Vibhandaka's Anger Pacified by Hospitality
Vibhandaka decides to burn up the king of Anga and all his possessions. He travels to Champa, exhausted and hungry — but along the way, he is honoured by herdsmen who claim all riches belong to his son. Region after region, he hears the same words. His anger is appeased. When he reaches the king's city, he sees his son and daughter-in-law Shanta, and his fury dissolves entirely.
Deciding that he would burn up the king of Anga and all his possessions, Vibhandaka left for Champa.
Exhausted and hungry, he arrived at settlements that were prosperous with cattle. He was honoured by the herdsmen in accordance with the prescribed rites — as if he was a king — and spent the night there. Having received great homage from them, he asked, "O pleasant ones! Whose servants are you?"
All of them respectfully told him, "All these riches belong to your son."
He was thus worshipped in region after region and heard similar pleasant words. His anger was greatly appeased. In a happy frame of mind, he approached the city of the king of Anga.
He was worshipped by that bull among men. He saw his son — like Indra in heaven. He also saw his daughter-in-law Shanta there, looking like a flash of lightning.
Having seen the villages, the settlements of cattle, his son and Shanta, his extreme anger was pacified.
Vibhandaka showed his supreme favours to that lord of the earth. The maharshi, as resplendent as the sun and the fire, left his son there and told him, "Having done everything that pleases the king, you will return to the forest once a son has been born."
Rishyashringa acted according to his words. He returned to where his father was.
Shanta tended to him — like the devoted Rohini attends on the moon in the sky, like the fortunate Arundhati waits on Vasishtha, like Damayanti on Nala, and like Shachi on the wielder of the vajra. Driven by love, she tended to him in the forest.
That sacred hermitage is radiant here. The great lake, site of sacred deeds, is radiant here. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 410