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LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA
great honour and were entertained with food, drink, etc. We read that Sagara took his bath, held the domestic sacrifice (balıkamma) performed the lustratory rites of charm and auspicious marks (kayakouyapāyacclutta), decked his body with ornaments and in the company of his relatives proceeded to the house of Sāgaradatta to marry Sukumāliyā. Sagara and Sukumaliya both were made to sit on the same slab (patta), they were given a bath with white and yellow pitchers, oblation was offered to fire and amidst auspicious songs and kisses (uvayana) from the married women the marriage ceremony was performed.
SVAYAMVARA Then we come to the Svayamvara marriage. We have several instances where girls attaining proper age chose publicly husbands for thcmselves from a number of suitors. The Nāpādhammakahā refers to the Svayamvara of Dovai which was attended by various prominent kings and princes. The guests were received with great pomp and show and were entertained with food, drink, wine, flowers, garments and music. Then by the beat of drum the Svayamvara of Dovai was proclaimed and the guests arrived in the Swayamvara hall especially built for the purpose on the bank of the Ganges. It was cleaned, sprinkled over, filled with bunches of fresh sweet-smelling blossoms of five colours, it smelt pleasantly with the shimmering fumes of kālāguru, fine kundurukka and turukka and was fragrant with sweet-smelling fine scents (sugandhavaragandhiam), a very incense stick (gandhavattıbhūyam) and the galleries were arranged (mancaimnīcakalıya). The visitors took their respective seats which were already marked with their names and waited for Dovai to come. In the meantime, Dovai took her bath, performed the lustatory rites etc., put on festive clean garments of state, visited the Jain temple (inaghara) and coming back decked her body with various ornaments and accompanied by her female servants (cediya), play-nurse (kūdiviyā) and the private secretary (bhiya) reached the Svayamvara hall in a chariot Shc bowed low to the kings and the princes, took a beautiful garland (surdiimaganda) made of fragrant flowers and emitting excellent smell in her hand and in the company of the play-nurse with a bright mirror in her hand, moved about the hall. The play-nurse, pointing out with her right hand, described the family, strength, gotra, power, beauty, learning, grandeur, youth and character of the various kings and princes, whose reflections were cast into the mirror. Then Dovai came to the place where the five Pāņdavas were seated, she put the garland around their necks and chose them as her husbands.37
The Uttaradhyayana commentary refers to another Svayamvara marriage of the princess Nivvui. With the permission of her father she went to Indapura and declared that one who was brave and valiant and one who
88 ibid., 16, p. 169. 87 ibid., 18, pp. 179-82.
