He recalls the glance which she shot at him as she
cried, "a _kusha-grass_ has stung my foot." Meanwhile two hermits
approach him with the news that the demons have taken advantage of
Kanwa's absence to disturb the sacrifices. They request him to take up
his abode in the grove for a few days, in order to vanquish the enemies.
A messenger arrives to tell him that his mother, in four days, will be
offering a solemn sacrifice for her son's welfare, and invites his
presence at the rite. But he cannot leave Sakoontala, and sends the
jester Mathavya in his stead, telling him to say nothing about his love
for Sakoontala.
In the third act the love of the king and the hermit girl reaches its
climax. The king is found walking in the hermitage, invoking the God of
Love, whose shafts are flowers, though the flowery darts are hard as
steel. "Mighty God of Love, hast Thou no pity on me?" What better
relief, he asks, than the sight of my beloved? He traces Sakoontala, by
the broken tubes which bore the blossoms she had culled, to the arbor,
enclosed by the plantation of canes, and shaded by vines, at whose
entrance he observes in the sand the track of recent footsteps.
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