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ARIŞTANEMI'S SPORT, INITIATION, OMNISCIENCE 263
umbrella and Mahendra the principal sword; the Indra of Brahma carried a mirror and the Indra of Lantaka a full pitcher; Mahāśukra a svastika and Sahasrara a bow; the Lord of Prāṇata a śrīvatsa and Acyuta a nandyāvarta;241 and the other Indras, Camara and others, carried weapons. Surrounded by fathers, mothers, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa and others, the Blessed One, noble-minded, set out on the king's highway. As the Lord went near her house, he was seen by Rajimati and at once she fainted again and again from grief that had been renewed.
Then Nemi went to the garden, Sahasrāmravaṇa, the ornament of Mt. Ujjayanta, resembling Nandana. Śiva's son entered the garden which was apparently smiling, as it were, with newly blossoming ketakīs; its ground on all sides paved with sapphires, as it were, with the fallen rose-apples; with bees intoxicated from lying on the couch of kadamba blossoms; with a dance (tāṇḍava) full of peacock-cries commenced by peacocks with erect tail-feathers; with groves of blossoming kutajas 242 like an arsenal of Smara; with a throng of travelers overcome by the fragrance of white and yellow jasmines. He got out of the palanquin and took off the ornaments and Hari (Indra) gave them to Hari (Kṛṣṇa).
When three hundred years from his birth had passed, on the white sixth of Śravaṇa, the moon being in Tvāṣṭra, in the forenoon, having fasted for two days, Siva's soon tore out his hair in five handfuls. Sakra took the hair and put a garment on the Lord's shoulder. Śakra threw the hair into the Ocean of Milk, returned, and stopped the tumult. The Lord began sāmāyika.243 The mind-reading knowledge of the Lord arose. At that time there was a moment of comfort even for hell-inhabitants.
A thousand kings became mendicants, following Prince
241 242. For the śrīvatsa and nandyavarta, see I, plate 4.
242 248. Oval-leaved rose bay.
243 252. Cessation of all censurable activity, including mental. For a detailed description, see I, n. 122.
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