You see around you the celebrated region where the holiest sages devote themselves to penitential rites.
KING.
I am filled with awe and wonder as I gaze.
In such a place as this do saints of earth
Long to complete their acts of penance; here,
Beneath the shade of everlasting trees.
Transplanted from the groves of Paradise,
May they inhale the balmy air, and need
No other nourishment[117]; here may they bathe
In fountains sparkling with the golden dust
Of lilies; here, on jewelled slabs of marble,
In meditation rapt, may they recline;
Here, in the presence of celestial nymphs,
E'en passion's voice is powerless to move them.
MÁTALI.
So true is it that the aspirations of the good and great are ever soaring upwards.
[Turning round and speaking off the stage.]
Tell me, Vriddha-[S']ákalya, how is the divine son of Maríchi now engaged? What sayest thou? that he is conversing with Adití and some of the wives of the great sages, and that they are questioning him respecting the duties of a faithful wife?
KING. [Listening.
Then we must await the holy father's leisure.