ORIENTAL SERIES.

DRAUPADI 05
complain of being touched by men. He also abused hei
and tore off her veil and dress, wMLe Dur-yodhana invited her
to sit on his thigh. ~Kriah.no, took compassion upon her, and
restored her garments as fast as they were torn. She called
vehemently upon her husbands to save her, but they were
restrained by YudM-sh/Jhira. Bhima was in a rage of passion ;
he was prevented from action; but he vowed in loud words
that he would drink the blood of Duh-sasana and smash the
thigh of Dur-yodhana in retaliation of these outrages, which
vows he eventually fulfilled. Draupadi vowed that her hair
should remain dishevelled until Bhima should tie it up with
hands dripping with the blood of Duh-sasana. The result
of the gambling match was that the Pan^avas, with Draupadi,
went into exile for twelve years, and were to dwell quite
incognito during another year. The period of thirteen years
being successfully completed, they were at liberty to return.
Twelve years of exile were passed in the jungle, and in the
course of this period Jayad-ratha, king of Sindhu, came to the
house of the Panrfavas while they were out hunting. He was
courteously received by Draupadi, and was fascinated by her
charms. He tried to induce her to elope with him, and when
he was scornfully repulsed, he dragged her to his chariot and
drove off with her. When the Pa?wfavas returned and heard
of the rape, they pursued Jayad-ratha, and pressed him so close
that he put down Draupadi, and endeavoured to escape alone.
Bhima resolved to overtake and punish him; and although
Yudhi-shhira pleaded that Jayad-ratha was a kinsman, and
ought not to be killed, Draupadi called aloud for vengeance,
so Bhima and Arjuna continued the pursuit. Bhima dragged
Jayad-ratha from his car, kicked and beat him till he was sense-
less, but spared his life. He cut off all Jayad-ratha's hair except
five locks, and made him publicly acknowledge that he was a
slave. Draupadi's revenge was then slaked, and Jayad-ratha was
released at her intercession. In the thirteenth year, in which
her husbands and she were to live undiscovered, they entered
the service of the king of Virarfa, and she, without acknowledging
any connection with them, became a waiting-maid to the
queen. She stipulated that she should not be required to wash
feet or to eat food left by others, and she quieted the jealous
feaxs which her beauty excited in the queen's mind by represent-