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CHAPTER THREE Davadanti. Nala died there and then I came to you. I did not resort to Kübara, who is deceitful and does not appreciate merit.' Struck in the heart by this news of Nala's death like a thunderbolt, Dadhiparņa cried out and also his retinue. King Dadhiparņa performed Nala's funeral rites, a cloud with the water of tears, and was watched by the hunchback with a constant smile.
One day King Dadhiparņa sent a messenger for some reason to Davadanti's father by the road of friendship. Entertained by Bhima, living with him comfortably one day, the messenger, the best of speakers, told the news at the proper time: 'Nala's cook has come to my master. From Nala's teaching, he knows how to make the sun-cooked pudding.' Hearing that, Davadanti, her ears pricked-up, said to her father: 'Send a spy and find out what sort of a person this cook is. No one except Nala knows the sun-cooked pudding. Perhaps he is Nala himself, his identity concealed.'
Then the king summoned the best of Brāhmans, named Kuśala, skilled in his master's business and, after entertaining him, instructed him: 'Go to Susumārapura and look at the king's favorite. Find out what arts he knows and what he looks like.' "The lord's command is authority,' saying, the Brāhman started, urged on by good omens, and went to Susumārapura. Making repeated enquiries, he sat down near the hunchback. When he had seen the fully transformed figure, he became depressed.
He thought: ‘On the one hand, there is Nala; on the other hand, this man. On the one hand Meru; on the other, a mustard seed. Davadanti's idea that this man is Nala is surely wrong. I shall find out definitely.' After deliberating, he recited a couple of ślokas containing criticism of Nala: ' Nala alone is chief of the cruel, shameless, weak, and wicked who abandoned his faithful wife. How have the feet of Naişadhi of little wit, abandoning his wife asleep, alone, innocent, trusting, endured it?' Hearing that recited again and again, recalling his wife, Nala wept, his lotus-eyes shedding
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