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( xxi )
by its towering peaks, where he receives presents offered to him by rich country-folk' (510). Then he proceeds in the Northern direction 'indicated by the Lord of Yaksas, the tracts of which are perfumed by the juicy exudation oozing from deep cuts on the Devadāru trees and cooled by the fragrance of wines freshly distilled ' (512). What the Army-men saw in their trek :
The Army-men, marching through different territories, East, South, West and North came across various lovely scenes and objects of nature, such as a lake, its environment, the forests and the flora and fauna thereabout, the forest villages and their inhabitants, the spring season, the mountainous parts, caves and the villages and rivers therein, the sea and its coastal region, the Himalayan tract including the Kailāsa mountain and luminous herbs therein, the seasons of summer and autumn etc. In a long Kulaka of 146 Gāthās (513-658), the Poet, a great lover of Nature, depicts their lovely aspects as observed by the soldiers of the King's Army'(658). One is led to believe that Vākpatirāja must have traversed these parts in person to observe them minutely and collect the details thereof with a view to poetising them later. The following are a few of the interesting features, as described by the Poet :
"Here are these (lake) tracts, that look lovely, as cries of the swans get blended with the sweet, throaty (notes) of the intoxicated geese and the clumps of Nicula reeds are penetrated by female cranes" (517). Vain cries (of frustration) from ospreys, hovering over in the sky (to catch fish), emanate here on the pools of water (thickly covered ) with lotus leaves kicked up by the gambolling fish ( underneath ) " (520). " Here these bordering areas
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