e devout,
She those holy men saluting--stood with modest form half bent.
"Hail, and welcome!" thus those hermits--instant with one voice exclaimed.
And those sacred men no sooner--had the fitting homage paid,
"Take thy seat," they said, "oh lady[84]--and command what we must do."
Thus replied the slender waisted--"Blessed are ye, holy men.
In your sacred fires, your worship[85]--blameless, with your beasts and
birds.[86]
Doth the grace of heaven attend you--in your duties, in your deeds?"
Answered they, "The grace of heaven--ever blesses all our deeds.
But say thou, of form so beauteous--who thou art, and what thou would'st?
As thy noble form we gaze on--on thy brightness as we gaze,
In amaze we stand and wonder--cheer thee up, and mourn no more.
Of the wood art thou the goddess--or the mountain goddess thou;
Or the goddess of the river?--Blessed Spirit, speak the truth.
Nor the sylvan goddess am I,"--to the Wise she thus replied;
"Neither of the mountain, Brahmins--nor the river nymph am I.
Know me but a mortal being--O, ye rich in holiness!
All my tale at length, I'll tell ye--if meet audience ye will give.
In Vidarbha, mighty guardian--Bhima, dwells the lord of earth;
Of that noble king the daughter--twice-born Sages, know ye me.[87]
And the monarch of Nishadha--Nala named, the great in fame;
Brave in battle, conqueror, prudent--is my lord, the peasants' king;
To the gods devout in worship--friendly to the Brahmin race,
Of Nishadha's race the guardian--great in glory, great in might,
True in word, and skilled in duty--and the slayer of his foes.
Pious, heaven-devoted, prosperous--conqueror of hostile towns;
Nala named, the best of sovereigns--splendid as the king of gods.
Know that large-eyed chief, my husband--like the full-orbed moon his face,
Giver he of costly offerings--deep in th' holy volumes read;
Slayer of his foes in battle--glorious as the sun and moon.
He to some most evil minded--unrespected, wicked men,
After many a challenge, studious--he of virtue and of truth,
To these skilful gamesters, fraudful--lost his kingdom and his wealth.
Know ye me the hapless consort--of that noble king of kings,
Damayanti, so they name me--yearning for my husband's sight.
I through forests, over mountains--stagnant marsh and river broad,
Lake with wide pellucid surface--thr