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CHAPTER THREE
Vṛṣṇi's son cast his glance on the group of fair-eyed women, who were wearing red garments, like twilight embodied. In the seventh apartment Śauri saw an inlaid floor made of quartz with pillars of lohitākṣa. In it he saw kalpa-trees laden with blossoms and rows of water-pots and ewers full of water. He saw female door-keepers, knowing the arts, expert in the dialects of all countries, fair-eyed, whose cheeks were grazed by earrings.
He reflected: "In this house completely surrounded by these door-keepers there is no opportunity for anyone." As Śauri was so considering, a slave-girl, holding a golden toylotus, wearing divine garments, approached by a side door. The door-keepers asked her hastily, Where is the mistress Kanakavati and what is she doing?" She replied: "In the palace of the harem-garden, the mistress sits alone, wearing divine garments, with divinities in the vicinity."
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When Vasudeva heard that and knew that she was there, he departed by the side door that had been shown by the slavegirl. Having reached the harem-garden, he saw a seven-storied palace with lofty walls and gradually ascended it. Approaching, the scion of the Yadus saw Kanakavati wearing divine ornaments and finery, like a wishing-creeper, adorned with flowers of all the seasons, like the Śri of the forest in person, with a wealth of beauty from the creator, like the wealth of creation from the beginning, seated on a throne, as if she had companions, though alone, looking at the figure of a man painted on canvas, as if absorbed in it.
Kanakavati saw Daśārha like another form in the picture and bloomed from the knowledge of his wished-for coming, like a lotus at dawn. When she had seen Yadava to be the picture and the picture to be Yadava, she looked at him wearied, her eye unwearied and her body expanding from joy. Worshiping Daśārha with eyes like blue lotuses, she rose quickly from the throne, her hands put together respectfully, and said:
"You have been drawn here by my merit. I am your
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