And having no
compunctions about slaying a Brahmana, they became very angry with him.
And one day they saw Kacha in a solitary part of the woods engaged in
tending (his preceptor's) kine. They then slew Kacha from their hatred of
Vrihaspati and also from their desire of protecting the knowledge of
reviving the dead from being conveyed by him. And having slain him, they
hacked his body into pieces and gave them to be devoured by jackals and
wolves. And (when twilight came) the kine returned to the fold without him
who tended them. And Devayani, seeing the kine returned from the woods
without Kacha, spoke, O Bharata, unto her father thus:
'Thy evening-fire hath been kindled. The Sun also hath set, O father! The
kine have returned without him who tendeth them. Kacha is, indeed, not to
be seen. It is plain that Kacha hath been lost, or is dead. Truly do I say,
O father, that without him I will not live.'
"Sukra hearing this said, I will revive him by saying, 'Let this one
come.' Then having recourse to the science of reviving the dead, Sukra
summoned Kacha. And summoned by his preceptor, Kacha appeared before him
in the gladness of heart tearing by virtue of his preceptor's science
the bodies of the wolves (that had devoured him). And asked about the
cause of his delay, he thus spoke unto Bhargava's daughter. Indeed,
asked by that Brahman's daughter, he told her, 'I was dead. O thou of
pure manners, burdened with sacrificial fuel, Kusa grass, and logs of
wood, I was coming towards our abode.
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