worshipping Surya with offerings of Arghya and flower-garlands
and scents, and with vows and fasts and ascetic penances
of various kinds. Indeed, Samvarana was worshipping
Surya constantly in all his glory, with devotion and
humility and piety. And beholding Samvarana conversant
with all rules of virtue and unequalled on earth for
beauty, Surya regarded him as the fit husband for
his daughter, Tapati. And, O thou of Kuru’s
race, Vivaswat then resolved to bestow his daughter
on that best of kings,
viz., Samvarana, the scion
of a race of world-wide fame. As Surya himself
in the heavens filleth the firmament with his splendour,
so did king Samvarana on earth fill every region with
the splendour of his good achievements. And all
men, O Partha, except Brahmanas, worshipped Samvarana.
Blest with good luck, king Samvarana excelled Soma
in soothing the hearts of friends and Surya in scorching
the hearts of foes. And, O Kaurava, Tapana (Surya)
himself was resolved upon bestowing his daughter Tapati
upon king Samvarana, who was possessed of such virtues
and accomplishments.
“Once on a time, O Partha, king Samvarana, endued
with beauty (of person) and immeasurable prowess,
went on a hunting expedition to the under-woods on
the mountain-breast. While wandering in quest
of deer, the excellent steed the king rode, overcome,
O Partha, with hunger, thirst and fatigue, died on
the mountains. Abandoning the steed, the king,
O Arjuna, began to wander about upon the mountain-breast
on foot and in course of his wandering the monarch
saw a maiden of large eyes and unrivalled beauty,
That grinder of hostile host—that tiger
among kings—himself without a companion,
beholding there that maiden without a companion, stood
motionless gazing at her steadfastly. For her
beauty, the monarch for some moment believed her to
be (the goddess) Sri herself. Next he regarded
her to be the embodiment of the rays emanating from
Surya. In splendour of her person she resembled
a flame of fire, though in benignity and loveliness
she resembled a spotless digit of the moon. And
standing on the mountain-breast, the black-eyed maiden
appeared like a bright statue of gold. The mountain
itself with its creepers and plants, because of the
beauty and attire of that damsel, seemed to be converted
into gold. The sight of that maiden inspired the
monarch with a contempt for all women that he had
seen before. By beholding her, the king regarded
his eye-sight truly blessed. Nothing the king
had seen from the day of his birth could equal, he
thought, the beauty of that girl. The king’s
heart and eyes were captivated by that damsel, as if
they were bound with a cord and he remained rooted
to that spot, deprived of his senses. The monarch
thought that the artificer of so much beauty had created
it only after churning the whole world of gods Asuras
and human beings. Entertaining these various
thoughts, king Samvarana regarded that maiden as unrivalled
in the three worlds for wealth of beauty.
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