The Marriage at Bindusaras

Kardama, at Brahmā's command to bring forth beings, had done austerity for ten thousand years on the river Sarasvatī, and the Lord had appeared to him and promised him a wife. The day after tomorrow, the Lord had said, Manu will come with his queen and give you his daughter.

So Manu set his daughter in his golden chariot and travelled with his queen, and on the appointed day he came to the sage's hermitage at Bindusaras, the lake where the Lord, in his pity for Kardama, had let his tears fall, holy and full of flowering trees and birds. There he found the sage sitting after his fire offering, tall, with eyes like lotus petals, his hair matted and his bark garment grimy, like an uncut gem, shining with his long austerity.

Manu said to him: Sage, have pity and hear me, a poor father worn down by love for his daughter. This is my daughter, the sister of Priyavrata and Uttānapāda. She is looking for a husband who matches her, and when she heard from Nārada of your character, your learning, your looks, your years and your qualities, she made up her mind on you. Take her. I give her to you in trust. She is fit for you in every way in the work of a household.

Kardama said, I do wish to marry, and your daughter is not promised elsewhere. I will take this good woman, until she bears a child from me. After that I will leave the household and follow the way of the highest of those who renounce the world, which harms nothing, as the Lord taught. Having said only this, he fell silent, his mind on the Lord. And Devahūti's heart was drawn to his smiling face.

When Manu saw that his queen and his daughter were of one mind, he gave her to the sage gladly, and Śatarūpā gave the couple a wedding portion of ornaments and clothes and household things. Then Manu, his worry gone, took his daughter in both his arms, and, unable to bear the parting, wept over her until his tears wet her hair, saying, My dear, my child. Then he took leave of the sage and went home with his queen to his city.