d many lakes overgrown with blue lotuses.

"'Having entered that dense forest, they cast their eyes about and saw a
gigantic banyan tree with thousands of branches. Repairing to the shade
of that tree, those great car-warriors, O king, those foremost of men,
saw that was the biggest tree in that forest. Alighting from their cars,
and letting loose their animals, they cleansed themselves duly and said
their evening prayers. The Sun then reached the Asta mountains, and
Night, the mother of the universe, came. The firmament, bespangled with
planets and stars, shone like an ornamented piece of brocade and
presented a highly agreeable spectacle. Those creatures that walk the
night began to howl and utter their cries at will, while they that walk
the day owned the influence of sleep. Awful became the noise of the
night-wandering animals. The carnivorous creatures became full of glee,
and the night, as it deepened, became dreadful.

"'At that hour, filled with grief and sorrow, Kritavarma and Kripa and
Drona's son all sat down together. Seated under that banyan, they began
to give expression to their sorrow in respect of that very matter: the
destruction that had taken place of both the Kurus and the Pandavas.
Heavy with sleep, they laid themselves down on the bare earth. They had
been exceedingly tired and greatly mangled with shafts. The two great
car-warriors, Kripa and Kritavarma, succumbed to sleep. However deserving
of happiness and undeserving of misery, they then lay stretched on the
bare ground. Indeed, O monarch, those two who had always slept on costly
beds now slept, like helpless persons, on the bare ground, afflicted with
toil and grief.

"'Drona's son, however, O Bharata, yielding to the influence of wrath and
reverence, could not sleep, but continued to breathe like a snake.
Burning with rage, he could not get a wink of slumber. That hero of
mighty arms cast his eyes on every side of that terrible forest. As he
surveyed that forest peopled with diverse kinds of creatures, the great
warrior beheld a large banyan covered with crows. On that banyan
thousands of crows roosted in the night. Each perching separately from
its neighbour, those crows slept at ease, O Kauravya! As, however, those
birds were sleeping securely on every side, Ashvatthama beheld an owl of
terrible aspect suddenly make its appearance there. Of frightful cries
and gigantic body, with green eyes and tawny plumage, its nose was very
large and