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SUPĀRSVANĀTHACARITRA
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Incarnation as Supārsvanātha (12-126)
Description of Vārāṇasī (12-16) Now in this Bhärataksetra of Jambūdvīpa there is a city Vārāṇasī, the ornament of the Kāśi-country. In its houses with jeweled walls filled with light a lamp, if it is present, is before a god in the eightfold pūjā. There the moon above high golden rods on the shrines attains a resemblance to an umbrella of Dharma possessing the sole umbrella. Vidyadharis, resting on the watch-towers of its walls, were delighted, forgetting the latticed-windows in the wall around Jambūdvīpa. In its houses the doves coo at night, as if reciting auspicious things for the enlightenment of Rati's husband (Kāma).
His parents (17–26) Its king was named Pratiştha, devoted to justice, the kalpa-tree of celebrity for the worthy, possessing celebrity like Indra. The whole world remained in the shadow of his feet, as he was always unequaled in power, like Meru in size. When he made a tour of conquest in all directions, the sky appeared to be marked with cranes from white umbrellas and with clouds from umbrellas made of peacockfeathers in dense array. In battle he, ornamented with unlimited heroic vows, never turned his face away from his enemies as if they were beggars. From birth, without any other assistance, long-armed, he supported the earth always as easily as a toy-lotus.
The king had a wife, named Pșthvi, like a living earth, the receptacle of virtues, firmness, etc. Her innate virtue and beauty constantly became ornaments, and external ornaments reached a state of being adorned. In her, spotless by nature, numerous virtues appeared like pearls in the river Tämraparņi. Her form with lotus-face, lotus-eyes, lotus-hands, and lotus-feet was like another lotus-pool of the goddess Sri with waves of loveliness, With the thought, “Because she is the mother of a
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