A mendicant recluse with matted hair, a celibate with naked body and hideous accoutrements. Such a one shall be her lord, as I read by the lines on her palm."
When the father and mother heard the saint's words, and knew they must be true, they became sad; but Uma rejoiced; nor did Narad even understand, for all seemed affected alike, though the cause was different. All Girija's attendants, and she herself and her father and her mother Maina, were trembling and had their eyes full of tears; but Uma cherished the saint's words in her heart, saying: "They cannot be false"; and her love for Siva's lotus feet revived; though the doubt remained, How difficult to find him! But as it was no fitting time for a disclosure, she suppressed her emotion and went back to the bosom of her playmates. They and the parents were distressed by the thought of the saint's infallible utterance, and the king, with an effort, cried aloud:—"O sir, tell me what remedy to devise."
Said the saint:—"Hear, O Himavant, what fate has written on the forehead, neither god nor demon, man, serpent, nor saint is able to efface."
When the father and mother heard the saint's words, and knew they must be true, they became sad; but Uma rejoiced; nor did Narad even understand, for all seemed affected alike, though the cause was different. All Girija's attendants, and she herself and her father and her mother Maina, were trembling and had their eyes full of tears; but Uma cherished the saint's words in her heart, saying: "They cannot be false"; and her love for Siva's lotus feet revived; though the doubt remained, How difficult to find him! But as it was no fitting time for a disclosure, she suppressed her emotion and went back to the bosom of her playmates. They and the parents were distressed by the thought of the saint's infallible utterance, and the king, with an effort, cried aloud:—"O sir, tell me what remedy to devise."
Said the saint:—"Hear, O Himavant, what fate has written on the forehead, neither god nor demon, man, serpent, nor saint is able to efface."