After accepting Vasishta's invitation to lunch in the ashram, the King and his entourage went to the riverside to bathe. Meanwhile, Vasishta called Kamadhenu, the holy cow, and told her thus - ''Oh Kamadhenu! I have invited the King and his men for lunch in our ashram. I wish to serve them delicious food. The food thus prepared should contain every variety available - sweet, salty, bitter, sour and spicy items, that they can relish. Make arrangements to cook such a feast and at the earliest''.

The bounteous holy cow immediately made the necessary arrangements and very soon accomplished what the sage had asked her to do. The King and his men were astonished to see the grand feast laid in front of them, and ate till their hunger was appeased. Kaushika realized that such a feast was made possible only because of Kamadhenu. He approached the sage and told him that he felt honoured by the hospitality, and expressed his wish to take Kamadhenu with him in exchange for hundred thousand cows. The King further added that according to the Sastras, anything of high value in the kingdom belonged to the King by right, and that among the cows, Kamadhenu held the highest value. "I want to own the holy cow which is yours", he said, putting in his claim.

Vasishta replied,'' Oh wise and noble King! Even if you give me hundred thousand cows or more, or heaps of silver, I will not forfeit my right to own the cow. I am dependent on her to perform rites for my ancestors, pujas, nithya karmas and yagnas. She has satisfied my requirements in numerous ways. She is everything to me. So I cannot part with her for anything in this world''. Kaushika offered the sage 14,000 elephants with golden chains hung around their necks, thousands of golden chariots drawn by four white horses each, 11,000 high-bred horses, and crores of cows with their calves. But Vasishta was impervious to all his pleadings and remained steadfast in his refusal. He tried to pacify the King, saying that Kamadhenu was his only asset and his life, and that he cannot bear to be separated from her.

When the sage was trying to placate the King thus, the latter tried to seize the holy cow. Kamadhenu pushed away the King and his men who were trying to capture her, and ran towards sage Vasishta. She cried to the sage, asking him what sin she had committed for the sage to hand her over to the King. The sage pacified her and told her that he had not complied with the King's request, and that the King was trying to take her away by force.