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Chapter:-2 Collection of Examples
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The austerity performed by one with unsteady senses in youth is not austerity indeed. The warrior who is brave in battle with a dreadful weapon is called brave. ||25||
Seeing him steadfast in his resolve, the two sages said, "He is virtuous, he is virtuous." ||26||
They went to test the great ascetic Jamadagni. ||26||
They saw him with his matted hair spread out like a banyan tree, his feet covered with dust, and subdued. ||27||
A pair of cuckoos, having made a nest in the tangle of his matted hair by magic, settled there. ||28||
The cuckoo said to the female cuckoo, "I will go to the Himalayas. You are not attached to anyone else, so you will come with me." ||29||
"I am bound by an oath that I will not go if I am caught in the sin of killing a cow. My dear, I will not go." ||30||
The cuckoo said to the female cuckoo, "If you swear that you will not be caught by this sage, my dear, I will release you. May your journeys be auspicious." ||31||
Hearing these words, the sage Jamadagni became angry and seized both the birds with his two hands. ||32||
Then he said, "While performing difficult austerities, what kind of sin is this in me, like darkness in the midst of the rays of the sun?" ||33||
Then the sage said to the cuckoo, "Do not be angry in vain. You have heard that a childless man has no way, haven't you?" ||34||
Thinking thus, the sage pondered, "My austerity is like a thread in a stream for the sake of my wife and son." ||35||
Seeing him agitated and thinking, "He is bewildered by asceticism," Dhanvantari was born. Who can deny that he was born from the merit of the funeral rites? ||36||
The two celestial beings became invisible then. Jamadagni reached the city of Nemikakoshtaka. ||37||
He went there to get a wife, like Shiva who went to get Gauri. ||38||
The king, rising from his seat, folded his hands and said to him, "Why have you come? What do you want me to do?" ||39||
When the sage said, "I have come for a wife," the king said, "There are a hundred daughters in my palace. Choose whichever you want." ||40||
Going into the palace, he addressed the king's daughters, "Which of you will be my wife?" ||41||
He was matted, gray-haired, emaciated, and a beggar. Hearing this, they said, "Are you not ashamed?" ||42||
Like a furious wind, the sage Jamadagni then took up his bow and arrows and made the daughters hunchbacked. ||43||
Then, in the courtyard, he saw one of the king's daughters, who was playing with a pile of dust, and said to her, "You are Renukā." ||44||
He said to her, "Do you want me?" and showed her the sign of a husband. She extended her hand, indicating her acceptance. ||45||
The sage took her hand and rejoiced like a miser who has found treasure. The king gave her to him along with cows and other things, according to the custom. ||46||
He was jealous, and because of his affection, he desired one less daughter. He prepared to perform austerities, which are a waste for fools. ||47||
Taking her to his hermitage, the