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what should be done, after talking to her like fate embodied and rewarding her, dismissed her.
So some time passed, which seemed like a hundred years to them, drinking the nectar of talking to each other daily. One day while Vasantadeva was resting in his own house, he heard an auspicious drum in Pañcanandin's house. He received the news from his servants whom he sent, 'Kesarā has been given in marriage by Pañcanandin to Varadatta, the son of the Sheth Sudatta, living in Kanyakubja. The drum has been beaten for the festival.'
When he heard this, he swooned as if struck with a hammer. Then Priyankara consoled him quickly: 'Kesarā sends you a message: "Do not be disturbed. After hearing the plan of the elder members of the family, I intend to marry my sweetheart. Without knowing my wishes, the elders wish to do such a thing. They may wish to do it, but I shall not do such a thing. You alone shall be my husband or my death will surely be. This must be recognized, lord, nothing else. For the word of well-born women is not false.
CHAPTER FIVE
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Vasanta, delighted, said, "The sight of the dream was like this. And certainly the promise of well-born women is not in vain. I promise this: I shall marry Kesară or I shall go by some means to the house of Yama.'
Thus assured and dismissed, she went to Kesară and Kesară rejoiced at her lover's speech when it was told to her. Some time passed unpleasantly for them, like the night for cakravākas, while they thought about some means of union with each other. While their purpose had not yet been accomplished but they were devising plans, the procession of the bridegroom's friends came for Kesara's wedding the next day.
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When Vasantadeva heard that, he left the city and went to a garden, hastening like the wind. Vasantadeva thought, 'She, married to another, will surely perish, like a gourd 871 at the sight of a finger. Troubled for a long
371 445. The kūṣmaṇḍa is a symbol of extreme delicacy.
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