“Arundhati said, ’Let her who has stolen the lotus-stalks always humiliate her mother-in-law!  Let her be always vexed with her husband!  Let her eat whatever good things come to her house without sharing them with others!  Disregarding the kinsmen of her lord, let her live in her husband’s house and eat, at the day’s close, the flour of fried barely!  Let her come to be regarded as unenjoyable (in consequence of the stains that would tarnish her)!  Let her be the mother of a heroic son![426]’”

“Ganda said, ’Let her who has stolen, the lotus-stalks be always a speaker of falsehoods!  Let her always quarrel with her kinsmen!  Let her bestow her daughter in marriage for a pecuniary consideration!  Let her eat the food which she has cooked, alone and without sharing it with anybody!  Let her pass her whole life in slavery!  Indeed, let her who has stolen the lotus-stalks be quick with child in consequence of sexual congress under circumstances of guilt.’”

“Pasusakha said, ’Let him who has stolen the lotus-stalks be born of a slave-mother.  Let him have many children all of whom are worthless!  And let him never bow to the deities.’”

“Sunahsakha said, ’Let him who has removed the lotus-stalks obtain the merit of bestowing his daughter in marriage upon a Brahmana, who has studied all the Samans and the Yajuses and who has carefully observed the vow of Brahmacharya, Let him perform the final ablutions after having studied all the Atharvans!’”

“All the Rishis said, ’The oath thou hast taken is no oath at all, for all the acts which thou hast mentioned are very desirable for the Brahmanas!  It is evident, O Sunahsakha, that thou hast appropriated our lotus-stalks!’”

“Sunahsakha said, ’The lotus stalks deposited by you not being seen, what you say is perfectly true, for it is I who have actually stolen them.  In the very sight of all of you I have caused the disappearance of those stalks!  Ye sinless ones, the act was done by me from desire of testing you!  I came hither for protecting you.  That woman who lies slain there was called Yatudhani.  She was of a fierce disposition.  Sprung from the incantations of king Vrishadarbhi, she had come here from the desire of slaying all of you!  You ascetics endued with wealth of penances, egged on by that king, she had come, but I have slain her.  That wicked and sinful creature, sprung from the sacrificial fire, would otherwise have taken your lives.  It was for killing her and saving you that I came here, ye learned Brahmanas!  Know that I am Vasava!  Ye have completely freed yourselves from the influence of cupidity.  In consequence of this, ye have won many eternal regions fraught with the fruition of every wish as soon as it rises in the heart!  Do ye rise, without delay, from this place and repair to those regions of beatitude, ye regenerate ones, that are reserved for you!’