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gift and passed it on to his daughter Malli. He permitted Arahannaka and his merchants to carry on their trade activities in his state and waived all taxes.
After a brief stay there, the merchants sailed to the port of Campă and similarly called on king Candracchāya for similar permission. He presented him too the other pair of ear-rings. In the course of his conversation with the sea-faring merchants, the king asked them whether in the course of their remote voyages, they had come across anything that could be described as miraculous. The sailor replied that he indeed had the good fortune to see a miraculous sight and that was in the city of Mithila. The king's curiosity was quite heightened and he asked him to describe that miracle. The sailor said that he had the occasion once to visit the king of Mithila to seek his permission to carry on his trade there and as a mark of respect for the king, he offered him the pair of ear-rings like the one he had given to the king of Campä. King Kumbhaka immediately sent for his daughter to whom he would give the ear-rings and it was then at that moment that the miracle thing happened. The princess herself was the miracle and the sailor went on to describe the incredible beauty, grace and charm of the young princess and king Candracchaya felt desperate love for the young princess. He immediately despatched a personal emissary to king Kumbhaka with his proposal for the hand of the princess.
At Sravasti the capital city of Kunala region, king Rukmi and his wife Dharini made excellent arrangements for the special occasion of the four month bath for their child Subahu. The pandal that was specially erected for the purpose was decorated with all kinds of flowers growing on land and water, and right in the centre was kept an extremely artistically done bouquet. All the streets leading to the pandal were also beautified with five coloured rice grains and flowers arranged in pretty patterns. The king himself supervised all the work that went to the making of the pandal. When the king watched the ceremony of the bath in the company of all the ambassadors to his court and other important citizens, he turned round to one of the ambassadors and asked him whether he had seen anything more gorgeous than the spectacle which he
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