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Rh, or even more so than he, since thou wishest to preserve my son by giving up thy own body, even though he is deserted by his own kinsfolk.

How different from the world in general is the mind of this magnanimous one! For this good man, moved by pity, gives up for the sake of another as though it were but a straw, that life, for the sake of which, in olden times, Viśvámitra ate dog's flesh, like a dog-cooker; and Nádíjangha was slain by Gautama, even though he had done a kindness to him; and this Garuda, son of Kaśyapa, daily eats Nágas. (Addressing the hero.) O magnanimous one, unfeigned compassion for me has been fully shown by thee in the determination to give up thyself; but do not obstinately insist on it. Low-born people like me are born and die; but whence are those produced like thee, who gird up their loins for the sake of others? What, then, is the use of this fixed determination? Let this resolution be abandoned.

O Śankhachúda, do not put any obstacle in the way of this desire of mine of giving myself up for the sake of another, which only now has got an opportunity of accomplishment, after so long a time. Do not, then, hesitate, but give me the distinctive badge of those appointed to be slain.