ted with joy, but remember my words: The day will
come when I will drink your blood, or I am not the son of Kunti." And
the Pandavas, seeing that they had lost, threw off their garments and
put on deer-skins, and prepared to depart into the forest with
their wife and mother, and their priest Dhaumya; but Vidura said to
Yudhishthira:--"Your mother is old and unfitted to travel, so leave her
under my care;" and the Pandavas did so. And the brethren went out from
the assembly hanging down their heads with shame, and covering their
faces with their garments; but Bhima threw out his long arms and looked
at the Kauravas furiously, and Draupadi spread her long black hair over
her face and wept bitterly. And Draupadi vowed a vow, saying:--

'"My hair shall remain dishevelled from this day, until Bhima shall
have slain Duhsasana and drank his blood; and then he shall tie up my
hair again whilst his hands are dripping with the blood of Duhsasana."'

Such was the great gambling match at Hastinapur in the heroic age
of India. It appears there can be little doubt of the truth of the
incident, although the verisimilitude would have been more complete
without the perpetual winning of the cheat Sakuni--which would be
calculated to arouse the suspicion of Yudhishthira, and which could
scarcely be indulged in by a professional cheat, mindful of the
suspicion it would excite.

Throughout the narrative, however, there is a truthfulness to human
nature, and a truthfulness to that particular phase of human nature
which is pre-eminently manifested by a high-minded race in its primitive
stage of civilization.

To our modern minds the main interest of the story begins from the
moment that Draupadi was lost; but it must be remembered that among that
ancient people, where women were chiefly prized on sensual grounds, such
stakes were evidently recognized.

The conduct of Draupadi herself on the occasion shows that she was by
no means unfamiliar with the idea: she protested--not on the ground of
sentiment or matrimonial obligation--but solely on what may be called a
technical point of law, namely, 'Had Yudhishthira become a slave before
he staked his wife upon the last game?' For, of course, having ceased to
be a freeman, he had no right to stake her liberty.

The concluding scene of the drama forms an impressive figure in the mind
of the Hindoo. The terrible figure of Draupadi, as she dishevels her
long black hair, is the very impersonation