er producing thundering twang and always
destructive of hostile hosts, and with which he had conquered, on a
single car, gods and men and Nagas and swelling provinces. And the
warlike Yudhishthira, that represser of foes, unfastened the undecaying
string of that bow with which he had defended the field of Kurukshetra.
And the illustrious Bhimasena unstrung that bow by means of which that
sinless one had vanquished in fight the Panchalas and the lord of Sindhu,
and with which, during his career of conquest, he had, single-handed,
opposed innumerable foes, and hearing whose twang which was like unto the
roar of the thunder or the splitting of a mountain, enemies always fly
(in panic) from the field of battle. And that son of Pandu of coppery
complexion and mild speech who is endued with great prowess in the field,
and is called Nakula in consequence of his unexampled beauty in the
family, then unfastened the string of that bow with which he had
conquered all the regions of the west. And the heroic Sahadeva also,
possessed of a mild disposition, then untied the string of that bow with
which he had subjugated the countries of the south. And with their bows,
they put together their long and flashing swords, their precious quivers,
and their arrows sharp as razors. And Nakula ascended the tree, and
deposited on it the bows and the other weapons. And he tied them fast on
those parts of the tree which he thought would not break, and where the
rain would not penetrate. And the Pandavas hung up a corpse (on the
tree), knowing that people smelling the stench of the corpse would
say--'here sure, is a dead body,' and avoid the tree from a distance. And
on being asked by the shepherds and cowherds regarding the corpse, those
repressers of foes said unto them, 'This is our mother, aged one hundred
and eighty years. We have hung up her dead body, in accordance with the
custom observed by our forefathers.' And then those resisters of foes
approached the city. And for purposes of non-discovery Yudhishthira kept
these (five) names for himself and his brothers respectively, viz., Jaya,
Jayanta, Vijaya, Jayatsena, and Jayatvala. Then they entered the great
city, with the view to passing the thirteenth year undiscovered in that
kingdom, agreeably to the promise (to Duryodhana)."

SECTION VI

Vaisampayana said, "And while Yudhishthira was on his way to the
delightful city of Virata, he began to praise mentally the Divine Durga,
the Supre