Verse 1

¹Hiranyakasipu, king, set about making himself unconquerable, past old age and death, with no rival anywhere, and sole king. ²In a valley of Mandara he performed a most fearful austerity, his arms raised, his gaze on the sky, touching the earth only with the toes of his feet. ³He shone with the light of his matted hair like the sun of the world's ending with its rays. While he burned in that austerity, the gods went back to their places. ⁴From the crown of his head a smoking fire rose, made of his austerity, and driven out in every direction it scorched the worlds across and above and below. ⁵The rivers and the seas were churned, the earth with its islands and mountains shook, the stars fell with the planets, and the ten directions blazed.