Then he calls upon the trees to give her a kindly farewell.  They answer with the Kokila’s melodious cry.

Thereupon the following good wishes are uttered by voices in the air:—­

“Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze, gentle and soothing, fan the cheek; may lakes, all bright with lily cups, delight thine eyes; the sun-beam’s heat be cooled by shady trees; the dust beneath thy feet be the pollen of lotuses.”

On their way, Sakuntala and her companions bathe in the Prachi Saraswati, when, as Fate would have it, she carelessly drops the ring of recognition into the river, being unaware of the fact at the time.  At last they arrive at Hastinapur, and send words to the king.

The king asks his family priest Somarata to enquire of them the cause of their coming.  Whereupon the priest meets them at the gate, knows the objects of their coming and informs the king of it.  The curse of Durvasa does its work.  The king denies Sakuntala.  At the intercession of the priest, she and her companions are brought before the king.  The king publicly repudiates her.  As a last resource, Sakuntala bethinks herself of the ring given her by her husband, but on discovering that it is lost, abandons hope.  Sarnagarva sharply remonstrates against the conduct of the king and presses the claim of Sakuntala.

Gentle and meek as Sakuntala is, she undauntedly gives vent to her moral indignation against the king.  The disciples go away saying that the king would have to repent of it.

Sakuntala falls senseless on the ground.  After a while, she revives, the priest then comes forward and asks the king to allow her to stay in his palace till her delivery.  The king consents, and when Sakuntala is following the priest, Menaka with her irradiant form appears and taking hold of her daughter vanishes and goes to a celestial asylum.  Everyone present there is astonished and frightened.

After this incident, one day while the king is out on inspection, a certain fisherman, charged with the theft of the royal signet-ring which he professes to have found inside a fish, is dragged along by constables before the king who, however, causes the poor accused to be set free, rewarding him handsomely for his find.

Recollection of his former love now returns to him.  His strong and passionate love for Sakuntala surges upon him with doubled and redoubled-force.

Indulging in sorrow at his repudiation of Sakuntala, the king passes three long years; at the end of which Matali, Indra’s charioteer, appears to ask the king’s aid in vanquishing the demons.  He makes his aerial voyage in Indra’s car.  While he is coming back from the realm of Indra, he alights on the hermitage of Maricha.

Here he sees a young boy tormenting a lion-whelp.  Taking his hand, without knowing him to be his own son, he exclaims:—­“If now the touch of but a stranger’s child thus sends a thrill of joy through all my limbs, what transports must be awakened in the soul of that blest father from whose loins he sprang!”