Text 32
deve ’varṣati kāśīśaḥ
śvaphalkāyāgatāya vai
sva-sutāṁ gāṇdinīṁ prādāt
tato ’varṣat sma kāśiṣu
deve — when the demigod, Lord Indra; avarṣati — had not been supplying rain; kāśī-īśaḥ — the King of Benares; śvaphalkāya — to Śvaphalka (Akrūra’s father); āgatāya — who had come; vai — certainly; sva — his own; sutām — daughter; gāndinīm — Gāndinī; prādāt — gave; tataḥ — then; avarṣat — it rained; sma — indeed; kāśiṣu — in the kingdom of Kāśī.
[The elders said:] Previously, when Lord Indra had withheld rain from Kāsī [Benares], the king of that city gave his daughter Gāndinī to Śvaphalka, who was then visiting him. It soon rained in the kingdom of Kāśī.
Śvaphalka was Akrūra’s father, and the citizens felt that the son must have the same power as the father. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī points out that because of Akrūra’s relationship with his maternal grandfather, the King of Kāśī, in a time of difficulty Akrūra went to that city.