hast, it hath not awakened my ire, for surely thou shouldst be forgiven by me.  Thou wert formerly my friend, and, O ruler of men, thou art also related to me.  Henceforth I shall find greater delight in thee.  O king, with all my desires gratified, I lived happily in thy abode, in fact more happily there than in my own house.  This thy horse-lore is in my keeping.  If thou wishest, O king, I will make it over to thee.’  Saying this, Naishadha gave unto Rituparna that science and the latter took it with the ordained rites.  And, O monarch, the royal son of Bhangasura, having obtained the mysteries of equestrian science and having given unto the ruler of the Naishadhas the mysteries of dice, went to his own city, employing another person for his charioteer.  And, O king, after Rituparna had gone, king Nala did not stay long in the city of Kundina!’”

SECTION LXXVIII

“Vrihadaswa said, ’O son of Kunti, the ruler of the Nishadhas having dwelt there for a month, set out from that city with Bhima’s permission and accompanied by only a few (followers) for the country of the Nishadhas.  With a single car white in hue, sixteen elephants, fifty horses, and six hundred infantry, that illustrious king, causing the earth itself to tremble, entered (the country of the Nishadhas) without loss of a moment and swelling with rage.  And the mighty son of Virasena, approaching his brothers Pushkara said unto him, ’We will play again, for I have earned vast wealth.  Let Damayanti and all else that I have be my stake, let, O Pushkara, thy kingdom be thy stake.  Let the play begin again.  This is my certain determination.  Blessed be thou, let us stake all we have along with our lives.  Having won over and acquired another’s wealth or kingdom, it is a high duty, says the ordinance, to stake it when the owner demands.  Or, if thou dost not relish play with dice, let the play with weapons begin.  O king, let me or thyself have peace by a single combat.  That this ancestral kingdom should, under all circumstances and by any means, be recovered, there is the authority of sages for holding.  And, O Pushkara, choose thou one of these two things—­gambling with dice or bending the bow in battle!’ Thus addressed by Nishadha, Pushkara, sure of his own success, laughingly answered that monarch, saying, ’O Naishadha, it is by good fortune that thou hast earned wealth again to stake.  It is by good fortune also that Damayanti’s ill-luck hath at last come to an end.  And O king, it is by good fortune that thou art still alive with thy wife, O thou of mighty arms!  It is evident that Damayanti, adorned with this wealth of thine that I will win, will wait upon me like an Apsara in heaven upon Indra.  O Naishadha, I daily recollect thee and am even waiting for thee, since I derive no pleasure from gambling with those that are not connected with me by blood.  Winning over to-day the beauteous Damayanti of faultless features,