accompanied by the twice-born ones. And there
he beheld the blind monarch of great wisdom seated
on a cushion of
Kusa grass spread under
Sala
tree. And after duly reverencing the royal sage,
the king in an humble speech introduced himself.
Thereupon, offering him the
Arghya, a seat,
and a cow, the monarch asked his royal guest,—
Wherefore
is this visit?—Thus addressed the king
disclosed everything about his intentions and purpose
with reference to Satyavan. And Aswapati said,
“O royal sage, this beautiful girl is my daughter
named Savitri. O thou versed in morality, do
thou, agreeably to the customs of our order, take her
from me as thy daughter-in-law!” Hearing these
words, Dyumatsena said, “Deprived of kingdom,
and taking up our abode in the woods, we are engaged
in the practice of virtue as ascetics with regulated
lives. Unworthy of a forest life, how will thy
daughter, living in the sylvan asylum, bear this hardship?”
Aswapati said, “When my daughter knoweth, as
well as myself, that happiness and misery come and
go (without either being stationary), such words as
these are not fit to be used towards one like me!
O king, I have come hither, having made up my mind!
I have bowed to thee from friendship; it behoveth
thee not, therefore, to destroy my hope! It behoveth
thee not, also, to disregard me who, moved by love,
have come to thee! Thou art my equal and fit for
an alliance with me, as indeed, I am thy equal and
fit for alliance with thee! Do thou, therefore,
accept my daughter for thy daughter-in-law and the
wife of the good Satyavan!” Hearing these words
Dyumatsena said, “Formerly I had desired an
alliance with thee. But I hesitated, being subsequently
deprived of my kingdom. Let this wish, therefore,
that I had formerly entertained, be accomplished this
very day. Thou art, indeed, a welcome guest to
me!”
“’Then summoning all the twice-born ones
residing in the hermitages of that forest, the two
kings caused the union to take place with due rites.
And having bestowed his daughter with suitable robes
and ornaments, Aswapati went back to his abode in
great joy. And Satyavan, having obtained a wife
possessed of every accomplishment, became highly glad,
while she also rejoiced exceedingly upon having gained
the husband after her own heart. And when her
father had departed, she put off all her ornaments,
and clad herself in barks and cloths dyed in red.
And by her services and virtues, her tenderness and
self-denial, and by her agreeable offices unto all,
she pleased everybody. And she gratified her
mother-in-law by attending to her person and by covering
her with robes and ornaments. And she gratified
her father-in-law by worshipping him as a god and
controlling her speech. And she pleased her husband
by her honeyed speeches, her skill in every kind of
work, the evenness of her temper, and by the indications
of her love in private. And thus, O Bharata,
living in the asylum of those pious dwellers of the
forest, they continued for some time to practise ascetic
austerities. But the words spoken by Narada were
present night and day in the mind of the sorrowful
Savitri.’”