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LIVES OF THE GINAS.
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forefingers, answering with (a salam) of his right hand a circle of thousands of joined hands of thousands of men and women, passing along a row of thousands of palaces, greeted by sweet and delightful music, as beating of time, performance on the Vina, Tärya, and the great drum, in which joined shouts of victory, and the low and pleasing murmur of the people; accompanied by all his pomp, all his splendour, all his army, all his train, by all his retinue, by all his magnificence, by all his grandeur, by all his ornaments, by all the tumult, by all the throng, by all subjects, by all actors, by all timebeaters, by the whole seraglio; adorned with flowers, scented robes, garlands, and ornaments, &c. (see $ 102, down to which were accompanied at the same time by trumpets-went right through Kundapura to a park called the Shandavana of the Gñatris and proceeded to the excellent tree Asoka. (115) There under the excellent tree Asoka he caused his palankin to stop, descended from his palankin, took off his ornaments, garlands, and finery with his own hands, and with his own hands plucked out his hair in five handfuls. When the moon was in conjunction with the asterism Uttaraphalgunt, he, after fasting two and a half days? without drinking water, put on a divine robe, and quite alone, nobody else being present, he tore out his hair and leaving the house entered the state of houselessness. (116)
The Venerable Ascetic Mahavfra for a year and
* I.e. taking only one meal in three days. He fasted therefore two continuous days and the first part of the third. • Cf. Âkârânga Sätra II, 15, $ 22.
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