Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

"The Maiden who became a Knightin Shiva, and the father everywhere said "She is a son:and no one in all the city suspected that that concealeddaughter was not a son. And she was called Shikhandin,because that name had a feminine form which was Shikhandim,and for the education of this Shikhandin-Shikhandinlevery care was taken by Drupada. She learnedwriting and painting and all the arts that were proper toa man. For her parents lived daily in expectation of amiracle, and it behoved them to be ready for it when itshould happen. And in shooting and fencing the childbecame a disciple of the royal guru Drona, and was inno way inferior to other princes in the management ofweapons.Then, as she was beginning to grow up, her mother urgedher husband to find a wife for their supposed son andmarry him in the sight of the whole world to someprincess of royal family. Then Drupada sent embassiesof betrothal in all directions, and finally selected a maidento whom marriage was to be proposed on behalf ofShikhandin. And this maiden was a king s daughter.But now, for the first time, the dread secret began to bewhispered, and it came to the ears of the royal father ofthe princess who was promised to Shikhandin in marriage.And he, thinking he had been purposely insulted in thatdearest point, the honour of the names of the women ofhis house, sent messages of threats and vengeance toDrupada. He would, he declared, destroy his city,andkill both Drupada and his daughter, and place acreatureof his own on the throne of the Panchalas.At this crisis the sense of his own guilt made Drupadasomewhat weak. However, the queen publicly took theresponsibility of the deception upon herself. She had,she told her husband in the presence of others, had a;169