DRAUPADI'S GRIEF

Then he turned to Yudhishthira and said: "You are so blameless that you can have no enemies. Forgive iii your magnanimity the evil done by Duryodhana and dismiss all memory of it from your mind.

Take back your kingdom and riches and everything else and be free and prosperous. Return to Indraprastha." And the Pandavas left that accursed hall, bewildered and stunned, and seeing a miracle in this sudden release from calamity. But it was too good to endure.

After Yudhishthira and his brothers bad departed, there was a long and angry discussion in the palace of the Kauravas. Incited by Duhsasana, Sakuni and others, Duryodhana upbraided his father with having frustrated their well-laid plans on the very threshold of success.

He quoted Brihaspati's aphorism that no device could be considered wrong which had as its object the destruction of formidable enemies.

He dilated on the prowess of thePandavas and expressed his conviction that the only hope of over- coming the Pandavas lay in guile and taking advantage of their pride and sense of honour.

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