Chapter 35 — Kach-Devayani; Chandrangad-Simantini

Literal. The young wife asks Shri Guru for a mantra. Shri Guru says: a wife should serve her husband devotedly; she needs no other mantra. He then narrates the Kach-Devayani story (Kach learns the Sanjivani mantra from Shukracharya in service of the gods, by Devayani's intercession; Kach refuses to marry Devayani; Devayani curses him to lose the mantra's power for himself, though it works for others). Then the Chandrangad-Simantini story: Simantini's husband Chandrangad drowns; she observes the Monday vrat devotedly; he is taken by Takshak (king of Nagas) to the underwater Naga city, given nectar; he returns alive after three years.

Symbolic. Two embedded narratives illustrating the persistence of vow across catastrophe. The Kach-Devayani story has additional structural interest: the Sanjivani mantra that brings the dead back to life can be transmitted only when six ears (three persons) hear it; if the protocol is broken, the mantra loses power for the recipient.

Structural. Six ears (= three persons) is the named maximum for Sanjivani transmission. Three years before Chandrangad returns.