What sinful act did I do, of old, in some other
life that I was in infancy cast away by my parents and at present am
cast away by thee! Put away by thee, I am ready to return to the refuge
of my father. But it behoveth thee not to cast off this child who is thy
own.'
"Hearing all this, Dushmanta said, 'O Sakuntala, I do not know having
begot upon thee this son. Women generally speak untruths. Who shall
believe in thy words? Destitute of all affection, the lewd Menaka is thy
mother, and she cast thee off on the surface of the Himavat as one throws
away, after the worship is over, the flowery offering made to his gods.
Thy father too of the Kshatriya race, the lustful Viswamitra, who was
tempted to become a Brahmana, is destitute of all affection. However,
Menaka is the first of Apsaras, and thy father also is the first of Rishis.
Being their daughter, why dost thou speak like a lewd woman? Thy words
deserve no credit. Art thou not ashamed to speak them, especially before
me? Go hence, O wicked woman in ascetic guise. Where is that foremost of
great Rishis, where also is that Apsara Menaka? And why art thou, low as
thou art, in the guise of an ascetic? Thy child too is grown up. Thou
sayest he is a boy, but he is very strong. How hath he soon grown like a
Sala sprout? Thy birth is low. Thou speakest like a lewd woman. Lustfully
hast thou been begotten by Menaka. O woman of ascetic guise, all that thou
sayest is quite unknown to me. I don't know thee.
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