her piece of his flesh, but
the pigeon still weighed heavier, and then the king cut off pieces of
flesh from all parts of his body and placed them on the scale. But the
pigeon still weighed heavier, and then the king himself ascended the
scale and he felt no grief at this and beholding this, the hawk
disappeared there saying--(The pigeon hath been) Saved,--And the king
asked the pigeon saying, 'O pigeon, let the Sivis know who the hawk is.
None but the lord of the universe could do as he did. O Holy One, answer
thou this question of mine!' And the pigeon then said, 'I am the
smoke-bannered Agni called also Vaiswanara. The hawk is none other than
Sachi's lord armed with the thunder-bolt. O son of Suratha, thou art a
bull among men. We came to try thee. These pieces of flesh, O king, that
thou hast cut off with thy sword from thy body for saving me have caused
gashes in thy body. I will make these marks auspicious and handsome and
they will be of the colour of gold and emit a sweet perfume, and earning
great fame and respected by the gods and the Rishis thou shall long rule
these subjects of thine, and a son will spring from thy flank who shall
be called Kapataroman. O king, thou shalt obtain this son of the name of
Kapataroman from out of thy own body and thou wilt behold him become the
foremost of the Saurathas, blazing with renown, possessed of bravery and
great personal beauty!"

SECTION CLXLVII

Vaisampayana said, "And the son of Pandu once more addressed Markandeya,
saying, 'Tell us again of the great good fortune of kings.' And
Markandeya said, 'There came unto the horse-sacrifice of king Ashtaka of
Viswamitra's race, many kings. And there came unto that sacrifice the
three brothers also of that king, viz., Pratardana, Vasumanas, and Sivi,
the son of Usinara. And after the sacrifice was completed, Ashtaka was
proceeding on his car along with his brothers when they all beheld Narada
coming that way and they saluted the celestial Rishi and said unto him,
'Ride thou on this car with us. And Narada, saying, So be it, mounted on
the car, and one among those kings having gratified the holy and
celestial Rishi Narada, said, O Holy One, I desire, to ask thee
something.' And the Rishi said, 'Ask.' And the person, thus permitted,
said, 'All four of us are blessed with long lives and have indeed every
virtue. We shall, therefore, be permitted to go to a certain heaven and
dwell there for a long period. Who amongst us, ho