s of Bhimasena, began to search for him in that
mighty forest. And on coming to the east, he found mighty leaders of
elephant-herds (slain) and saw the earth marked with Bhima's
(foot-prints). Then seeing thousands of deer and hundreds of lions lying
in the forest, the king ascertained his course. And on the way were
scattered trees pulled down by the wind caused by the thighs of that hero
endued with the speed of the wind as he rushed after the deer. And
proceeding, guided by those marks, to a spot filled with dry winds and
abounding in leafless vegetables, brackish and devoid of water, covered
with thorny plants and scattered over with gravel, stumps and shrubs and
difficult of access and uneven and dangerous, he saw in a mountain cavern
his younger brother motionless, caught in the folds of that foremost of
snakes."

SECTION CLXXIX

Vaisampayana continued, "Yudhishthira, finding his beloved brother coiled
by the body of the serpent, said these words: 'O son of Kunti, how hast
thou come by this misfortune! And who is this best of serpents having a
body like unto a mountain mass?' Bhimasena said, 'O worshipful one, this
mighty being hath caught me for food. He is the royal sage Nahusha living
in the form of a serpent.' Yudhishthira said, 'O longlived one, do thou
free my brother of immeasurable prowess; we will give thee some other
food which will appease thy hunger.' The serpent said, 'I have got for
diet even this son of a king, come to my mouth of himself. Do thou go
away. Thou shouldst not stay here. (If thou remainest here) thou too
shall be my fare to-morrow. O mighty-armed one, this is ordained in
respect of me, that he that cometh unto my place, becometh my food and
thou too art in my quarter. After a long time have I got thy younger
brother as my food; I will not let him off; neither do I like to have any
other food.' Thereat Yudhishthira said, 'O serpent, whether thou art a
god, or a demon, or an Uraga, do thou tell me truly, it is Yudhishthira
that asketh thee, wherefore, O snake, hast thou taken Bhimasena? By
obtaining which, or by knowing what wilt thou receive satisfaction, O
snake, and what food shall I give thee? And how mayst thou free him.' The
serpent said, 'O sinless one, I was thy ancestor, the son of Ayu and
fifth in descent from the Moon. And I was a king celebrated under the
name of Nahusha. And by sacrifices and asceticism and study of the Vedas
and self-restraint and prowess I had acquire