[ 26 ] 



worship Ambeka-Deva amid a multitude of singers and musicians, 

 and guards ranged on all sides. When they came to the place of 

 worship, the guards, &c. remained on the outside of the temple, 

 and the musicians, &c. with a vast crowd, stood before the door. 

 Rokemenee and the women went in, the former praying to Deva 

 Bhavani to unite her with Bhagavan, as had been the incessant 

 tenor of her prayers. Then she washed her hands and feet, and 

 went through all the preparations for the Pooja ; but, when she 

 bowed her head in the Dendevet, she said, in her heart, " O Deva 

 Bhavani ! to thee I bow for the desire of my soul, which is Creeshna." 

 With Rokemenee all the women joined in that ejaculation who were 

 present and assisting in the preparatives of the Pooja. On that 

 day Rokemenee fasted the whole day, remaining in profound si- 

 lence, and, on going away, bowed her head to the ground on the 

 Deva's threshold. Rokemenee had then a lotos-flower in her hand, 

 and a ring of valuable jewels on her finger, so resplendent, that the 

 Apsaras beheld it from heaven, and said, " This cannot be Roke- 

 menee ? it is Ambeka-Deva herself." In short, her beauty and 

 elegance struck even ethereal spectators with astonishment, and 

 the guards, in a transport, fell down before her, unconscious that 

 their bows escaped from their hands. Rokemenee, in hopes that 

 Bhagavan would appear, walked very slowly forward ; and, as the 

 procession for the performance of the Pooja was of great length, 

 her hair was wet with perspiration, resembling the morning dew in 

 the cup of the hyacinth. Looking on all sides earnestly round, she 

 soon perceived an army approaching, which she immediately con- 

 ceived to belong to the monarch of her heart ; and, in the excess 

 of her joy, her feet refused to move forwards. Creeshna, like a 

 ravenous lion, (with Balhadur before him) burst through the throng, 

 and, taking Rokemenee by the hand, placed her instantly on his 

 own carriage, and carried her triumphantly away. Numbers of 



