bright Kaustubha gem in thy bosom, thou art the beginning and the end of creation, and the great refuge of all.  Thou art the supreme light and essence of the Universe!  Thy face is directed towards every point.  They call thee Supreme Germ and the depository of all treasures.  Under thy protections, O lord of the gods, all evils lose their terror.  As thou didst protect me before from Dussasana, do thou extricate me now from this difficulty.”

Vaisampayana continued, “The great and sovereign God, and Lord of the earth, of mysterious movements, the lord Kesava who is ever kind to the dependents, thou adored by Krishna, and perceiving her difficulty, instantly repaired to that place leaving the bed of Rukmini who was sleeping by his side.  Beholding Vasudeva, Draupadi bowed down to him in great joy and informed him of the arrival of the Munis and every other thing.  And having heard everything Krishna said unto her, ’I am very much afflicted with hunger, do thou give me some food without delay, and then thou mayst go about thy work.’  At these words of Kesava, Krishna became confused, and replied unto him, saying, ’The sun-given vessel remains full till I finish my meal.  But as I have already taken my meal today, there is no food in it now.  Then that lotus-eyed and adorable being said unto Krishna, ’This is no time for jest, O Krishna.—­I am much distressed with hunger, go thou quickly to fetch the vessel and show it to me.’  When Kesava, that ornament of the Yadu’s race, had the vessel brought unto him,—­with such persistence, he looked into it and saw a particle of rice and vegetable sticking at its rim.  And swallowing it he said unto her, ’May it please the god Hari, the soul of the Universe, and may that god who partaketh at sacrifices, be satiated with this.’  Then the long-armed Krishna, that soother of miseries, said unto Bhimasena, ’Do thou speedily invite the Munis to dinner.  Then, O good king, the celebrated Bhimasena quickly went to invite all those Munis, Durvasa and others, who had gone to the nearest stream of transparent and cool water to perform their ablutions.  Meanwhile, these ascetics, having plunged into the river, were rubbing their bodies and observing that they all felt their stomachs to be full.  And coming out of the stream, they began to stare at one another.  And turning towards Durvasa, all those ascetics observed, ’Having bade the king make our meals ready, we have come hither for a bath.  But how, O regenerate Rishi, can we eat anything now, for our stomachs seem to be full to the throat.  The repast hath been uselessly prepared for us.  What is the best thing to be done now?’ Durvasa replied, ’By spoiling the repast, we have done a great wrong to that royal sage, king Yudhishthira.  Would not the Pandavas destroy us by looking down upon us with angry eyes?  I know the royal sage Yudhishthira to be possessed of great ascetic power.  Ye Brahmanas, I am afraid of men that are devoted to Hari.  The high-souled Pandavas are all religious men, learned, war-like, diligent in ascetic austerities and religious observances, devoted to Vasudeva, and always observant of rules of good conduct.  If provoked, they can consume us with their wrath as fire doth a bale of cotton.  Therefore, ye disciples, do ye all run away quickly without seeing them (again)!”