and asks her lord's pardon for the false insinuation she had made. On
this he kisses the queen.

Again, the king goes on a hunting expedition. Hunting is a favourite
pastime with kings. It promotes health and courage and gives immense
pleasure to all who engage in it. When the king enters a thick forest,
he finds the great sage Viswamitra deeply engaged in religious
austerities with the view of acquiring the three unattainable arts of
creation, preservation and destruction, which properly belong to Brahma,
Vishnu and Siva respectively. The gods plot to prevent this
consummation, and send a servant named Bighna. Bighna assumes the form
of a boar and appears before the king. The king discharges an arrow at
him, but in vain. The animal enters the thick forest. The king follows.
It now enters the hermitage of Viswamitra. The king addresses his
followers thus, "It is the duty of kings to get rid of carnivorous
animals from the forest of meditation and austerities. I have, on the
contrary, made a carnivorous animal enter it. How can I now retire? But
the hermits will be disturbed in their religious exercises if you all
enter. So, do you all wait here. I will proceed alone." With these
observations, the king enters the forest of meditation and is charmed
with its exquisite beauty.

The king thinks, "Tearing off the bonds of the world is the cause of
hermits' ease and happiness. With no attachments, no desires, no
bereavements, no worldly anxieties, they are happily absorbed in divine
contemplation." The king is thinking thus when distant cries are heard,
as if females are crying out, "Maharaja Harischandra! save us! save us!
Save us from the fire-place of this mighty hermit. We three helpless
women are being burnt up."