"Thou who knowest all time, past, present, or future, and who hast traversed the whole universe, tell me, best of saints, after well considering the matter, what there is good and what bad about my daughter."
The saint replied with a smile, in soft but profound words:—"Your daughter is a mine of perfection, beautiful, amiable and intelligent, whether she be called Uma, or Ambika, or Bhavani; a maiden with every quality that endears a wife to a husband. Firm as a rock her good fortune, and in her her parents are blessed; she shall be worshipped throughout the whole world, and in her service shall be fruition of every desire. Through her name woman shall be enabled to walk the path of wifely duty, though it be like the edge of a sword. Such, O king, are Thy daughter's merits; but you have now to hear two or three drawbacks. A person who has neither beauty nor dignity, without father or mother, an ascetic with no thought for anyone,
The saint replied with a smile, in soft but profound words:—"Your daughter is a mine of perfection, beautiful, amiable and intelligent, whether she be called Uma, or Ambika, or Bhavani; a maiden with every quality that endears a wife to a husband. Firm as a rock her good fortune, and in her her parents are blessed; she shall be worshipped throughout the whole world, and in her service shall be fruition of every desire. Through her name woman shall be enabled to walk the path of wifely duty, though it be like the edge of a sword. Such, O king, are Thy daughter's merits; but you have now to hear two or three drawbacks. A person who has neither beauty nor dignity, without father or mother, an ascetic with no thought for anyone,