Therefore, the wise are advised to always avoid the company of impure people—those who have abandoned the threefold Vedic path—in conversation, touch, and all dealings. For, wherever offerings are made with faith to ancestors, those rites lose their power to please when witnessed by such impure ones. Long ago, there lived a renowned king on earth named Shatadhanu. His wife, Shaivya, was deeply devoted to the duties of hospitality. She was a model of virtue: a loyal wife, blessed with truthfulness, purity, and compassion, adorned with every auspicious quality, and guided by humility and good conduct. Together, King Shatadhanu and Queen Shaivya worshipped Janardana, Lord of the gods, with unwavering concentration. Their devotion was expressed through offerings, recitations, gifts, fasting, and steadfast worship. Day and night, their minds were absorbed in the divine, never distracted elsewhere. Once, during the sacred month of Kartika, husband and wife bathed together in the holy river Bhagirathi. Emerging from the waters, still fasting, they saw a heretic approaching—a man who, though a friend of the king and a disciple of his bow-master, had strayed from the Vedic path. Out of respect, the king engaged him in conversation. However, the queen, resolute in her vow and observant of the fast, refrained from speaking; instead, she gazed upon the sun in silence. After this meeting, the couple performed all the prescribed worship and rites for Vishnu, as was their custom. In the course of time, King Shatadhanu passed away, and his devoted queen ascended the funeral pyre, joining her husband in death. Yet, because of that single transgression—conversing with a heretic while fasting at a holy place—the king was reborn as a dog. Shaivya, the virtuous daughter of the king of Kashi, was born again as well, retaining the memory of her past life, endowed with all knowledge and honored for her auspicious qualities. Her father wished to arrange her marriage, but she herself prevented him, knowing her destiny. Through her divine insight, she saw her former husband reborn as a dog in the city of Vidiśā. She journeyed there, and upon finding him, offered him excellent food with great reverence and honor. The dog, recognizing her kindness, ate the food eagerly, behaving as dogs do, and uttered many flattering words to her. The young woman, embarrassed by his flattery, bowed respectfully and spoke: “Remember, O great king, your gentle conduct by which you have come to be born as a dog and now flatter me so. After speaking with the heretic and bathing at the holy place, you attained this lowly birth—do you not recall that, O lord?” Reminded thus of his previous life, the king reflected deeply and developed rare dispassion. Filled with despair, he left the city and, casting himself down in a desert, died—only to be reborn in the womb of a jackal. Two years later, Shaivya, perceiving his new form through divine sight, found him on the mountain called Kolahala. She addressed him: “O king, do you remember what I once told you when you were a dog—your former deeds and your association with heretical speech?” Again, reminded by her words and realizing the truth, he gave up food and abandoned his jackal body. Next, he was born as a wolf. The faultless Shaivya sought him out in the lonely forest and reminded him once more: “O fortunate one, you are not truly a wolf; you are King Shatadhanu. Having been a dog, you became a jackal, and now you are a wolf.” Upon hearing these words, he abandoned his wolf body, and his soul entered the form of a vulture. Shaivya, destined to guide him, found him yet again and said, “O king, recall your true self, now behaving as a vulture. This birth, too, is the result of heretical speech.” In his next birth, he became a crow. Through her power, Shaivya recognized him and addressed him: “All the rulers of the earth who once offered you tribute have now become your food, O lord, as you take the form of a crow.” Reminded yet again, the king abandoned his crow life and was reborn as a peacock. Shaivya, ever devoted, followed him into the form of a peahen, content with the food of that species. Afterwards, King Janaka performed a great horse-sacrifice. At the concluding bath of the rite, Janaka purified Shatadhanu, who was present in his peacock form. There, both Shaivya and King Janaka reminded him of his past births as a dog, jackal, and so on. Recalling the entire sequence of his births, Shatadhanu abandoned his peacock body and was finally born as the son of the great-souled Janaka. Shaivya then urged her father to arrange her marriage, and a svayamvara ceremony was held. At the svayamvara, Shaivya chose her beloved, now the son of Janaka, as her husband. Once more, the devoted lady served him as her lord, their souls reunited through devotion and the fruits of their deeds.