O monarch, thou knowest what is calculated to do us
good! And O great king, we will live wherever
thou likest! Here is this lake, full of sacred
water, called
Dwaitavana, abounding with flowers,
and delightful to look at, and inhabited by many species
of birds. If, O king, it pleaseth thee, here
should we like to dwell these twelve years! Thinkest
thou otherwise?’ Yudhishthira replied, ’O
Partha, what thou hast said recommendeth itself to
me! Let us go that sacred and celebrated and large
lake called
Dwaitavana!’”
Vaisampayana continued, “Then the virtuous son
of Pandu, accompanied by numerous Brahmanas, all went
to the sacred lake called Dwaitavana. And
Yudhishthira was surrounded by numerous Brahmanas some
of whom sacrificed with fire and some without it and
some of whom, devoted to the study of the Vedas, lived
upon alms or were of the class called Vanaprasthas.
And the king was also surrounded by hundreds of Mahatmas
crowned with ascetic success and of rigid vows.
And those bulls of the Bharata race, the sons of Pandu
setting out with those numerous Brahmanas, entered
the sacred and delightful woods of Dwaita.
And the king saw that mighty forest covered on the
close of summer with Salas, and palms, and
mangoes, and Madhukas, and Nipas and
Kadamvas and Sarjjas and Arjunas,
and Karnikars, many of them covered with flowers.
And flocks of peacocks and Datyuhas and Chakoras
and Varhins and Kokilas, seated on the
tops of the tallest trees of that forest were pouring
forth their mellifluous notes. And the king also
saw in that forest mighty herds of gigantic elephants
huge as the hills, with temporal juice trickling down
in the season of rut, accompanied by herds of she-elephants.
And approaching the beautiful Bhogavati (Saraswati),
the king saw many ascetics crowned with success in
the habitations in that forest, and virtuous men of
sanctified souls clad in barks of trees and bearing
matted locks on their heads. And descending from
their cars, the king that foremost of virtuous men
with his brothers and followers entered that forest
like Indra of immeasurable energy entering heaven.
And crowds of Charanas and Siddhas,
desirous of beholding the monarch devoted to truth,
came towards him. And the dwellers of that forest
stood surrounding that lion among kings possessed
of great intelligence. And saluting all the Siddhas,
and saluted by them in return as a king or a god should
be, that foremost of virtuous men entered the forest
with joined hands accompanied by all those foremost
of regenerate ones. And the illustrious and virtuous
king, saluted in return by those virtuous ascetics
that had approached him, sat down in their midst at
the foot of a mighty tree decked with flowers, like
his father (Pandu) in days before. And those
chiefs of the Bharata race viz., Bhima and
Dhananjaya and the twins and Krishna and their followers,
all fatigued, leaving their vehicles, sat themselves
down around that best of kings. And that mighty
tree bent down with the weight of creepers, with those
five illustrious bowmen who had come there for rest
sitting under it, looked like a mountain with (five)
huge elephants resting on its side.”
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