Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/510

guests, worshipping the newly arrived Brahmana with due ceremonies, gave him quarters in his own abode. Then those bulls among men—the Pandavas—with their mother Kunti solicited the new lodger to narrate to them his interesting experiences. And the Brahmana spoke to them of various countries and shrines and (holy) rivers, of kings and many wonderful provinces and cities. And after his narrations were over, that Brahmana, O Janamejaya, also spoke of the wonderful Swayamvara of Jajna-seni (the daughter of the king) of the Panchalas, and of the births of Dhrishta-dyumna and Shikhandi, and of the birth, without the intervention of a woman, of Krishnā (Jajna-seni or Draupadi) in the great sacrifice of Drupada.

",Then those bulls among men—the Pandavas-hearing of these extra-ordinary facts regarding that illustrious monarch (Drupada), and desiring to know the details thereof, asked the Brahmana, after his narration was concluded, to satisfy their curiosity. And the Pandavas said, 'How, O Brahmana, did the birth of Dhrishta-dyumna, the son of Drupada, take place from the (sacrificial) fire? How also did the extraordinary birth of Krishnā take place from the centre of the sacrificial platform? How also did Drupada's son learn all weapons from the great bowman Drona? And, O Brahmana, how and for whom and what reason was the friendship between Drona and Drupada broken?'"

Vaisampayana continued, "Thus questioned, O monarch, by those bulls among men, the Brahmana narrated all particulars about the birth of Draupadi."

Thus ends the hundred and sixty-seventh Section in the Chaitra-ratha of the Adi Parva.

"The Brahmana said, 'At that region where the Ganges enters the plains there lived a great Rishi devoted to the austerest of penances. Of rigid vows and great wisdom, his name was Bharadwaja. One day coming to the Ganges for