Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c5.249

v1.c5.249

When they had come to Pañcāla-land, the five took lodging with a potter, and begged after Brahman wise. . . “The king of the Pañcālas had had a stout bow made ready for stringing, and a machine set up in the air. To this machine the prince had ordered the mark to be fastened. Drupada spoke: ‘Whoso strings this bow, and, setting the arrows on it, shoots through the mark, shall have my daughter.’ With these words the king had the Svayaṃvara proclaimed. At these tidings all the kings gathered together there, as also the high-souled Ṛṣis, to witness the Svayaṃvara. Also the Kurus with Duryodhana at their head, accompanied by Karṇa, came thither, and distinguished Brahmans from various lands. Received with honour by Drupada, these bands of kings took their seats on the tribunals, to behold the Svayaṃvara; then all the townsfolk, with a din as of the sea. To the north-east the princes strode, and took their seats. North-east of the city, on a smooth clear place shone the enclosure for the gathering, set around with dwellings, having a mound and ditch, adorned with gates and gateways, made fair around with a many-coloured awning, filled with the hundreds of musical instruments, made fragrant with precious aloe-wood, sprinkled with sandal-water, bright with wreaths and garlands, ringed all round by many splendid palaces that were like unto the peak of Kailāsa, and brushed the sky; and these palaces had pinnacles well updrawn, were wrapped in gold as in a net, adorned with floors of mosaic of precious stones, fitted with easily climbed stairs, and furnished with magnificent seats; they were covered in wreaths and garlands, and scented with the most precious aloe-wood; they shone like swans and like the moon’s beam, and a yojana away they sent out a fragrant smell; hundreds of unthronged doors they had, and shone with couches and seats; their parts were covered with many kinds of metals, and they were like unto the tops of Himālaya. There all the fine-decked princes took up their quarters,