Even if failing to bring Damayanti and Nala here, he
that succeeds learning their whereabouts, will get
from me the wealth represented by a thousand kine.”
Thus addressed, the Brahmanas cheerfully went out
in all directions seeking Nala and his wife in cities
and provinces. But Nala or his spouse they found
not anywhere. Until at length searching in the
beautiful city of the Chedis, a Brahmana named Sudeva,
during the time of the king’s prayers, saw the
princess of Vidarbha in the palace of the king, seated
with Sunanda. And her incomparable beauty was
slightly perceptible, like the brightness of a fire
enveloped in curls of smoke. And beholding that
lady of large eyes, soiled and emaciated he decided
her to be Damayanti, coming to that conclusion from
various reasons. And Sudeva said, “As I
saw her before, this damsel is even so at present.
O, I am blest, by casting my eyes on this fair one,
like Sree herself delighting the worlds!
Resembling the full moon, of unchanging youth, of well-rounded
breasts, illumining all sides by her splendour, possessed
of large eyes like beautiful lotuses, like unto Kama’s
Rati herself the delight of all the worlds like the
rays of the full moon, O, she looketh like a lotus-stalk
transplanted by adverse fortune from the Vidarbha lake
and covered with mire in the process. And oppressed
with grief on account of her husband, and melancholy,
she looketh like the night of the full moon when Rahu
hath swallowed that luminary, or like a stream whose
current hath dried up. Her plight is very much
like that of a ravaged lake with the leaves of its
lotuses crushed by the trunks of elephants, and with
its birds and fowls affrighted by the invasion.
Indeed, this girl, of a delicate frame and of lovely
limbs, and deserving to dwell in a mansion decked
with gems, is (now) like an uprooted lotus-stalk scorched
by the sun. Endued with beauty and generosity
of nature, and destitute of ornaments, though deserving
of them, she looketh like the moon ‘new bent
in heaven’ but covered with black clouds.
Destitute of comforts and luxuries, separated from
loved ones and friends, she liveth in distress, supported
by the hope of beholding her lord. Verily, the
husband is the best ornament of a woman, however destitute
of ornaments. Without her husband beside her,
this lady, though beautiful, shineth not. It is
a hard feat achieved by Nala in that he liveth without
succumbing to grief, though separated from such a
wife. Beholding this damsel possessed of black
hair and of eyes like lotus-leaves, in woe though deserving
of bliss, even my heart is pained. Alas! when
shall this girl graced with auspicious marks and devoted
to her husband, crossing this ocean of woe, regain
the company of her lord, like Rohini regaining the
Moon’s? Surely, the king of the Nishadhas
will experience in regaining her the delight that
a king deprived of his kingdom experienceth in regaining
his kingdom. Equal to her in nature and age and
extraction, Nala deserveth the daughter of Vidarbha,
and this damsel of black eyes also deserveth him.
It behoveth me to comfort the queen of that hero of
immeasurable prowess and endued with energy and might,
(since) she is so eager to meet her husband.
I will console this afflicted girl of face like the
full moon, and suffering distress that she had never
before endured, and ever meditating on her lord."’