fair complexion and excellent ornaments, Krishna was the foremost in beauty and fame and splendour.  And they all came there, leading forth the princess Uttara decked in every ornament and resembling the daughter of the great Indra himself.  And then Dhananjaya, the son of Kunti, accepted Virata’s daughter of faultless limbs on behalf of his son by Subhadra.  And that great king, Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, who stood there like Indra, also accepted her as his daughter-in-law.  And having accepted her, the son of Pritha, with Janardana before him, caused the nuptial ceremonies to be performed of the illustrious son of Subhadra.  And Virata then gave him (as dowry) seven thousand steeds endued with the speed of the wind and two hundred elephants of the best kind and much wealth also.  And having duly poured libations of clarified butter on the blazing fire, and paid homage unto the twice-born ones, Virata offered to the Pandavas his kingdom, army, treasury, and his own self.  And after the marriage had taken place, Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma, gave away unto the Brahmanas all the wealth that had been brought by Krishna of unfading glory.  And he also gave away thousands of kine, and diverse kinds of robes, and various excellent ornaments, and vehicles, and beds, delicious viands of various kinds, and cardinal drinks of diverse species.  And the king also made gifts of land unto the Brahmanas with due rites, and also cattle by thousands.  And he also gave away thousands of steeds and much gold and much wealth of other kinds, unto persons of all ages.  And, O bull of the Bharata race, the city of the Matsya king, thronged with men cheerful and well-fed, shone brightly like a great festival.’”

The end of Virata Parva

FOOTNOTES

1.  Brahma Vadini—­Nilakantha explains this as Krishna-kirtanasila.

2.  This speech of Vaisampayana is not included in some texts within the second section.  To include it, however, in the third, is evidently a mistake.

3.  The sloka commencing with Adushta and ending ratheshu cha does not occur in texts except those in Bengal.

4.  A difference reading is observable here.  The sense, however, is the same.

5.  An independent female artisan working in another person’s house.—­Wilson.

6.  Some of the Bengal text and Sarvastramaya for Sarvamantramaya.  The former is evidently incorrect.

7.  This is a very difficult sloka.  Nilakantha adopts the reading Sanjayet.  The Bengal editions read Sanjapet.  If the latter be the correct reading, the meaning then would be,—­’Let none talk about what transpires in the presence of the king.  For those even that are poor, regard it as a grave fault.’  The sense evidently is that the occurrences in respect of a king which one witnesses should not be divulged.  Even they that are powerless regard such divulgence of what occurs in respect of them as an insult to them, and, therefore, inexcusable.