18. The ground was strewn over with florets scattered by the waving stalks of _amra_ trees; and its borders were decorated with the blossoming _kolkara_ and _punnaga_ plants, shining as cerulean lotuses about a lake. 19. The sun beams were shut out by the embowering alcoves of creepers, and the ground sparkled with its gems like the floor of heaven; the _Jambu_ fruits distilled their juice like the cooling moon beams, and all these made this spot as delightful as the moon light sky. 20. It was as delightful as the heaven of Brahmá and the celestial seat of Siva; and here the sage Atri held his hermitage which blotted away the austerities of Siddhas. 21. In this hermitage there dwelt two hermits, both of whom were as wise and knowing as Vrihaspati and Sukra—the preceptors of gods and demigods. 22. They were both as of one flesh and soul, and brought forth in time two boys, like two buds of lotuses growing in the same bed, and having their bodies as pure as the limpid lake from which they sprang. 23. They were named Bhása and Vilása, who grew up in time like two orchids, upon the branching arms of their parents. 24. They had one soul and mind in two bodies, which were united to one another as those of two loving brothers, and intimate friends. They remained in mutual union like the oil and seeds of sesamum, and as the flower and its fragrance. 25. The fond parents were much more mutually attached in their hearts and minds, owing to their joint care and affection for their lads, and seemed as they were the one and same person in two different bodies. 26. The two boys of graceful forms, remained also pleased with one another in the same hermitage; and moved about as two bees, over the same bed of lotuses in the same lake. 27. They attained their youth after passing their boyhood and shone forth in a short time, as the two luminaries of the sun and moon rising together. 28. The aged parents then left their infirm bodies, and went to heaven like a pair of birds quitting their broken nest. (Nest is in sanskrit _nidas_, Lat. _nidus_. Plato compares the departing soul, to the flight of a bird from its nest.) 29. The demise of the parents made the youths as dejected as the drooping lotus in a dried-up channel; and the vigour of their bodies now gave way to their want of energy. 30. They discharged the funeral rites, and remained long in their mourning; under the sad accidents of life, which are unavertible even by the good and great. 31. After performance of the obsequies, they were so overpowered by their grief and sorrow, that they continued to wail over their memory with piteous cries and tears. They sat silent and inactive as pictures in a painting, with their melancholy countenances and hearts heavy with sobs and sighs. CHAPTER LXVI. THE TRANSITORINESS OF LIFE AND EVANESCENCE OF WORLD BY THINGS. Argument. Speech of Bhása, on the vain sorrows and griefs of unenlightened Minds.