King Parikshit Meets and Marries Sushobhana
Exhausted from hunting, King Parikshit of Ayodhya discovers a hidden pond and hears singing. He finds a maiden picking flowers — Sushobhana — and asks her to be his. She agrees on one condition: he must never show her water. He accepts, marries her, and brings her to his city, where his minister builds a waterless grove for their pleasure.
There was a king in Ayodhya, from the Ikshvaku lineage. His name was Parikshit, and he went out hunting.
Pursuing a deer alone on a horse, he travelled a long distance. He became exhausted, hungry and thirsty. In that part of the country, he saw a dark and dense cluster of trees. He entered it and in the middle saw an extremely beautiful pond. He and his horse bathed there. He flung some lotus stalks in front of the horse. Then, refreshed, he sat down on the banks of the pond.
While he was lying there, he heard the sweet sound of singing. He began to wonder: "I do not see the marks of any humans here. What singing is this then?"
He then saw an extremely beautiful maiden, worthy of looking at. She was picking flowers and singing, and she wandered around to where the king was.
"O fortunate one! Whose are you?" the king asked.
"I am a virgin," the maiden replied.
"I wish that you should be mine," the king said.
"I can only be yours if you take an oath," the maiden replied. When the king asked what the condition was, she said: "You must never show me water."
The king agreed. Having agreed, he won her and sat down with her. While the king was thus seated, his soldiers arrived, having followed his footsteps. On seeing the king, they established themselves around him. Having fully recovered, the king mounted a palanquin with her and returned to his city. He pleasured there with her privately, out of sight of anyone.
The prime minister noticed something strange. He asked the women who waited on the king: "What is happening?" The women replied: "We have seen something that we have not seen before. No water is brought here."
Having heard this, the minister constructed a grove. It had beautiful trees, with many roots, flowers and fruit — but it had no water. He went to the king in private and said: "There is a beautiful grove without any water. Pleasure yourself happily there."
The king entered the grove with the queen. One day, he was roaming in that wonderful grove with his beloved and became exhausted, hungry and thirsty. He saw a wonderful cluster of atimukta vines. On entering it with his beloved, the king saw a pond with clear water, covered by the creepers. As soon as he saw it, he sat down on its banks with his queen.
"Let us descend into the water of this pond," the king told the queen.
On hearing these words, she got down and immersed herself in the pond. But she did not surface again. The king searched for her, but could not find her. He had the water taken out and found a frog seated near the mouth of a hole.
The angry king passed an order: "Kill all frogs. Whoever wishes to see me has to come with a dead frog as a tribute." Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 487