Blest be ye.  Liberate the king along with the women of the royal household!  Suffer no insult to be offered unto all the ladies of the Kuru race.  And when they had spoken thus, the eldest of Pandu’s sons, who is endued with a virtuous soul then conciliated his brothers and commanded them to liberate us.  Then those bulls among men, the Pandavas, overtaking the Gandharvas, solicited our release in soft words, although fully able to effect it by force of arms.  And when the Gandharvas, addressed in such conciliatory words, refused to set us at liberty, then Arjuna and Bhima and the twins endued with mighty energy, shot showers of arrows at the Gandharvas.  Then the Gandharvas, abandoning the fight, fled through the sky, dragging our melancholy selves after them, filled with joy.  Then we beheld a network of arrows spread all around by Dhananjaya, who was also shooting celestial weapons upon the foe.  And seeing the points of the horizon covered by Arjuna with a thick network of sharp arrows, his friend, the chief of the Gandharvas, showed himself.  And Chitrasena and Arjuna, embracing each other, enquired after each other’s welfare.  And the other sons of Pandu also embraced the chief of the Gandharvas and were embraced by him.  And enquiries of courtesy passed between them also.  And the brave Gandharvas then abandoning their weapons and mail mingled in a friendly spirit with the Pandavas.  And Chitrasena and Dhananjaya worshipped each other with regard.”

SECTION CCXLVII

Duryodhana said, “That slayer of hostile heroes, Arjuna, then approaching Chitrasena, smilingly addressed him in these manly words:  ’O hero, O foremost of the Gandharvas, it behoveth thee to set my brothers at liberty.  They are incapable of being insulted as long as the sons of Pandu are alive.’  ’Thus addressed by the illustrious son of Pandu, the chief of the Gandharvas, O Karna, disclosed unto the Pandavas the object we had in view in proceeding to that place, viz., that we came there for casting our eyes on the sons of Pandu with their wife, all plunged in misery.  And while the Gandharva was disclosing those counsels of ours, overwhelmed with shame I desired the earth to yield me a crevice, so that I might disappear there and then.  The Gandharvas then, accompanied by the Pandavas, went to Yudhishthira, and, disclosing unto him also counsels, made us over, bound as we were, to him.  Alas, what greater sorrow could be mine than that I should thus be offered as a tribute unto Yudhishthira, in the very sight of the women of our household, myself in chains and plunged in misery, and under the absolute control of my enemies.  Alas, they, who have ever been persecuted by me, they unto whom I have ever been a foe released me from captivity, and wretch that I am, I am indebted to them for my life.  If, O hero, I had met with my death in that great battle, that would have been far better than that I should have obtained my life in