Vaisampayana continued, “Then the chamber where Bhima slept, breathing hard like a lion, being filled with the beauty of Drupada’s daughter and of the high-souled Bhima, blazed forth in splendour.  And Krishna of sweet smiles, finding Bhimasena in the cooking apartments, approached him with the eagerness of a three-year old cow brought up in the woods, approaching a powerful bull, in her first season, or of a she-crane living by the water-side approaching her mate in the pairing season.  And the Princess of Panchala then embraced the second son of Pandu, even as a creeper embraces a huge and mighty Sala on the banks of the Gomati.  And embracing him with her arms, Krishna of faultless features awaked him as a lioness awaketh a sleeping lion in a trackless forest.  And embracing Bhimasena even as a she-elephant embraceth her mighty mate, the faultless Panchali addressed him in voice sweet as the sound of a stringed instrument emitting Gandhara note.  And she said, ’Arise, arise!  Why dost thou, O Bhimasena, lie down as one dead?  Surely, he that is not dead, never suffereth a wicked wretch that hath disgraced his wife, to live.’  And awakened by the princess, Bhima of mighty arms, then rose up, and sat upon his couch overlaid with a rich bed.  And he of the Kuru race then addressed the princess—­his beloved wife, saying, ’For what purpose hast thou come hither in such a hurry?  Thy colour is gone and thou lookest lean and pale.  Tell me everything in detail.  I must know the truth.  Whether it be pleasurable or painful, agreeable, or disagreeable, tell me all.  Having heard everything, I shall apply the remedy.  I alone, O Krishna, am entitled to thy confidence in all things, for it is I who deliver thee from perils again and again!  Tell me quickly what is thy wish, and what is the purpose that is in thy view, and return thou to thy bed before others awake.’”

SECTION XVIII

“Draupadi said, ’What grief hath she not who hath Yudhishthira for her husband?  Knowing all my griefs, why dost thou ask me?  The Pratikamin dragged me to the court in the midst of an assembly of courtiers, calling me a slave.  That grief, O Bharata, consumeth me.  What other princess, save Draupadi, would live having suffered such intense misery?  Who else, save myself, could bear such second insult as the wicked Saindhava offered me while residing in the forest?  Who else of my position, save myself, could live, having been kicked by Kichaka in the very sight of the wicked king of the Matsyas?  Of what value is life, O Bharata, when thou, O son of Kunti, dost not think me miserable, although I am afflicted with such woes?  That vile and wicked wretch, O Bharata, known by the name of Kichaka, who is the brother-in-law of king Virata and the commander of his forces, every day, O tiger among men, addresses me who am residing in the palace as a Sairindhri, saying, Do thou become my wife.—­Thus