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Life and Stories of Parçvanatha
Vāmā rejoiced in her son. The king, apprised of the happy event, had prisoners released in his honor. The people were jubilant. When the time for name giving had come, the queen remembered that she had seen in a troubled night a serpent moving by her side (pārçvataḥ). This she had told the king, who interpreted the serpent as the power of the boy; therefore he named him Pārçva (126). He was petted by his nurses, the Apsaras, and sucked the ambrosia which Indra had put into his thumbs, whenever he was hungry. Young gods, in the shape of beasts and birds, sported for his delight (129).
He grew up with every youthful bodily perfection, because he possessed the twenty-two auspicious characteristics, so that all the accomplishments came to him of themselves. On reaching manhood his manly charms delighted numerous maidens (144). On a certain occasion a man, admitted to the audience hall of the king, reported that in Kuçasthala there had ruled a king Naravarman, who had taken the vow at the end of a glorious career, after having made over his kingdom to his son Prasenajit (155). The latter had an altogether perfect daughter, Prabhāvati. She had once heard in the park a song in praise of Pārçva's perfections, since then had been beside herself with longing for him, and had been encouraged by her retinue in the hope that she would obtain him as her own (171). Prabhavati's parents had understood and approved of her feelings; Prasenajit, with a view to Pārçva, had decided to institute a svayamvara' (178).
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On name-giving by dream see note on p. 190. The name Parçva thus means, 'Side.' In Viracarita xxiii (Indische Studien xiv. 137) a pregnant woman sees a serpent and, therefore, begets a serpent."
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'Ceremony by which a maiden of high caste chooses her own husband. She throws a garland over the man of her choice. The events just described echo the story of Nala and Damayanti.
