Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/477

Rh the court) by king Dhritarashtra and Bhishma the son of Santany. When they came, king Dhritarashtra addressing Yudhishthira, said.-"Listen, O son of Kunti, with thy brothers, to what I say ! Repair ye to Khandavaprascha so that no difference may arise again (between you and your cousins)! If you take up your quarters there no one will be able to do you any injury! Protected by Partha (Arjuna), like the celestials by the thunderbolt, reside ye at Khandavaprascha, taking halt the kingdom !""

Vaisampayana continued.-'Agreeing to what Dhritarashtra said. those bulls among men worshipping the king set out from Hastinapura. And content with half the kingdom, they removed to Khandavaprastha, which was an unreclaimed desert. Then those heroes of unfading splendour, viz.. the Pandavas, with Krishna at their head, arriving there, beautified the place and made it a second heaven. And those mighty car-warriors, selecting with Dwaipayana's assistance a sacred and auspi. cious region, performed certain propitiatory ceremonies and measured out a piece of land for their city. Then surrounded by a trench wide as the sea and by walls reaching high up to the heavens and white as the fleecy clouds or the rays of the moon, that foremost of cities looked resplendent like Bhogavati (the capital of the nether kingdom) decked with the Nagas. And it stood adorned with palatial mansions and numerous gates, each furnished with a couple of panels resembling the out-stretched wings of Garuda. And it was protected with gateways looking like the clou is and high as the Mandara mountains. And well. furnished with numerous weapons of attack the missiles of the foes could not make the slightest impression on them. And they were almost covered with darts and other missiles like double-tongued snakes. The turrets along the walls were filled with armed men in course of training: and the walls were lined with numerous warriors along their whole length. And there were thousands of sharp hooks and Sataghnis (machines slaying a century of warriors) and numerous other machines on the battlements. There were also large iron wheels planted on them. And with all these was that foremost of cities adorned. The streets were all wide and laid out excellently; and there was no fear in them of accident. And decked with innumerable mansions, the city became like unto Amaravati and came to be called Indraprastha (like unto Indra's city). In a delightful and auspicious part of the city rose the palace of the Pandavas filled with every kind of wealth and like unto the mansion of the celestial treasurer (Kuvera) himselt. And it looked like a mass of clouds charged with lightning.

"When the city was built, there came, Oking, numerous Brahmanas well-acquainted with all the Vedas and conversant with every language,