Chapter XXIII: Book XXII: DAMAYANTI spake

"Go, Kesinia, go, enquire thou--who is yonder charioteer,
On the chariot seat reposing--all deformed, with arms so short?
Blessed maid, approach, and courteous--open thou thy bland discourse:
Undespis'd, ask thou thy question--and the truth let him reply.
Much and sorely do I doubt me--whether Nala it may be,
As my bosom's rapture augurs--as the gladness of my heart.
Speak thou, ere thou close the converse--even as good Parnada spake
And his answer, slender-waisted--undespis'd, remember thou."
Then to Vahuca departing--went that zealous messenger,
On the palace' loftiest terrace--Damayanti sate and gazed.

KESINIA _spake_.

"Happy omen mark thy coming--I salute thee, king of men:
Of the princess Damayanti--hear, O lord of men, the speech:
'From what region came ye hither--with what purpose are ye come?'
Answer thou, as may beseem you--so Vidarbha's princess wills."

VAHUCA _spake_.

"Soon a second Swayembara, heard the king of Kosala,
Damayanti holds: to-morrow--will it be, the Brahmin said:
Hearing this, with fleetest coursers--that a hundred yojanas' speed,
Set he forth, the wind less rapid,--and his charioteer am I."

KESINIA _spake_.

"Who the third that journeys with you--who is he, and what his race?
Of what race art thou? this office--wherefore dost thou undertake!"

VAHUCA _spake_.

"'Tis the far-renowned Varshneya--Punyasloka's charioteer:
He, when Nala fled an exile--to Bhangasuri retired.
Skilful I in taming horses--and a famous charioteer.
Rituparna's chosen driver--dresser of his food am I."

KESINIA _spake_.

"Knows the charioteer Varshneya--whither royal Nala went?
Of his fortune hath he told thee--Vahuca, what hath he said?"

VAHUCA _spake_.

"He of the unhappy Nala--safe the children borne away,
Wheresoe'er he would, departed--of king Nala knows he nought:
Nothing of Nishadha's raja--fair one! living man doth know.
Through the world, concealed, he wanders--having lost his proper form.
Only Nala's self of Nala--knows, and his own inward soul,
Of himself to living mortal--Nala will no sign betray."

KESINIA _spake_.

"He that to Ayodhya's city--went, the holy Brahmin first,
Of his faithful wife these sayings--uttered once and once again;
'Whither went'st thou then, O gamester--half my garment severing off;
Leaving her within the forest--all forsaken, thy belov'd?
Even as thou commanded'st, sits she--sadly waiting thy return,
Day and night, consumed with sorrow--in her scant half garment clad.
O to her for ever weeping--in the extreme of her distress,
Grant thy pity, noble hero--answer to her earnest prayer.'
Speak again the words thou uttered'st--words of comfort to her soul,
The renowned Vidarbha's princess--fain that speech would hear again,
When the Brahmin thus had spoken--what thou answered'st back to him,
That again Vidarbha's princess--in the self-same words would hear."

VRIHADASVA _spake_.

Of king Nala, by the handmaid--fair Kesinia thus addressed,
All the heart was wrung with sorrow--and the eyes o'erflowed with tears.
But his anguish still suppressing--inly though consumed, the king,
With a voice half choked with weeping--thus repeated his reply.
"Even in the extreme of misery--noble women still preserve
Over their own selves the mastery--by their virtues winning heaven;
By their faithless lords abandoned--anger feel they not, e'en then;
In the breastplate of their virtue--noble women live unharmed.
By the wretched, by the senseless--by the lost to every joy,
She by such a lord forsaken--to resentment will not yield.
Against him, by hunger wasted--of his robe by birds despoiled,
Him consumed with utmost misery--still no wrath, the dark-hued feels;
Treated well, or ill-entreated--when her husband 'tis she sees,
Spoiled of bliss, bereft of kingdom--famine wasted, worn with woe."
In these words as spake king Nala--in the anguish of his heart,
Could he not refrain from weeping--his unwilling tears burst forth.
Then departing, fair Kesinia--told to Damayanti all,
All that Vahuca had spoken--all th' emotion he betrayed.