Skandapurana 7.10.29_73

7.10.29_73

[Apparatus and page header] / "Ever zealous, I continually protect the creatures from fear; / yet those wicked beings nourish my very enemies! / Ungrateful, killers of their master, insatiable, evil-minded, / these wicked, ill-behaved ones ever nourish my foes / with food, drink, and the like; therefore, they deserve my punishment." / [Gap in text] / Wherever all those creatures went, he slew them everywhere. / Pools, ponds, rivers, and springs— / through yoga the Dānava dried them all up at that time. / And whatever herbs grew without tilling, O you of noble vows, / he destroyed those as well, and crushed the trees and creepers. / With its trees, bushes, creepers, and sprouts destroyed, its grass, herbs, springs, and reservoirs gone, / its rivers, tanks, pits, and dried-up ponds, the world resembled the back of a tortoise. / With the order of classes and stages of life ruined, with settlements, cattle stations, birds, and men wiped out, / and filled with the roaring of herds of elephants, horses, and foot soldiers, the world appeared ferocious, like the fire at the end of an age. / Thus ends the ninety-sixth chapter, named 'The Speech of Brahmā', in the Skandapurāṇa.