and having gigantic boughs; and wide-spreading; and
of incomparable lustre; and bearing full-grown, tasteful,
and holy fruits dropping honey. And this celestial
tree was frequented by hosts of mighty sages, and
was always inhabited by various birds maddened with
animal spirits. And it grew at a spot devoid of
mosquitoes and gad-flies, and abounding in fruits
and roots and water, and covered with green grass,
and inhabited by the celestials and the Gandharvas,
and of smooth surface, and naturally healthful, and
beauteous and cool and of delicate feel. Having
reached that (tree) together with those bulls among
Brahmanas, the high-souled ones gently alighted from
the shoulders of the Rakshasas. Then in company
with those bulls among the twice-born ones, the Pandavas
beheld that romantic asylum presided over by Nara and
Narayana; devoid of gloom; and sacred; and untouched
by the solar rays; and free from those rubs, viz.
hunger, and thirst, heat and cold, and removing (all)
sorrow; and crowded with hosts of mighty sages; and
adorned with the grace proceeding from the Vedas, Saman,
Rich, and Yajus; and, O king, inaccessible to men
who have renounced religion; and beautified with offerings,
and homas; and sacred; and well-swept and daubed;
and shining all around with offerings of celestial
blossoms; and spread over with altars of sacrificial
fire, and sacred ladles and pots; and graced with
large water-jars, and baskets and the refuge of all
beings; and echoing with the chanting of the Vedas;
and heavenly: and worthy of being inhabited;
and removing fatigue; and attended with splendour
and of incomprehensible merit; and majestic with divine
qualities. And the hermitage was inhabited by
hosts of great sages, subsisting on fruits and roots;
and having their senses under perfect control; and
clad in black deer-skins; and effulgent like unto the
Sun and Agni; and of souls magnified by asceticism
and intent on emancipation; and leading the Vanaprastha
mode of life; and of subdued senses; and identified
with the Supreme Soul; and of high fortune; and reciting
Vaidic hymns. Then having purified himself and
restrained his senses, that son of Dharma, the intelligent
Yudhishthira of exceeding energy, accompanied by his
brothers, approached those sages. And all the
great sages endued with supernatural knowledge, knowing
Yudhishthira arrived, received him joyfully.
And those sages engaged in the recitation of the Vedas,
and like unto fire itself, after having conferred
blessings on Yudhishthira, cheerfully accorded him
fitting reception. And they gave him clean water
and flowers and roots. And Yudhishthira the just
received with regard the things gladly offered for
his reception by the great sages. And then, O
sinless one, Pandu’s son together with Krishna
and his brothers, and thousands of Brahmanas versed
in the Vedas and the Vendangas, entered into that holy
hermitage, like unto the abode of Sukra and pleasing
the mind with heavenly odours and resembling heaven