03.145
Yudhishthira said;
Let Bhima, who is a knower of dharma, strong, heroic, immediately the foremost among rākṣasas, devoted, our own son, take (carry) the mother. (03-145-1)
By your strength, O Bhīma, I, endowed with exceedingly tremendous prowess, may proceed unscathed with Pāñcālī to Gandhamādana. (03-145-2)
Vaiśampāyana said.
After understanding his brother's words, Bhīmasena, the tiger among men, commanded his son Ghaṭotkaca, the destroyer of enemies. (03-145-3)
O son of Hiḍimbā, your mother Aparājitā is fatigued. You, dear one, who can go wherever you wish and are strong, carry her, O bird. (03-145-4)
Place her on your shoulder—good fortune to you!—and, among us, fly through the air by a low route so that you do not hurt her. (03-145-5)
Ghaṭotkaca said.
Dharma-rāja, Dhaumya, the princess, and also the twin sons of Yama—even I alone am able to carry them; how much more today when I have assistance? (03-145-6)
Vaiśampāyana said;
Having thus spoken, Ghaṭotkaca carried Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī); the hero, moving among the Pāṇḍus, the Pāṇḍavas and others also went along. (03-145-7)
Lomaśa, following the path of the perfected, proceeded with incomparable radiance, shining by his own brilliance as if he were a second sun. (03-145-8)
The Rākṣasas of great might, following the king of the Rākṣasas’ command, carried away all those Brāhmaṇas as well and departed. (03-145-9)
Thus, beholding the very beautiful forests and groves, they went towards the vast Badari. (3-145-10)
But they, carried by those Rākṣasas of great strength and swift movement, quickly traversed a great distance as if it were little. (03-145-11)
They saw lands teeming with mleccha communities, full of various jewel-mines, and also mountain slopes filled with many kinds of minerals. (03-145-12)
Crowded with multitudes of Vidyādharas and also surrounded on all sides by vānaras, kiṃnaras, kimpuruṣas, and gandharvas. (03-145-13)
They were regions filled with networks of rivers, alive with the calls of many kinds of birds, inhabited by many types of deer, and beautified by monkeys. (3-145-14)
After traversing many countries and the northern lands of the Kurus, they saw various marvels, including Kailāsa, the foremost of mountains. (03-145-15)
But nearby they saw the hermitage of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, adorned with divine trees always bearing flowers and fruits. (03-145-16)
They saw that beautiful jujube tree, with a rounded trunk, shining, with an unbroken shade, and endowed with supreme beauty. (03-145-17)
Endowed with glossy, unbroken leaves, soft and auspicious, wide-branched, expansive, and possessing great brilliance. (03-145-18)
Abundantly heaped with divine fruits, always filled with sweet offerings and honey-flows, a divine place attended by assemblies of great sages, and always enlivened by joyful gatherings of many kinds of birds. (03-145-19)
In a land free from biting insects and flies, with plenty of roots, fruits, and water, covered in blue-green grass, attended by gods and gandharvas. (03-145-20)
Grown in a well-prepared area of land, in an auspicious place endowed by nature, in a region whose touch is soft like snow and free from thorns. (3-145-21)
The great souls, along with those eminent Brāhmaṇas, approached her and then all slowly descended from the shoulder of the Rākṣasa. (03-145-22)
Then, O king, the Pāṇḍavas, together with eminent Brāhmaṇas, saw that holy hermitage inhabited by Nara and Nārāyaṇa. (03-145-23)
It is free from darkness, meritorious, untouched by the sun's rays, free from the defects of hunger, thirst, cold, and heat, and a destroyer of sorrow. (03-145-24)
O great king, it was crowded with groups of great sages, endowed with divine power and fortune, and was difficult for unrighteous men to enter. (03-145-25)
It was divine, worshipped by offerings and oblations, thoroughly cleansed with ointments, and adorned on all sides with divine flowers and offerings. (03-145-26)
Adorned with large fire altars, auspicious ladle vessels, great and firm water pots, beautifully decorated, that place was a refuge for all beings and resounded with the chanting of sacred Vedic hymns. (03-145-27)
That hermitage, divine and worthy of refuge, which dispels fatigue, resplendent with beauty, indescribable, and adorned by divine practices. (03-145-28)
By ascetics who live on fruits and roots, are self-controlled, wear bark and black antelope skins, resemble the sun's fiery energy through their austerity, and have purified their souls. (03-145-29)
Endowed with great seers, ascetics intent on liberation and possessed of controlled senses, those who have become Brahman, the highly fortunate, and expounders of Brahman. (03-145-30)
He, Yudhishthira, the wise son of Dharma, possessing great splendor, self-controlled and pure, accompanied by his brothers, approached those sages. (03-145-31)
Those great sages, endowed with divine knowledge, upon seeing Yudhishthira arrive, all approached him with great joy. They, exceedingly devoted to self-study, bestowed their blessings. (03-145-32)
Having become pleased, they honored him according to the rite, being like fire; and they brought pure water, flowers, roots, and fruits. (03-145-33)
Then he—Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Dharma—reverently received the honor offered with affection by those great sages. (03-145-34)
Pleased, the Pāṇḍava, together with Kṛṣṇā, regarded that sacred, pleasant, divinely fragrant place—like Indra's own abode and resembling heaven. (03-145-35)
Acyuta (Kṛṣṇa), adorned with splendor, entered along with his brothers and the Brāhmaṇas learned in the Veda and its branches, O sinless one. (03-145-36)
There, the righteous one saw the abode of Nara and Nārāyaṇa, honored by gods and sages, adorned by the river Bhāgīrathī. (03-145-37)
Having approached that divine place with honey-exuding fruits, which was attended by multitudes of great sages, those great-souled ones dwelt there together with the Brāhmaṇas. (03-145-38)
They saw Mainaka mountain teeming with many flocks of birds, the golden peak, and the auspicious Bindu lake. (03-145-39)
The Bhagirathi river, endowed with excellent holy fords, cold and pure water, auspiciousness, banks strewn with jewels and coral, and beautified by trees. (03-145-40)
The great-souled Pāṇḍavas, observing the place covered with divine flowers that increased the delight of the mind, enjoyed themselves there. (03-145-41)
There, the chief among men, together with the Brāhmaṇas, repeatedly offered oblations to the gods and ancestors, and the heroes dwelt there. (03-145-42)
There, the Pāṇḍavas—tigers among men—saw the various plays of Kṛṣṇā, heroes like the lords of the immortals, and took delight there. (03-145-43)
