Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 38: The History of Sagara
Text 1.38.9
भाषमाणं महात्मानं राजपुत्र्यौ प्रसाद्य तम्।
ऊचतुः परमप्रीते कृताञ्जलिपुटे तदा॥
bhāṣamāṇaṁ mahātmānaṁ rāja-putryau prasādya tam
ūcatuḥ parama-prīte kṛtāñjali-puṭe tadā
bhāṣamāṇam = who had spoken thus; mahā-ātmānam = the great soul; rāja-putryau = those two princesses; prasādya = delighting; tam = him; ūcatuḥ = told as follows; parama-prīte = with great happiness; kṛta-añjali-puṭe tadā = and with their palms joined in submission.
Delighting the great soul who had spoken thus, with great happiness and with their palms joined in submission, those two princesses told him as follows.
Keśinī and Sumati are referred to here as rāja-putryau (“two princesses”) because the elder wife was a princess born of a king and Sumati was the daughter of the sage Kaśyapa. This is in accordance with chatrī-nyāya, “the maxim of men with umbrellas.” [When several men are walking with only a few of them holding umbrellas, from a distance it appears as though all of them are carrying umbrellas. This maxim is applied to such situations where the particular is applied to the general, though it is not to be taken as such, literally.]