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CHAPTER THREE Hearing of your svayamvara, Dadhiparna will come. He was eager for you in the first place, but Nala was chosen by you. The hunchback will come with Dadhiparņa. If he is Nala, he will not allow you to be given to another. Nala is expert in horsemanship. If the hunchback is really Nala, driving the chariot himself, he will be recognized by the very chariothorses. With him driving, the horses would be swift as the wind, like winds that had been embodied in the form of horses. A day close at hand must be announced. Whoever comes then is Nala. För no one, to say nothing of Nala, endures the humiliation of his wife.'
King Bhima summoned the lord of Susumāra by messenger for the fifth day.153 Inclined to go, he reflected: 'I want to win Bhaimi, but she is far away. How can I get there tomorrow? What shall I do?' and he became miserable like a fish in too little water. The hunchback thought: 'Bhaimi, a virtuous wife, does not desire another man. Or, if she should desire (one), who would take her, if I were present ? I shall take Dadhiparņa to Vidarbhā 154 in six watches, so my going with him will be casual. He said to Dadhiparņa:' Do not grieve. Tell the reason. For there is no cure of a sick man for a disease undescribed.' Dadhiparņa said: 'Hunchback, Nala is dead. Vaidarbhi will hold another svayamvara tomorrow. Her svayaṁvara will be on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Caitra. How can I get there in the interval of only six watches? The messenger has come by that same road in many days. How can I go in a day and a half ? 155 I long for Bhaimi in vain.'
The hunchback said: 'O king, do not despair. I will take you quickly to Vidarbhā. Give me a chariot and horses.' The king told him, 'Take whatever you want,' and the hunchback
* 153 985. Not for the fifth day from that time, as one might think, but for the fifth day of the white half of Caitra, as appears below.
154 988. I.e., Kundina. 155 992. I.e., in 18 hours. .
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