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SRI DHARMANĀTHACARITRA
135 sthanakas, devotion to the Arhats, et cetera, wise, he acquired the body-making karma of a Tirthakrt. After fasting at the right time, he died when engaged in concentrated meditation and became a powerful god in the palace Vaijayanta.
Incarnation as Dharmanātha (15-363) Now in this same zone Bhārata in Jambūdvīpa, there is a city Ratnapura, a mine of various jewels. Its ponds and groves look as if they were bridged by the multitude of rays joined together from the jeweled stairs at the sides. Its very houses with shrines of the Arhats, golden, and with mirrors at every step announced the three objects of existence 101 always apparent. The ground of its streets, paved with emeralds, shines at night with the reflected constellations as if set with pearl svastikas. Wreaths, hung by wealthy women on the hooks of pegs in the walls of the houses, assume the form of necklaces. Cool from the garden-tanks, warm from the kitchens in the mansions, rainy from the elephants' ichor, it has three seasons, as it were.
His parents (21-30) Its king was Bhānu, brilliant as the sun, fire to the straw of his enemies, glowing with distinguished spotless virtues. Even Bșhaspati was not able to count his various virtues like the waves of the ocean. This earth, whose tribute was collected by him alone, did not consider any other lord, like a high-born virtuous wife whose hand has been taken (in marriage). Having bound Srī, who is naturally fickle, by the very strong cords of his virtues, he fastened her, like a young cow-elephant, to the pillar of his arm. Possessing intense brilliance like the sun, he
191 17. The shrines, of course, represent dharma, the golden houses artha, and the mirrors kāma.
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