Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/158

54 Vakula, mango and Ashoka trees. The bee hums and the notes of the Cuckoo are heard to reverberate through the skies. The south wind fans this king of the seasons, and the forests are hung with the festoons of tender and sprouting leaves in his honour.

The sun's rays become stronger and more intense in summer. Unhealthy winds blow from the south-east. The earth is heated; the rivers run narrow and shallow in their beds; the quarters of the sky glare with a blazing light, the birds Chakravakas with their mates roam about in quest of cool ponds and reservoirs of water; herds of deer are tormented and overwhelmed with thirst; trees, plants and creepers are scorched by the intense heat, and withered leaves drop off from the trees which alone serve to make the identification of their parents possible.

In the forepart of the rainy season (Pravrit), packs of detached clouds, spangled with lightning and driven before the gales of the west-wind, come thundering over and envelop the skies. The Earth is robed in green with luxurious growth of corn, enlivened here and there by the dark crimson of the cochineal insects (Indragopa), and Kadamva, Nipa, Kutaja, and the Ketaki trees begin to flower.

During the rainy season, the rivers overflow their banks, tumbling down the trees which grow on them. Ponds and lakes are decked with the full-blown Kumud