apes.  Repairing then into the presence of that foremost of men, viz., my father, of my mother, of the king, and of Ahuka, I informed them of what the daughter of the prince of the Vidyadharas, in great affliction, had said unto me.  Bidding them farewell with a sorrowful heart, I then repaired to Gada and to Rama of great might.  These two cheerfully addressed me saying,—­Let thy penances increase without any obstruction.—­Having obtained the permission of all of them, I thought of Garuda.  He immediately came to me and bore me to Himavat (at my bidding).  Arrived at Himavat, I dismissed him.  There on that foremost of mountains, I beheld many wonderful sights.  I saw an excellent, wonderful, and agreeable retreat for the practice of penances.  That delightful retreat was owned by the high-souled Upamanyu who was a descendant of Vyaghrapada.  That retreat is applauded and reverenced by the deities and the Gandharvas, and seemed to be covered with Vedic beauty.  It was adorned with Dhavas and Kakubhas and Kadamvas and Cocas, with Kuruvakas and Ketakas and Jamvus and Patalas, with banians and Varunakas and Vatsanabhas and Vilwas, with Saralas and Kapitthas and Piyalas and Salas and palmyras with Vadaris and Kundas and Punnagas and Asokas and Amras and Kovidaras and Champakas and Panasas, and with diverse other trees endued with fruits and flowers.  And that retreat was also decked with the straight stems of the Musa Supienta.[37] Truly, that asylum was adorned with diverse other kinds of trees and with diverse kinds of fruits forming the food of diverse kinds of birds.  Heaps of ashes (of sacrificial fires) were thrown in proper places all around, which added to the beauty of the scene.  It abounded with Rurus and apes and tigers and lions and leopards, with deer of diverse species and peacocks, and with cats and snakes.  Indeed, large numbers of other animals also were seen there, as also buffaloes and bears.  Delicious breezes constantly blew bearing the melodious strains of celestial nymphs.  The babblings of mountain rivulets and springs, the sweet notes of winged choristers, the gruntings of elephants, the delicious stains of Kinnaras, and the auspicious voice of ascetics singing the Samans, O hero, and diverse other kinds of music, rendered that retreat extremely charming.  The very imagination cannot conceive another retreat as delightful as the one I beheld.  There were also large houses in that asylum, intended for keeping the sacred fire, and covered all over with flowering creepers.  It was adorned with the river Ganga of clear and sacred water.  Indeed, the daughter of Jahnu always remained there.  It was decked also with many ascetics who were the foremost of all righteous persons, who were endued with high souls, and who resembled fire itself in energy.[38] Some of those ascetics subsisted upon air and some upon water, some were devoted to Japa or the silent recitation of sacred Mantras, and some were engaged in cleansing their souls by practising the virtues