The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

THE BANQUET 91
seats suited to their dignity, Naravahanadatta ascended
his lofty throne. And Queen Vasavadatta was delighted
to see those various new daughters-in-law, and asked their
names and lineage. And the King of Vatsa and his suite,
beholding the godlike splendour of Naravahanadatta, came
to the conclusion that they had not been born in vain.
*
And in the midst of their great rejoicing at the reunion
of relations, the brave warder Ruchideva entered and said :
"
The banqueting hall is ready, so be pleased to come there."
When they heard it they all went to that splendid banqueting
hall. It was full of goblets made of various jewels, which
looked like so many expanded lotuses, and strewn with many
and it
flowers, so that it resembled a lotus bed in a garden ;
was crowded with ladies with jugs full of intoxicating liquor,
who made it flash like the nectar appearing in the arms of
Garuda. There they drank wine that snaps those fetters of
shame that bind the ladies of the harem ; wine, the essence
of love's life, the ally of merriment. Their faces, expanded
and red with wine, shone like the lotuses in the lake, expanded
and red with the rays of the rising sun. And the
goblets of the rosy hue of the lotus, finding themselves surpassed
by the lips of the queens, and seeming terrified at
touching them, hid with their hue of wine.
Then the queens of Naravahanadatta began to show signs
of intoxication, with their contracted eyebrows and fiery
eyes, and the period of quarrelling 2 seemed to be setting in;
nevertheless they went thence in order to the hall 3 of feast-
ing, which was attractive with its various viands provided by
1 All the India Office MSS. read sangamahotsave. The Sanskrit College
MS. reads bandhunam sangamotsave.
2 This reading seems doubtful, as no further mention is made of the
"quarrelling." The D. text reads asann akopakdle (see p. 524 of the second
is : "The wives of
edition) instead of B.'s dsanne kopakdle 'pi, thus the meaning
Naravahanadatta, though there was no opportunity then of being angry, had
nevertheless contracted eyebrows and fiery eyes for they were intoxicated."
There is no gap, as Tawney supposed. The D. is reading undoubtedly correct.
See further Speyer, op. cit., p. 145. n.m.p.
3
Literally, "ground." No doubt they squatted on the ground at the
feast as well as at the banquet which preceded it, instead of following it
as in the days of Shakespeare.