An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.144.2

c5.s1.144.2

XII, 78, 2922): Brahmán had granted the Asura Tāraka the boon that he could not be slain by gods, Asuras, Rākṣasas, etc., and the deities had, in consequence of their endeavour in former times to stop propagation, been cursed by Pārvatī, that they were not to have any offspring; but Agni had not been there; he therefore, said Brahmán, would beget an offspring for the destruction of Tāraka, etc.: "Kāma is Rudra's seed, a portion of which fell into Agni, who will cast it into Gaṅgā. Therefore, make a search for Agni. Agni is the most eternal of all creatures; he is older than Rudra himself," etc. After searching in vain every part of the universe, the gods successively learnt from a frog that had been scorched by the energy of Agni that he was residing in the nethermost regions of the water; from an elephant, that he was within an aśvattha tree; and from a parrot, that he had entered the heart of a śami tree. All frogs, elephants, and parrots were cursed by Agni and blessed by the gods in various ways: the śami tree the gods made a sacred fuel fit for producing fire in all religious rites; the heated waters that are found in the nethermost regions are vomited forth by the mountain springs. Agni then united himself in spiritual congress with Gaṅgā, who, being unable to bear the seed, cast it off resplendent like gold on the breast of Meru, on a forest of reeds. Hence Agni was called Hiraṇyaretas; Earth, Vasumati;