as that excellent damsel who was the daughter of Duryodhana.  The god Agni himself courted the beautiful princess Sudarsana, and taking the shape of a Brahmana, O monarch, sought her hand from the king.  The king was unwilling to give his daughter in marriage to the Brahmana who was poor and not of the same rank with himself.  Thereupon Agni vanished from his great sacrifice.  The king, grieved at heart, then addressed the Brahmanas, saying,—­Of what sin have I, ye excellent Brahmanas, or you, been guilty, that Agni should disappear from this sacrifice, even as good done unto wicked men disappears from their estimation.  Great, indeed, must that sin of ours be for which Agni has thus disappeared.  Either must the sin be yours, or, it must be mine.  Do you fully investigate the matter.—­Then hearing the king’s words, O foremost prince of Bharata’s race, the Brahmanas, restraining speech, sought with concentrated faculties the protection of the god of fire.  The divine carrier of oblations, resplendent as the autumnal Sun, appeared before them, enveloping his self in glorious refulgence.  The high-souled Agni then addressed those excellent Brahmanas, saying,—­I seek the daughter of Duryodhana for my own self.  At this all those Brahmanas were struck with wonder, and rising on the morrow, they related to the king what had been said by the fire-god.  The wise monarch, hearing the words of those utterers of Brahma, was delighted at heart, and said,—­Be it so.—­The king craved a boon of the illustrious fire-god as the marriage dower,—­Do thou, O Agni, deign to remain always with us here.—­Be it so—­said the divine Agni to that lord of Earth.  For this reason Agni has always been present in the kingdom of Mahismati to this day, and was seen by Sahadeva in course of his conquering expedition to the south.  Then the king gave his daughter, dressed in new garments and decked with jewels, to the high-souled deity, and Agni too accepted, according to Vedic rites, the princess Sudarsana as his bride, even as he accepts libations of clarified butter at sacrifices, Agni was well pleased with her appearance, her beauty, grace, character, and nobility of birth, and was minded to beget offspring upon her.  And a son by Agni, of the name of Sudarsana, was soon born of her.  Sudarsana also was, in appearance, as beautiful as the full moon, and even in his childhood he attained to a knowledge of the supreme and everlasting Brahma.  There was also a king of the name of Oghavat, who was the grandfather of Nriga.  He had a daughter of the name of Oghavati, and a son too of the name of Ogharatha born unto him.  King Oghavat gave his daughter Oghavati, beautiful as a goddess, to the learned Sudarsana for wife.  Sudarsana, O king, leading the life of a householder with Oghavati, used to dwell in Kurukshetra with her.  This intelligent prince of blazing energy took the vow, O lord, of conquering Death by leading the life of even a householder.  The son of Agni, O king, said to Oghavati,—­Do