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27.KRISHNA'S VOW
The pay of the soldiers was increased.
Volunteers for service were rigidly tested
before being accepted as soldiers.
The siege was so rigorously pushed that
the garrison suffered great privations.
Krishna, when he returned, was struck to
the heart at the sufferings of his beloved
city and he compelled Salva immediately
to raise the siege, by attacking and
defeating him.
It was only afterwards that Krishna learnt
for the first time of the events at
Hastinapura, the game of dice and the
exile of the Pandavas. At once be set out
for the forest where the Pandavas were
living.
Along with Krishna went many, including
men of the Bhoja and Vrishni tribes,
Dhrishtaketu, the king of the Chedi
country, and the Kekayas who were all
devoted to the Pandavas.
They were filled with righteous
indignation when they heard of
Duryodhana's perfidy and cried out that
surely the earth would drink the blood of
such wicked people.
Draupadi approached Sri Krishna and, in a
voice drowned in tears and broken with
sobs, told the story of her wrongs. She
said: "I was dragged to the assembly when
I had but a single garment on my body.
The sons of Dhritarashtra insulted me
most outrageously and gloated over my
agony. They thought that I had become
their slave and accosted me and treated
me as one. Even Bhishma and
Dhritarashtra forgot my birth and breeding
and my relationship to them. O
Janardhana, even my husbands did not
protect me from the jeers and the ribald
insults of those foul ruffians. Bhima's
bodily strength and Arjuna's Gandiva bow
were alike of no avail.
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