INDIA. PART II.

vails with the

Draupadi to his

all the affairs of the Raj were in his hands, and he did as he HISTORY OF pleased, and the Raja feared him, according to the ancient saying, that the brother of the Rání is always to be feared by the Raja. And it came to pass one day that Kíchaka proceeded to the palace, and entered the apartments of the women to pay a visit to his sister, when his eye fell upon Draupadí, and he was stricken with her beauty; and he said within his heart, I have seen many lovely women, and I have many belonging to me, but never did I behold one so beautiful before; and he asked his sister who she was, and the Rání told him. And Kíchaka then said to his sister :— Kichaka pre"She is worthy to be the mistress, and to have you for a Ráni to send waiting-maid Contrive now, I pray you, that she may house. come to my house." The Rání replied: :- "This woman says she has five Gandharvas who ever keep watch over her; and if any man speak to her the Gandharvas will kill him: Moreover, her conduct and behaviour are most excellent: Therefore I pray you to say nothing to her." But Kíchaka would not be refused, and after a while he prevailed with his sister, and she promised to send Draupadí to his house. So Kíchaka left his sister and went to Draupadí, and began to praise her, and said :-" Never before have I beheld so beautiful a woman as you are; and henceforth I will be your slave." But Draupadí replied :-"Do not speak such words to me, for there are five lions who keep guard over me, and if you value your life you will not come near me." And Kíchaka laughed, and went his way to his own house.

by the Rání to

wine from the

chaka.

A short while after Kíchaka had gone out of the palace, Draupadi sent the Rání said to Draupadí:-"I am very thirsty: Take this bring a cup of cup to my brother's house and bring it me back filled with house of Kiwine." Draupadí answered:-"I cannot go to his house, as I observe that he is a man wanting in modesty: So I pray you to send another messenger." But the Rání would not, but put the cup upon a golden salver, and placed the salver upon the head of Draupadí, and bade her carry it to Kíchaka; and Draupadi went away weeping, but she looked at the world-enlightening Sun, and prayed to the bright god to the Sun for

Draupadi prays

succour.

INDIA. PART II.

HISTORY OF for succour. And Draupadí carried the cup to the house of Kíchaka, and when she had entered in, Kíchaka ran to meet her, and said:"You are very welcome, for I, who have the whole Raj at my command, am now your slave, and I will give you all I possess; and all my women shall be your servants, if you will only become my wife." Draupadí answered :- -"Your sister sent me to you with this cup: She is very thirsty, and is waiting for me: Do not detain me or use me ill, or evil may befall you." Kíchaka then took Draupadí by the right hand, but she drew her hand back again. Kíchaka then seized her cloth, but Draupadí struck him in the face, and ran out of the house. Then house and runs Draupadí went with all speed to the Court hall of the hall, followed by palace, where Raja Viráta and his Chieftains were sitting in Council; and she was weeping very bitterly, and Yudhishthira and Bhíma were present and saw that she was weeping, but they took no notice of her.

Kichaka affronts Draupadi.

Draupadi

escapes from the

to the Council

Kichaka.

Bhima commanded by Yud

interfere.

Now before Draupadi could speak a word to the Raja, Kíchaka ran after her, and followed her into the presence of the Council; and he seized her by the hair before them all, and smote her with his foot. Bhíma looked on, and bit his lip with his hishthira not to teeth till the blood rushed from it; but he could not interfere because his elder brother Yudhishthira had so commanded him. And Draupadí was exceedingly wroth with her husbands, and also with Raja Viráta; and she cried out :-"It is very unbecoming of the Raja, that he should permit a poor woman who has entered his service to be kicked before his face." The Raja answered :-"I do not know what has passed between you and Kíchaka before you entered my presence: How then can I interfere?" Draupadi then told to the Raja all that had taken place, and all who heard her thought that Kíchaka had behaved wickedly towards her; but Yudhishthira, being fearful lest they should be discovered, rebuked her, saying:-"Why do you make your lamentations before persons who have nothing to do with Draupadi vainly you? You ought to go into the presence of the Rání." So Draupadi went weeping to the Rání, and told her what Kíchaka had done, and the Rání said that she would speak

The Raja refuses to interfere.

Draupadi re

buked by Yudhishthira.

appeals to the Rání.

INDIA. PART II.

to her brother. But Draupadí answered:— As you cannot HISTORY OF smite him, why trouble yourself to speak? I have a guardian near, and the hour is not far distant when he will avenge my wrongs."

ens Bhima in

demands re

ter complaints

she has received

ravas, Jaya

Kichaka.

