uge-bodied and
endued with great strength, of red coppery eyes and arrowy ears,
well-armed and capable of ranging through the air, used to guard and
protect that palace. Within that palace Maya placed a peerless tank, and
in that tank were lotuses with leaves of dark-coloured gems and stalks of
bright jewels, and other flowers also of golden leaves. And aquatic fowls
of various species sported on its bosom. Itself variegated with
full-blown lotuses and stocked with fishes and tortoises of golden hue,
its bottom was without mud and its water transparent. There was a flight
of crystal stairs leading from the banks to the edge of the water. The
gentle breezes that swept along its bosom softly shook the flowers that
studded it. The banks of that tank were overlaid with slabs of costly
marble set with pearls. And beholding that tank thus adorned all around
with jewels and precious stones, many kings that came there mistook it
for land and fell into it with eyes open. Many tall trees of various
kinds were planted all around the palace. Of green foliage and cool
shade, and ever blossoming, they were all very charming to behold.
Artificial woods were laid around, always emitting a delicious fragrance.
And there were many tanks also that were adorned with swans and
Karandavas and Chakravakas (Brahminy ducks) in the grounds lying about
the mansion. And the breeze bearing the fragrance of lotuses growing in
water and (of those growing on land) ministered unto the pleasure and
happiness of the Pandavas. And Maya having constructed such a palatial
hall within fourteen months, reported its completion unto Yudhishthira."

SECTION IV

"Vaisampayana said,--"Then that chief of men, king Yudhishthira, entered
that palatial sabha having first fed ten thousand Brahmanas with
preparations of milk and rice mixed with clarified butter and honey with
fruits and roots, and with pork and venison. The king gratified those
superior Brahmanas, who had come from various countries with food
seasoned with seasamum and prepared with vegetables called jibanti, with
rice mixed with clarified butter, with different preparations of
meat--with indeed various kinds of other food, as also numberless viands
that are fit to be sucked and innumerable kinds of drinks, with new and
unused robes and clothes, and with excellent floral wreaths. The king
also gave unto each of those Brahmanas a thousand kine. And, O Bharata,
the voice of the gratified Brahmanas ut