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in their hands; terrifying at a distance with two elephants placed on each side (of the door) like door-keepers with large staves in the form of trunks; astonished in his mind, he stood until he was seen by the door-keeper. Such is the custom in palaces.
The door-keeper went and announced to Bahubali: "Suvega, a messenger from your elder brother, is at the door." At the King's command, the door-keeper permitted Suvega, the best of the wise, to enter the house, like Mercury entering the orbit of the sun. With amazement he saw Bahubali attended by kings with dazzling jeweled crowns, like suns brought from the sky to earth; surrounded by ministers purified by tests, wise, pavilions made from a growth of creepers of the master's wealth of confidence; served by the chief princes of the world, with shining crest-jewels, unassailable, like Nagakumāras; terrifying by his thousands of body-guards who held scabbardless weapons, like Mt. Malaya with serpents whose tongues were hanging out; constantly fanned by courtesans with very beautiful chauris, like Mt. Himalaya with yaks' tails; resplendent with a staff-bearer carrying a golden-staff and dressed in white, like an autumn-cloud with lightning, standing before him; seated on a jeweled lionthrone like the divinity of splendor.
He bowed to the King, touching the ground with his forehead, wearing a long tinkling gold chain like an elephant. Then he sat down on a seat indicated by the door-keeper, which had been brought at the time at a sign with his eyebrow by the King. Looking at him with a glance purified by the nectar of favor, the King said: "Suvega, I hope everything is well with the noble Lord of Bharata? I hope the subjects prosper in the city Vinītā cherished and guarded by my father, sir? I trust the King has achieved a victory without obstacles over the six parts of Bharata like the enemies,
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