used to guard and protect that palace.  Within that palace Maya placed a peerless tank, and in that tank were lotuses with leaves of dark-coloured gems and stalks of bright jewels, and other flowers also of golden leaves.  And aquatic fowls of various species sported on its bosom.  Itself variegated with full-blown lotuses and stocked with fishes and tortoises of golden hue, its bottom was without mud and its water transparent.  There was a flight of crystal stairs leading from the banks to the edge of the water.  The gentle breezes that swept along its bosom softly shook the flowers that studded it.  The banks of that tank were overlaid with slabs of costly marble set with pearls.  And beholding that tank thus adorned all around with jewels and precious stones, many kings that came there mistook it for land and fell into it with eyes open.  Many tall trees of various kinds were planted all around the palace.  Of green foliage and cool shade, and ever blossoming, they were all very charming to behold.  Artificial woods were laid around, always emitting a delicious fragrance.  And there were many tanks also that were adorned with swans and Karandavas and Chakravakas (Brahminy ducks) in the grounds lying about the mansion.  And the breeze bearing the fragrance of lotuses growing in water and (of those growing on land) ministered unto the pleasure and happiness of the Pandavas.  And Maya having constructed such a palatial hall within fourteen months, reported its completion unto Yudhishthira.”

SECTION IV

“Vaisampayana said,—­“Then that chief of men, king Yudhishthira, entered that palatial sabha having first fed ten thousand Brahmanas with preparations of milk and rice mixed with clarified butter and honey with fruits and roots, and with pork and venison.  The king gratified those superior Brahmanas, who had come from various countries with food seasoned with seasamum and prepared with vegetables called jibanti, with rice mixed with clarified butter, with different preparations of meat—­with indeed various kinds of other food, as also numberless viands that are fit to be sucked and innumerable kinds of drinks, with new and unused robes and clothes, and with excellent floral wreaths.  The king also gave unto each of those Brahmanas a thousand kine.  And, O Bharata, the voice of the gratified Brahmanas uttering,—­’What an auspicious day is this! became so loud that it seemed to reach heaven itself.  And when the Kuru king entered the palatial sabha having also worshipped the gods with various kinds of music and numerous species of excellent and costly perfumes, the athletes and mimes and prize-fighters and bards and encomiasts began to gratify that illustrious son of Dharma by exhibiting their skill.  And thus celebrating his entry into the palace, Yudhishthira with his brothers sported within that palace like Sakra himself in heaven.  Upon the seats in that palace sat, along with the Pandavas, Rishis and kings that