10. Then Vasishtha accompanied with Viswámitra, and followed by a long train of munis and other men, came out of the hermitage, and ascended and sat in a carriage, in the manner of the lotus-born Brahmá sitting on his lotus seat.
11. He arrived at the palace of Dasaratha, which was surrounded by a large army on all sides, and alighted there from his car, as when Brahmá descends from his highest heaven to the city of Indra, beset by the whole host of the celestials.
12. He entered the grand court hall of the king, and was saluted by the courtiers lowly bending down before him; as when the stately gander enters a bed of lotuses, amidst a body of aquatic birds (all staring at him).
13. The king also got up, and descended from his high throne; and then advanced three paces on barefoot to receive the venerable sage.
14. Then there entered a large concourse of chiefs and princes, with bodies of saints and sages and Bráhmans and hori, potri priests.
15. The minister Sumantra and others came next with the learned pandits Saumya and others; and then Ráma and his brothers followed them with the sons of royal ministers.
16. Next came the ministerial officers, the ministerial priests (hotripotris), and the principle citizens, with bodies of the Málava wrestlers and servants of all orders, and townsmen of different professions.
17. All these took their respective seats, and sat in the proper order of their ranks, and kept looking intently on the sage Vasishtha, with their uplifted heads and eyes.
18. The murmur of the assembly was hushed, and the recitation of the panegyrists was at a stop; the mutual greetings and conferences were at an end, and there ensued a still silence in the assembly.
19. The winds wafted the sweet fragrance from the cups of full blown lotuses; and scattered the dulcet dust of the filaments in the spacious hall.