Chapter 194

“Vaisampayana said, ‘When the Kuru princes (Bhima and Arjuna) werewending towards the abode of the potter, Dhrishtadyumna, the Panchalaprince followed them. And sending away all his attendants, he concealedhimself in some part of the potter’s house, unknown to the Pandavas.

ThenBhima, that grinder of all foes, and Jishnu, and the illustrious twins,on returning from their eleemosynary round in the evening, cheerfullygave everything unto Yudhishthira. Then the kind-hearted Kunti addressingthe daughter of Drupada said, ‘O amiable one, take thou first a portionfrom this and devote it to the gods and give it away to Brahmanas, andfeed those that desire to eat and give unto those who have become ourguests. Divide the rest into two halves. Give one of these unto Bhima, Oamiable one, for this strong youth of fair complexion–equal unto a kingof elephants–this hero always eateth much. And divide the other halfinto six parts, four for these youths, one for myself, and one for thee.’Then the princess hearing those instructive words of her mother-in-lawcheerfully did all that she had been directed to do. And those heroesthen all ate of the food prepared by Krishna. Then Sahadeva, the son ofMadri, endued with great activity, spread on the ground a bed of kusagrass. Then those heroes, each spreading thereon his deer-skin, laidthemselves down to sleep. And those foremost of the Kuru princes lay downwith heads towards the south. And Kunti laid herself down along the lineof their heads, and Krishna along that of their feet. And Krishna thoughshe lay with the sons of Pandu on that bed of kusa grass along the lineof their feet as if she were their nether pillow, grieved not in herheart nor thought disrespectfully of those bulls amongst the Kurus. Thenthose heroes began to converse with one another. And the conversations ofthose princes, each worthy to lead an army, was exceedingly interestingthey being upon celestial cars and weapons and elephants, and swords andarrows, and battle-axes. And the son of the Panchala king listened (fromhis place of concealment) unto all they said. And all those who were withhim beheld Krishna in that state.

“When morning came, the prince Dhristadyumna set out from his place ofconcealment with great haste in order to report to Drupada in detail allthat had happened at the potter’s abode and all that he had heard thoseheroes speak amongst themselves during the night. The king of Panchalahad been sad because he knew not the Pandavas as those who had taken awayhis daughter. And the illustrious monarch asked Dhristadyumna on hisreturn, ‘Oh, where hath Krishna gone? Who hath taken her away? Hath anySudra or anybody of mean descent, or hath a tribute-paying Vaisya bytaking my daughter away, placed his dirty foot on my head? O son, haththat wreath of flowers been thrown away on a grave-yard? Hath anyKshatriya of high birth, or any one of the superior order (Brahmana)obtained my daughter? Hath any one of mean descent, by having wonKrishna, placed his left foot on my head? I would not, O son, grieve butfeel greatly happy, if my daughter hath been united with Partha thatforemost of men! O thou exalted one, tell me truly who hath won mydaughter today? O, are the sons of that foremost of Kurus,Vichitravirya’s son alive? Was it Partha (Arjuna) that took up the bowand shot the mark?'”