"Thy journey be auspicious; may the breeze, gentle and soothing, fan the
cheek; may lakes, all bright with lily cups, delight thine eyes; the
sun-beam's heat be cooled by shady trees; the dust beneath thy feet be
the pollen of lotuses."
On their way, Sakuntala and her companions bathe in the Prachi
Saraswati, when, as Fate would have it, she carelessly drops the ring of
recognition into the river, being unaware of the fact at the time. At
last they arrive at Hastinapur, and send words to the king.
The king asks his family priest Somarata to enquire of them the cause of
their coming. Whereupon the priest meets them at the gate, knows the
objects of their coming and informs the king of it. The curse of Durvasa
does its work. The king denies Sakuntala. At the intercession of the
priest, she and her companions are brought before the king. The king
publicly repudiates her. As a last resource, Sakuntala bethinks herself
of the ring given her by her husband, but on discovering that it is
lost, abandons hope. Sarnagarva sharply remonstrates against the conduct
of the king and presses the claim of Sakuntala.
Gentle and meek as Sakuntala is, she undauntedly gives vent to her moral
indignation against the king. The disciples go away saying that the king
would have to repent of it.
Sakuntala falls senseless on the ground. After a while, she revives, the
priest then comes forward and asks the king to allow her to stay in his
palace till her delivery. The king consents, and when Sakuntala is
following the priest, Menaka with her irradiant form appears and taking
hold of her daughter vanishes and goes to a celestial asylum. Everyone
present there is astonished and frightened.
After this incident, one day while the king is out on inspection, a
certain fisherman, charged with the theft of the royal signet-ring which
he professes to have found inside a fish, is dragged along by constables
before the king who, however, causes the poor accused to be set free,
rewarding him handsomely for his find.
Recollection of his former love now returns to him. His strong and
passionate love for Sakuntala surges upon him with doubled and
redoubled-force.
Indulging in sorrow at his repudiation of Sakuntala, the king passes
three long years; at the end of which Matali, Indra's charioteer,
appears to ask the king's aid in vanquishing the demons. He makes his
aerial voyage in Indra's car. While he is coming back from the realm of
Indra, he alights on the hermitage of Maricha.
Here he sees a young boy tormenting a lion-whelp. Taking his hand,
without knowing him to be his own son, he exclaims:--"If now the touch
of but a stranger's child thus sends a thrill of joy through all my
limbs, what transports must be awakened in the soul of that blest father
from whose loins he sprang!"
From the vaunting speeches of the boy, the king gathers that the boy is
a scion of the race of Puru. His heart everflows with affection for him.
A collection of circumstantial evidence points the boy to be his son.
The amulet on the boy indicates his parentage.
But while he is in a doubtful mood as to the parentage of the refractory
boy, he meets the sage Maricha from whom he learns everything. The name
of the boy is Sarvadamana, afterwards known as Bharata, the most famous
king of the Lunar race, whose authority is said to have extended over a
great part of India, and from whom India is to this day called Bharata
or Bharatavarsa (the country or domain of Bharata.)
Soon after, he finds and recognises Sakuntala, with whom he is at length
happily re-united.