' Determined thus, the wicked
Duryodhana was ever on the watch to find out an opportunity for injuring
Bhima. And, O Bharata, at length at a beautiful place called Pramanakoti
on the banks of the Ganga, he built a palace decorated with hangings of
broad-cloth and other rich stuffs. And he built this palace for sporting
in the water there, and filled it with all kinds of entertaining things
and choice viands. Gay flags waved on the top of this mansion. The name of
the house was 'the water-sport house.' Skilful cooks prepared various
kinds of viands. When all was ready, the officers gave intimation to
Duryodhana. Then the evil-minded prince said unto the Pandavas, 'Let us
all go to the banks of the Ganga graced with trees and crowned with
flowers and sport there in the water.' And upon Yudhishthira agreeing to
this, the sons of Dhritarashtra, taking the Pandavas with them, mounted
country-born elephants of great size and cars resembling towns, and left
the metropolis.
"On arriving at the place, the princes dismissed their attendants, and
surveying the beauty of the gardens and the groves, entered the palace,
like lions entering their mountain caves. On entering they saw that the
architects had handsomely plastered the walls and the ceilings and that
painters had painted them beautifully. The windows looked very graceful,
and the artificial fountains were splendid. Here and there were tanks of
pellucid water in which bloomed forests of lotuses.
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