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SIXTH INCARNATION AS APARĀJITA
255 to the svayamvara. Upendra's servants erected a pavilion with a thousand pillars of jewels, an ornament of the earth, which resembled the council-hall of Indra. In it they made jeweled lion-thrones which presented the appearance of a row of jewels in the serpent-king's hood. At Väsudeva's command the kings and the Vidyadhara-princes, the equals of Māra in beauty, seated themselves on the thrones. Dressed in divine garments, wearing jeweled ornaments, with various artificial decorations and much fragrant ointment, adorned with a white umbrella resembling the moon over her head, attended by friends of her own age, the path being shown by a woman door-keeper with a golden staff, carrying the bridegroom's wreath, Balabhadra's daughter, Sumati, adorned the pavilion, like Śrī the ocean, the Vidyādharas and kings being present, like gods.
The gazelle-eyed maiden looked at the svayamvarapavilion with a charming glance, throwing a wreath of blue lotuses, as it were. Just then an aerial car, made of jewels, adorned with pillars of gems, suspended in the sky like the disc of the sun, occupied by a deity seated on a jeweled lion-throne, appeared suddenly above the pavilion. The girl, the kings, and the lords of the Vidyādharas looked at it with eyes wide-open from great astonishment. While they were looking, the goddess got out of the aerial car and sat down on the lion-throne in the pavilion. Raising her right hand, she said to the maiden Sumati:
“Young lady, Dhanaśrī, wake up! Wake up! Remember your former birth. In the half of Puskaravaradvipa, in the middle section of East Bharata, there is an extensive rich city, Śrīnandanapura. In it there was a king, named Mahendra, like Mahendra (Indra), always zealous day and night in protecting people seeking protection. The king's chief-queen, dearer than life, was named Anantamati, the receptacle of infinite virtues.
One day when she was sleeping comfortably, she saw in a dream in the last part of the night two fragrant,
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