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gold and gems. And at the door of every one they beheld warders terrible with many teeth and tusks,*[1] with iron maces in their hands. And then they all sat down there under a tree, while the ascetic entered into a mystic contemplation to avert evil. And by means of that contemplation all those terrible warders were compelled to flee from all the doors, and disappeared.
And immediately there issued from those doors lovely women with heavenly ornaments and dresses, who were the attendants of those Daitya maidens. They approached separately all there present, the ascetic among them, and invited them in the name of their mistresses into their respective palaces. And the ascetic, having now succeeded in his enterprise, said to all the others,— " You must none of you disobey the command of your beloved after entering her palace." Then he entered with a few of those attendants a splendid palace, and obtained a lovely Daitya maiden and the happiness he desired. And the others singly were introduced into magnificent palaces by other of the attendants, and were blessed with the love of Daitya maidens.
And the king Bhúnandana was then conducted by one of the attendants, who bowed respectfully to him, to a palace built of gems outside the wall. Its walls of precious stone were, so to speak, adorned all round with living pictures, on account of the reflections on them of the lovely waiting- women. It was built on a platform of smooth sapphire, and so it appeared as if it had ascended to the vault of heaven, in order to outdo a sky-going chariot.†[2] It seemed like the house of the Vrishnis,‡[3] made rich by means of the power of Vishnu. In it sported fair ones wild with intoxication, and it was full of the charming grace of Cupid. Even a flower, that cannot bear the wind and the heat, would in vain attempt to rival the delicacy of the bodies of the ladies in that palace. It resounded with heavenly music, and when the king entered it, he beheld once more that beautiful Asura maiden, whom he had seen in a dream. Her beauty illuminated the lower world which has not the light of the sun or the stars, and made the creation of sparkling jewels and other lustrous things, an unnecessary proceeding on the part of the Creator.§[4]
The king gazed with tears of joy on that indescribably beautiful lady, and, so to speak, washed off from his eyes the pollution, which they had
- ↑ * The Sanskrit College MS. has dantadríshtádharotkațán. Perhaps drishta should be dashța. It would then mean terrible because they were biting their lips.
- ↑ † The Sanskrit College MS. reads vimánavijigíshayá.
- ↑ ‡ Descendants of Vrishni and relatives of Krishna. In Achyuta there is a pun: the word may mean " Vishnu" and also "permanent: rámam may also refer to Balarama, who is represented as a drunkard.
- ↑ § Pátála, like Milton's lower world, " wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold."
