The queens waved a holy lamp called lohabhisara to ward off evil. They wished the king success in his campaigns as theyput the victory tilakam on his broad forehead.
At an auspicious moment the king left the palace gate leading a four division army consisting of foot soldiers, those who fight on horse back, those who fight on the back of elephants and those who fight sitting in chariots. He laidsiege on every small kingdom and defeated it's king. Some surrended without resistance and Viswaratha pardoned themand made them chieftains of the kingdom which they were ruling. They had to rule according to his dictates. All thosekings who were defeated gave him precious gifts.
The campaign ended sucessfully. His kingdom became very wide and he returned to the capital with immence wealth. Onhis way back he happened to visit the ashram of sage Vasishta.
Brahmarshi Vasishta was a great sage. By just being in the precincts of the ashram the king felt the thrill of a mildelectric shock. He desired to have darshan of the sage. He selected the most precious among the things he had, dressedhimself in plain clothes, and went into the ashram unarmed.
In the ashram, he saw a number of huts made of leaves. Sages were chanting the veddas in front of each hut. Some wereperforming fire sacrifises. Their faces shone as bright as the fire that blazed before them. The king was dumbfoundedto see the lustre on their faces as a result of their chaste and righteous living. He could not find any differencein brightness between the burning holy fire and the brightness of their faces.
He saw Brahmarshi Vashishta seated on a deerskin very bright in face and quite composed in the middle of an assembly of sages. He appeared like moon in starlit sky.
The king placed all the offerings he had brought at the feet of Vasishta.
A smile of acceptance sailed across sage's lips and he made signs to the king and his men to sit down. The king sat ona seat shown by the sage and the others followed him.
When everyone got seated the sage said,"Kacite Kushalam rajan, Kacidharmena Ranjayan Mahajane" - meaning Are you well?Are you ruling the kingdom according to the dharma? are allyour officers faithful to you and do they help you in theadministration of the State?Is your army strong?Is your treasury full?Are your sons and grandsons and others of yourfamily well? Have you been to look after the welfare of your subjects?
The king answered every question in great humility. They continued talking about a number of topics connected withthe administration for quite a long time. He told the sage about the military campaign he had undertaken and his greatvictory over hundereds of kings and how they became hsi vassals. He also told the sage that his big army was outsidethe ashram. The sage was pleased to hear that the king expanded his empire with minimum bloodshed. He invited theking and his men to be his quests for the day.
The king began to wonder how the poor sage could provide food for his huge army. Yet he accepted the invitation extendedto him lovingly.
Sage Vasishta his devoted wife Arundhati and inmates of the ashram began to make prepations for entertaining theking and his men.
Vasishta, along with Arundhati came to the divine cow and implored," Mother Shabale, come to me", in a voice full oflove and affection. The king and his men were watching. Avery attractive and well built cow came and stood beforethe sage. The very look of the cow was awe inspiring. She had a garland of flowers round her neck and Kumkum tilakamon his forehead. These were the signs of her having been workshiped early in the morning. Sage Vasishta addresed thefollowing words to shabale, "Divine Shabale", the king of his land is with us along with his men. we have to play hostto them. You are a divine force and you can grant our wishes. Please grant us enough food for all of us."
shabale shook her head in acceptance. The bell round her neck tinkled. It appeared as thoughshe had considered to helpthe sage.
Shabale consented to grant Vashishta's wish. everyone was subjected to a strange experience. In an instant a numberof huge golden vessels appeared before them filled with delicious food items. Everyone had food to their fill. Theyhad not tasted such tasty food in their life, but the king's heart was filled with some discontentment.