SHE might be saved from the soothsayers, but could she be defended from fate? Upon hearing the prediction, King Subala gave an order that henceforth no soothsayer could enter the palace. He could not forget the Brahmins utterance of that springthe last of the soothsayers hastily ushered out of the pavilion. It will come to pass that the Princess will live in darkness, perhaps out of bitterness.

Gandhari herself did not hear these words, of course.