Yayati Installs Devayani and Sharmishtha in His Capital
King Yayati returns home with his new wife, Devayani, and her maid, the princess Sharmishtha. He establishes them in separate residences—one in the royal palace, the other in a nearby grove—creating the physical arrangement for a hidden family.
Yayati returned to his capital, a city that resembled Indra's own. With him were his new wife, Devayani, daughter of the sage Shukra, and her attendant, Sharmishtha, the daughter of the asura king Vrishaparva.
His first act was formal installation. He instated Devayani in the royal women's quarters, the place of honour for his queen.
Near the palace was a grove of ashoka trees. With Devayani's permission—a necessary formality for the wife's attendant—Yayati built a house there and instated Sharmishtha within it. He honoured the asuri princess with a thousand maid servants of her own and made full arrangements for her food and clothing. It was a separate establishment, comfortable and provisioned, but set apart from the main palace.
In this arrangement, the king passed many happy years in Devayani's company. When her season arrived, the beautiful Devayani conceived and gave birth to a boy as her first child. Life in the palace proceeded, with a son and heir, according to the visible, sanctioned order of things.