[Having entered the world of serpents, Uttanka began to praise the nagas with these verses:] "O serpents whose king is Airavata, resplendent in [warlike] assembly — like clouds pouring rain, driven by lightning and wind! Beautiful and hideous, with mottled earrings, you shone like [many] suns upon the vault of heaven, O offspring of Airavata! Many are the serpent-paths on the northern bank of the Ganga; who would wish to advance into the [scorching] host of the sun's rays without the shelter of Airavata? Eight thousand eighty and [yet another] twenty thousand serpent-guards move when [the serpent] Dhritarashtra advances. To those who draw near him and to those who have gone far away — to the elder brothers of Airavata I make obeisance. Him whose dwelling was ever on Kurukshetra and in the [forest of] Khandava — Takshaka, son of Kadru — I have praised for the sake of the earrings. Takshaka and Ashvasena are inseparable companions, dwelling on Kurukshetra by the river Ikshumati. And to the younger [brother] of Takshaka, the renowned Shrutasena, who has settled in [a land] of great splendor, seeking foremost rank among the serpents — to him, the great one, I ever make obeisance."