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had organised in honour of his daughter. The ambassador replied that the bath festival of princess Malli that he once had the good fortune to witness at Mithila was so impressive that the present one hardly held a candle to it. King Rukmi was further treated to a description of the beauty of Malli herself with the result that he immediately despatched a messenger to the city of Mithila with his proposal to marry the incomparable Malli.
S'ankha ruled in Käsi. He was on one occasion approached by a group of goldsmiths with a request that he should permit them all to settle down in his city and carry on their business. On further inquiries, they told him how they were expelled from Mithilā because they could not repair the clasp of an ear-ring that belonged to princess Malli. The material used for the ear-ring was so peculiar that they could do nothing to the clasp. Instead they offered to make for the princess another pair of ear-rings exactly in the same pattern. The king therefore was greatly annoyed and ordered the whole lot of goldsmiths to wind up their business in his state and quit. That is how these goldsmiths arrived in Käsi. King S'ankha asked the goldsmiths about the princess herself and the goldsmiths launched on such a description of the breath-taking-beauty of the young princess that S'anikha immediately sent his messenger to Mithila with his proposal to marry her.
In the city of Hastinapura of the Kurus. King Adinas atru once was requested by a painter to grant him permission to settle down in his country. The king asked the painter, who was an elderly gentleman, all about him and the painter said he belonged to the city of Mithila from which place he had been unfortunately expelled. He told the king how the prince Malladatta of Mithila ordered all the artists in the town to construct a picture gallery with paintings to illustrate various emotions, sentiments, passions etc. Every artist started on his work but the unfortunate painter, who had aroused Malladatta's anger painted something which the prince did not like at all. The painter had painted the portrait of princess Malli and her brother accused the painter of having insulted and humiliated the princess. The painter explained to king Adinas'atru that in fact he had done nothing of the sort. He did not have the audacity to look
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