Agastya, thou
canst beget us a good son, we may then be saved from this hell and thou
also wilt obtain thy blessed state of those having offspring." Endued
with great energy and observant of truth and morality Agastya replied,
saying, "Ye Pitris, I will accomplish your desire. Let this anxiety of
yours be dispelled." And the illustrious Rishi then began to think of
perpetuating his race. But he saw not a wife worthy of him on whom he
himself could take his birth in the form of a son. The Rishi
accordingly, taking those parts that were regarded as highly beautiful,
from creatures possessing them, created therewith an excellent woman.
And the Muni, endued with great ascetic merit, thereupon gave that girl
created for himself to the king of the Vidharbhas who was then
undergoing ascetic penances for obtaining offspring. And that blessed
girl of sweet face (thus disposed of) then took her birth (in Vidarbha's
royal line) and, beautiful as the effulgent lightning, her limbs began
to grow day by day. And as soon as that lord of earth--the ruler of the
Vidarbhas--saw her ushered into life, he joyfully communicated the
intelligence, O Bharata, unto the Brahmanas. And the Brahmanas
thereupon, O lord of earth, blessed the girl and they bestowed upon her
the name Lopamudra. And possessed of great beauty, she began, O monarch,
to grow quickly like unto a lotus in the midst of water or the effulgent
flame of a fire. And when the girl grew and attained to puberty, a
hundred virgins decked in ornaments and a hundred maids waited in
obedience upon her blessed self. And surrounded by those hundred maids
and virgins, she shone in their midst, endued as she was with bright
effulgence, like Rohini in the firmament amid an inferior multitude of
stars. And possessed as she was of good behaviour and excellent manners,
none dared ask for her hand even when she attained to puberty, through
fear of her father, the king of the Vidharbhas. And Lopamudra, devoted
to truth, surpassing the Apsaras even in beauty, gratified her father
and relatives by means of her conduct. And her father, beholding his
daughter--the princess of Vidharbha--attain to puberty, began to reflect
in his mind, saying, "To whom should I give this daughter of mine?"'"

SECTION XCVII

"Lomasa continued, 'When Agastya thought that girl to be competent for
the duties of domesticity, he approached that lord of earth--the ruler
of Vidharbhas--and addressing him, said, "I solicit