ny 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 all 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 celes