en thou hast done all this,
thou wilt be able to fight with powerful enemies that may present
themselves, let alone the sons of Pandu deficient in troops and animals
of their own. By adopting all these expedients according to the customs
of thy order, thou wilt, O foremost of men, attain enduring happiness in
due time!'"

[23] The word _tirtha_ here means, as Nilakantha rightly
explains spies and not holy spots.

[24] _Satram_ is explained by Nilakantha to mean here 'false
disguise.' I think, however, such an interpretation to be
far-fetched. It evidently means 'forest',--the use of
'pravisteshu' in connection with it almost settles the point.

[25] This sloka is not correctly printed in any of the texts
that I have seen. The reading that I adopt is that the second
word is the participle of the root _budh_ and not the
instrumental of _budhi_; the last word again of the second line
is a compound of _valavatsu_ and _avaleshu_ instead of (as
printed in many books) _valavatswavaleshu_. Any other reading
would certainly be incorrect. I have not consulted the Bombay
text.

SECTION XXX

Vaisampayana said, "Discomfited before, O monarch, many a time and oft
by Matsya's _Suta_ Kichaka aided by the Matsyas and the Salyas, the
mighty king of the Trigartas, Susarman, who owned innumerable cars,
regarding the opportunity to be a favourable one, then spoke the
following words without losing a moment. And, O monarch, forcibly
vanquished along with his relatives by the mighty Kichaka, king
Susarman, eyeing Karna in askance, spoke these words unto Duryodhana,
'My kingdom hath many a time been forcibly invaded by the king of the
Matsyas. The mighty Kichaka was that king's generalissimo. Crooked and
wrathful and of wicked soul, of prowess famed over all the world, sinful
in deeds and highly cruel, that wretch, however, hath been slain by the
Gandharvas. Kichaka being dead, king Virata, shorn of pride and his
refuge gone, will, I imagine, lose all courage. I think we ought now to
invade that kingdom, if it pleases thee, O sinless one, as also the
illustrious Karna and all the Kauravas. The accident that hath happened
is, I imagine, a favourable one for us. Let us, therefore, repair to
Virata's kingdom abounding in corn. We will appropriate his gems and
other wealth of diverse kinds, and let us go to share with each other as
regards his villages and kingdom. Or, invading his c