Kasyapa and Atri and Vasishtha and Bharadwaja and
Gautama and Viswamitra and Jamadagni, and the chaste Arundhati (the wife
of Vasishtha), all had a common maidservant whose name was Ganda. A Sudra
of the name of Pasusakha married Ganda and became her husband. Kasyapa
and others, in days of old, observed the austerest penances and roved
over the world, desirous of attaining to the eternal region of Brahman by
the aid of Yoga-meditation. About that time, O delighter of the Kurus,
there occurred a severe drought. Afflicted by hunger, the whole world of
living creatures became exceedingly weak. At a sacrifice which had been
performed in former times by Sivi's son he had given away unto the
Ritwiks a son of his as the sacrificial present. About this time,
unendued with longevity as the prince was, he died of starvation. The
Rishis named, afflicted with hunger, approached the dead prince and sat
surrounding him. Indeed, those foremost of Rishis, beholding the son of
him at whose sacrifice they had officiated, O Bharata, thus dead of
starvation, began to cook the body in a vessel, impelled by the pangs of
hunger. All food having disappeared from the world of men, those
ascetics, desirous of saving their lives, had recourse, for purposes of
sustenance, to such a miserable shift. While they were thus employed.
Vrishadarbha's son, viz., king Saivya, in course of his roving, came upon
those Rishis. Indeed, he met them on his way, engaged in cooking the dead
body, impelled by the pangs of hunger.

"'"The son of Vrishadarbha said, 'The acceptance of a gift (from me) will
immediately relieve you all. Do you, therefore, accept a gift for the
support of your bodies! Ye ascetics endued with wealth of penances,
listen to me as I declare what wealth I have! That Brahmana who solicits
me (for gifts) is ever dear to me. Verily, I shall give unto you a
thousand mules. Unto each of you I shall give a thousand kine of white
hair, foremost in speed, each accompanied by a bull, and each having a
well-born calf, and, therefore, yielding milk. I shall also give unto you
a thousand bulls of white complexion and of the best breed and capable of
bearing heavy burdens. I shall also give you a large number of kine, of
good disposition, the foremost of their kind, all fat, and each of which,
having brought forth her first calf, is quick with her second.[418] Tell
me what else I shall give of foremost villages, of grain, of barley, and
of even the rarer a