Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c7.60

c7.60

**Courtly Pomp.** Curtius also gives the following account of the magnificence of the Indian court under Chandragupta Maurya: "When the king condescends to show himself in public, his attendants carry in their hands silver censors and perfume with incense all the road by which it is his pleasure to be conveyed. He lolls in a golden palanquin, garnished with pearls which dangle all around it, and he is robed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. Behind his palanquin follow men-at-arms and his body guards, of whom some carry boughs of trees on which birds are perched, trained to interrupt business with their cries."