Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/250

216 form my ablutions and beheld the infant lying in the solitude of the wilderness surrounded by vultures. Bringing her hither I have made her my daughter. Indeed, the maker of the body, the protector of life, the giver of food, are all three, in their order, fathers according to the Dharma shastras. And because she was surrounded, in the solitude of the wilderness, by Sakuntas (birds), therefore hath she been named by me Sakuntala (bird-protected.) O Brahmana, know that it is thus that Sakuntala hath been my daughter. And the faultless Sakuntala also regards me as her father.—

"This is what my father had said unto the Rishi having been asked by him. And, O king of men, it is thus that thou must know I am the daughter of Kanwa. And not knowing my real father, I regard Kanwa as my father. Thus have I told thee, O king, all that hath been heard by me regarding my birth.

And thus ends the seventy-second Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

 

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana continued, "King Dushmanta hearing all this said, 'Well-spoken by thee, O princess, all that, O blessed one, thou hast said! Be my wife, O beautiful one! What shall I do for thee? Golden garlands, robes, ear-rings of gold, whitest and handsomest pearls from various countries, golden coins, finest carpets, I shall present thee this very day. Let the whole of my kingdom be thine to-day, O beautiful one! Come to me, O timid one, wedding me, O beautiful one, according to the Gandharva form! O thou of tapering thighs, of all modes of marriage, the Gandharva is regarded as the first.'

"And Sakuntala, hearing this, said, 'O king, my father hath gone from this asylum for fetching fruits. Wait but a moment, he will bestow me on thee!'

"And Dushmanta replied, 'O thou beautiful and faultless one, I desire that thou shouldst be my companion. Know thou that I exist for thee and my heart is in thee. One is 