sandal and aloe wood from the Dardduras hills, and many gems of great brilliancy and fine cloths inlaid with gold, did not obtain permission (to enter).  And the king of the Singhalas gave those best of sea-born gems called the lapis lazuli, and heaps of pearls also, and hundreds of coverlets for elephants.  And numberless dark-coloured men with the ends of their, eyes red as copper, attired in clothes decked with gems, waited at the gate with those presents.  And numberless Brahmanas and Kshatriyas who had been vanquished, and Vaisyas and serving Sudras, from love of Yudhishthira, brought tribute unto the son of Pandu.  And even all the Mlechchas, from love and respect, came unto Yudhishthira.  And all orders of men, good, indifferent and low, belonging to numberless races, coming from diverse lands made Yudhishthira’s habitation the epitome of the world.

“And beholding the kings of the earth to present unto the foes such excellent and valuable presents, I wished for death out of grief.  And O king, I will now tell thee of the servants of the Pandavas, people for whom Yudhishthira supplieth food, both cooked and uncooked.  There are a hundred thousand billions of mounted elephants and cavalry and a hundred millions of cars and countless foot soldiers.  At one place raw provisions are being measured out; at another they are being cooked; and at another place the foods are being distributed.  And the notes of festivity are being heard everywhere.  And amongst men of all orders I beheld not a single one in the mansion of Yudhishthira that had not food and drink and ornaments.  And eighty-eight thousands of Snataka Brahmanas leading domestic lives, all supported by Yudhishthira, with thirty serving-girls given unto each, gratified by the king, always pray with complacent hearts for the destruction of his foes.  And ten thousands of other ascetics with vital seed drawn up, daily eat of golden plates in Yudhishthira’s palace.  And, O king, Yajnaseni, without having eaten herself, daily seeth whether everybody, including even the deformed and the dwarfs, hath eaten or not.  And, O Bharata, only two do not pay tribute unto the son of Kunti, viz., the Panchalas in consequence of their relationship by marriage, and the Andhakas and Vrishnis in consequence of their friendship.

SECTION LII

Duryodhana said,—­“Those king that are revered over all the world, who are devoted to truth and who are pledged to the observance of rigid vows, who are possessed of great learning and eloquence, who are fully conversant with the Vedas and their branches as also with sacrifices, who have piety and modesty, whose souls are devoted to virtue, who possess fame, and who have enjoyed the grand rites of coronation, all wait upon and worship Yudhishthira.  And, O king, I beheld there many thousands of wild kine with as many vessels of white copper for milking them, brought thither by the kings of the earth as sacrificial