would cease at the sight of some ornament of recognition.

Sakuntala becomes quick with child and in the seventh month of her
pregnancy is sent by her foster-father to Hastinapur, in the company of
her sister Gautami, and his two disciples Sarngarva and Saradwata.
Priyambada stays in the hermitage. Sakuntala takes leave of the sacred
grove in which she has been brought up, of her flowers, her gazelles and
her friends.

The aged hermit of the grove thus expresses his feelings at the
approaching loss of Sakuntala:--

"My heart is touched with sadness at the thought, "Sakuntala must go
to-day"; my throat is choked with flow of tears repressed; my sight is
dimmed with pensiveness but if the grief of an old forest hermit is so
great, how keen must be the pang a father feels when freshly parted from
a cherished child!"

Then he calls upon the trees to give her a kindly farewell. They answer
with the Kokila's melodious cry.

Thereupon the following good wishes are uttered by voices in the air:--

"Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze, gentle and soothing, fan the
cheek; may lakes, all bright with lily cups, delight thine eyes; the
sun-beam's heat be cooled by shady trees; the dust beneath thy feet be
the pollen of lotuses."

On their way, Sakuntala and her companions bathe in the Prachi
Saraswati, when, as Fate would have it, she carelessly drops the ring of
recognition into the river, being unaware of the fact at the time. At
last they arrive at Hastinapur, and send words to the king.

The king asks his family priest Somarata to enquire of them the cause of
their coming. Whereupon the priest meets them at the gate, knows the
objects of their coming and informs the king of it. The curse of Durvasa
does its work. The king denies Sakuntala. At the intercession of the
priest, she and her companions are brought before the king. The king
publicly repudiates her. As a last resource, Sakuntala bethinks herself
of the ring given her by her husband, but on discovering that it is
lost, abandons hope. Sarnagarva sharply remonstrates against the conduct
of the king and presses the claim of Sakuntala.

Gentle and meek as Sakuntala is, she undauntedly gives vent to her moral
indignation against the king. The disciples go away saying that the king
would have to repent of it.

Sakuntala falls senseless on the ground. After a while, she revives, the
priest then comes forward and asks the king to allow her to stay in his
palac