evil.  And, O Savitri, I know thee to be like the goddess Savitri herself in splendour.  Thou must know the cause of this.  Therefore, do thou relate it truly!  If it should not be kept a secret, do thou unfold it unto us!” At these words of Gautama Savitri said, “It is as ye surmise.  Your desire shall surely not be unfulfilled.  I have no secret to keep.  Listen to the truth then!  The high-souled Narada had predicted the death of my husband.  To-day was the appointed time.  I could not, therefore, bear to be separated from my husband’s company.  And after he had fallen asleep, Yama, accompanied by his messengers, presented himself before him, and tying him, began to take him away towards the region inhabited by the Pitris.  Thereupon I began to praise that august god, with truthful words.  And he granted me five boons, of which do ye hear from me!  For my father-in-law I have obtained these two boons, viz., his restoration to sight as also to his kingdom.  My father also hath obtained a hundred sons.  And I myself have obtained a hundred sons.  And my husband Satyavan hath obtained a life of four hundred years.  It was for the sake of my husband’s life that I had observed that vow.  Thus have I narrated unto you in detail the cause by which this mighty misfortune of mine was afterwards turned into happiness.”  The Rishis said, “O chaste lady of excellent disposition, observant of vows and endued with virtue, and sprung from an illustrious line, by thee hath the race of this foremost of kings, which was overwhelmed with calamities, and was sinking in an ocean of darkness, been rescued."’

“Markandeya continued, ’Then having applauded and reverenced that best of women, those Rishis there assembled bade farewell to that foremost of kings as well as to his son.  And having saluted them thus, they speedily went, in peace with cheerful hearts, to their respective abodes.’”

SECTION CCLXLVII

“Markandeya continued, ’When the night had passed away, and the solar orb had risen, those ascetics, having performed their morning rites, assembled together.  And although those mighty sages again and again spake unto Dyumatsena of the high fortune of Savitri, yet they were never satisfied.  And it so happened, O king, that there came to that hermitage a large body of people from Salwa.  And they brought tidings of the enemy of Dyumatsena having been slain by his own minister.  And they related unto him all that had happened, viz., how having heard that the usurper had been slain with all his friends and allies by his minister, his troops had all fled, and how all the subjects had become unanimous (on behalf of their legitimate king), saying, “Whether possessed of sight or not, even he shall be our king!” And they said, “We have been sent to thee in consequence of that resolve.  This car of thine, and this army also consisting of four kinds of forces,