Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/141

LIFE AT THE COURT 111 lars being adorned with golden vines and silver birds. The buildings stood in an extensive park, studded with fish-ponds and furnished with a great variety of orna- mental trees and shrubs. Here the imperial court was maintained with bar- baric and luxurious ostentation. Basins and goblets of gold, some measuring six feet in width, richly carved tables and chairs of state, vessels of Indian copper set with precious stones, and gorgeous embroidered robes were to be seen in profusion, and contributed to the brilliancy of the public ceremonies. When the king condescended to show himself in public on state occa- sions, he was carried in a golden palanquin, adorned with tassels of pearls, and was clothed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. When making short journeys, he rode on horseback, but when travelling longer distances he was mounted like a modern raja, on an elephant with golden trappings. Combats of animals were a favourite diversion, as they still are at the courts of native princes, and the king took delight in witnessing the fights of bulls, rams, elephants, rhi- noceroses, and other animals. Gladiatorial contests be- tween men were also exhibited. A curious entertain- ment, which seems not to be known in the present age, was afforded by ox-races, which were made the subject of keen betting, and were watched by the king with the closest interest. The course was one of thirty stadia, or six thousand yards, and the race was run with cars, each of which was drawn by a mixed team of horses and oxen, the horses being in the centre, with an ox on