the sons of Pandu, O king, left in the hermitage of Vrishaparva
their sacrificial vessels together with their ornaments and jewels. And
wise and pious and versed in every duty and having a knowledge of the
past as well as the future, that one gave instructions unto those best
of the Bharatas, as unto his own sons. Then taking his permission those
high-souled ones set out towards the north. And as they set out the
magnanimous Vrishaparva followed them to a certain distance. Then having
entrusted the Pandavas unto the care of the Brahmanas and instructed and
blessed them and given directions concerning their course, Vrishaparva
of mighty energy retraced his steps.

"Then Kunti's son, Yudhishthira of unfailing prowess, together with his
brothers, began to proceed on foot along the mountain path, inhabited by
various kinds of beasts. And having dwelt at the mountain slopes,
densely overgrown with trees, Pandu's son on the fourth day reached the
Sweta mountain, like unto a mighty mass of clouds, abounding in streams
and consisting of a mass of gold and gems. And taking the way directed
by Vrishaparva, they reached one by one the intended places, beholding
various mountains. And over and over they passed with ease many
inaccessible rocks and exceedingly impassable caves of the mountain. And
Dhaumya and Krishna and the Parthas and the mighty sage Lomasa went on
in a body and none grew tired. And those highly fortunate ones arrived
at the sacred and mighty mountain resounding with the cries of birds and
beasts and covered with various trees and creepers and inhabited by
monkeys, and romantic and furnished with many lotus-lakes and having
marshes and extensive forests. And then with their down standing erect,
they saw the mountain Gandhamadana, the abode of Kimpurushas, frequented
by Siddhas and Charanas and ranged by Vidyadharis and Kinnaris and
inhabited by herds of elephants and thronged with lions and tigers and
resounding with the roars of Sarabhas and attended by various beasts.
And the war-like sons of Pandu gradually entered into the forest of the
Gandhamadana, like unto the Nandana gardens, delightful to the mind and
heart and worthy of being inhabited and having beautiful groves. And as
those heroes entered with Draupadi and the high-souled Brahmanas, they
heard notes uttered by the mouths of birds, exceedingly sweet and
graceful to the ear and causing delight and dulcet and broken by reason
of excess of animal spirits