And, O Bharata, with his whole heart set upon it, he soon gratified the maiden Devayani who was then a young lady, by presents of flowers and fruits and services rendered with alacrity.  And Devayani also with her songs and sweetness of manners used, while they were alone, to attend upon that youth carrying out his vow.  And when five hundred years had thus passed of Kacha’s vow, the Danavas came to learn his intention.  And having no compunctions about slaying a Brahmana, they became very angry with him.  And one day they saw Kacha in a solitary part of the woods engaged in tending (his preceptor’s) kine.  They then slew Kacha from their hatred of Vrihaspati and also from their desire of protecting the knowledge of reviving the dead from being conveyed by him.  And having slain him, they hacked his body into pieces and gave them to be devoured by jackals and wolves.  And (when twilight came) the kine returned to the fold without him who tended them.  And Devayani, seeing the kine returned from the woods without Kacha, spoke, O Bharata, unto her father thus: 

’Thy evening-fire hath been kindled.  The Sun also hath set, O father!  The kine have returned without him who tendeth them.  Kacha is, indeed, not to be seen.  It is plain that Kacha hath been lost, or is dead.  Truly do I say, O father, that without him I will not live.’

“Sukra hearing this said, I will revive him by saying, ’Let this one come.’  Then having recourse to the science of reviving the dead, Sukra summoned Kacha.  And summoned by his preceptor, Kacha appeared before him in the gladness of heart tearing by virtue of his preceptor’s science the bodies of the wolves (that had devoured him).  And asked about the cause of his delay, he thus spoke unto Bhargava’s daughter.  Indeed, asked by that Brahman’s daughter, he told her, ’I was dead.  O thou of pure manners, burdened with sacrificial fuel, Kusa grass, and logs of wood, I was coming towards our abode.  I sat under a banian tree.  The kine also, having been brought together, were staying under the shade of that same banian tree.  The Asuras, beholding me, asked ‘Who art thou?’ They heard me answer, ‘I am the son of Vrihaspati.’  As soon as I said this, the Danavas slew me, and hacking my body into pieces gave my remains to jackals and wolves.  And they then went home in the gladness of heart.  O amiable one, summoned by the high-souled Bhargava, I after all come before thee fully revived.’

“On another occasion, asked by Devayani, the Brahmana Kacha went into the woods.  And as he was roving about for gathering flowers, the Danavas beheld him.  They again slew him, and pounding him into a paste they mixed it with the water of the ocean.  Finding him long still (in coming), the maiden again represented the matter unto her father.  And summoned again by the Brahmana with the aid of his science, Kacha appearing before his preceptor and his daughter told everything as it had happened.  Then slaying him for the third time and burning him and reducing him to ashes, the Asuras gave those ashes to the preceptor himself, mixing them with his wine.  And Devayani again spoke unto her father, saying, ’O father, Kacha was sent to gather flowers.  But he is not to be seen.  It is plain he hath been lost, or has died.  I tell thee truly, I would not live without him.’