“Yudhishthira said, ’How was the son of Kasyapa, Rishyasringa, born of a hind?  And how was he endowed with holiness, being the issue of a reprehensible sexual connexion?  And for what reason was Indra, the slayer of the demons Vala and Vritra, afraid of that same sagacious boy, and poured down rain during a period of drought?  And how beautiful was that princess Santa, pure in life, she who allured the heart of him when he had turned himself into a stag?  And since the royal saint Lomapada is said to have been of a virtuous disposition, why was it that in his territory, Indra, the chastiser of the demon Paka, had withheld rain?  O holy saint! all this in detail, exactly as it happened, thou wilt be pleased to narrate to me, for I am desirous of hearing the deeds of Rishyasringa’s life.’

“Lomasa said, ’Hear how Rishyasringa, of dreaded name, was born as a son to Vibhandaka, who was a saint of the Brahmana caste, who had cultured his soul by means of religious austerities, whose seed never failed in causing generation, and who was learned and bright like the Lord of beings.  And the father was highly honoured, and the son was possessed of a mighty spirit, and, though a boy, was respected by aged man.  And that son of Kasyapa, Vibhandaka, having proceeded to a big lake, devoted himself to the practice of penances.  And that same saint, comparable to a god, laboured for a long period.  And once while he was washing his mouth in the waters, he beheld the celestial nymph Urvasi—­whereupon came out his seminal fluid.  And, O king! a hind at that time lapped it up along with the water that she was drinking, being athirst; and from this cause she became with child.  That same hind had really been a daughter of the gods, and had been told of yore by the holy Brahma, the creator of the worlds, ’Thou shall be a hind; and when in that form, thou shall give birth to a saint; thou shalt then be freed.’  As Destiny would have it, and as the word of the creator would not be untrue, in that same hind was born his (Vibhandaka’s) son a mighty saint.  And Rishyasringa, devoted to penances, always passed his days in the forest.  O king! there was a horn on the head of that magnanimous saint and for this reason did he come to be known at the time by the name of Rishyasringa.  And barring his father, not a man had ever before been seen by him; therefore his mind, O protector of men! was entirely devoted to the duties of a continent life.  At this very period there was a ruler of the land of Anga known by the name of Lomapada who was a friend of Dasaratha.  We have heard that he from love of pleasure had been guilty of a falsehood towards a Brahmana.  And that same ruler of the world had at that time been shunned by all persons of the priestly class.  And he was without a ministering priest (to assist him in his religious rites).  And the god of a thousand eyes (Indra) suddenly abstained from giving rain in his territory; so that his people began to suffer and O lord of the earth! he questioned a number