Now when the night had fully come, and every one in Draupadi awakthe palace was asleep, Draupadi went out and found Bhíma, the night, and who was in a deep slumber. So she awoke him, saying:- venge. "What is this sleep of oblivion in which you are indulging? Am I not your wife, upon whom Kíchaka has looked with a wanton eye, and do you not care for the affront? Where is your sense of honour now, and what will the world say if you do not revenge my wrongs?" Then Bhima rose up in a rage, and said: "Why is your countenance changed, and what has Kichaka done unto you?" Draupadí answered:- Draupadi's bit"What would you have me say whilst my heart is still bleed- of the insults ing from the insults I have received? Three times have I from the Kaufallen into the hands of shameless men, and notwithstanding dratha, and all the hardships I have endured for the sake of my husbands, not one of them will protect me: First you gave me up to the Kauravas, who treated me as though I had been a slave girl: Then Jayadratha carried me away into the jungle And now Kíchaka has stretched out the hand of rudeness against me, and has seized me by the hair and smitten me with his foot in the presence of yourself and Yudhishthira, aud before the Raja and all his Council: Yet who are my husbands that they feel no concern for this that I have suffered? But unless you punish this Kíchaka I will take poison: Yudhishthira, who was once a great Raja, has Complains of become a mere servant, and teaches people how to gamble: pations of her As for you, Bhíma, who once had a thousand slave girls at your command, each as beautiful as the Rání, I have been obliged to see you fighting lions, tigers, bears, and elephants for her amusement, until I have been so humbled that I could have died with spite: Then Arjuna has put on the appearance of a female, and wears a woman's necklace and bracelets, and makes sport for the Raja's women; whilst Nakula has settled down in the stable, and Sahadeva is her position as keeping cattle and telling fortunes: Meantime under your the Raja.

the low occu

husbands in the

Court of Raja

Viráta.

Complains of

the favourite maid-servant of

PART II.

HISTORY OF auspices I have become the favourite female servant of Raja INDIA. Viráta, who refuses to take his powdered sandal wood from anybody else: And now what further vexations must I endure on your account?"

Bhima rebukes her.

Yudhishthira

has in every

case prohibited his interference.

When Draupadi had finished speaking, Bhíma turned to her and said:" When noble women are compelled by their evil fortune to take refuge in foreign countries, they are ever exposed to like evils: Was not Sítá carried away by Rávana, when she was wandering in the jungle with Raja Ráma? Explains how When the Kauravas affronted you at the gambling match, I was desirous of putting them to death by my own hand, but I was withheld by my elder brother Yudhishthira: So again when I had resolved to slay Jayadratha, Yudhishthira would not give his consent, but permitted him to go away alive : Then, too, when Kíchaka insulted you in the presence of the Raja, I would have punished him upon the spot, but Yudhishthira forbade me: Why, then, do you thus torment me? I must be obedient to my elder brother: But in the matter of this Kíchaka I will get you redress: Do you to-morrow morning affect to agree to all that he desires, and appoint to meet him at midnight in Arjuna's music and dancing-room; and while he is waiting there for you I will teach him a lesson that will most certainly satisfy you."

Engages to

punish Kichaka.

Delight of Drau

padi at the pros

revenge.

Kichaka's

second visit to the Rání.

When Bhíma had thus promised to chastise Kíchaka, pect of obtaining Draupadí was filled with joy, and agreed to act according to his words; and when the night was over she returned to the apartments of the women, and did her duty as she was accustomed. Now it so happened that after a while Kíchaka paid another visit to his sister, the Rání; and he began, as his custom was, to set himself off in the presence of DrauKichaka threat- padí; and he said to Draupadí :-"Raja Viráta cannot interaway Draupadi. fere with me, for all his affairs are in my hands: If therefore you refuse any longer to become my wife, I shall carry you away by my own power, and the Raja will say no more to me to-day than he did yesterday: But if you will accept me as a husband, and enter my house, I will do you no harm; and Lavish offers of I will give you a hundred pieces of gold every day, and a hundred slaves and slave girls to wait upon you, and a cha

ens to carry

Kichaka to

Draupadi.

INDIA. PART II.

Draupadi offers

to meet him at

midnight in the

music and danc

riot drawn by mules to be always at your command." And HISTORY OF Draupadí answered:-"How can I refuse such generosity? But I yield on one condition only: I know that you admit many friends into the apartments of your women, and if my consent should be known unto them, it may bring both you and me to infamy: Moreover, I have five Gandharvas who watch over me; and should they discover this matter they will slay you." So it was agreed between them that at midnight Draupadí should grant a meeting to Kíchaka in the music and dancing-room.

ing-room.

Kichaka.

ceeds to the

Kíchaka then left the palace and went to his own house, Impatience of and his heart was filled with delight; but he was so impatient to meet Draupadí, that the remaining half of the day appeared to him like half a month, and every moment seemed as long as a year. And when it was night he arrayed himself in new garments, and perfumed himself with the choicest odours, and he was more handsome and resplendent than he had ever been before, in the same way that a lamp becomes most brilliant just before it goes out. Meanwhile Draupadí had gone to Bhíma, and told him all that she had done, and Bhíma said that he would slay Kíchaka in such a fashion that no man should discover who had done it. So when the hour of midnight arrived, Kichaka proKíchaka went with all joy and expectation to the music and music and dancing-room,and is dancing-room, and seeing in the darkness that somebody seized by was in the corner, he thought that it was Draupadí, and put out his hand to take hold of her; but at that moment Bhíma arose from the corner in great wrath, and seized him by the hair of his head, and would have dragged him to the ground, but his locks were well oiled, and they slipped through the fingers of Bhíma. Now Kíchaka was a warrior of great Battle between valour and exceeding strength, and he so fell upon Bhíma Bhima. that they struggled mightily together, and they fought with their clenched fists, and tore each other with their nails, and strove to throw each other to the ground. And Bhíma was Bhima slays brought to the earth, but he put forth all his strength, and rolls his flesh seizing hold of Kíchaka he whirled him swiftly round his a ball. head and dashed him against the ground; and he put his

Bhima.

Kichaka and

Kichaka and

and bones into