The Recognition of Śakuntalā 3.1

3.1

kā kathā bāṇasaṃdhāne jyāśabdenaiva dūrataḥ /
huṃkāreṇeva dhanuṣaḥ sa hi vighnān apohati //
yāvad imān vedisaṃstaraṇārthaṃ darbhān ṛtvigbhya upaharāmi / (parikramyāvalokya ca / ākāśe) priyaṃvade kasya idam uśīrānulepanaṃ mṛṇālavanti ca nalinīpatrāṇi nīyante / (śrutim abhinīya) kiṃ bravīṣi / ātapalaṅghanād balavad asvasthā śakuntalā tasyāḥ śarīranirvāpaṇāyeti /
tarhi yatnād upacaryatām / sā khalu bhagavataḥ kaṇvasya kulapater ucchvasitam / aham api tāvad vaitānikaṃ śānty udakam asyai gautamīhaste visarjayiṣyāmi /
(iti niṣkrāntaḥ)
viṣkambhakaḥ /

He does not need to bend the bow;
For every evil thing,
Awaiting not the arrow, flees
From the twanging of the string.

[paragraph continues] Well, I will take this sacred grass to the priests, to strew the altar. (He walks and looks about, then speaks to some one not visible.) Priyamvada, for whom are you carrying this cuscus-salve and the fibrous lotus-leaves? (He listens.) What do you say? That Shakuntala has become seriously ill from the heat, and that these things are to relieve her suffering? Give her the best of care, Priyamvada. She is the very life of the hermit-father. And I will give Gautami the holy water for her. (Exit. Enter the lovelorn king.)