Kadru and Vinata Travel to See the Horse Ucchaihshrava
Having wagered their freedom on the color of a divine horse's tail, the jealous sisters Kadru and Vinata set out at dawn to see it. Their journey takes them over the cosmic ocean, a terrifying and sacred expanse that dwarfs their quarrel. They observe its mythic depths and swiftly pass over it, continuing toward the wager that will decide their fates.
When the night was gone and the sun rose, the sisters Kadru and Vinata set out. They had laid a wager on slavery, each driven by jealousy and impatience. Their destination was nearby: the divine horse Ucchaihshrava, whose tail they had bet on. One claimed it was white; the other, black. The loser would become the winner’s slave.
On their way, they saw the ocean.
It was not just a body of water. It was the deep and great ocean, the treasury of all waters, full of fish so large they swallowed whales. It was crowded with sharks and populated by thousands of creatures of many forms. No ordinary being could approach it, because of the perennial and terrible presence of crocodiles and turtles. It was the source of all jewels. It was the abode of Varuna, the god of the waters. It was the beautiful and supreme home of the nagas (serpent beings). It was the lord of all rivers.
It was also a place of terror. It was the home of the subterranean fire, a friend to the demons and a terror to all creatures. It was a great reservoir that never decayed, blessed and bringing welfare to the gods. It was the source of amrita (ambrosia). It was beyond measure, beyond imagination, sacred and supreme — and also fearful. The terrible roars of aquatic creatures made a thunderous noise. It was full of deep whirlpools, a source of fear to all. Buffeted by winds, with shorelines that changed, heaving with agitation and turbulence, it seemed to dance everywhere, its waves like raised hands. Its waters heaved with the changes in the moon. It was the source of the panchajanya, the conch shell of the god Vishnu.
The sisters saw the ocean in its cosmic dimensions. In days gone by, it had been agitated by Lord Govinda — Vishnu of infinite energy — when he assumed the form of a boar and found the earth at the bottom of the waters. The brahmarshi Atri had tried for a hundred years to find its bottom, lower than the nether regions, and could not. At the beginning of every yuga (cosmic age), when Vishnu falls asleep in spiritual meditation, this ocean becomes his bed. Its waters were the sacrificial offerings in the subterranean fire’s blazing flames. It was holy, without limits, vast, beyond measure.
They saw thousands of great rivers rushing towards the ocean with pride, like rivals hurrying to a lovers’ rendezvous. They saw it was deep, populated by whales and sharks, thundering with sound. They saw it was as extended as the sky, unfathomable, the infinite treasury of the waters.
When they had seen the deep ocean — populated with whales, sharks, and waves, serene and extended like the sky, shining with the flames of the subterranean fire — they swiftly passed over it and continued on their way.