04.008
Vaiśampāyana said.
Then, the fair-eyed woman took her blameless, curled-tipped hair, lifted it up, and concealed the soft locks on her right side. (04-8-1)
Kṛṣṇā, having put on a single large, dark, very dusty garment and having assumed the appearance of Sairandhri, moved about appearing afflicted. (04-8-2)
Men running around and women also approached her closely, and having seen her, they indeed asked: "Who are you? What do you intend to do?" (04-8-3)
She said to them, O king, 'I am Sairandhrī, I have come. I wish to do work for the one who desires me.' (04-8-4)
By her appearance, dress, gentleness, and speech in that manner, they did not believe her to be a maidservant who had appeared merely for the sake of food. (04-8-5)
But Kaikeyī, the greatly esteemed wife of Virāṭa, while looking from the palace, saw the daughter of Drupada. (04-8-6)
She, seeing her in such a state—helpless and wearing a single garment—called her and said: 'O auspicious one, who are you, and what do you wish to do?' (04-8-7)
She said to her, "O king, I have come as a female attendant; I wish also to do the work of the one who will employ me." (04-8-8)
Sudeshna said.
They are not of such a form as you say, O beautiful lady. Indeed, they send forth many female and male servants of this kind. (04-8-9)
She has hidden ankles, joined thighs, three deep marks, six elevations, a reddish hue in five reddish parts, and speaks in a broken voice like a swan. (04-8-10)
She, with beautiful hair and lovely breasts, dark-complexioned and full-hipped and full-breasted, endowed with those very qualities, was like a mare from Kashmir. (04-8-11)
She has eyes with long eyelashes, lips like the bimba fruit, a slender waist; a neck shaped like a conch, hidden veins, and a face like the full moon. (04-8-12)
Who are you? Tell me, O auspicious one, since you are not a maidservant in any way. Are you a female Yakṣa, or perhaps a goddess, or a Gandharvī, or an Apsaras? (04-8-13)
Are you Alambusā, Miśrakeśī, Puṇḍarīkā, or Mālinī; Indrāṇī, Vāruṇī, or (the goddess) of Tvaṣṭā, Dhātā, or Prajāpati? Among the goddesses renowned among the gods, which one are you, O auspicious lady? (04-8-14)
Draupadī said.
I am not a goddess, not a female Gandharva, not an Asura, nor a demoness. I am truly Sairandhri, a waiting-woman; this is truth I tell you. (04-8-15)
I know how to prepare an excellent unguent for the hair; I will also make various and very beautiful garlands. (04-8-16)
Worshipping Satyabhāmā, the beloved queen of Kṛṣṇa, and also Kṛṣṇā, the wife of the Pāṇḍavas and the one peerlessly beautiful woman among the Kurus. (04-8-17)
I wander here and there in this way, acquiring beautiful garments; as long as I can obtain them, to that extent I take pleasure in them in this way. (4-8-18)
"Mālinī" is the name she herself has given me; I have come, O lady, O Sudeṣṇā, to your house. (04-8-19)
Sudeṣṇā said.
I would indeed place you upon my head; I have no doubt about it. But if the king, here, should go with all his heart, (then it is so). (04-8-20)
See the women of the royal family, and these here in my house, who are attached, gaze at you; what man would you not cause to be deluded? (04-8-21)
See also the trees standing here in my house; even they seem to bow down to you. What man would you not delude? (04-8-22)
King Virāṭa, O beautiful-thighed one, upon seeing your human form, may abandon me and turn to you with all his heart, O best among women. (04-8-23)
O wide-eyed and faultless-limbed one, any man whom you look upon with attachment indeed becomes subject to desire. (04-8-24)
And the man who always looks at you, O one with a charming smile, in this way, O one with faultless limbs, he too becomes subject to the sway of Kāma (the god of love). (04-8-25)
Just as the female crab bears within herself the cause of her own death, so too I consider living with you, O pure-smiling one. (04-8-26)
Draupadī said.
I cannot be obtained by Virāṭa nor by anyone else in any way. The Gandharvas, five young men, are my husbands, O beautiful one. (04-8-27)
The sons of a certain great-souled king of the Gandharvas always protect me and are accustomed to sorrow; thus indeed am I. (04-8-28)
Whoever does not give me food leavings and does not make my feet hurry, the Gandharvas, my lords, would be pleased by that garment. (04-8-29)
If a man should desire me as ordinary men do other women, then, from that night, he would enter another body. (04-8-30)
O lady, I too am not able to be moved by anyone. The Gandharvas indeed are of a suffering nature, and they are stronger than me. (4-8-31)
Sudeṣṇa said;
Thus I will make you stay as you, Nandini, wish. And you shall not touch feet nor leavings of food in any way. (04-8-32)
Vaiśampāyana said.
Thus Kṛṣṇā was consoled by the wife of Virāṭa. No one else there truly recognized her, O Janamejaya. (04-8-33)
