DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0418
NALA AND DAMAYANTt 335
and will speak boldly, O bright one, so remember me
in thine heart."
The maiden smiled through her tears. " Ah!" she
said, " I see now a way of escape. . . . When thou
comest to the swayamvara, enter thou together with the
gods, and I will name thee as mine own, so that no sin
may be charged against thee."
Then Nala returned to the gods, who waited him
eagerly, and he told them all that the maiden had said,
word for word. " In thy^ wisdom," he added, " thou
wilt judge of what remains, O ye excelling gods."
When at length the day of happy omen, the day of
the swayamvara, arrived, Bhima summoned at noontide
all the love-sick rajahs, and they passed through the
court of golden columns and under the bright portal
arch, and entered the Hall of State like to lions on the
mountains. The rajahs were then seated on their thrones,
adorned with garlands and with dangling ear gems. The
arms of some were robust and powerful like the battle
mace; those of others were delicate and smooth as a
serpent. With profuse and flowing hair, shapely noses,
and arching eyebrows, the faces of these great lords were
radiant as the stars in heaven. As a mountain cave is
full of tigers, so was Bhima's great Hall full of rajah
tigers on that day.
When Damayanti entered in state, every eye and
every soul was entranced by her dazzling beauty; all
these lords of earth gazed upon her with unmoving eyes.
• . . The name of each rajah was proclaimed in turn,
and Nala, looking about her, was suddenly -stricken with
dismay, for she perceived that there were present five
r*<alas who were undistinguishable in form and attire one
from another. The four gods who desired to win her
had each assumed the likeness of her beloved one.
and will speak boldly, O bright one, so remember me
in thine heart."
The maiden smiled through her tears. " Ah!" she
said, " I see now a way of escape. . . . When thou
comest to the swayamvara, enter thou together with the
gods, and I will name thee as mine own, so that no sin
may be charged against thee."
Then Nala returned to the gods, who waited him
eagerly, and he told them all that the maiden had said,
word for word. " In thy^ wisdom," he added, " thou
wilt judge of what remains, O ye excelling gods."
When at length the day of happy omen, the day of
the swayamvara, arrived, Bhima summoned at noontide
all the love-sick rajahs, and they passed through the
court of golden columns and under the bright portal
arch, and entered the Hall of State like to lions on the
mountains. The rajahs were then seated on their thrones,
adorned with garlands and with dangling ear gems. The
arms of some were robust and powerful like the battle
mace; those of others were delicate and smooth as a
serpent. With profuse and flowing hair, shapely noses,
and arching eyebrows, the faces of these great lords were
radiant as the stars in heaven. As a mountain cave is
full of tigers, so was Bhima's great Hall full of rajah
tigers on that day.
When Damayanti entered in state, every eye and
every soul was entranced by her dazzling beauty; all
these lords of earth gazed upon her with unmoving eyes.
• . . The name of each rajah was proclaimed in turn,
and Nala, looking about her, was suddenly -stricken with
dismay, for she perceived that there were present five
r*<alas who were undistinguishable in form and attire one
from another. The four gods who desired to win her
had each assumed the likeness of her beloved one.