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29. 23. ] somebody else, I shall report it to the king." Somadeva bowed down to him and went out. He asked the hermit; who had Kus'a grass and flowers in his forehand, and who was going to the mountain-river with a desire for bath. [29] "Revered sir, what is undertaken by Hermit Agnis'arman ?" He, with drooping eyes filled with tears narrated his observance. Somadeva went and reported, what he got, to the king. Then the king, with more dejection, bore the body heavy with the burden of anxiety and surrounded by principal attendants and queens, started for the penance-forest on foot for the tidings of Agnis'arman. Like a royal swan, surrounded by sweet-speaking female swans, he arrived at an extensive sand-bank of the mountainriver, which was near by.
In the meantime, a boy-hermit, knowing the arrival of the king informed Hermit Agnis'arman of the arrival of the king with his lotus-like face blooming, Then Hermit Agais'arman, with his body burning with the fire of anger, called the patriarch and crossing the fitting courtesy, spoke rudely “I am not able to look at the face of that wicked king who is inimical without any reason. Therefore, speaking something that you like, you, only send him away from outside." The patriarch thought, “He is swayed by tainted emotions; hence it is proper for the king to avoid seeing him whose mind is sullied with fresh tainted emotion;" and he went a little way to the king. He saw the king with a fallen face, surrounded by retainers. The king with his retainers bowed to him with modesty and was welcomed with a benediction by patriarch, who said " O king.
