Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 297

276
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