he Vasus, and of the hosts of
wind and of the two celestial physicians and of Yama, son of the sun and
of the lord of riches, and of Indra, and of Vishnu, and of the lord
Creator and of Siva, and of the moon, and of the author of day, and of
the lord of waters, and of the host of Sadhyas, and of Brahma, and of the
forefathers, and of Rudra together with all his followers, and of the
goddess of learning, and of the host of Siddhas, and of many immortal
holy gods besides. And in those shrines the king observed various fasts,
and gave away large quantities of gems. He plunged his body in all the
holy spots, and then came again to Surparaka. And he by the same
landing-place of the sea again proceeded with his uterine brothers and
came over to the holy spot Prabhasa, whereof fame hath been spread by
mighty Brahmanas throughout the world. There he, possessed of a pair of
large red eyes, washed himself with all his younger brothers, and offered
libations to the forefathers and the celestial hosts; and so did Krishna
and all those Brahmanas together with Lomasa. For twelve days he
subsisted upon air and water. And he performed ablutions for days and
nights and surrounded himself with fires kindled on all sides. Thus that
greatest of all virtuous men engaged himself in asceticism. While he was
acting thus, information reached both Valarama and Krishna that the king
was practising penances of a most austere form and these two leaders of
the entire Vrishni tribe accompanied with troops came to Yudhishthira of
Ajamidha's race. And when the Vrishnis beheld that the sons of Pandu lay
down on the ground, their bodies besmeared all over with dirt and when
they beheld the daughter of Drupada in a sad state, their grief was great
and they could not refrain from breaking out in loud lamentations. Then
the king, whose courage was such that misfortune never could cast him
down, cordially met Rama and Krishna and Samva, Krishna's son, and the
grand-son of Sini and other Vrishnis, and paid honour to them in a
suitable form. And they also in return paid honour to all the sons of
Pritha, and were similarly honoured by Pandu's sons. And they seated
themselves round about Yudhishthira, as round Indra, O king! are seated
the celestial hosts. And highly pleased, he recounted to them all the
machinations of his adversaries, and how also he had resided in the
forest, and how Arjuna had gone to Indra's abode in order to learn the
science of arms--all th