eturned). And anxious to hear the
message of Partha's, fraught with virtue and profit, all the kings with
Dhritarashtra at their head, went to that beautiful hall. Spotlessly
white and spacious, it was adorned with a golden floor. And effulgent as
the moon and exceedingly beautiful, it was sprinkled over with
sandal-water. And it was spread over with excellent seats made of gold
and wood, and marble and ivory. And all the seats were wrapped with
excellent covers. And Bhishma and Drona and Kripa and Salya, and
Kritavarman and Jayadratha, and Aswatthaman and Vikarna, and Somadatta
and Vahlika and Vidura of great wisdom and Yuyutsu, the great
car-warrior,--all these heroic kings in a body, O bull among the
Bharatas, having Dhritarashtra at their head, entered that hall of great
beauty. And Dussasana and Chitrasena, and Sakuni, the son of Suvala, and
Durmukha and Dussaha, Karna and Uluka and Vivinsati,--these also, with
Duryodhana, the wrathful king of the Kurus, at their head, entered that
hall, O monarch, like the celestials forming the train of Sakra himself.
And filled with these heroes possessed of arms like maces of iron, that
hall looked, O king, like a mountain-cave filled with lions. And all
these mighty bowmen, endued with great energy and blazing, with solar
effulgence, entering the hall, seated themselves on those beautiful
seats. And after all those kings, O Bharata, had taken their seats, the
orderly-in-waiting announced the arrival of the Suta's son, saying,
"Yonder cometh the car that was despatched to the Pandavas. Our envoy
hath returned quickly, by the aid of well-trained steeds of the Sindhu
breed." And having approached the place with speed and alighted from the
car, Sanjaya adorned with ear-rings entered that hall full of high-souled
kings. And the Suta said, "Ye Kauravas, know that having gone to the
Pandavas I am just returning from them. The sons of Pandu offer their
congratulations to all the Kurus according to the age of each. Having
offered their respects in return, the sons of Pritha have saluted the
aged ones, and those that are equal to them in years, and those also that
are younger, just as each should, according to his years, be saluted.
Listen, ye kings, to what I, instructed before by Dhritarashtra, said to
the Pandavas, having gone to them from this place."'"

SECTION XLVIII

"Dhritarashtra said, 'I ask thee, O Sanjaya, in the presence of my boy
and of these kings, what words were sa