Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.34

c7.34

Gālava took Mādhavī to Haryaśva, a King of the Ikṣvāku line of Kings. Haryaśva was doing penance at that time to obtain a child. Gālava said that Haryaśva would get a son of Mādhavī and he should, therefore, accept Mādhavī and give him in return eight hundred horses with one ear black. Haryaśva was amenable to the terms but the only difficulty was that he had only two hundred horses of the type specified. Finding this difficulty Mādhavī said "Oh, Gālava please do not worry on that account. I have a boon from a brahmavādī sage that I would remain a maiden even after delivery. So give me in marriage to this King and get two hundred horses. After giving birth to a son to this King take me to another King and get two hundred horses from him and then to another and thus by giving me to four Kings you can get the eight hundred horses you require."