MATH or MAGIC!

When Damayanti woke up and found her lord missing, she wept unconsolably.
"O mighty monarch, thou art truthful in speech, and conversant with morality. How hast thou then, having pledged thy word, deserted me asleep in the woods?"

The more she thought of Nala, the more the devoted Damayanti wept: "I grieve not for myself, nor for anything else. I only grieve to think how thou wilt pass thy days alone, O king." She cursed that personality who had brought this affliction upon Nala. "May that wicked being who hath brought Nala of sinless heart this, lead a more miserable life bearing greater ills." Immediately Kali, dwelling within Nala's body, felt tormented and disturbed.

Damayanti ran hither and thither, searching for Nala in those woods inhabited by beasts of prey. She got caught within the coils of a huge and hungry serpent, and was freed when a passing hunter, killed the serpent by lopping off its head. However when the hunter lost control of his senses and tried to force himself on her, he too dropped dead from a curse by her.

Damayanti wandered forlornly in the forest and came upon a charming ashram of ascetics. The ascetics gathered there welcomed her and inquired whether she was the goddess of the forest or the mountain or the stream flowing nearby. Damayanti told her story to them. After listening to it, the truth-telling ascetics said: "O blessed and beauteous one, we see by ascetic power that the future will bring happiness to thee, and that thou wilt soon behold Naishadha. O daughter of Bhima, thou wilt behold Nala, the lord of the Nishadhas, the slayer of foes, and the foremost of the virtuous, freed from distress. O blessed lady, thou wilt behold the king, thy lord, freed from all sins and decked with all kinds of gems, and ruling the selfsame city, and chastising his enemies, and striking terror into the hearts of foes, and gladdening the hearts of friends, and crowned with every blessing." Having repeatedly promised that unto that beloved queen of Nala, the ascetics, with their sacred fires and ashram, vanished from sight.

Damayanti then came upon a passing caravan of merchants heading towards the kingdom of Chedi, and joined the procession. After many days of travel, the caravan is destroyed and many merchants killed by a rampage of wild elephants in the dead of the night, Eventually she makes it to Chedi with a party of brahmanas who had survived the wild elephant rampage.

As Damayanti passes by the palace of the truth-telling Suvahu, the king of the Chedis, the queen mother, observing the crowd from her terrace, notices her and instructs her nurse: "Go and bring that woman before me. She is forlorn and is being vexed by the crowd. She hath fallen into distress and standeth in need of succour."

The kindly queen mother invites Damayanti to stay in the palace as companion to her daughter Sunanda. Damayanti replied: "O mother of heroes, I may stay with thee on certain conditions. I shall not eat the leavings on any dish, nor shall I wash anybody's feet, nor shall I have to speak with other men. And if anybody shall seek me (as a wife or mistress) he should be liable to punishment at thy hands. And, further, should he solicit me over and over again, that wicked one should be punished with death. This is the vow I have made. I intend to interview some brahmanas who will set out to search for my husband. If thou canst arrange all this, I shall certainly live with thee. If it is otherwise, I cannot find it in my heart to reside with thee."

The queen-mother answered her with a glad heart, saying, 'I will do all this. Thou hast done well in adopting such a vow!"

In the meantime, the news that Nala had lost his kingdom and had gone away with Damayanti reaches king Bhima in Vidarbha. He tries to locate them by sending out in all directions search parties of brahmanas, giving them profuse wealth.

Finally, one brahmana called Sudeva spotted Damayanti in the city of the Chedis, sitting beside Sunanda in the king's palace. Gazing at her, the wise brahmana understood that she was enduring the pain of separation from Nala. He thought: "It behoveth me to comfort the consort of that hero of immeasurable prowess and endued with energy and might. She is so eager to meet her husband. I will console this afflicted girl of face like the full moon, and suffering distress that she had never before endured, and ever meditating on her lord."

So he approached Damayanti, and addressed her: "O princess of Vidarbha, I am Sudeva, the dear friend of thy brother. I have come here, seeking thee, at the desire of king Bhima. Thy father is well, and also thy mother, and thy brothers. And thy son and daughter, blessed with length of days, are living in peace. Thy relatives, though alive, are almost dead on thy account, and hundreds of brahmanas are ranging the world in search of thee."

Damayanti, recognising Sudeva, asked him regarding all her old friends and relatives. She broke into tears at the unexpected sight of Sudeva, that foremost of brahmanas and the friend of her brother. Informed of his presence, the queen mother came before Sudeva and inquired from him: "Whose wife is this fair one, and whose daughter? How hath this lady of beautiful eyes been deprived of the company of her relatives and of her husband as well? And how also hast thou come to know this lady fallen into such a plight? I wish to hear all this in detail from thee. Do truly relate unto me who am asking thee about this damsel of celestial beauty."

Thus addressed by the mother of the king of the Chedis, that best of brahmanas, Sudeva, sat at his ease, and began to relate the true history of Damayanti. By the time he finished the narration, the queen mother understood Damayanti to be none other than her own sister's daughter. She said: "O beauteous girl, thy mother and I are both daughters of the high-souled Sudaman, the ruler of the Dasarnas. She was bestowed upon king Bhima, and I on king Viravahu. I witnessed thy birth at our father's palace in the country of the Dasarnas. O beautiful one, my house is to thee even as thy father's. This wealth, O Damayanti, is thine as much as mine."

Damayanti bowed down to the matriarch and said: "Unrecognised, I have still lived happily with thee, every want of mine satisfied and myself cared for by thee. But, mother, I have long been an exile. It behoveth thee, therefore, to grant me permission (to leave). My son and daughter, sent to my father's palace, are living there deprived of their father, and of their
mother also, If thou wishest to do what is agreeable to me, do thou without loss of time, arrange a vehicle, for I wish to go to the Vidarbhas."

The queen mother gladly assented: "So be it." With her son's permission, the queen mother sent Damayanti home in a handsome litter protected by a large escort.