of graceful mien, furnished with four teeth and prominent cheeks.  Even him will I accost fearlessly:  Thou art the lord of all animals, and of this forest the king.  Know me for Damayanti, the daughter of the king of the Vidarbhas, and the wife of Nala, destroyer of foes, and the king of the Nishadhas.  Distressed and woe-stricken, I am seeking my husband alone in these woods.  Do thou, O king of beasts, comfort me (with news of Nala) if thou hast seen him.  Or, O lord of the forest, if thou cannot speak of Nala, do thou, then, O best of beasts, devour me, and free me from this misery.  Alas! hearing my plaintive appeal in the wilderness, this king of mountains, this high and sacred hill, crested with innumerable [...?-JBH] rolleth towards the sea.  Let me, then, for tidings of the king, ask this king of mountains, this high and sacred hill, crested with innumerable heaven-kissing and many-hued and beauteous peaks, and abounding in various ores, and decked with gems of diverse kings, and rising like a banner over this broad forest, and ranged by lions and tigers and elephants and boars and bears and stags, and echoing all around with (the notes of) winged creatures of various species, and adorned with kinsukas and Asokas and Vakulas and Punnagas, with blossoming Karnikaras, and Dhavas and Plakshas, and with streams haunted by waterfowls of every kind, and abounding in crested summits, O sacred one!  O best of mountains!  O thou of wondrous sight!  O celebrated hill!  O refuge (of the distressed)!  O highly auspicious one!  I bow to thee, O pillar of the earth!  Approaching, I bow to thee.  Know me for a king’s daughter, and a king’s daughter-in-law, and king’s consort, Damayanti by name that lord of earth who ruleth the Vidarbhas, that mighty warrior-king Bhima by name, who protecteth the four orders, is my sire.  That best of kings celebrated the Rajasuya and Aswamedha sacrifices, with profuse gifts to the Brahmanas.  Possessed of beautiful and large eyes, distinguished for devotion to the Vedas, of unblemished character, truth-telling, devoid of guile, gentle, endued with prowess, lord of immense wealth, versed in morality, and pure, he having vanquished all his foes, effectually protecteth the inhabitants of Vidarbha.  Know me, O holy one, for his daughter, thus come to thee.  That best of men—­the celebrated ruler of the Nishadha—­known by the name of Virasena of high fame, was my father-in-law.  The son of that king, heroic and handsome and possessed of energy incapable of being baffled, who ruleth well the kingdom which hath descended to him from his father, is named Nala.  Know, O mountain, that of that slayer of foes, called also Punyasloka, possessed of the complexion of gold, and devoted to the Brahmanas, and versed in the Vedas, and gifted with eloquence,—­of that righteous and Soma-quaffing and fire-adoring king, who celebrateth sacrifices and is liberal and warlike and who adequately chastiseth (criminals), I am the innocent spouse—­the chief of his