Vaishampayana said: -
1. Having proceeded further, leaving behind him all his attendants that mighty, armed king entered the hermitage alone but he did not find there the Rishi of rigid vows, (Kanwa).
2. Having seen that the Rishi’s hermitage was empty, he hailed aloud, “Ho, who is here?” And his voice was echoed in the forest.
3. Hearing his voice, a maiden, in the garb of ascetics, as beautiful as Shree (Lakshmi), came out of the hermitage.
4. No sooner that black-eyed damsel saw the king Dushmanta, that she instantly bade him welcome and worshipped him in due form.
5. She respected him with offering a seat, she gave him water to wash his feet and she then offered him the argha. Having done all this, O king, she then enquired after his health and peace.
6. Having thus honoured him in due form and enquired about his health and peace, the maiden most respectfully asked the king, “What should be done?”
7. Having been thus honoured in due form, the king replied to that sweet-speeched and faultless featured damsel thus,
8. “I have come to worship the greatly blessed Rishi Kanwa. O amiable and beautiful lady, tell me where has the illustrious man gone?”
Sakuntala said: -
9. My noble father has gone away from the hermitage to collect fruits. Kindly wait for a moment and you will see him when he will come.
Vaishampayana said: -
10. The king, having not seen the Rishi and having been thus addressed by the maiden, saw that she was exceedingly beautiful, she was an exquisite beauty of sweet smiles and a lady of perfect symmetry of shape.
11. She was in the bloom of her youth and beauty; she was adorned with the beauty of faultless features, hard asceticism and sweet humility. The king addressed her thus,-
12. “Who are you? O beautiful lady, whose daughter are you? Why have you come into this forest? O beautiful lady, accomplished and beautiful as you are, whence have you come here?”
13. O charming lady, you have stolen my heart at the very first glance. I desire to know all about you. O beautiful lady, tell me all.”
14. Having been thus addressed by the king in that hermitage, the maiden smilingly replied to him in sweet words,
15. “O (king) Dushmanta, I am the daughter of the illustrious, virtuous, wise and high-souled ascetic Kanwa.
Dushmanta said: -
16. The illustrious and highly blessed Rishi is worshipped by all the world. He has completely controlled his sexual passions. Even Dharma may fall from the right path, but an ascetic of rigid vows can never fall from it.
17. O beautiful and charming lady, how can you be his daughter? You should dispel from my mind this great doubt of mine.
Sakuntala said: -
18. O king, hear, what I have learnt (from the Rishi), regarding all that happened to me and how I became the daughter of the Rishi (Kanwa).
19. Once on a time, a Rishi came here and asked about my birth. O king, hear what the illustrious Rishi (Kanwa) told him about me.
Kanwa said: -
20. Viswamitra were engaged in austere asceticism and he thus alarmed Indra, the king of the celestials.
21. He (Indra) thought that the Rishi by his great ascetic penances would hurt him from his high seat in heaven. Being thus alarmed, he called Menaka and told her,
22. “O Menaka, you are the best of all celestial Apsaras. O amiable girl, do me this service. Listen to what I say.
23. The great ascetic Viswamitra, as effulgent as the Sun, is now engaged in great asceticism and therefore my heart is trembling.
24. O Menaka, O slender-waisted girl, it is your business. You must see Vishwamitra, whose soul is rapt in contemplation and who is deeply engaged in the austere penances.
25. He may displace me from my (high) seat (in heaven). Go and tempt him. Frustrating his asceticism, do my good.
26. O beautiful girl, win him from his asceticism, by tempting him with your beauty, youth, agreeableness, arts, smiles and speech,
Menaka said: -
27. That illustrious Rishi, is a great ascetic and is greatly effulgent; your illustrious self-known also that he is very wrathful.
28. The energy, the asceticism and the wrath of that illustrious man have made even you anxious. Why should I not be afraid of him?
29. He made even the illustrious Vasishtha to suffer the grief of the premature death of his sons. He was originally a Kshatriya, but has become a Brahmana by his own strength (of asceticism).
30. He created a deep river of strong currents for the purposes of ablutions. That holy river is still known in the world by the name of Kaushika.
31. Here (on the banks of this river) the wife (of this illustrious man) was maintained during a famine by the royal sage Matanga, who was living there as a hunter (under a curse)
32. O Lord, this illustrious man, after the famine was over, came back to his hermitage and gave the river the name of Para.
33. Being very much pleased with Matanga, this illustrious man became his priest for the purpose of sacrifice. O king of the celestials, out of fear you yourself went to that sacrifice to drink this Soma.
34. This illustrious man created in anger another world with stars; he created numerous other stars, beginning from Shravana. This illustrious man gave protection to Trishanku, cursed by his preceptor.
35. I am afraid to go to a man whose deeds are such. O Lord, ordain that which may prevent him from burning me in anger.
36. He can burn the worlds with his effulgence; he can make the earth quake by a kick; he can uproot the great Meru (mountain) and hurl it to a great distance and go round the ten points of the earth in a moment.
37. How can a woman (like my humble self) touch such a man who is full of ascetic virtues, who is as blazing as the blazing fire and who has completely controlled his passions.
38. His mouth is as blazing as the fire, the pupils of his eyes are like the sun and the moon and his tongue is like Yama himself. O best of the celestials, how can women like ourselves touch him?
39. Yama, Soma, great Rishis, the Sadhyas, the Vishvedevas, the Valakhilyas, all are alarmed at the thought of his prowess. Why should not a woman (like myself) be afraid of him?
40. O king of the celestials, commanded by you somehow or other I must go to that Rishi. But, O king of the celestials, devise some means by which, under your protection, I can safely move about him.
41. O celestial, when I shall be near the Rishi, Maruta (wind) should be there and rob me of my cloth. Manmatha (the god of love) should at your command help me in my this work.
42. Let the wind carry sweet fragrance from the wood to tempt the Rishi. Having said this and having seen that all that she wanted had been duly provided, she went to the hermitage of the great Kaushika, (Viswamitra).
Thus ends the seventy first chapter the history of Sakuntala in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.