joy and with peacocks also that danced with plumes outspread.  Forming as it did the resort of the celestial Rishis, the Apsaras danced there in joy.  The place was exceedingly agreeable to the sight.  It was exceedingly beautiful, resembling Heaven itself.  Its entire aspect was wonderful and, indeed, it is indescribable in respect of its beauty and sweetness.  Verily, with the penances of that great deity who sleeps on mountain breasts, that prince of mountains shone with great beauty.  It resounded with the chant of the Vedas uttered by learned Brahmanas devoted to Vedic recitation.  Echoing with the hum of bees, O Madhava, the mountain became incomparable in beauty.  The ascetics, beholding the great deity who is endued with a fierce form and who looks like a great festival, became filled, O Janardana, with great joy.  All the highly blessed ascetics, the Siddhas who have drawn in their vital seed, the Maruts, the Vasus, the Sadhyas, the Viswedevas, Vasava himself, the Yakshas, the Nagas, the Pisachas, the Regents of the world, the several sacred Fires, the Winds, and all the great creatures dwelt on that mountain with minds concentrated in Yoga.  All the Seasons were present there and scattered those regions with all kinds of wonderful flowers.  Diverse kinds of blazing herbs illuminated the woods and forests on that mountain.  Various species of birds, filled with joy, hopped about and sang merrily on the delightful beast of that mountain.  Those birds were exceedingly lovable in consequence of the notes they uttered.  The high-souled Mahadeva sat, displayed in beauty, on one of the peaks that was adorned with excellent minerals, as if it served the purposes of a fine bedstead.  Round his loins was a tiger-skin, and a lion-skin formed his upper garments.  His sacred thread consisted of a snake.  His arms were decked with a pair of red Angadas, His beard was green.  He had matted locks on his head.  Of terrible features, he it is that inspires with fear the hearts of all the enemies of the gods.  It is he, again, that assures all creatures by dispelling their fears.  He is adored by his worshippers as the deity having the bovine bull for his device.  The great Rishis, beholding Mahadeva, bowed to him by touching the ground with their heads.  Endued with forgiving souls, they all became (in consequence of the sight they had obtained of the great deity) freed from every sin and thoroughly cleansed.  The retreat of that lord of all creatures with many terrible forms, shone with a peculiar beauty.  Abounding with many large snakes, it became unapproachable and unbearable (by ordinary beings).  Within the twinkling of the eye.  O slayer of Madhu, everything there became exceedingly wonderful.  Indeed, the abode of that great deity having the bovine bull for his device began to blaze with a terrible beauty.  Unto Mahadeva seated there, came his spouse, the daughter of Himavat, surrounded by the wives of the ghostly beings who are the companions of the great deity.