4. Here will I recite an old story, containing a discourse between two friends Bhása and Vilása, in some region of the Sahya mountain. 5. Now this is a mountain mightier than the three worlds in his superior strength. In his height he surmounted the sky, and in his extent he got the better of the ground, and with his foot he reached the infernal region. 6. It was fraught with various flowers, and furnished with innumberable water falls; its precious stones were watched over by the Guhya mountaineers, and named as Sahya or moderate being situated in the temperate zone; yet it was intolerable as a tropic mountain (by the intense heat on its top). 7. Its girdle of sun-stones, seemed to studded with pearls, by the sloping beams of the sun falling upon them; and its base with its pavement of gold, looked as the gold island (of Lanká). 8. Here a hill was full of flowers, and there another filled with minerals; there were lakes with flowering water plants on one side, and gemming stones lying on another. 9. Here the cascades were hurling and gurgling in foaming froths, and there the old bamboos were blowing through their hollow pipes; on one side the winds were howling in the mountain caves, and on another the bees were buzzing on the clustering flowers. 10. The Apsaras were singing in concert on the mountain tops, and the wild beasts were growling in the forests; there the birds were chirping in the groves, and the clouds were roaring on the peaks of mountains, while the birds of the air crying and flying about the sky. 11. The vidyádharas rested in the mountain grottos, and the black bees were humming on the lotus beds; the border lands resounded with the chorus of Keratás, and the woodlands were resonant with the melodies of singing birds. 12. It appeared as the abode of the triple world, having the seats of the gods on its top, the residence of men at its foot, and the holes of snakes under its bottom. 13. There were the siddhas dwelling in its caverns, and precious metals lying hid in its bosom; its sandal woods were the resort of snakes, and its peaks were the haunts of lions. 14. It was crowned with wreaths of flowers hanging on high over its head; and its body was besmeared with the dust and pollen of flowers; it was fanned by the fragrant breeze of flowers, and was all flowery with the fallen flowers. 15. It was daubed with the grey dust of its metallic ores, and stood on its footstool of precious stones; it was often resorted to by heavenly damsels, frequenting its bowers to cull the Mandára flowers. 16. Its peaks were veiled by the blue mantle of clouds, and decorated with the gems hidden under them; they appeared as beauties beaming with the golden beams of the sun, and rising to meet their loving gods in heaven. 17. There was a table land on the northern edge of that mountain, which was overhung by trees loaded with bunches of fruits, and also a gemming lake, formed by the waters of cataracts falling from high.