"Then autumn came, full of flocks of cranes and geese, with forests grown lush and waters flowing clear. A pure, starry sky, transparent waters, and beasts and birds made the autumn auspicious for the great-souled Pandavas. They saw nights free of dust, cool from the clouds, radiant with hosts of planets and stars and with the moon. They saw rivers and lakes adorned with white and blue lotuses, bearing cold waters. Joy came to them as they walked beside the holy Sarasvati, whose banks were like the sky, full of nipa and nivara. The heroes with their firm bows rejoiced, beholding the clear-watered, auspicious, brimming Sarasvati. In the autumn month of Karttika, at the junction of the lunar days, they who dwelt there had the most sacred night, O Janamejaya. The Pandavas, together with the great beings who work virtue, the ascetics, accomplished all this, the highest union. And when darkness rose, the Pandavas, together with Dhaumya, the charioteers, and the cooks, set out for the forest of Kamyaka."