And, O king, thou shalt also, with thy brothers, obtain great happiness.
And through my grace, joy and health will be thine. And they also in the
world who will recite my attributes and achievements will be freed from
their sins, and gratified. I will bestow upon them kingdom, long life,
beauty of person, and offspring. And they, O king, who will invoke me,
after thy manner, in exile or in the city, in the midst of battle or of
dangers from foes, in forests or in inaccessible deserts, in seas or
mountain fastnesses, there is nothing that they will not obtain in this
world. And ye sons of Pandu, he will achieve success in every business
of his that will listen to, or himself recite with devotion, this
excellent hymn. And through my grace neither the Kuru's spies, nor those
that dwell in the country of 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