Section CCLXIII

Kotika said,

"Excellent lady, who art you that standest alone, leaning on a branch of the Kadamva tree at this hermitage and looking grand like a flame of fire blazing at night time, and fanned by the wind? Exquisitely beautiful as you are, how is it that you feelest not any fear in these forests? Methinks you are a goddess, or a Yakshi, or a Danavi, or an excellent Apsara, or the wife of a Daitya, or a daughter of the Naga king, or a Rakshasi or the wife of Varuna, or of Yama, or of Soma, or of Kuvera, who, having assumed a human form, wanderest in these forests.

Or, hast you come from the mansions of Dhatri, or of Vidhatri, or of Savitri, or of Vibhu, or of Sakra? You dost not ask us who we are, nor do we know who protects you here! Respectfully do we ask you, good lady, who is your powerful father, and, O, do tell us truly the names of your husband, your relatives, and your race, and tell us also what you dost here. As for us, I am king Suratha’s son whom people know by the name of Kotika, and that man with eyes large as the petals of the lotus, sitting on a chariot of gold, like the sacrificial fire on the altar, is the warrior known by the name of Kshemankara, king of Trigarta.

And behind him is the famous son of the king of Pulinda, who is even now gazing on you. Armed with a mighty bow and endued with large eyes, and decorated with floral wreaths, he always lives on the breasts of mountains. The dark and handsome young man, the scourge of his enemies, standing at the edge of that tank, is the son of Suvala of the race of Ikshwaku.

And if, O excellent lady, you have ever heard the name of Jayadratha, the king of Sauviras, even he is there at the head of six thousand chariots, with horses and elephants and infantry, and followed by twelve Sauvira princes as his standard-bearers, named Angaraka, Kunjara, Guptaka, Satrunjaya, Srinjaya, Suprabiddha, Prabhankara, Bhramara, Ravi, Sura, Pratapa and Kuhana, all mounted on chariots drawn by chestnut horses and every one of them looking like the fire on the sacrificial altar.

The brothers also of the king, viz., the powerful Valahaka, Anika, Vidarana and others, are among his followers. These strong-limbed and noble youths are the flowers of the Sauvira chivalry. The king is journeying in the company of these his friends, like Indra surrounded by the Maruts. O fine-haired lady, do tell us that are unacquainted (with these matters), whose wife and whose daughter you are."