Vaishampayana said: ‘Then the king, [with] his abundant train, having slain thousands of deer, carried away by the chase, entered another forest. Alone, mighty in strength, oppressed by hunger and thirst, having reached the edge of that forest, he came upon a vast wasteland. Passing beyond it too, the king came to another great forest — filled with excellent hermitages, gladdening the heart, exceedingly delighting the eye, fanned by a cool breeze. [A forest] strewn with flowering trees, [with] pleasant grass, vast, resounding with sweet-voiced birds, covered with trees of spreading branches [giving] pleasant shade, [with] creepers over which bees hovered, endowed with the highest beauty. In that forest there was not a single tree without flowers, without fruit, thorny, or unswarmed by bees. The great archer entered that lovely, excellent forest, resounding with birds, adorned with trees bearing flowers of every season, [with] pleasant grass. Trees in bloom, shaken by the wind, again and again scattered a many-hued rain of blossoms there. Trees touching the sky, resounding with sweet-voiced birds, [clothed] in a garment of many-hued flowers, shone gloriously there. On their shoots, bent low by the weight of blossoms, birds together with bees softly poured forth their song. That most radiant [king], beholding many spots adorned with heaps of flowers, encircled by bowers of creepers, increasing the heart’s delight, rejoiced then. With that forest, [whose] trees had branches intertwined with one another, strewn with blossoms like the banners of Indra, [that forest] was resplendent. A pleasantly cool, fragrant wind, bearing flower-pollen, moving among the trees of the forest, seemed to caress them as if with amorous tenderness. [Such] a forest, endowed with these very qualities, sprung up on a riverbank, lovely, like a raised high banner, the king beheld.’