it please thee to explain it unto us without delay, for we are all bewildered.”  Thereupon Brahma replied, “Ye immortals! do ye not entertain fear for the Asuras, in any matter or place.  Hearken, ye celestials, to the reason to which all this commotion is owing!  This agitation in the heavens hath been produced by the influence of the illustrious Being who is omnipresent, eternal and the never-perishing Soul.  That Supreme soul, Vishnu hath lifted up the Earth, who had entirely sunk down hundred yojanas.  This commotion hath taken place in consequence of the earth being raised up.  Know ye this and dispel your doubts.”  The celestials said, “Where is that Being who with pleasure raiseth up the Earth?  O possessor of the six attributes, mention unto us the place.  Thither shall we repair.”  Brahma said “Go ye.  May good happen to you!  Ye will find him resting in the Nandana (gardens).  Yonder is visible the glorious worshipful Suparna (Garuda).  After having raised the Earth, the Supreme Being from whom the world become manifest, flameth even in the shape of a boar, like unto the all-consuming fire at the universal dissolution.  And on his beast is really to be seen the gem Srivatsa. (Go) and behold that Being knowing no deterioration."’

“Lomasa said, ’Then the celestials, placing the grandsire at their head, came to that infinite Soul, and having listened to his praise, bade him adieu and went back to whence they had come.’”

Vaisampayana said, “O Janamejaya, having heard this story, all the Pandavas without delay and with alacrity, began to proceed by the way pointed out by Lomasa.”

SECTION CXLII

Vaisampayana said, “O king, then those foremost of bowmen, of immeasurable prowess, holding bows stringed at full stretch and equipped with quivers and arrows and wearing finger-caps made of the guana-skin, and with their swords on, proceeded with Panchali towards the Gandhamadana, taking with them the best of Brahmanas.  And on their way they saw various lakes, and rivers and mountains and forests, and trees of wide-spreading shade on mountain summits and places abounding in trees bearing flowers and fruit in all seasons and frequented by celestials and sages.  And restraining their senses within their inner self and subsisting on fruits and roots, the heroes passed through rugged regions, craggy and difficult of passage, beholding many and various kinds of beasts.  Thus those high-souled ones entered the mountain inhabited by the sages, the Siddhas and the celestials, and frequented by the Kinnaras and the Apsaras.  And, O lord of men, as those mighty heroes were entering the mountain Gandhamandana, there arose a violent wind, attended with a heavy shower.  And owing to this, mighty clouds of dust bearing lots of dry leaves, rose, and all on a sudden covered earth, air and firmament.  And when the heavens had been covered with dust nothing could be perceived, neither could they (the Pandavas)