Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/142

104 frontier of Hindu settlements. The vengeance of Duryodhana pursued them there, and the house where the Pandavas lived was burnt to ashes. The Pandavas and their mother escaped by an underground passage and for a long time roamed about disguised as Brahmans.

Heralds now went from country to country and proclaimed in all lands that the daughter of Drupada,



king of the Panchalas, was to choose for herself a husband among the most skilful warriors of the time. The trial was a severe one, for a heavy bow of great size must be bent, and an arrow shot through a whirling chakra, or quoit, into the eye of a golden fish set high on the top of a pole!

Not only princes and warriors, but multitudes of spectators flocked from all parts of the country to Kampilya, the capital of the Panchalas. The princes thronged the seats, and Brahmans filled the place with Vedic hymns. Then appeared Draupadi with the