duly with food, drink, and raiment taken from stores only after a portion thereof had been dedicated to the Viswadeva.[42] The illustrious son of Kunti had a hundred thousand well-dressed serving-maids with bracelets on arms and golden ornaments on necks, and decked with costly garlands and wreaths and gold in profusion, and sprinkled with sandal paste.  And adorned with jewels and gold they were all skilled in singing and dancing.  O lady, I knew the names and features of all those girls, as also what they are and what they were, and what they did not.  Kunti’s son of great intelligence had also a hundred thousand maid-servants who daily used to feed guests, with plates of gold in their hands.  And while Yudhishthira lived in Indraprastha a hundred thousand horses and a hundred thousand elephants used to follow in his train.  These were the possessions of Yudhishthira while he ruled the earth.  It was I however, O lady, who regulated their number and framed the rules to be observed in respect of them; and it was I who had to listen to all complaints about them.  Indeed, I knew everything about what the maid-servants of the palace and other classes of attendants, even the cow-herds and the shepherds of the royal establishment, did or did not.  O blessed and illustrious lady, it was I alone amongst the Pandavas who knew the income and expenditure of the king and what their whole wealth was.  And those bulls among the Bharatas, throwing upon me the burden of looking after all those that were to be fed by them, would, O thou of handsome face, pay their court to me.  And this load, so heavy and incapable of being borne by persons of evil heart, I used to bear day and night, sacrificing my ease, and all the while affectionately devoted to them.  And while my husbands were engaged in the pursuit of virtue, I only supervised their treasury inexhaustible like the ever-filled receptacle of Varuna.  Day and night bearing hunger and thirst, I used to serve the Kuru princes, so that my nights and days were equal to me.  I used to wake up first and go to bed last.  This, O Satyabhama, hath ever been my charm for making my husbands obedient to me!  This great art hath ever been known to me for making my husbands obedient to me.  Never have I practised the charms of wicked women, nor do I ever wish to practise them.’”

[42] The word in the text is “Agrahara,” which, as Nilakantha explains, means here, “That which is first taken from a heap after the dedication of a portion to the Viswadevas.”  What Draupadi means to say is, that she always took care to feed those Brahmanas with food “first” taken from the stores, without, in fact, having taken anything there from the use of anybody else.

Vaisampayana continued, “Hearing those words of virtuous import uttered by Krishna, Satyabhama, having first reverenced the virtuous princess of Panchala, answered saying, ’O princess of Panchala, I have been guilty, O daughter of Yajnasena, forgive me!  Among friends, conversations in jest arise naturally, and without premeditation.’”