Damayanti Secretly Plans to Summon Nala
Damayanti has heard Parnada's report and knows what she must do — but she cannot let her father Bhima know. She goes to her mother in secret and reveals her plan: send the brahmana Sudeva to Ayodhya to bring Nala back, while keeping the king in the dark.
Damayanti had heard everything Parnada had to say. The brahmana had returned from Ayodhya with strange, cryptic words — words spoken not by King Rituparna, but by his deformed charioteer, a man named Bahuka. Those words had struck Damayanti like a blow to the chest. She knew, with a certainty that bypassed reason, that Bahuka was Nala.
But she could not act openly. Her father Bhima, king of Vidarbha, had already held one svayamvara (a ceremony where a princess chooses her husband) for her. He had seen Nala vanish, seen his daughter's suffering, seen the years of silence. If he knew what she was planning — that she intended to summon a man who might be a stranger, a charioteer, a deformed servant of another king — he would stop her. Not out of cruelty. Out of love.
So Damayanti went to her mother.
In private, away from the court, away from Bhima's ears, she spoke. "O mother! Bhima should under no circumstances get to know about these words. In your presence, I wish to employ Sudeva, supreme among brahmanas. King Bhima should not know what my intentions are. If you wish to bring about my pleasure, you must act in this way. Let Sudeva go quickly. Let him perform the auspicious ceremonies that united me with my relatives. Let Sudeva go without delay. O mother! Let him go to the city of Ayodhya and bring Nala back here."
Her mother listened. She did not argue. She did not question. She simply agreed.
Later, after Parnada had rested from his journey, Damayanti went to him. She worshipped him as a guest deserves — with honor, with gifts, with a great deal of riches. Then she spoke: "O brahmana! When Nala comes here, I will give you even greater riches. O supreme among brahmanas! You have done so much for me. No one else will ever be able to accomplish more. It is because of this that I will soon be reunited with my husband."
Parnada, high-minded and accomplished, paid his respects to her and pronounced auspicious blessings over her. Then he returned home.
The first phase of Damayanti's plan was in motion. Sudeva would be dispatched to Ayodhya. Bhima would know nothing. And Nala — if Nala was truly Bahuka — would be drawn back to her. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 365