Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/435

This page needs to be proofread.
ADI PARVA
421

of various colours. And resounding with the notes of thousands of trumpets, it was scented with the black aloe and sprinkled all over with water mixed with sandal paste and decorated with garlands of flowers. It was surrounded with high mansions perfectly white and resembling the cloud-kissing peaks of Kailasa. The windows of those mansions were covered with net-works of gold ; the walls were set with diamonds and precious stones: the staircases were easy of ascent; and the floors were covered with costly carpets and cloths. All those mansions adorned with wreaths and garlands of flowers and rendered fragrant with excellent aloes, were all white and spotless, like unto the necks of swans. And the fragrance therefrom could be perceived from the distance of a Yojana (eight miles). And they were each furnished with a hundred doors wide enough to admit a crowd of persons: they were adorned with costly beds and carpets, and beautified with various metals: they resembled the peaks of the Himavat. And in those sevenstoried houses of various sizes dwelt the monarchs invited by Drupada whose persons were adorned with every ornament and who were possessed with the desire of excelling one another. And the inhabitants of the city and the country who had come to behold Krishna and taken their seats on the excellent platforms erected around, beheld seated within those mansions those lions among kings who were all endued with the energy of great souls. And those exalted sovereigns were all adorned with the fragrant paste of the black aloe. Of great liberality, they were all devoted to Brahma and they protected their kingdoms against all foes. And for their own good deeds they were beloved by the whole world.

"The Pandavas, too, entering that apmhitheatre, sat with the Brahmanas and beheld the unequalled affluence of the king of the Panchalas. And that concourse of princes, Brahmanas, and others, looking gay at the performances of actors and dancers and in which large presents of every kind of wealth were constantly made, began to swell day by day. And it lasted, O king, several days, till on the sixteenth day when it was at its full, the daughter of Drupada. O thou bull of the Bharata race, having washed herself clean entered amphitheatre, richly attired and adorned with every ornament and bearing in her hand a dish of gold (whereon were the usual offerings of Arghya) and a garland of flowers. Then the priest of the lunar race-a holy Brabmana conversant with all mantras-ignited the sacrificial fre and poured on it with due rites libations of clarified butter. And gratifying Agni by these libations and making the Brabmanas utter the auspicious formula of benediction, stopped the musical instruments that were playing all around. And when that vast amphitheatre, O monarch, become perfectly still.