Such traditions[2.5.15] were probably invented to cover some great disgrace in the Pandu family, and have relation to the story already related of Vyasa, and the debasement of this branch of the Harikulas. Accordingly, on the death of Pandu, Duryodhana, nephew of Pandu (son of Dhritarashtra, who from blindness could not inherit), asserted their illegitimacy before the assembled kin at Hastinapura. With the aid, however, of the priesthood, and the blind Dhritarashtra, his nephew, Yudhishthira, elder son of Pandu, was invested by him with the seal of royalty, in the capital, Hastinapura. Duryodhana’s plots against the Pandu and his partisans were so numerous that the five brothers determined to leave for a while their ancestral abodes on the Ganges. They sought shelter in foreign countries about the Indus, and were first protected by Drupada, king of Panchala, at whose capital, Kampilanagara, the surrounding princes had arrived as suitors for the hand of his daughter, Draupadi.[2.5.16] But the prize was destined for the exiled Pandu, and the skill of Arjuna in archery obtained him the fair, who “threw round his neck the (barmala) garland of marriage.” The disappointed princes indulged their resentment against the exile; but by Arjuna’s bow they suffered the fate of Penelope’s suitors, and the Pandu brought home his bride, who became the wife in common of the five brothers: manners[2.5.17] decisively Scythic [49]. The deeds of the brothers abroad were bruited in Hastinapura and the blind Dhritarashtra’s influence effected their recall. To stop, however, their intestine feuds, he partitioned the Pandu sovereignty; and while his son, Duryodhana, retained Hastinapura, Yudhishthira founded the new capital of Indraprastha; but shortly after the Mahabharata he abdicated in favour of his grand-nephew, Parikshita, introducing a new era, called after himself, which existed for eleven hundred years, when it was overturned, and Indraprastha was conquered by Vikramaditya Tuar of Ujjain, of the same race, who established an era of his own. On the division of the Pandu sovereignty, the new kingdom of Indraprastha eclipsed that of Hastinapura. The brothers reduced to obedience the surrounding[2.5.18] nations, and compelled their princes to sign tributary engagements (_paenama_).[2.5.19] Yudhishthira, firmly seated on his throne, determined to signalize his reign and paramount sovereignty, by the imposing and solemn rites of Asvamedha[2.5.20] and Rajasuya. =The Asvamedha.=—In these magnificent ceremonies, in which princes alone officiate, every duty, down to that of porter, is performed by royalty. The ‘Steed of Sacrifice’ was liberated under Arjuna’s care, having wandered whither he listed for twelve months; and none daring to accept this challenge of supremacy, he was reconducted to Indraprastha, where, in the meanwhile, the hall of sacrifice was prepared, and all the princes of the land were summoned to attend.