Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c6.33

v1.c6.33

On the other hand the celebrated holy man Agastya appears as the hero in the condensed account in iii, 96.14 ff. When this Ṛishi then wishes to wed, he sees no woman worthy of him. Therefore from various creatures he takes the finest parts, and forms, correspondingly, an incomparable female being, whom he gives as a daughter to the king of Vidarbha, who is leading an ascetic life to obtain offspring. Lopamudrā is her name. At the prince's court she grows up to unheard of loveliness, and when she has come to marriageable age, she is surrounded by a hundred fair-decked maidens, and a hundred slave-girls; but through fear none dares to sue for her. Through her form, that outshines even the Apsarases, and her virtuous ways she rejoices her father (that is, her foster-father) and her kinsfolk. But gloomy thoughts come on the king, as he asks himself to whom he shall marry her. Then Agastya comes, and desires her. The prince cannot refuse him, but neither has he any wish whatsoever to marry her to him. At a loss he complains to his wife that if the Ṛishi is angered by anyone, he will burn him with the fire of his curse. Then the daughter comes to her troubled parents and speaks : “ Give me to him and save thyself through me.” And so it comes about.¹