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Description of the Inner Basins (Droṇīs): Śrīsaras, Śrīvana, Bilva Forest, and Tāla Grove
तद्वनं दानवैर्दैत्यैर्गन्धर्वैर्यक्षराक्षसैः । किन्नरैरप्सरोभिश्च महाभोगैश्च सेवितम् ॥ ७९.१८ ॥
tad vanaṁ dānavair daityair gandharvair yakṣa-rākṣasaiḥ | kinnarair apsarobhiś ca mahābhogaiś ca sevitam || 79.18 ||
ఆ అరణ్యం దానవులు, దైత్యులు, గంధర్వులు, యక్షులు, రాక్షసులు, అలాగే కిన్నరులు మరియు అప్సరసలచే—మహాభోగసంపన్నులైన తేజోవంతులచే—సేవింపబడెను।
Varāha (default dialogue framework; speaker not explicit in fragment)
It exemplifies a common Purāṇic descriptive technique: mapping a landscape through the presence of cosmological communities (Gandharvas, Yakṣas, etc.), which helps scholars study how sacred geography and mythic ecology are layered onto real or imagined terrains in early Sanskrit literature.
The verse refers generically to “that forest” (tad vanam) without naming a specific toponym in this fragment; identification requires adjacent verses in Adhyāya 79 that may supply the forest’s proper name or associated tīrtha.
No direct prescriptive ethic is stated; indirectly, the verse frames the forest as a culturally significant habitat shared by multiple classes of beings, supporting a heritage-oriented reading in which such landscapes are treated as noteworthy and worthy of careful regard.
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