(_Markandeya-Samasya Parva_)
Vaisampayana said, "While they were dwelling at that place, there set in
the season of the rains, the season that puts an end to the hot weather
and is delightful to all animated beings. Then the black clouds,
rumbling loudly, and covering the heavens and the cardinal points,
ceaselessly rained during day and night. These clouds, counted by
hundreds and by thousands, looked like domes in the rainy season. From
the earth disappeared the effulgence of the sun; its place was taken by
the stainless lustre of the lightning; the earth became delightful to
all, being overgrown with grass, with gnats and reptiles in their joy;
it was bathed with rain and possessed with calm. When the waters had
covered all, it could not be known whether the ground was at all even or
uneven;--whether there were rivers or trees or hills. At the end of the
hot season, the rivers added beauty to the woods being themselves full
of agitated waters, flowing with great force and resembling serpents in
the hissing sound they made. The boars, the stags and the birds, while
the rain was falling upon them began to utter sounds of various kinds
which could be heard within the forest tracts. The _chatakas_, the
peacocks and the host of male _Kohilas_ and the excited frogs, all ran
about in joy. Thus while the Pandavas were roaming about in the deserts
and sandy tracts, the happy season of rain, so various in aspect and
resounding with clouds passed away. Then set in the season of autumn,
thronged with ganders and cranes and full of joy; then the forest tracts
were overrun with grass; the river turned limpid; the firmament and
stars shone brightly., And the autumn, thronged with beasts and birds,
was joyous and pleasant for the magnanimous sons of Pandu. Then were
seen nights, that were free from dust and cool with clouds and
beautified by myriads of planets and stars and the moon. And they beheld
rivers and ponds, adorned with lilies and white lotuses, full of cool
and pleasant water. And while roving by the river _Saraswati_ whose
banks resembled the firmament itself and were overgrown with canes, and
as such abounded in sacred baths, their joy was great. And those heroes
who wielded powerful bows, were specially glad to see the pleasant river
_Saraswati_, with its limpid waters full to the brim. And, O Janamejaya,
the holiest night, that of the full moon in the month of _Kartika_ in
the season of autumn, was spent by them while dwelling there! And the
sons of Pandu, the best of the descendants of Bharata, spent that
auspicious juncture with righteous and magnanimous saints devoted to
penance. And as soon as the dark fortnight set in immediately after, the
sons of Pandu entered the forest named the Kamyaka, accompanied by
Dhananjaya and their charioteers and cooks."