I desire to hear this (from
you); great indeed is my curiosity."
Vaisampayana continued, "O king, having reached king Vrishaparva's
hermitage, while those fearful warriors were living in various wonderful
woods, Vrikodara roaming at pleasure, with bow in hand and armed with a
scimitar, found that beautiful forest, frequented by gods and
_Gandharvas_. And then he beheld (some) lovely spots in the Himalayan
mountains, frequented by _Devarshis_ and _Siddhas_ and inhabited by
hosts of _Apsaras_, resounded here and there with (the warbling of)
birds--the _chakora_, the _chakrabaka_, the _jibajibaka_ and the cuckoo
and the _Bhringaraja_, and abounding with shady trees, soft with the
touch of snow and pleasing to the eye and mind, and bearing perennial
fruits and flowers. And he beheld mountain streams with waters
glistening like the _lapis lazuli_ and with ten thousand snow-white
ducks and swans and with forests of _deodar_ trees forming (as it were)
a trap for the clouds; and with _tugna_ and _kalikaya_ forests,
interspersed with yellow sandal trees. And he of mighty strength, in the
pursuit of the chase, roamed in the level and desert tracts of the
mountain, piercing his game with unpoisoned arrows. In that forest the
famous and mighty Bhimasena, possessing the strength of a hundred
elephants, killed (many) large wild boars, with the force (of his arms).
And endowed with terrible prowess and mighty strength, and powerful as
the lion or the tiger, and capable of resisting a hundred men, and
having long arms, and possessing the strength of a hundred elephants, he
killed many antelopes and wild boars and buffaloes.
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