The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

THE CAVE OF TRISIRSHA 75
and made this cavelike opening for Rishabha to northern side.
pass to the
"
Then Mount Kailasa, having been pierced, was des-
pondent, and addressed this petition
to Siva :
'
Holy one, this
north side of me used to be inaccessible to mortals, but it
has now been made accessible to them by this cave-passage ;
so provide that this law of exclusion be not broken.' When
Siva had been thus supplicated by the mountain, he placed
in the cave, as guards, elephants of the quarters, mighty
basilisks, 1 and Guhyakas ; and at its southern opening
Kalaratri, the invincible Chandika. 2
" When Siva had thus provided for the guarding of the
cave, he produced great jewels, and made this decree with
regard to the cave :
'
This cave shall be open at both ends
to anyone who has obtained the jewels, and is emperor over
the Vidyadharas with their wives and their messengers, 3 and
to those who may be appointed by him as sovereigns over
the northern side of the mountain by these, I say, it may
be passed, but by no one else in the world.' When the three-
eyed god had made this decree, Rishabha went on holding
sway over the Vidyadharas, but in his pride made war on the
gods, and was slain by Indra. This is the history, my liege,
of the cave, named the cave of Trisirsha; and the cave
cannot be passed by any but persons like yourself.
" And in course of time I, Devamaya, was born in the family
1 See Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors (Pseudodoxia Epidemica),
Book III, chapter vii, and vol. iii, 112ft 1 . The point about the basilisk was
that its glance was fatal, and this is how Tawney expresses the word
drigvishahindra. We have seen (Vol. II, p. 298) that drig-visha or drishti-visha
denotes "poison in a glance," but in Hindu fiction this "fatal look" occurs
in humans as well as in monsters, and is a power that can be acquired by
prolonged austerities. (See Vol. IV, p. 232, and Vol. V, p. 123.) The idea is
found in remote antiquity; thus, after the death of Osiris, Isis at last finds
the box containing his body at Byblos. One of the king's sons spies on her
while she is embracing the dead body. Isis becomes aware of this and, turn-
ing round, kills him on the spot by a terrible look. See Budge, Osiris and the
Egyptian Resurrection, vol. i, p. 7. n.m.p.
2 One of the saktis (" energies") of Siva. Others are Durga, Kali, etc.
3 Two of the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. read cha
charanam for sadaranam. This would mean, I suppose, that the cave might be
passed by all the scouts and ambassadors of the Vidyadharas.