Chapter XXV: Book XXIV

Seeing the profound emotion--of that wisest king of men,
Passing back in haste, Kesinia--told to Damayanti all:
Then again did Damayanti--mission to Kesinia give,
To approach her royal mother--in her haste her lord to see.
"Vahuca we've watched most closely--Nala we suspect him still;
Only from his form we doubt him--this myself would fain behold.
Cause him enter here, my mother--to my wishes condescend;
Known or unknown to my father--let it be decided now."
By that handmaid thus accosted--then the queen to Bhima told
All his daughter's secret counsel--and the raja gave assent.
Instant from her sire the princess--from her mother leave obtained,
Bade them make king Nala enter--in the chamber where she dwelt.
Sudden as he gazed upon her--upon Damayanti gazed,
Nala, he was seized with anguish--and with tears his eyes o'erflowed.
And when Damayanti gazed on--Nala, thus approaching near,
With an agonizing sorrow--was the noble lady seized.
Clad, then, in a scarlet mantle--hair dishevelled, mire-defiled,[133]
Unto Vahuca this language--Damayanti thus addressed:
"Vahuca beheld'st thou ever--an upright and noble man,
Who departed and abandoned--in the wood, his sleeping wife?
The beloved wife, and blameless--in the wild wood, worn with grief?
Who was he who thus forsook her?--who but Nala, king of men?
To the lord of earth, from folly--what offence can I have given?
That he fled, within the forest--leaving me, by sleep oppressed?
Openly, the gods rejected--was he chosen by me, my lord:
Could he leave the true, the loving--her that hath his children borne!
By the nuptial fire, in presence--of the gods, he clasped my hand,
'I will be,'[134] this truth he plighted--whither did he then depart?"
While all this in broken accents--sadly Damayanti spoke,
From her eyes the drops of sorrow--flowed in copious torrents down.
Those dark eyes, with vermeil corners--thus with trembling moisture dewed,
When king Nala saw, and gazed on--to the sorrowful he spake.
"Gaming that I lost my kingdom--'twas not mine own guilty deed,
It was Kali wrought within me--hence it was I fled from thee;
Therefore he, in th' hour of trial--smitten by thy scathing curse,
In the wild wood as thou wanderest--grieving night and day for me,
Kali dwelt within my body--burning with thy powerful curse,
Ever burning, fiercer, hotter--as when fire is heaped on fire.
He, by my religious patience--my devotion, now subdued,
Lo! the end of all our sorrows--beautiful! is now at hand.
I, the evil one departed, hither have made haste to come;
For thy sake, O round-limbed! only;--other business have I none.
Yet, O how may high-born woman--from her vowed, her plighted lord,
Swerving, choose another husband--even as thou, O trembler, would'st?
Over all the earth the heralds--travel by the kings command,
'Now the daughter of king Bhima--will a second husband choose,
'Free from every tie, as wills she--as her fancy may beseem,'
Hearing this, came hither speeding--king Bhangasuri in haste."
Damayanti, when from Nala--heard she this his grievous charge,
With her folded hands, and trembling--thus to Nala made reply:
"Do not me, O noble-minded--of such shameless guilt suspect,
Thou, when I the gods rejected--Nala, wert my chosen lord.
Only thee to find, the Brahmins--went to the ten regions forth,
Chaunting to their holy measures--but the words that I had taught.
Then that Brahmin wise, Parnada--such the name he bears, O king,
Thee in Kosala, the palace--of king Rituparna saw.
There to thee, my words addressed he--answer there from thee received.
I this subtle wile imagined--king of men, to bring thee here.
Since, beside thyself, no mortal--in the world, within the day,
Could drive on the fleetest coursers--for a hundred Yojanas.
To attest this truth, O monarch!--thus I touch thy sacred feet;
Even in heart have I committed--never evil thought 'gainst thee.
He through all the world that wanders--witness the all-seeing wind,[135]
Let him now of life bereave me--if in this 'gainst thee I've sinned:
And the sun that moveth ever--over all the world, on high,
Let him now of life bereave me--if in this 'gainst thee I've sinned.
Witness, too, the moon that permeates--every being's inmost thought;
Let her too of life bereave me--if in this 'gainst thee I've sinned.
These three gods are they that govern--these three worlds, so let them
speak;
This my sacred truth attest they--or this day abandon me."
Thus adjured, a solemn witness--spake the wind from out the air;
"She hath done or thought no evil--Nala, 'tis the truth we speak:
King, the treasure of her virtue--well hath Damayanti kept,
We ourselves have seen and watched her--closely for three livelong years.
This her subtle wile she plotted--only for thy absent sake,
For beside thyself no mortal--might a hundred Yojanas drive.
Thou hast met with Bhima's daughter--Bhima's daughter meets with thee,
Cast away all jealous scruple--to thy bosom take thy wife."
Even as thus the wind was speaking--flowers fell showering all
around:[136]
And the gods sweet music sounded--on the zephyr floating light.
As on this surpassing wonder--royal Nala stood and gazed,
Of the blameless Damayanti--melted all his jealous doubts.
Then by dust all undefiled--he the heavenly vest put on,
Thought upon the King of Serpents--and his proper form resumed.
In his own proud form her husband--Bhima's royal daughter saw,
Loud she shrieked, the undespised--and embraced the king of men.
Bhima's daughter, too, king Nala--shining glorious as of old,
Clasped unto his heart, and fondled--gently that sweet infant pair.
Then her face upon his bosom--as the lovely princess laid,
In her calm and gentle sorrow--softly sighed the long-eyed queen:
He, that form still mire-defiled--as he clasped with smile serene,
Long the king of men stood silent--in the ecstacy of woe.
All the tale of Damayanti--and of Nala all the tale,
To king Bhima in her transport--told Vidarbha's mother-queen.
Then replied that mighty monarch--"Nala, his ablutions done,
Thus rejoined to Damayanti--I to-morrow will behold."

VRIHADASVA _spake_.

They the livelong night together--slow related, each to each,
All their wanderings in the forest--and each wild adventure strange.
In king Bhima's royal palace--studying each the other's bliss,
With glad hearts, Vidarbha's princess--and the kingly Nala dwelt.
In their fourth year of divorcement--reunited to his wife,
Richly fraught with every blessing--at the height of joy he stood.
Damayanti too re-wedded--still increasing in her bliss,
Like as the glad earth to water--opens its half-budding fruits,
She of weariness unconscious,--soothed each grief, and full each joy,
Every wish fulfilled, shone brightly--as the night, when high the moon.