A tale from Ramayana
After a few days the hermit, Visva-mitra, said to the young men: ” My lords’, would it not gladden your hearts to see the holy stream of Ganges, and to see the city of Videha, where lies the bow that no man on earth can bend? ”
” We do, indeed, desire to behold these things,” they replied.
So the old man and the two youths fared forth. They saluted the waters of the Ganges, and bathed in the sacred river. They journeyed onward and saw the mighty waUs and towers of the city of Videha, and round the city were beautiful gardens; and in the city the bazaars were fiUed with rich goods; and horses, elephants, and chariots crowded the streets; and fountains gUttered in the sunshine.
The king of that place was Janak, and he heard of the coming of the hermit, and went to see him as he sat in a grove of mangotrees near the gate, and he kneeled before him in deep respect, and offered him and his companions a fair lodging in the town. So they took up their abode in the rooms which the king placed at their service, and they ate supper.