Kings and Citizens Assemble at the Lavish Arena
The svayamvara arena in Panchala is a spectacle of wealth and power, built to host the contest for Draupadi's hand. Kings from across the land, including the Kouravas and Karna, take their seats, while the Pandavas watch in secret from among the Brahmanas. For days, the assembled crowd is entertained as the tension builds.
The arena was built on a flat, auspicious piece of ground northeast of the city. A wall and a moat enclosed it on all sides, its gates decorated, its space covered by a colourful canopy. The air echoed with music, was scented with agaru (aloeswood), and carried the fragrance of garlands and sandalwood water.
Surrounding the platform were large, white palaces, well-built and towering like the peaks of Kailash. Their windows were covered with golden trellises; their walls sparkled with mosaics of precious stones. The stairs were easy to climb. The seats were covered not with common village cloth, but with expensive, white fabric that smelled of agaru—a fragrance said to carry for a yojana (about nine miles). Each palace had a hundred doors, beautiful seats, couches, and beds inlaid with many metals, gleaming like the Himalayas.
Into these palaces went the kings. Each was seated according to his rank on the many storeys, each man decorated with ornaments, each boastful of his own success. They were tigers among kings, scented with the paste of black agaru, fortunate, devoted to Brahmanas, protectors of their realms, and loved for their good deeds. When the kings had taken their royal seats, the inhabitants of the city and the countryside—who had come to see Krishna (Draupadi)—found their own places. The Pandavas took seats with the Brahmanas, witnessing the unrivalled splendour of the king of Panchala from within the crowd, unrecognized.
For many days, the numbers swelled. Jewels were distributed. Dancers and actors provided entertainment, filling the time before the main event.