Note 13 — Chapter CXV

When the gods said this to Vishṇu, he answered them, “Why, do I not know that my regulations are broken by that Asura? But what the great lord, the slayer of Tripura has done, he alone can undo: I cannot. And from him must proceed the overthrow of that wicked Daitya. You must make haste, provided I tell you an expedient; and I will tell you one; listen! There is a heavenly abode of Śiva, named Siddhíśvara. There the god Śiva is found ever manifest. And long ago that very god manifested to me and Prajápati13 his form as the flame-linga, and told me this secret. So come, let us go there and entreat him with asceticism: he will put an end to this affliction of the worlds.” When the god Vishṇu had uttered this behest, they all went to Siddhíśvara by means of two conveyances, the bird Garuḍa and the chariot of swans. That place is untouched by the calamities of old age, death, and sickness, and it is the home of unalloyed happiness, and in it beasts, birds, and trees are all of gold. There they worshipped the linga of Śiva, that exhibits in succession all his forms,14 and is in succession of various jewels; and then Vishṇu, Brahmá, Indra, and Bṛihaspati, all four, with their minds devoted to Śiva, proceeded to perform a severe course of asceticism in order to propitiate him.