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roared deeply, the horses neighed, as if hastening their own riders to go to the Master. The charioteers and footsoldiers came, marked with hair erect from joy. The command of the King to go to the Blessed One was like fragrant gold.977 The soldiers, though standing, were not contained in the space between Aṣṭāpada and Ayodhya, like the waters of a great river between two banks. In the sky, the union of the stream of the Mandakini and the Yamuna took place, as it were, from the white umbrellas and peacock-feather umbrellas. The lances in the hands of the heroes on horseback looked as if other lances were raised with them from their own light streaming forth. The elephants, too, looked as if they had elephants mounted on them from the best heroes who were mounted, giving loud roars of joy. From the Cakrin the soldiers became eager to bow to the Lord of the World. The scabbard of a sword becomes very sharp from its sword. The soldiers gathered together from all sides were announced to the Cakrin, though present, by the great confusion like a door-keeper.
The Cakravartin then made his body pure with a bath, just as the Lord of Munis made purity of mind by victory over love and hate. The Lord of Bharata, after the propitiatory rite of the tilaka and auspicious things had been made, put on clothes and ornaments shining like his own conduct. Adorned with a white umbrella over his head and two white chauris at his sides, he went to the platform at the end of the house. Ascending it, like the sun the eastern mountain, the King mounted the high elephant like the sun the zenith. Spreading delight in the sky by loud sounds of choice musical instruments, such as kettle-drum, conch, and military drum, like water by a water-wheel; surrounding the quarters by elephants with much ichor like clouds; covering the earth with horses like an ocean with waves; accompanied by joy and
377 156. This is a popular Gujarati expression to denote super
excellence.
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