Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c6.14

v1.c6.14

Likewise when Arjuna wedded Kṛṣṇa’s sister, Kṛṣṇa made magnificent gifts. “To them (the Pāṇḍavas) Kṛṣṇa, he in high renown, gave very great wealth because of the kinship through marriage,¹ the marriage-portion (haraṇa) of Subhadrā, the gift to the kinsfolk. A thousand chariots with golden fittings, wreathed in numberless bells, four-horsed, with skilled and tried drivers, did the glorious Kṛṣṇa give, and a myriad of cows from the neighbourhood of Madhurā, rich in milk, shining fair. And a thousand thoroughbred² mares, that shone there like the moon's (white) beam, and were decked with gold, Janārdana gave out of love, as also, to each, five hundred³ well-trained, wind-swift, black-maned white she-mules.⁴ A thousand women the lotus-eyed one gave (them)—light-skinned,⁵ clad in fair raiment, shining splendidly, decked with hundreds of gold ornaments on their necks, free of body-hair, well cared for, and skilled to serve, skilful at the bath, at the drinking, and at festivals, and endowed with youth. And a hundred thousand saddle-horses from Bāhli did Janārdana give (Subhadrā), as an all-surpassing morning-gift (kanyādhana), and of the best worked and unworked gold, gleaming like fire,