Pandu, O son, were filled with sorrow and grief. And
the Pandavas with cheerless hearts very much resembled pearls unstrung
from a wreath, or birds shorn of their wings. And without that hero of
white steeds that forest looked like the Chaitraratha woods when deprived
of the presence of Kuvera. And, O Janamejaya, those tigers among men--the
sons of Pandu--deprived of the company of Arjuna, continued to live in
Kamyaka in perfect cheerlessness. And, O chief of the Bharata race, those
mighty warriors endowed with great prowess slew with pure arrows various
kinds of sacrificial animals for the Brahmanas. And those tigers among
men and repressors of foes, daily slaying those wild animals and
sanctifying them properly, offered them unto the Brahmanas. And it was
thus, O king, that those bulls among men afflicted with sorrow lived
there with cheerless hearts after Dhananjaya's departure. The princess of
Panchala in particular, remembering her third lord, addressed the anxious
Yudhishthira and said, 'That Arjuna who with two hands rivals the
thousand-armed Arjuna (of old), alas, without that foremost of the sons
of Pandu, this forest doth not seem at all beautiful in my eyes. Without
him, whenever I cast my eyes, this earth seems to be forlorn. Even this
forest with its blossoming trees and so full of wonders, without Arjuna
seems not so delightful as before. Without him who is like a mass of blue
clouds (in hue), who hath the prowess of an infuriated elephant, and
whose eyes are like the leaves of the lotus, this Kamyaka forest doth not
seem beautiful to me. Remembering that hero capable of drawing the bow
with his left hand, and the twang of whose bow sounds like the roar of
thunder, I cannot feel any happiness, O king!' And, O monarch, hearing
her lament in this strain, that slayer of hostile heroes, Bhimasena,
addressed Draupadi in these words, 'O blessed lady of slender waist, the
agreeable words thou utterest delight my heart like the quaffing of
nectar. Without him whose arms are long and symmetrical, and stout and
like unto a couple of iron maces and round and marked by the scars of the
bow-strings and graced with the bow and sword and other weapons and
encircled with golden bracelets and like unto a couple of five-headed
snakes, without that tiger among men the sky itself seemeth to be without
the sun. Without that mighty-armed one relying upon whom the Panchalas
and the Kauravas fear not the sternly-exerting ranks of th