tree.
Markandeya, who for many centuries did penance on this
mountain, perceiving that this tree gave no shade, was
roused to indignation, and breathing upon it he partially
reduced it to ashes. This tree, however, was Vishnu, the
Supreme Being, and consequently immortal. The penitent
could not, therefore, entirely destroy it, and the trunk still
remains. The only thing that I do not know is the exact
spot where this tree grew.'
Here Indra-mena interrupted the crow, and asked if it
could recognize the spot where the temple stood. The
crow replied in the affirmative. So they both set out
together to find the site. At the place where they stopped
the crow set to work to dig into the sand with his beak to
the depth of a yojana, and at last succeeded in disclosing
in its entirety the magnificent temple which had formerly
been the abode of Narayana, the God of Gods. Having
shown it to the king, the crow covered it up again as before.
The king, convinced of the truth of all that the crow
had told him, and enraptured at having found that for
which he had been seeking so earnestly, questioned his
guide as to what steps he should take to restore to its
former state of splendour and fame a place which had
been so ven