seasons. And they also beheld that
beautiful jujube of round trunk. And it was fresh; and of deep shade; and
of excellent beauty; and of thick, soft and sleek foliage; and healthful;
and having gigantic boughs; and wide-spreading; and of incomparable
lustre; and bearing full-grown, tasteful, and holy fruits dropping honey.
And this celestial tree was frequented by hosts of mighty sages, and was
always inhabited by various birds maddened with animal spirits. And it
grew at a spot devoid of mosquitoes and gad-flies, and abounding in
fruits and roots and water, and covered with green grass, and inhabited
by the celestials and the Gandharvas, and of smooth surface, and
naturally healthful, and beauteous and cool and of delicate feel. Having
reached that (tree) together with those bulls among Brahmanas, the
high-souled ones gently alighted from the shoulders of the Rakshasas.
Then in company with those bulls among the twice-born ones, the Pandavas
beheld that romantic asylum presided over by Nara and Narayana; devoid of
gloom; and sacred; and untouched by the solar rays; and free from those
rubs, viz. hunger, and thirst, heat and cold, and removing (all) sorrow;
and crowded with hosts of mighty sages; and adorned with the grace
proceeding from the Vedas, Saman, Rich, and Yajus; and, O king,
inaccessible to men who have renounced religion; and beautified with
offerings, and homas; and sacred; and well-swept and daubed; and shining
all around with offerings of celestial blossoms; and spread over with
altars of sacrificial fire, and sacred ladles and pots; and graced with
large water-jars, and baskets and the refuge of all beings; and echoing
with the chanting of the Vedas; and heavenly: and worthy of being
inhabited; and removing fatigue; and attended with splendour and of
incomprehensible merit; and majestic with divine qualities. And the
hermitage was inhabited by hosts of great sages, subsisting on fruits and
roots; and having their senses under perfect control; and clad in black
deer-skins; and effulgent like unto the Sun and Agni; and of souls
magnified by asceticism and intent on emancipation; and leading the
Vanaprastha mode of life; and of subdued senses; and identified with the
Supreme Soul; and of high fortune; and reciting Vaidic hymns. Then having
purified himself and restrained his senses, that son of Dharma, the
intelligent Yudhishthira of exceeding energy, accompanied by his
brothers, approached those sages. And a