(188) Preceded by groups of chamberlains, hastening up and bowing,
he received the respectful homage of the kings, who had already taken
their position there, who came forward on all sides, who had the ground
kissed by the rays of the crest-jewels loosened from their crests and
thrown afar, and who were introduced one by one by the chamberlains;
at every step he had auspicious words for his dismounting uttered by
old women of the zenana, who had come out from inside, and were skilled
in old customs; having passed through the seven inner courts crowded
with thousands of different living beings, as if they were different
worlds, he beheld his father. The king was stationed within, surrounded
by a body-guard whose hands were stained black by ceaseless grasping of
weapons, who had their bodies, with the exception of hands, feet, and
eyes, covered with dark iron coats of mail, (189) like elephant-posts
covered with swarms of bees ceaselessly attracted by desire of the
scent of ichor, hereditary in their office, of noble birth, faithful;
whose heroism might be inferred from their character and gestures,
and who in their energy and fierceness were like demons. On either
side he had white cowries ceaselessly waved by his women; and he
sat on a couch white as a wild goose, and bright as a fair island,
as if he were the heavenly elephant on the water of Ganges.