accompanied by the twice-born ones.
And there he beheld the blind monarch of great wisdom seated on a cushion
of Kusa grass spread under Sala tree. And after duly reverencing the
royal sage, the king in an humble speech introduced himself. Thereupon,
offering him the Arghya, a seat, and a cow, the monarch asked his royal
guest,--Wherefore is this visit?--Thus addressed the king disclosed
everything about his intentions and purpose with reference to Satyavan.
And Aswapati said, 'O royal sage, this beautiful girl is my daughter
named Savitri. O thou versed in morality, do thou, agreeably to the
customs of our order, take her from me as thy daughter-in-law!' Hearing
these words, Dyumatsena said, 'Deprived of kingdom, and taking up our
abode in the woods, we are engaged in the practice of virtue as ascetics
with regulated lives. Unworthy of a forest life, how will thy daughter,
living in the sylvan asylum, bear this hardship?' Aswapati said, 'When my
daughter knoweth, as well as myself, that happiness and misery come and
go (without either being stationary), such words as these are not fit to
be used towards one like me! O king, I have come hither, having made up
my mind! I have bowed to thee from friendship; it behoveth thee not,
therefore, to destroy my hope! It behoveth thee not, also, to disregard
me who, moved by love, have come to thee! Thou art my equal and fit for
an alliance with me, as indeed, I am thy equal and fit for alliance with
thee! Do thou, therefore, accept my daughter for thy daughter-in-law and
the wife of the good Satyavan!' Hearing these words Dyumatsena said,
'Formerly I had desired an alliance with thee. But I hesitated, being
subsequently deprived of my kingdom. Let this wish, therefore, that I had
formerly entertained, be accomplished this very day. Thou art, indeed, a
welcome guest to me!'

"Then summoning all the twice-born ones residing in the hermitages of
that forest, the two kings caused the union to take place with due rites.
And having bestowed his daughter with suitable robes and ornaments,
Aswapati went back to his abode in great joy. And Satyavan, having
obtained a wife possessed of every accomplishment, became highly glad,
while she also rejoiced exceedingly upon having gained the husband after
her own heart. And when her father had departed, she put off all her
ornaments, and clad herself in barks and cloths dyed in red. And by her
services and virtues, her tenderness and self-denial,