King Nala, the son of King Veerasena ascended the throne of Nishadha and made it a heaven on earth with his benevolent rule. At that time, he heard about the exquisite beauty of Damayanthi, the daughter of King Bhima who was ruling Vidarbha. Sage Narada comes to pay Nala a visit and tells him about how even the gods wish her as wife and advices him that he must make her his wife. Nala thinks about her and blossoms into love. He suffers the pangs of love and spends his time in the garden thinking about his beloved. A golden swan that comes to the garden sees him and becomes his emissary of love and takes his message to Damayanthi in Vidarbha. The swan sees her in her garden with her maids and waxes eloquent about the virtues of Nala. She had heard about him earlier and her love for him had also blossomed. The swan makes her speak of her love for Nala and returns with the happy news to Nishadha.