“After some days I came to a small temple of Durga, where a party of Bheels were about to make the child an offering to the goddess, in the hope of obtaining success through her favour; and they were then deliberating in what manner they should kill him, whether by hanging him on the branch of a tree and cutting him to pieces with swords, or by partly burying him in the ground and shooting at him with arrows, or by worrying him with young dogs.

“Then I went up to them very humbly, and said:  ’O Kiratas, I am an old brahman; having lost my way in the forest, I laid down my child whom I was carrying, while I went away for a moment to try to find an opening out of the dense thicket; when I came back he was gone.  I have been searching for him ever since; have you seen him?’ ’Is this your child?’ said they.  ‘O yes!’ I exclaimed.  ‘Take him, then,’ they replied; ‘we respect a brahman.’  Thus I got possession of the boy, and, blessing them for their kindness, took him away as quickly as possible, and have now brought him here, thinking he will be best under your majesty’s protection.”

The king, though grieved at the calamity of his friend, rejoiced that the child was saved from such a death; and giving him the name of Upaharavarma, had him brought up as his own son.

Not long after this, Rajahansa went to bathe at a holy place, and in returning, as he passed by a group of Chandalas, he observed a woman carrying a very beautiful boy.  Being struck by the appearance of the child, he said “Where did you get this beautiful boy, who is like a king’s son?  Surely he is not your own child! pray tell me.”

She answered:  “When the Bheels attacked and plundered the King of Mithila near our village, this child was picked up and brought to me by my husband, and I have taken care of him ever since.”

The king being convinced that this was the other child of his friend, the King of Mithila, by fair words and gifts induced the woman to give him up, and took him to the queen, giving him the name of Apaharavarma, and begging her to bring him up with her own son.

Soon afterwards, a disciple of Vamadeva brought a beautiful boy to the king, and said “As I was returning from a pilgrimage to Ramatirtha, I saw an old woman carrying this child, and asked her how she came to be wandering there.  In answer to my questions, she told me her story, saying, ’I was the servant of a rich man, named Kalagupta, living in the island of Kalayavana, and I waited on his daughter Suvritta.  One day a young merchant, named Ratnodbhava, son of a minister of the King of Magadha, arrived in the island, and having become acquainted with my master, he married his beautiful daughter.

“’After some time, he was desirous of visiting his family, and being unwilling to leave behind his young wife, who was then not far from childbirth, he took her with him, and me as her nurse.