itself and attended with beauty.  There the pious (Yudhishthira) beheld the hermitage of Nara and Narayana, beautified by the Bhagirathi and worshipped by the gods and the celestial sages.  And seeing that hermitage inhabited by the Brahmarshis and containing fruits dropping honey, the Pandavas were filled with delight.  And having reached that place, the high-souled ones began to dwell with the Brahmanas.  There beholding the holy lake Vinda, and the mountain Mainaka, of golden summits and inhabited by various species of birds, the magnanimous ones lived happily with joy.  The son of Pandu together with Krishna took pleasure in ranging excellent and captivating woods, shining with flowers of every season; beauteous on all sides with trees bearing blown blossoms; and bending down with the weight of fruits and attended by the numerous male kokilas and of glossy foliage; and thick and having cool shade and lovely to behold.  They took delight in beholding diverse beautiful lakes of limpid water and shining all round with lotuses and lilies.  And there, O lord, the balmy breeze bearing pure fragrance, blew gladdening all the Pandavas, together with Krishna.  And hard by the gigantic jujube, the mighty son of Kunti saw the Bhagirathi of easy descent and cool and furnished with fresh lotuses and having stairs made of rubies and corals and graced with trees and scattered over with celestial flowers, and gladsome to the mind.  And at that spot, frequented by celestials and sages, and extremely inaccessible, they, after having purified themselves offered oblations unto the pitris and the gods and the rishis in the sacred waters of the Bhagirathi.  Thus those bulls among men the heroic perpetuators of the Kuru race, began to reside there with the Brahmanas offering oblations and practising meditation.  And those tigers among men, the Pandavas of the god-like appearance, felt delight in witnessing the various amusements of Draupadi.”

SECTION CXLV

Vaisampayana said, “There observing cleanliness, those tigers among men dwelt for six nights, in expectation of beholding Dhananjaya.  And it came to pass that all of a sudden there blew a wind from the north-east and brought a celestial lotus of a thousand petals and effulgent as the sun.  And Panchali saw that pure and charming lotus of unearthly fragrance, brought by the wind and left on the ground.  And having obtained that excellent and beautiful lotus, that blessed one became exceedingly delighted, O king, and addressed Bhimasena in the following words, ’Behold, O Bhima, this most beautiful unearthly flower having within it the very source of fragrance.  It gladdenth my heart, O represser of foes.  This one shall be presented to Yudhishthira the just.  Do thou, therefore, procure others for my satisfaction—­in order that I may carry them to our hermitage in the Kamyaka.  If, O Pritha’s son, I have found grace with thee, do thou then procure others of this