worshipping Surya with offerings of Arghya and flower-garlands and scents, and with vows and fasts and ascetic penances of various kinds.  Indeed, Samvarana was worshipping Surya constantly in all his glory, with devotion and humility and piety.  And beholding Samvarana conversant with all rules of virtue and unequalled on earth for beauty, Surya regarded him as the fit husband for his daughter, Tapati.  And, O thou of Kuru’s race, Vivaswat then resolved to bestow his daughter on that best of kings, viz., Samvarana, the scion of a race of world-wide fame.  As Surya himself in the heavens filleth the firmament with his splendour, so did king Samvarana on earth fill every region with the splendour of his good achievements.  And all men, O Partha, except Brahmanas, worshipped Samvarana.  Blest with good luck, king Samvarana excelled Soma in soothing the hearts of friends and Surya in scorching the hearts of foes.  And, O Kaurava, Tapana (Surya) himself was resolved upon bestowing his daughter Tapati upon king Samvarana, who was possessed of such virtues and accomplishments.

“Once on a time, O Partha, king Samvarana, endued with beauty (of person) and immeasurable prowess, went on a hunting expedition to the under-woods on the mountain-breast.  While wandering in quest of deer, the excellent steed the king rode, overcome, O Partha, with hunger, thirst and fatigue, died on the mountains.  Abandoning the steed, the king, O Arjuna, began to wander about upon the mountain-breast on foot and in course of his wandering the monarch saw a maiden of large eyes and unrivalled beauty, That grinder of hostile host—­that tiger among kings—­himself without a companion, beholding there that maiden without a companion, stood motionless gazing at her steadfastly.  For her beauty, the monarch for some moment believed her to be (the goddess) Sri herself.  Next he regarded her to be the embodiment of the rays emanating from Surya.  In splendour of her person she resembled a flame of fire, though in benignity and loveliness she resembled a spotless digit of the moon.  And standing on the mountain-breast, the black-eyed maiden appeared like a bright statue of gold.  The mountain itself with its creepers and plants, because of the beauty and attire of that damsel, seemed to be converted into gold.  The sight of that maiden inspired the monarch with a contempt for all women that he had seen before.  By beholding her, the king regarded his eye-sight truly blessed.  Nothing the king had seen from the day of his birth could equal, he thought, the beauty of that girl.  The king’s heart and eyes were captivated by that damsel, as if they were bound with a cord and he remained rooted to that spot, deprived of his senses.  The monarch thought that the artificer of so much beauty had created it only after churning the whole world of gods Asuras and human beings.  Entertaining these various thoughts, king Samvarana regarded that maiden as unrivalled in the three worlds for wealth of beauty.