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VASUDEVA'S MARRIAGE WITH KANAKAVATI
91
Välikhilyas,98 the lord of the north quarter set out to see the svayamvara.
He entered the svayamvara-pavilion which had a canopy of divine white cloth like the sky covered with moonlight, with a festoon fastened up which resembled a bow strung by Smara, marked by jeweled mirrors everywhere as if provided with numerous suns, with a door-area adorned with the eight auspicious objects 99 made of jewels, adorned with white banners like cranes in the sky, with a floor paved with various jewels, like a younger brother of Sudharma,100 and with shows begun to amuse the eyes of the suitors.
Dhanada, whose vehicle is a hansa, sat down on a high platform on a comfortable lion-throne, surrounded by goddesses. Not far from Dhanada, like his heir-apparent, sat Vasudeva, whose face was pleasant and handsome. In turn other magnificent kings and Vidyadharas were seated on the platforms, like rivals in splendor. Dhanada gave a ring marked with his own name, made of pure gold, to Śauri and he put it on his little finger. Then by the power of the ring all the people present there saw the son of the Yadus with the appearance of Kubera. 'Oh! the blessed Kubera has come in two figures." There was a unanimous assertion to this effect from the people in the svayamvara.
Wearing a white garment with fringe, like the night anointed with moonlight, shining with pearl earrings like the ground of Meru with two moons, her lips red with the juice of lac like a bimba-creeper with ripe bimbas, her breast adorned with a necklace like a mountain with cascades, carrying in her hands a garland of flowers like a swing for Smara, Kanakavati went there indolently, like a swan, at that time.
The svayamvara-pavilion looked with her, when she had come there, like the interior of a house with an auspicious
CC
98 184. A class of rşis the size of a thumb, 60,000 of whom surround the chariot of the sun. MW.
99 186. See I, n. 153.
100 187. The assembly-hall in Saudharmakalpa. II, p. 45.
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