Vaisampayana said, "When they had left their happy home in the beautiful
mountain abounding in cascades, and having birds, and the elephants of
the eight quarters, and the supernatural attendants of _Kuvera_ (as
dwellers thereof), all happiness forsook those foremost of men of
Bharata's race. But afterwards on beholding _Kuvera's_ favourite
mountain, _Kailasa_, appearing like clouds, the delight of those
pre-eminent heroes of the race of Bharata, became very great. And those
foremost of heroic men, equipped with scimitars and bows, proceeded
contentedly, beholding elevations and defiles, and dens of lions and
craggy causeways and innumerable water-falls and lowlands, in different
places, as also other great forests inhabited by countless deer and
birds and elephants. And they came upon beautiful woodlands and rivers
and lakes and caves and mountain caverns; and these frequently by day
and night became the dwelling place of those great men. And having dwelt
in all sorts of inaccessible places and crossing _Kailasa_ of
inconceivable grandeur, they reached the excellent and surpassingly
beautiful hermitage of _Vrishaparba_. And meeting king Vrishaparba and
received by him, they became free from depression and then they
accurately narrated in detail to Vrishaparba the story of their sojourn
in the mountains. And having pleasantly passed one night in his sacred
abode frequented by gods and _Maharshis_, those great warriors proceeded
smoothly towards the jujube tree called Visala and took up their
quarters there. Then all those magnanimous men having reached the place
of Narayana, continued to live there, bereft of all sorrow, at beholding
_Kuvera's_ favourite lake, frequented by gods and _Siddhas_. And viewing
that lake, those foremost of men, the sons of Pandu traversed that
place, renouncing all grief even as immaculate _Brahmana rishis_ (do) on
attaining a habitation in the _Nandana_ gardens. Then all those warriors
having in due course happily lived at Badari for one month, proceeded
towards the realm of Suvahu, king of the _Kiratas_, by following the
same track by which they had come. And crossing the difficult Himalayan
regions, and the countries of China, Tukhara, Darada and all the climes
of Kulinda, rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men reached the
capital of Suvahu. And hearing that those sons and grandsons of kings
had all reached his kingdom, Suvahu, elated with joy, advanced (to meet
them). Then the best of the Kurus welcomed him also. And meeting king
Suvahu, and being joined by all their charioteers with Visoka at their
head and by their attendants, Indrasena and others, and also by the
superintendents and servants of the kitchen, they stayed there
comfortably for one night. Then taking all the chariots and chariot-men
and dismissing Ghatotkacha together with his followers, they next
repaired to the monarch of mountains in the vicinity of the _Yamuna_. In
the midst of the mountain abounding in waterfalls and having grey and
orange-coloured slopes and summits covered with a sheet of snow, those
warlike men having then found the great forest of Visakhayupa like unto
the forest of Chitraratha and inhabited by wild boars and various kinds
of deer and birds, made it their home. Addicted to hunting as their
chief occupation, the sons of Pritha peacefully dwelt in that forest for
one year. There in a cavern of the mountain, Vrikodara, with a heart
afflicted with distraction and grief, came across a snake of huge
strength distressed with hunger and looking fierce like death itself. At
this crisis Yudhishthira, the best of pious men, became the protector of
Vrikodara and he, of infinite puissance, extricated Bhima whose whole
body had been fast gripped by the snake with its folds. And the twelfth
year of their sojourn in forests having arrived, those scions of the
race of Kuru, blazing in effulgence, and engaged in asceticism, always
devoted principally to the practice of archery, repaired cheerfully from
that Chitraratha-like forest to the borders of the desert, and desirous
of dwelling by the _Saraswati_ they went there, and from the banks of
that river they reached the lake of _Dwaitabana_. Then seeing them enter
_Dwaitabana_, the dwellers of that place engaged in asceticism,
religious ordinances, and self-restraining exercises and in deep and
devout meditation and subsisting on things ground with stone (for want
of teeth) having procured grass-mats and water-vessels, advanced to meet
them. The holy fig, the rudaraksha, the rohitaka, the cane and the
jujube, the catechu, the sirisha, the bel and the inguda and the karira
and pilu and sami trees grew on the banks of the _Saraswati_. Wandering
about with contentment in (the vicinity of) the _Saraswati_ which was,
as it were, the home of the celestials, and the favourite (resort) of
_Yakshas_ and _Gandharvas_ and _Maharshis_, those sons of kings lived
there in happiness."