He also related to them the beautiful story of how the
Princess Savitri had wedded the Prince Satyavan, knowing that the gods had
decreed that he should die within a year; how on the day set for his death
she had accompanied him to the forest, had there followed Yama, the awful
god of death, entreating him until, for very pity of her sorrow and
admiration of her courage and devotion, he yielded to her her husband's
soul.
Near the close of the twelfth year of their exile, the princes, fatigued
from a hunt, sent Nakalu to get some water from a lake which one had
discovered from a tree-top. As the prince approached the lake he was
warned by a voice not to touch it, but thirst overcoming fear, he drank
and fell dead. The same penalty was paid by Sahadeva, Arjuna, and Bhima,
who in turn followed him. Yudhi-sthira, who went last, obeyed the voice,
which, assuming a terrible form, asked the king questions on many subjects
concerning the universe. These being answered satisfactorily, the being
declared himself to be Dharma, the god of justice, Yudhi-sthira's father,
and in token of his affection for his son, restored the princes to life,
and granted them the boon of being unrecognizable during the remaining
year of their exile.
The thirteenth year of their exile they spent in the city of Virata, where
they entered the service of the Raja,--Yudhi-sthira as teacher of
dice-playing, Bhima as superintendent of the cooks, Arjuna as a teacher of
music and dancing to the ladies, Nakalu as master of horse, and Sahadeva
as superintendent of the cattle.
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