There were mountains resplendent with silver and gold and trees whose branches were broken by elephants. There were ponds with auspicious water and lakes (nalinih). What type of lakes were they? The lakes were beautified with bees wandering here and there roused by the sounds of birds (patra-rathaih). The grammatical sense of these verses is “Passing all these towns and lakes, I saw a dense forest.” Stamba means clumps of grass. Amara-kosa explains venavah kicakas te surye svananty aniloddhata: kicaka is hollow bamboo which makes noise when blown by the wind. Ghoram means repulsive because of its fearsome form. It was the playground (ajiram) of snakes, owls and jackals. I did not have surprise or fear in seeing those surprising and fearsome things, because my mind was absorbed in tasting the sweetness of the Lord at that time.