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RIŞABHA DEVA
theniselves! Some wise man, knowing that the consequences of such a terrible change can only be a descent into hell of all those concerned, and not unoften of many who were not directly concerned in not assisting in the procreation of fighting men, laid it down, as a scriptural injunction, that every girl must be married before she become menstruant. But this was not so in the days of purely Aryan culture.
Srimati grew up into loveliness and youth, without any one thinking it necessary to marry her before the appearance of the signs of full mature puberty. One morning as she awoke from her sleep, she heard a great commotion, music and voices mingling up indistinctly. She enquired the cause, and learnt that during the night Sri Yasodharji Saint had attained Omniscience, and the devas froin, the Celestial regions were coming down to worship the Holy One. It was the sound of their jaya-kārās (hurrahs of ' Victory ') which, combined with the heavenly music, formed the hubbub that she had heard. Srimati then saw the devas herself coming down and going up in the sky. The sight stirred her deeply; it touched a deep-seated chord somewhere in her heart. She recollected all at once her past life as Svayam Prabhā! She remembered Lalitānga, too, and was reminded of the joys she had experi
