or turning even once, for a space of one and twenty days.  The king, O delighter of the Kurus, foregoing all food, along with his wife, sat joyfully the whole time engaged in tending and serving the Rishi.  On the expiration of one and twenty days, the son of Bhrigu rose of his own accord.  The great ascetic then went out of the room, without accosting them at all.  Famished and toil-worn the king and the queen followed him, but that foremost of Rishis did not deign to cast a single glance upon any of them.  Proceeding a little way, the son of Bhrigu disappeared in the very sight of the royal couple (making himself invisible by his Yoga-power).  At this, the king, struck with grief, fell down on the earth.  Comforted, he rose up soon, and accompanied by his queen, the monarch, possessed of great splendour, began to search everywhere for the Rishi.’

SECTION LIII

“Yudhishthira said, ’After the Rishi had disappeared, what did the king do and what also did highly-blessed spouse do?  Tell me this, O grandsire!’

“Bhishma said, ’Having lost sight of the Rishi, the king, overwhelmed with shame, toil-worn and losing his senses, returned to his palace, accompanied by his queen.  Entering his mansion in a cheerless mood, he spoke not a word with any one.  He thought only of that conduct of Chyavana.  With a despairing heart he then proceeded to his chamber.  There he saw the son of Bhrigu stretched as before on his bed.  Beholding the Rishi there, they wondered much.  Indeed, they began to reflect upon that very strange incident.  The sight of the Rishi dispelled their fatigue.  Taking their seats once more by his side, they again set themselves to gently press his feet as before.  Meanwhile, the great ascetic continued to sleep soundly as before.  Only, he now lay on another side.  Endued with great energy, he thus passed another period measured by one and twenty day.  Agitated by their fears, the royal couple showed no change in their attitude or sentiment towards the Rishi.  Awaking then from his slumber, the ascetic addressed the king and the queen, saying, ’Do ye rub my body with oil.  I wish to have a bath.’  Famishing and toil-worn though they were they readily assented, and soon approached the Rishi with a costly oil that had been prepared by boiling it a hundred times.  While the Rishi was seated at his ease, the king and the queen, restraining speech, continued to rub him.  Endued with high ascetic merit the son of Bhrigu did not once utter the word ‘Sufficient.’  Bhrigu’s son, however, saw that the royal couple were totally unmoved.  Rising up suddenly, he entered the bathing chamber.  The diverse article necessary for a bath and such as were fit for a king’s use, were ready there.  Without honouring, however, any of those articles by appropriating them to his use, the Rishi once more disappeared there and then by his Yoga-power, in the very sight of king Kusika (and