Tales froM Indian Mythology

Author(s): A S Raman
Publisher: Kutub Popular

Page 89

Devayani and Sarmishta
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clarified a fourth, "she expects a sane, peace-loving progeny from such a wedlock." "Ah, these despicable gods, and their agents, the brahmans !” exclaimed Sarmishta, the daughter of the asura King Vrishaparva. "Let us not spoil our fun by mentioning them. Devayani, I wonder how you lost your head over that sly serpent, Kacha." "It is," retorted Devayani, "better to lose one's head over others than over oneself. Sarmishta, I am sure, you will fall by your pride." "Oh," pooh-poohed Sarmishta, "is it a curse or a compliment? I wish you would also cultivate a sense of pride. How foolish of me! I always forget that you are a brahman." "You also forget that you and your father are perpetually at the mercy of the brahmans," observed Devayani with dignity. "But, Sarmishta, we are here to play, and not to quarrel. So let us not, to repeat your own slogan, spoil our fun. But I do not know what you mean by fun. Do you find it in slighting the brahmans? For my part, I derive it from not merely tolerating the asuras but from trying to love them. We brahmans can afford to be generous."
Meanwhile, their garments on the bank had played hide and seek with a gale, and when Devayani returned there, she found them all mixed up. She was followed by Sarmishta who was also in a fix. In their anxiety to cover up their nudity, they wore each other's clothes, which provoked a sharp comment from Devayani, half in jest and half in earnest. "You must be feeling fine and exalted, in that clean garb of a brahman girl. My congratulations. Now let us disappear into the bush over there and dress ourselves properly.” “Say it again!" thundered Sarmishta, trembling with rage. "I need not,"