THE LAMENT OF GANDHARI 221
crushed, under the doom he had himself brought down upon himself, was calling out her deepest tenderness in this sad hour. Proud and stern to the whole world beside, to him Gandhari was all a wife, gentle and loving and timid in sight of his pain. She knew well that from her in these terrible moments might go out the force that destroys, and lest she should bring harm thereby upon Yudisthira as he approached to make salutation, she restrained her powers forcibly, and bent her eyes downward, within their enfolding bands, upon his foot ; and immediately, it is said, at that point where she was looking, a burn appeared, so terrible was her gaze.
But when she had spoken kindly with Draupadi and the Queen-mother of the Pandavas, Gandhari turned away from all others and addressed herself to Krishna. With Him alone there was no need of self-control. With Him she might even let the battlefield, with all its fearful details, rise point by point before the eyes of her mind. Hand in hand, as it were, with the Lord, she might gaze on all, think of all, and tell out her whole heart.
- Behold, O Lotus-Eyed," she cried, "these
daughters of my house 1 Widowed of their lords, with locks unbound, henr Thou their cries of woe! Brooding over their dead bodies, they call to mind the faces of the great Bharata chiefs 1 Behold them seeking out their husbands, their sires, their
