ORIENTAL SERIES.

380
YUDHI-SHTHIRA.
bands away, imploring them to forget what had passed. Dur
yodhana was very wroth, and induced the Maha-raja to allow
another game to avoid war, the condition being that the losers
should go into exile for thirteen years, and should remain con-
cealed and undiscovered during the whole of the thirteenth year.
The game was played, and loaded dice gave Sakuni the victory,
so the PaTkZavas went again into exile. During that time they
rendered a service to Dur-yodhana by rescuing him and his com-
panions from a band of marauders who had made them prisoners.
When Jayad-ratha, king of Sindhu, was foiled in his attempt
to carry off Draupadi, the clemency of Yudhi-sh&ira led him
to implore his brothers to spare their captive's life. As the
thirteenth year of exile approached, in order to keep themselves
concealed, the five brothers and Draupadi went to the country
of Virata and entered into the service of the Kaja. Yudhi-
shtfhira's office was that of private companion and teacher of
dice-playing to the king. Here Yudhi-shtfhira suffered his wife
Draupadi to be insulted, and dissuaded his brothers from interfering,
lest by so doing they should discover themselves, When
the term of exile was concluded, Yudhi-shtfhira sent an envoy to
Hastina-pura asking for a peaceful restoration to the Pan?avas
of their former position. The negotiations failed, and Yudhi-
sh&ira invited Krishna to go as his representative to Hastina-
pura, Notwithstanding Yudhi-sh/Jhira's longing for peace the
war began, but even then Yudhi-sh&nra desired to withdraw,
but was overruled by Krishna.
Yudhi-sh&ira fought in the great battle, but did not distin-
guish
himself as a soldier. The version, of the Mahirbharata
given in Mr. Wheeler's work makes him guilty of downright
cowardice. At the instigation of Krishna he compassed the
death of Drona by conveying to that warrior false intelligence of
the death of his son Aswatthaman, and his character for veracity
was used to warrant the truth of the representation. His con-
science would not allow him to tell a downright lie, but it was
reconciled to telling a lying truth in killing an elephant named
Aswatthaman, and informing the fond father that Aswatthaman
was dead. He retreated from a fight with Kama, and after-
wards reproached Arjuna for not having supported him and
Bhima. This so irritated Arjuna that he would have killed him
on the spot had not Krishna interposed.
After the great battle