an here,
so help us now Manibhadra, the king of Yakshas!" Thus addressed by them
she asked those merchants as well as the leader of the host saying, "It
behoveth you to tell me whither this caravan is bound." The leader of
the band said, "O daughter of a great king, for the purpose of profit
this caravan is bound direct for the city of Suvahu, the truth-telling
ruler of the Chedis."'"

SECTION LXV

"Vrihadaswa said, 'Having heard the words of the leader of that caravan,
Damayanti of faultless limbs proceeded with that caravan itself anxious
to behold her lord. And after having proceeded for many days the
merchants saw a large lake fragrant with lotuses in the midst of that
dense and terrible forest. And it was beautiful all over, and
exceedingly delightful, (with banks) abounding in grass and fuel and
fruits and flowers. And it was inhabited by various kinds of fowls and
birds, and fall of water that was pure and sweet. And it was cool and
capable of captivating the heart. And the caravan, worn out with toil,
resolved to halt there. And with the permission of their leader, they
spread themselves around those beautiful woods. And that mighty caravan
finding it was evening halted at that place. And (it came to pass that)
at the hour of midnight when everything was hushed and still and the
tired caravan had fallen asleep, a herd of elephants in going towards a
mountain stream to drink of its water befouled by their temporal juice,
saw that caravan as also the numerous elephants belonging to it. And
seeing their domesticated fellows the wild elephants infuriated and with
the temporal juice trickling down rushed impetuously on the former, with
the intention of killing them. And the force of the rush of those
elephants was hard to bear, like the impetuosity of peaks lessened from
mountain summits rolling towards the plain. The rushing elephants found
the forest paths to be all blocked up, for the goodly caravan was
sleeping obstructing the paths around that lake of lotuses. And the
elephants all of a sudden, began to crush the men lying insensible on
the ground. And uttering cries of "_Oh!_" and "_Alas!_" the merchants,
blinded by sleep, fled, in order to escape that danger, to copses and
woods for refuge. And some were slain by the tusks, and some by the
trunks, and some by the legs of those elephants. And innumerable camels
and horses were killed, and crowds of men on foot, running in fright,
killed one another. And utt