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his Master's business, he did not rest even in groves of trees, at pools, on the bank of the Sindhu, etc. He arrived at the great forest that was like a secret pleasure-ground of Death, crowded with Kirātas with strung bows whose targets were elephants, wearing garments of deer-skin; like sorcerers; filled with deer, panthers, tigers, lions, and sarabhas, cruel by nature, like relatives of Yama, terrifying with ant-hills where ichneumons and snakes were fighting; having Kirāta boys intent on procuring the hair of bears; where old trees were destroyed by buffaloes fighting together; inaccessible because of the honey-bees started up by the Nahalas; where the sun was hidden by the mass of very tall trees.
As his chariot was swift, Suvega quickly crossed the terrible forest with ease, like a virtuous man death. He arrived at the Bahali-country where a good government was indicated by prosperous women-travelers, wearing ornaments, resting under trees at the road-side; where the life of Rṣabha Svämin was sung by happy herd-boys seated under the trees at each cow-pen; where all the villages were adorned with many dense trees with garlands of fruit, as if they had been taken from Bhadraśāla and planted there; where at every town, every village, and every house, beggars were searched for by rich men initiated into liberality alone; where villages were inhabited for the most part by Mlecchas of undiminished wealth, who had come from the north half of Bharata as if afraid of (King) Bharata; where the commands of Bharata were not acknowledged, as if it were another division apart from the six divisions of Bharata.
Frequently conversing with the country-people on the roads, who were untroubled and did not know any other king except Sri Bahubali; seeing even the fierce beasts of prey in the forests and mountains quickly limping at the command of Sunanda's son (Bahubali); inferring from the affectionate speech of his subjects and the great wealth
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