Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c35.1501

v2.c35.1501

Later, when, at Pasenadi’s request, Bimbisāra sent Dhanañjaya to live in Kosala, Visākhā accompanied her parents and lived in Sāketa. The messengers, sent by Migāra of Sāvatthi to find a suitable bride for his son Puṇṇavaddhana, saw Visākhā on her way to the lake to bathe on a feast-day. At that moment there was a great shower. Visākhā’s companions ran for shelter, but Visākhā herself, walking at her usual pace, came to the place where the messengers, already greatly impressed, were awaiting her. When they asked her why she did not run to seek shelter and so preserve her clothes, she answered that she had plenty of clothes in the house, but that if she ran she might damage a limb which would be a great loss. “Unmarried girls,” she said, “are like goods awaiting sale, they must not be disfigured.” The messengers offered her a bouquet of flowers (mālāguḷam), which she accepted as a proposal of marriage, and then went on to her father’s house. The messengers followed and laid Puṇṇavaddhana’s suit before Dhanañjaya. The proposal was accepted and confirmed by an exchange of letters.