VIRATA PARVA 5
perform my duties deftly. Let thy heart's fever be dispelled. Formerly I was frequently employed to look after thy kine, and, O lord of earth, I have a particular knowledge of that work. And, O monarch, I am well acquainted with the nature of kine, as also with their auspicious marks and other matters relating to them. I can also discriminate bulls with auspicious marks, the scent of whose urine may make even the barren bring forth child. Even thus will I live, and I always take de-light in work of this kind. Indeed, no one will then be able to recognise me, and I will moreover gratify the monarch.'
"Yudhishthira said,—This is our beloved wife dearer to us than our lives. Verily, she deserveth to be cherished by us like a mother, and regarded like an elder sister. Unacquainted as she is with any kind of womanly work, what office will Krishna, the daughter of Drupada, perform ? Delicate and young, she is a princess of great repute. Devoted to her lords, and eminently virtuous, also, how will she live ? Since her birth, she hath enjoyed only garlands and perfumes and ornaments and costly robes."
"Draupadi replied,—There is a class of persons called Sairindhris(1), who enter the services of others. Other females, however (that are respectable) do not do so. Of this class there are some. I shall give myself out as a Sairindhri, skilled in dressing hair. And, O Bharata, on being questioned by the king, I shall say that I served as a waiting woman of Draupadi in Yudhishthira's house-hold. I shall thus pass my days in disguise. And I shall serve the famous Sudeshna, the wife of the king. Surely, obtaining me she will cherish me (duly). Do not grieve so, O king.'
"Yudhishthira said,—'O Krishna, thou speakest well. But O fair girl, thou wert born in a respectable family. Chaste as thou art, and always engaged in observing virtuous vows, thou knowest not what is sin. Do thou, therefore, conduct thyself in such a way that sinful men of evil hearts may not be gladdened by gazing at thee.'"
Thus ends the third section in the Pandava-Pravesa Parva of the Virata Parva.
SECTION IV
(Pandava-Pravesa Parva continued)
"Yudhishthira said,—'Ye have already said what offices ye will respectively perform. I also, according to the measure of my sense, have said what office I will perform. Let our priest, accompanied by charioteers and cooks, repair to the abode of Drupada, and there main-tain our Agnihotra fires. And let Indrasena and the others, taking with 1 An independent female artisan working in another person's house.—Wilson.
