“Yudhishthira said,—­’It would seem then that some of the most desperate and terrible gamblers always depending upon deceit are there.  This whole universe, however, is at the will of its Maker, under the control of fate.  It is not free.  O learned one, I do not desire, at the command of king Dhritarashtra to engage myself in gambling.  The father always wisheth to benefit his son.  Thou art our master, O Vidura.  Tell me what is proper for us.  Unwilling as I am to gamble, I will not do so, if the wicked Sakuni doth not summon me to it in the Sabha?  If, however, he challengeth me, I will never refuse.  For that, as settled, is my eternal vow.”

Vaisampayana continued,—­“King Yudhishthira the just having said this unto Vidura, commanded that preparations for his journey might be made without loss of time.  And the next day, the king accompanied by his relatives and attendants and taking with him also the women of the household with Draupadi in their midst, set out for the capital of the Kurus.  ’Like some brilliant body falling before the eyes, Fate depriveth us of reason, and man, tied as it were with a cord, submitteth to the sway of Providence,’ saying this, king Yudhishthira, that chastiser of the foe, set out with Kshatta, without deliberating upon that summons from Dhritarashtra.  And that slayer of hostile heroes, the son of Pandu and Pritha, riding upon the car that had been given him by the king of Valhika, and attired also in royal robes, set out with his brothers.  And the king, blazing as it were with royal splendour, with Brahmanas walking before him, set out from his city, summoned by Dhritarashtra and impelled by what hath been ordained by Kala (Time).  And arriving at Hastinapore he went to the palace of Dhritarashtra.  And going there, the son of Pandu approached the king.  And the exalted one then approached Bhishma and Drona and Karna, and Kripa, and the son of Drona, and embraced and was embraced by them all.  And the mighty-armed one, endued with great prowess, then approached Somadatta, and then Duryodhana and Salya, and the son of Suvala, and those other kings also that had arrived there before him.  The king then went to the brave Dusshasana and then to all his (other) brothers and then to Jayadratha and next to all the Kurus one after another.  And the mighty-armed one, then surrounded by all his brothers, entered the apartment of the wise king Dhritarashtra.  And then Yudhishthira beheld the reverend Gandhari, ever obedient to her lord, and surrounded by her daughters-in-law like Rohini by the stars.  And saluting Gandhari and blessed by her in return, the king then beheld his old uncle, that illustrious monarch whose wisdom was his eye.  King Dhritarashtra then, O monarch, smelt his head as also the heads of those four other princes of the Kuru race, viz., the sons of Pandu with Bhimasena as their eldest.  And, O king, beholding—­the handsome Pandava those tigers among men, all the Kurus became exceedingly glad.