tra, dreading
him, poured down rain during a drought. That powerful and mighty son of
Kasyapa was born of a hind. He worked a great marvel in the territory of
Lomapada. And when the crops had been restored, king Lomapada gave his
daughter Santa in marriage to him, as the sun gave in marriage his
daughter Savitri.'

"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! ther