He, the Twice-born sat under the shade of a neem
tree, hearing the gurgle of the sacred waters from the Cow's
Mouth, where the great tank shone under the custard-apple boughs;
and, at peace with all the world, he read in the Scripture which
affirms the transience of all things drifting across the thought
of the Supreme like clouds upon the surface of the Ocean.
(Ahi! that loveliness is also illusion!)
Her women placed about the Queen - that Lotus of Women - a robe
of silk of which none could say that it was green or blue, the
noble colours so mingled into each other under the latticed gold
work of Kashi. They set the jewels on her head, and wide thin
rings of gold heavy with great pearls in her ears. Upon the swell
of her bosom they clasped the necklace of table emeralds, large,
deep, and full of green lights, which is the token of the Chitor
queens. Upon her slender ankles they placed the chooris of pure
soft gold, set also with grass-green emeralds, and the delicate
souls of her feet they reddened with lac. Nor were her arms
forgotten, but loaded with bangles so free from alloy that they
could be bent between the hands of a child.
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