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The king became very happy to get this good news. He came down from his throne at once, and bowed with his 'head bent low in the appropriate direction where Mahavira was. The he dismissed the gardener with suitable gifts for conveying such a hearty news. The king then had a thought in his mind,
"Tomorrow in the morning, I shall call on Bhagavān. Mahāvira with unprecedented grandeur and pay homage and obeisance in a manner never witnessed before".
At once, he sent for his army chief and asked him to keep his soldiers ready on the following day in the morning. He asked another officer to make the city thoroughly clean, to sprinkle perfumed water everywhere, to shower flowers, to decorate the streets with jars and suitable hangings of leaves and flowers, and decorate the whole city with flags and ensigns. To still another officer he assigned the task of mobilising all the feudal chiefs, ministers and leading citizens on the following day in the morning with a directive that they should all be properly dressed for the occasion.
"We are to go together to pay homage and obeisance to the Spamana 'Bhagavān Mahāvira", added he.
King Dasarnabhadra himself got up early in the mor-, ning, took his bath, rubbed sandal paste on his body, put on the finest fabrics and adorned his person with gold and costly jewellery. The he sat on the principal elephant.
An umbrella was held over his head. The camarabearers fanned the king with camara. After the king thousands of feudal lords and citizens riding on elephants, horses and chariots. The entire army followed. Five hundred queens started in their own chariots. Thousands of flags touching the sky were unfurled. The sound of music became a sort of link joining the earth with the sky. Thousands of chanters repeated auspicous hymns. Thousands of singers sang to the great delight of the listners.
Attended by the display of an unusual pomp and followed by his entire family, the king came to attend Mahavira's congregation. On reaching the garden, the king alighted
