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VASUDEVA'S MARRIAGE WITH KANAKAVATI 89 horses, chariots, soldiers, et cetera, Vasudeva entered King Hariscandra's house. Unnoticed by anyone, Vțşņi's son went ahead with unstumbling gait, like a yogi with magic ointment.91
Sauri entered the first apartment of the palace which was blocked by guards with girded loins and holding maces.. Sauri saw at once the paving of sapphire, with moving waves of beauty like a tank with water. He saw there a group of women, like Apsarases, wearing divine ornaments, beautiful, of the same age. The scion of the Yadus then saw a second apartment with golden pillars, jeweled puppets, and waving banners. Then he entered a third apartment with waves of milk 92 like moonlight, like an elephant of the quarters entering the ocean of milk. There he saw women adorned with divine ornaments together with Apsarases, not to be equaled in the city of the gods. Reaching the fourth apartment, he saw a mosaic floor that looked like water,93 with surging waves, filled with swans, ospreys, et cetera. The scion of the Yadus watched women beautifying themselves by looking at themselves in it without mirrors. He heard auspicious sounds being made by cranes and parrots and saw servant-girls engaged in singing and dancing.
Sauri went to the fifth apartment and saw a beautiful inlaid floor of emerald, resembling a house in heaven. He saw multitudes of wreaths of pearls and coral and suspended chauris reflected in it as if made by magicians. He saw slave-girls everywhere, beautifully dressed, wearing quantities of jeweled ornaments, leaning against pillars, like dolls. When he arrived at the sixth apartment he saw a mosaic floor of lotuses like the best heavenly pool adorned everywhere with lotuses. Vārşneya saw in front of it jeweled vessels filled with divine ointments and in it he saw divine garments.
91 125. Which made him invisible.
92 130. I.e., it was paved with something that gave the effect of waves of milk, as the sapphire gave the effect of water. Probably the floor was of crystal.
93 132. For a similar effect, see Prabandhacintāmaņi, p. 49.
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