Brihadashva said : When Nala, deprived of his kingdom, turned himself to a servant with his wife, then king Bhima sent away Brahmanas, with the object of seeing Nala.

Bhima, having given immense wealth to the Brahmanas, asked them to go in quest of Nala and his daughter, Damayanti.

“To him, who will perform this deed, viz., learning the place where at the king of the Nishadhas does live now or bringing him hither with his wife, will I give a thousand kine, fields and a village like a city. Should he fail to bring hither Nala as well as Damayanti, his very knowledge of them would be rewarded by my giving him wealth in the shape of a ten thousand kine."

Having been thus addressed, the Brahmanasa went out in all directions, searching for Nala and Damayanti in the various cities and provinces. But they could not see Nala or the daughter of Bhima anywhere. While at last a Brahmana, Sudeva by name, was searching in the city of the king of the Chedis, he saw the daughter of the king of the Vidarbhas, Damayanti.

She seated with Sunanda, in the house of that monarch, who at the time was repeating his prayers. She was faintly seen, on account of the great luminosity of her extraordinary beauty. Even as her splendour was like the blazing of a fire enveloped by smokes. Thus beholding that lady, with large eyes, colorless and weak, he, after arguing from various reasons, decided her to be the daughter of Bhima.

Sudeva said: As I saw the lady beforehand, she seems to be the self-same in appearance at present. This day I think myself blessed by the very sight of her, who is like Sree herself, delighting all the worlds.

Also, the lady is like the full moon in splendour. She looks ever youthful, possessing a handsome breast; and dispelling darkness from all the directions by virtue of her effulgence.

She again looks even as Kama's Rati herself, having eyes as large as the handsome lotusleaves. She is the delight of all the worlds like the rays of the full moon.

Separated on account of her adverse fortune from that Vidarbha lake, she looks like the transplanted lotus-stalk, besmeared with mire. Or also, she looks like the night of the full moon, when that nocturnal god is swallowed up by Rahu. Repressed by sorrow for her, husband, she looks slender like the river with all its current dried up.

She looks (in her present condition) like a ravaged lake, with the leaves of its lotuses crushed by the trunks of elephants and with its birds all flying away from fear.

Possessed of slender constitution and handsome limbs and fit to dwell in a jewelled palace, she looks like a transplanted lotus-stalk burnt by the rays of the sun.

Endued with beauty and liberality and undecked in ornaments, although befitting thein, she looks like the crescent of the moon, newly appearing in heaven and enveloped with the dark clouds.

Deprived of all the delightful objects of enjoyments and separated from friends and relatives, she lives a miserable life, cherishing the hope of beholding her husband again.

The best ornament of a woman, who is without the ornaments, is (the accompaniment of) her husband. Destitute so such an ornament (as the husband), she does not shine, although she is beautiful.

Nala performs a very arduous task by holding his life without his dear wife and also without succumbing to sorrow.

My heart aches to behold that maiden, possessing black hairs and eyes as large as the lotus leaves and afflicted with sorrow, although she is most deserving of prosperity.

When, after sometime, the auspicious lady will surely have bridged over this ocean of woe, then she, devoted to her husband as ever, will, in company with her lord, look like Rohini in company with the Moon.

Certainly the king of the Nishadhas will obtain great delight by regaining his wife, even as the monarch, deprived of his kingdom, does by recovering his lost territories.

The king of the Nishadhas deserves the daughter of Vidharbha, who is like Nala in disposition, age and birth; as also the daughter of Vidharbha with black eyes is quite becoming to him.

It is my duty to console the wife of that immensely powerful one who is gifted with prowess and goodness, as she is most anxious for beholding her lord.

I will (rather must) comfort the lady the splendour of whose face is like that of the full moon; and who is oppressed with such an woe that she had never experienced before, and also who is ever in fervid devotion for her husband.

Brihadashva said: Thereupon the Brahmana, Sudeva by name, having recognised the daughter of Bhima by observing the various circumstances and signs of hers, advanced to her and addressed her thus, O the daughter of Vidharbha! I am Sudeva, the intimate friend of your brother. Enjoined by king Bhima, I have come here searching for yourself. came

O princess! your father is at peace, as also your mother and brothers. Those, your son and daughter, are enjoying length of days and living in peace.

Your friends and relatives, though living, are like the dead on your account; and hundreds of Brahmanas are wandering about over the whole world in quest of you.

Brihadashva said: O Yudhishthira! Damayanti to recognize Sudeva; and then asked him about all her friends and relatives in succession.

O king! crushed with misery as she was, the daughter of the king of the Vidharbhas began to lament most bitterly at the unexpected sight of that best of the Brahmanas, Sudeva, who is the friend of her brother.

Thereupon, O Bharata! Sunanda, seeing her (Damayanti) conversing in private with a Brahmana and weeping most bitterly, was hard pressed with sorrow and informed her mother, saying: 'Sairindhri is most bitterly lamenting. Know this, if should you like.'

Thereafter the mother of the king of the Nishadhas, having left the inner apartments of the palace, repaired to the place where that lady (Damayanti) was waiting with the Brahmana.

O the ruler of the earth! the Queen-mother summoned Sudeva before her and asked him, saying, 'whose wife is this lady? and whose daughter? and how this damsel, possessing handsome eyes has been separated from her husband as well as her relatives? O Brahmana! how have you come to know her, falling in this great distress?

I desire to hear from you all about her in detail. Do you surely relate to me, as I am asking of that lady of celestials splendour.”

O monarch! Sudeva, the foremost of the Brahmanas, thus addressed by the Queenmother, sat at his ease and began to relate the true account of Damayanti.