SECTION XV

"Vaisampayana said, 'Rejected thus by the princess, Kichaka, afflicted
with maddening lust and forgetting all sense of propriety, addressed
Sudeshna saying, 'Do thou, Kekaya's daughter, so act that thy Sairindhri
may come into my arms. Do thou, O Sudeshna, adopt the means by which the
damsel of the gait of an elephant may accept me; I am dying of absorbing
desire.'

"Vaisampayana continued, 'Hearing his profuse lamentations, that gentle
lady, the intelligent queen of Virata, was touched with pity. And having
taken counsel with her own self and reflected on Kichaka's purpose and on
the anxiety of Krishna, Sudeshna addressed the Suta's son in these words,
'Do thou, on the occasion of some festival, procure viands and wines for
me. I shall then send my Sairindhri to thee on the pretence of bringing
wine. And when she will repair thither do thou in solitude, free from
interruption, humour her as thou likest. Thus soothed, she may incline
her mind to thee.'

"Vaisampayana continued, 'Thus addressed, he went out of his sister's
apartments. And he soon procured wines well-filtered and worthy of a
king. And employing skilled cooks, he prepared many and various kinds of
choice viands and delicious drinks and many and various kinds of meat of
different degrees of excellence. And when all this had been done, that
gentle lady Sudeshna, as previously counselled by Kichaka, desired her
Sairindhri to repair to Kichaka's abode, saying, 'Get up, O Sairindhri
and repair to Kichaka's abode to bring wine, for, O beauteous lady, I am
afflicted with thirst.' Thereupon the Sairindhri replied, 'O princess, I