ter than any I felt at those insults.
Certainly, in thy absence, thy brothers will while away their waking
hours in repeatedly talking of thy heroic deeds! If, however, O son of
Pritha, thou stayest away for any length of time, we shall derive no
pleasure from our enjoyments or from wealth. Nay, life itself will be
distasteful to us. O son of Pritha, our weal, and woe, life and death,
our kingdom and prosperity, are all dependent on thee. O Bharata, I bless
thee, let success be thine. O sinless one, thy (present) task thou wilt
be able to achieve even against powerful enemies. O thou of great
strength, go thou to win success with speed. Let dangers be not thine. I
bow to Dhatri and Vidhatri! I bless thee. Let prosperity be thine. And, O
Dhananjaya, let Hri, Sree, Kirti, Dhriti, Pushti, Uma, Lakshmi,
Saraswati, all protect thee on thy way, for thou ever worshippest thy
elder brother and ever obeyest his commands. And, O bull of the Bharata
race, I bow to the Vasus, the Rudras and Adityas, the Manilas, the
Viswadevas, and the Sadhyas, for procuring thy welfare. And, O Bharata,
be thou safe from all spirits of mischief belonging to the sky, the
earth, and the heaven, and from such other spirits generally.'"

Vaisampayana continued, "Krishna, the daughter of Yajnasena, having
uttered these benedictions, ceased. The strong-armed son of Pandu then,
having walked round his brothers and round Dhaumya also, and taking up
his handsome bow, set out. And all creatures began to leave the way that
Arjuna of great energy and prowess, urged by the desire of beholding
Indra, took. And that slayer of foes passed over many mountains inhabited
by ascetics, and then reached the sacred Himavat, the resort of the
celestials. And the high-souled one reached the sacred mountain in one
day, for like the winds he was gifted with the speed of the mind, in
consequence of his ascetic austerities. And having crossed the Himavat,
as also the Gandhamadana, he passed over many uneven and dangerous spots,
walking night and day without fatigue. And having reached Indrakila,
Dhananjaya stopped for a moment. And then he heard a voice in the skies,
saying, 'Stop!' And hearing that voice, the son of Pandu cast his glances
all around. And Arjuna, capable of using his left hand with skill equal
to that of his right hand, then beheld before him an ascetic under the
shade of a tree, blazing with Brahma brilliancy, of a tawny colour, with
matted locks, and thin. An