Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

""BornMyths of the Hindus ^f Buddhistspromise made to her by the god Shiva, and relying on thispromise she had deceived him, so that he had publiclyadvertised the world of the birth of a son. She had beenaltogether responsible, and even now she believed in theword of the Great God :a daughter, this childwould become a son !This statement Drupada laid before his councillors, andthey conferred all together for the protection of city andsubjects against the intended invader. In the first place,they refused to admit that any such insult as was averredhad been offered to the brother monarch. The proposalsfaith and wereof marriage had been made in all goodperfectly fit and proper proposals. Shikhandin, theyrepeated, was a man ;he was not a woman. Then theyrefortified the city and strengthened the defences. Andlast of all, extraordinary ceremonies of worship wereinstituted, and the king appealed to the gods for help inthis crisis, at every temple in his land.Nevertheless he had his hours of depression, when hewould go to talk the situation over with his wife ;and shedid all she could to encourage him. Every effort wasdirected to keeping up his courage.Homage to the godswas good, she said, when seconded by human endeavour ;no one could tell how good. Hand in hand, these twoknown to lead to success. Unthings were alwaysdoubtedly success awaited them. Whocould dispute it?The Resolve of ShikhandimWhile the husband and wife talked thus together theirdaughter Shikhandin! listened, and her heart grew heavyas she realized the unspoken despair that all this insistentcheerfulness was meant to conceal. It was the sense thatthey were to blame that so undermined their courage, and the170