Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/208

164174 [sic] by Gandharvas and Apsaras (the celestial singers and dancing-maids.) And because he coursed through the upper regions, therefore was he called Uparichara. And by his capital flowed a river called Shuktimati. And that river was once attacked by a life-endued mountain called Kolahala maddened by lust. And Vasu, beholding the foul attempt, struck the mountain with his foot. And by the indentation caused by Vasu's stamp, the river came out (of the embraces of Kolahala.) But the mountain begat in the river two children that were twins. And the river, grateful to Vasu for his having set her free from Kolahala's embraces, gave them both to Vasu. And the child that was male was made by Vasu—that best of royal sages and giver of wealth and the punisher of his enemies—the generalissimo of his forces. But the daughter, called Girika—was by Vasu made his wife.

"And Girika the wife of Vasu, when her season came, becoming pure after a bath, represented her state unto her lord. But that very day, the Pitris of Vasu came unto that best of monarchs and foremost of the wise, and asked him to slay deer (for their Shradha.) And the king, thinking that the command of the Pitris should not be disobeyed, went ahunting, wishfully thinking of Girika alone who was gifted with great beauty and like unto another Sree (Laksmi) herself. And the season being spring, the woods within which the king was roaming, had become delightful like unto the garden of the king of the Gandharvas himself. There were Ashokas and Champakas, and Chutas and Atimuktas in abundance; and there were Punnagas and Karnikaras and Vakulas and Divya Patalas and Patalas and Narikelas and Chandanas and Arjunas and such other beautiful and sacred trees resplendant with fragrant flowers and tasteful fruits. And the whole forest was maddened by the sweet notes of the Kakila and echoed with the hum of the maddened bee. And the king became possessed with desire and he saw not his wife before him. Maddened by desire as he was roaming hither and thither, he saw a beautiful Ashoka decked with dense foliage and its branches covered with flowers. And the king sat at his ease in the shade of that tree. And excited by the fragrance of