Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.144

c4.144

King Nila had a beautiful daughter named Sudarśanā. Once when she was talking to her father after having entered the Agni-hotra Agni fell in love with her. From that day onwards Agni became dreamy about the beautiful lips of Sudarśanā. It reached a stage when Agni would burn only if it was blown by the lips of Sudarśanā. This ended in Agni marrying Sudarśanā. After the marriage Agni lived in the palace of his father-in-law, King Nila, as a useful ally. It was at this time that Sahadeva came to conquer Nila. But Agni knew that for the proper conduct of the Rājasūya of Dharmaputra his father-in-law had to surrender to Sahadeva and so advised his father-in-law to do so. What appeared to be a difficult problem was thus easily solved. (Chapter 31, Sabhā Parva, M.B.).