of king Virata.  O Pandu’s son, that Pandava who was respectfully waited upon in court by kings and sages, behold him now waiting upon another.  Alas, beholding Yudhishthira a courtier sitting beside another and breathing adulatory speeches to the other, who can help being afflicted with grief?  And beholding the highly wise and virtuous Yudhishthira, undeserving as he is of serving others, actually serving another for sustenance, who can help being afflicted with grief?  And, O hero, that Bharata who was worshipped in court by the entire earth, do thou now behold him worshipping another.  Why then, O Bharata, dost thou not regard me as one afflicted with diverse miseries, like one forlorn and immersed in a sea of sorrow?’”

SECTION XIX

“Draupadi said, ’This O Bharata, that I am going to tell thee is another great grief of mine.  Thou shouldst not blame me, for I tell thee this from sadness of heart.  Who is there whose grief is not enhanced at sight of thee, O bull of the Bharata race, engaged in the ignoble office of a cook, so entirely beneath thee and calling thyself as one of Vallava caste?  What can be sadder than this, that people should know thee as Virata’s cook, Vallava by name, and therefore one that is sunk in servitude?  Alas, when thy work of the kitchen is over, thou humbly sittest beside Virata, calling thyself as Vallava the cook, then despondency seizeth my heart.  When the king of kings in joy maketh thee fight with elephants, and the women of the inner apartments (of the palace) laugh all the while, then I am sorely distressed.  When thou fightest in the inner apartments with lions, tigers, and buffaloes, the princess Kaikeyi looking on, then I almost swoon away.  And when Kaikeyi and those maidservants, leaving their seats, come to assist me and find that instead of suffering any injury in limbs mine is only a swoon, the princess speaks unto her women, saying, ’Surely, it is from affection and the duty begot of intercourse that this lady of sweet smiles grieveth for the exceedingly powerful cook when he fights with the beasts.  Sairindhri is possessed of great beauty and Vallava also is eminently handsome.  The heart of woman is hard to know, and they, I fancy, are deserving of each other.  It is, therefore, likely that the Sairindhri invariably weepeth (at such times) on account of her connection with her lover.  And then, they both have entered this royal family at the same time.  And speaking such words she always upbraideth me.  And beholding me wroth at this, she suspects me to be attached to thee.’  When she speaketh thus, great is the grief that I feel.  Indeed, on beholding thee, O Bhima of terrible prowess, afflicted with such calamity, sunk as I already am in grief on account of Yudhishthira, I do not desire to live.  That youth who on a single car had vanquished all celestials and men, is now, alas, the dancing master of king Virata’s daughter.  That