Having grown for many
centuries, he had spread out his branches wide around. His trunk also was
huge and his twigs and leaves were innumerable. Under his shade toil-worn
elephants in rut, bathed in sweat, used to rest, and many animals of
other species also. The girth of his trunk was four hundred cubits, and
dense was the shade of his branches and leaves. Loaded with flowers and
fruits, it was the abode of innumerable parrots, male and female. In
travelling along their routes, caravans of merchants and traders, and
ascetics, residing in the woods, used to rest under the shade of that
delightful monarch of the forest. One day, the sage Narada, O bull of
Bharata's race, seeing the wide-extending and innumerable branches of
that tree and the circumference of his trunk, approached and addressed
him, saying, 'O thou art delightful! O thou art charming! O foremost of
trees, O Salmali, I am always delighted at thy sight! O charming tree,
delightful birds of diverse kinds, and elephants and other animals,
cheerfully live; on thy branches and under their shade. Thy branches, O
wide-branched monarch of the forest, and thy trunk are gigantic. I never
see any of them broken by the god of the wind. Is it, O child, the case
that Pavana is pleased with thee and is thy friend so that he protects
thee always in these woods? The illustrious Pavana possessed of great
speed and force moveth from their sites the tallest and strongest trees,
and even mountain summits.
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