the Matsyas, will succeed in recognising
you all as long as ye reside in Virata's city!' And having said these
words unto Yudhishthira, that chastiser of foes, and having arranged for
the protection of the sons of Pandu, the Goddess disappeared there and
then."

SECTION VII

Vaisampayana said, "Then tying up in his cloth dice made of gold and set
with _lapis lazuli_, and holding them below his arm-pit, king
Yudhishthira,--that illustrious lord of men--that high-souled
perpetuator of the Kuru race, regarded by kings, irrepressible in might,
and like unto a snake of virulent poison,--that bull among men, endued
with strength and beauty and prowess, and possessed of greatness, and
resembling in form a celestial though now like unto the sun enveloped in
dense clouds, or fire covered with ashes, first made his appearance when
the famous king Virata was seated in his court. And beholding with his
followers that son of Pandu in his court, looking like the moon hid in
clouds and possessed of a face beautiful as the full moon, king Virata
addressed his counsellors and the twice-born ones and the charioteers
and the Vaisyas and others, saying, 'Enquire ye who it is, so like a
king that looketh on my court for the first time. He cannot be a
Brahmana. Methinks he is a man of men, and a lord of earth. He hath
neither slaves, nor cars, nor elephants with him, yet he shineth like
the very Indra. The marks on his person indicate him to be one whose
coronal locks have undergone the sacred investiture. Even this is my
belief. He approacheth me without any hesitation, even as an elephant in
rut approacheth an assemblage of lotuses!'

"And as the king was indulging in these thoughts, that bull among men,
Yudhishthira, came before Virata and addressed him, saying, 'O great
king, know me for a Brahmana who, having lost his all hath come to thee
for the means of subsistence. I desire, O sinless one, to live here
beside thee acting under thy commands,[11] O lord.' The king then,
well-pleased, replied unto him saying, 'Thou art welcome. Do thou then
accept the appointment thou seekest!' And having appointed the lion
among kings in the post he had prayed for, king Virata addressed him
with a glad heart, saying, 'O child, I ask thee from affection, from the
dominions of what king dost thou come hither? Tell me also truly what is
thy name and family, and what thou hast a knowledge of.'

[11] _Kamachara_ is explained by Nilakantha thus, a