led
unto the woods, as he was ranging the beautiful Gandhamadana, he
remembered the many and various woes caused by Duryodhana. And he
thought, 'Now that Arjuna sojourn in heaven and that I too have come away
to procure the flowers, what will our brother Yudhishthira do at present?
Surely, from affection and doubting their prowess, that foremost of men,
Yudhishthira, will not let Nakula and Sahadeva come in search of us. How,
again, can I obtain the flowers soon?' Thinking thus, that tiger among
men proceeded in amain like unto the king of birds, his mind and sight
fixed on the delightful side of the mountain. And having for his
provisions on the journey the words of Draupadi, the mighty son of Pandu,
Vrikodara Bhima, endued with strength and the swiftness of the wind, with
his mind and sight fixed on the blooming slopes of the mountain,
proceeded speedily, making the earth tremble with his tread, even as doth
a hurricane at the equinox; and frightening herds of elephants and
grinding lions and tigers and deer and uprooting and smashing large trees
and tearing away by force plants and creepers, like unto an elephant
ascending higher and higher the summit of a mountain; and roaring
fiercely even as a cloud attended with thunder. And awakened by that
mighty roaring of Bhima, tigers came out of their dens, while other
rangers of the forest hid themselves. And the coursers of the skies
sprang up (on their wing) in fright. And herds of deer hurriedly ran
away. And birds left the trees (and fled). And lions forsook their dens.
And the mighty lions were roused from their slumber. And the buffaloes
stared. And the elephants in fright, leaving that wood, ran to more
extensive forests company with their mates. And the boars and the deer
and the lions and the buffaloes and the tigers and the jackals and the
gavayas of the wood began to cry in herds. And the ruddy geese, and the
gallinules and the ducks and the karandavas and the plavas and the
parrots and the male kokilas and the herons in confusion flew in all
directions, while some proud elephants urged by their mates, as also some
lions and elephants in rage, flew at Bhimasena. And as they were
distracted at heart through fear, these fierce animals discharging urine
and dung, set up loud yells with gapping mouths. Thereupon the
illustrious and graceful son of the wind-god, the mighty Pandava,
depending upon the strength of his arms, began to slay one elephant with
another elepha