ll the great sages endued with
supernatural knowledge, knowing Yudhishthira arrived, received him
joyfully. And those sages engaged in the recitation of the Vedas, and
like unto fire itself, after having conferred blessings on Yudhishthira,
cheerfully accorded him fitting reception. And they gave him clean water
and flowers and roots. And Yudhishthira the just received with regard the
things gladly offered for his reception by the great sages. And then, O
sinless one, Pandu's son together with Krishna and his brothers, and
thousands of Brahmanas versed in the Vedas and the Vendangas, entered
into that holy hermitage, like unto the abode of Sukra and pleasing the
mind with heavenly odours and resembling heaven itself and attended with
beauty. There the pious (Yudhishthira) beheld the hermitage of Nara and
Narayana, beautified by the Bhagirathi and worshipped by the gods and the
celestial sages. And seeing that hermitage inhabited by the Brahmarshis
and containing fruits dropping honey, the Pandavas were filled with
delight. And having reached that place, the high-souled ones began to
dwell with the Brahmanas. There beholding the holy lake Vinda, and the
mountain Mainaka, of golden summits and inhabited by various species of
birds, the magnanimous ones lived happily with joy. The son of Pandu
together with Krishna took pleasure in ranging excellent and captivating
woods, shining with flowers of every season; beauteous on all sides with
trees bearing blown blossoms; and bending down with the weight of fruits
and attended by the numerous male kokilas and of glossy foliage; and
thick and having cool shade and lovely to behold. They took delight in
beholding diverse beautiful lakes of limpid water and shining all round
with lotuses and lilies. And there, O lord, the balmy breeze bearing pure
fragrance, blew gladdening all the Pandavas, together with Krishna. And
hard by the gigantic jujube, the mighty son of Kunti saw the Bhagirathi
of easy descent and cool and furnished with fresh lotuses and having
stairs made of rubies and corals and graced with trees and scattered over
with celestial flowers, and gladsome to the mind. And at that spot,
frequented by celestials and sages, and extremely inaccessible, they,
after having purified themselves offered oblations unto the pitris and
the gods and the rishis in the sacred waters of the Bhagirathi. Thus
those bulls among men the heroic perpetuators of the Kuru race, began to
reside the