King Dushyanta proposing marriage with a ring to Shakuntala. Chromolithograph by R. Varma.

Sakuntalā was the daughter of the yogi Viswāmitra and Menakā. After her birth she was abandoned in the forest nourished by birds until the sage Kanwa found her. Kanwa brought her up as his own daughter in a hermitage in the forest. King Dushyanta fell in love with Sakuntalā while she lived in the forest and induced her to contract with him a Gandharva marriage, that is a simple declaration of mutual acceptance. As Dushyanta was leaving he gave Sakuntalā a ring as a pledge of his love