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CHAPTER TEN
city Rajagṛha. Then she saw a well-ripened field of rice in a dream and related it to her husband. He explained that she would have a son. She had a pregnancy-whim, "I wish that I might perform pious acts of liberality, and Gobhadra, fair-minded, fulfilled it. When the time was completed, the sky ablaze with light, Bhadra bore a son like the ground of Mt. Vidūra bearing a jewel.
Because of the dream that was seen, on an auspicious day the parents gave their son an auspicious name, Šalibhadra. Tended by five nurses,199 he gradually grew up and was taught the arts by his father, when he was slightly under eight years of age. When he was grown, dear to young women, he sported with friends of his own age, like another Pradyumna (Kamadeva). The sheths of the city came and offered to give Bhadra's husband thirty-two of their daughters in marriage to Salibhadra. Delighted, Gobhadra eagerly married the girls endowed with all the favorable marks to Salibhadra. Salibhadra, like the lord of the gods, amused himself with them in a beautiful palace that was like a palace in heaven. Immersed in joy, he distinguished neither day nor night; his parents themselves supplied him with the means of pleasure.
Gobhadra took the vow at Sri Vira's feet and, having fasted according to rule, went to heaven. Knowing by clairvoyance that Salibhadra was his son, overcome by his merit, he became absorbed in affection for his son. The god gave him and his wives divine clothes, finery, et cetera daily, like a wishing-tree. Any task that was suitable for humans, Bhadra performed that. From the power of his former gift, he enjoyed pleasures only.
One day Śreņika was approached by some merchants who had obtained jeweled blankets and Śreņika did not take them because of their high price. Then the merchants went
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199 78. One who nurses, one who bathes, one who adorns, one who holds, and one who plays with him. PE, s.v. pañcadhāi.
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