When she reached the
seashore, the wind was blowing, and the great waves came rolling in,
and the spray was splashing over the rocks. But now that she had given
away all her merit to Gunvanti, she had none left by means of which she
could jump across the seven seas. She sat down forlorn by the bank of
a river. Then she got up, bathed in the water, and prayed to the god
Vishnu. Next she took one hundred and eight sand-grains in her hand,
and then walked one hundred and eight times round a peepul tree by
the river's edge. Instantly her powers returned to her, and going back
to the shore, she sprang into the heavens and over the seven seas and
alighted close to her own door. There all her little daughters-in-law
ran out to meet her and cried, "O Mother-in-law, Mother-in-law, we
have been watching for you. For while you were away your sons, your
husband, and all your sons-in-law died. But just as you told us to do,
we did not burn their corpses, but kept them in the house. And now
they have all suddenly come back to life." Soma questioned the little
daughters-in-law and learnt that her sons and husband and sons-in-law
had all died at the very moment when she gave her merit to Gunvanti,
and that they had come back to life precisely when she finished her
one-hundred-and-eighth turn round the peepul tree.
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