50. There is the Kailása mountain on the north, vying with firmament in its brightness; below it there is the hermitage of _Skanda_, and the moon shines in her brilliance above. 51. Lo, the god Indra has let loose his winds, to break the branches of trees, and demolish the huts on the ground, the fragments of which they have been carrying afar. 52. The winds are wafting the profuse fragrance of flowers after the rains, and filling the nostrils of men with their odours; while the flights of bees are floating as clouds in the azure sky. 53. Methinks the goddess Flora has chosen for her abode, the blooming flowers in the forests; limpid waters in the marshy grounds, and in villages abounding in fruitful trees, and flourishing fields. 54. The windows are overgrown with creeping plants in the rains, and the house tops are decorated with the flowers of the climbing creepers upon them. The ground is strewn over with the dropping flowers up to the heels, and the breezes are blowing the dust of the flowers all about. All these have made the woodlands the seats of the sylvan gods. 55. The rains have converted the rustic village, to a romantic paradise or fairy land; by the blooming _champaka_ flowers, the swinging of the rural nymphs in their cradles, of creepers, by the warbling of birds and gurgling of water-falls, the blossoming of the tall palm trees in the skirts; the tender creepers blooming with clusters of snow white blossom, the dancing of peacocks on the tops of houses, and the borders shaded by the sal trees; and the rainy clouds hanging over the village and the bordering hills. 56. Again the soft and sweet breathing breezes, the variegated leaves of the plants and creepers, the verdure of the village, the cries of cranes and other fowls, and the wild notes of the foresters; these together with the jollity of the swains, and the merriment of the pastoral people, over their plenty of milk, curd, butter and ghee, and their glee in their peaceful abodes, add a charm to this hilly tract. CHAPTER CXVI. NARRATION OF THE SPEECH OF CROW AND CUCKOO. Argument.--Description of the battle field, and of the hills and sky, and the story of the foolish crow. The companions added:--Look lord, the field of battle, stretching to the bordering hills; look upon the heaps of shining weapons, and the scattered forces of elephants, horse, infantry and war chariots. 2. Look at the slain and their slayers, and the combatants attacking their corrivals; and how their dying souls are borne by celestial nymphs in heavenly cars to heaven. 3. The victor finding his adversary worsted in warfare, ought not slay him unjustly, unless he is justified to do so by laws of warfare (as a youth is justified to take unto him no other woman but his legal wife). 4. As health and wealth and prosperity, are good for men when they are rightly gained; so it is right to fight for those by whom one is supported.