THE STORY OF BHISHMA 317
brother wsis sent to the Queen's apartments, to bring Draupadi into the presence of the gamblers. Insulting hands were laid upon her beautiful hair, and she was dragged, resisting, into the Court. The head, it must be remembered, is always sacred, and surely doubly inviolable should Draupadi's have been, having so lately been sprinkled with anointing water, in her husband's coronation.
The riotous scene progressed. Thinking to complete the degradation of the Pandavas, but really working to invoke ruin on themselves, the same rude hands that had just been laid in sacrilege on the hair of the Queen, now attempted to snatch away her sari, that she might stand in this public place unveiled. But Draupadi called on Krishna in her heart, and clung to His name, and lo, the scarf and veil that were being plucked from her, were miraculously multiplied, and hundreds upon hundreds of such garments were thrown aside by the despoilers, yet was not the Queen for one moment disrobed 1 Against their own will, these disorderly men of the royal house- hold stood covered with shame, while the wrathful Pandavas touched the depths of silent misery and defeat, bound by the pledges of Yudisthira.
At this very moment there was a sudden hush, and all rose to their feet, for the old blind Dritarashtra, summoned by Bhishma, was being led, trembling, into his son's presence, Tears
