18. They had their marriage vests and necklaces ready on the spot, and the God of love helped with the supply of every thing required on the occasion.
19. Having thus prepared the paraphernalia of their nuptials, and stored them in a golden grotto of the mountain, they both repaired to the sacred stream of the heavenly Ganges Mandákiní, for making their holy ablutions therein.
20. Here Kumbha served as the priest, to lave the holy water profusely on the lofty head and elevated shoulders of the prince; as the elephantine clouds of Indra, pour the rain water in plenteous showers, on the towering tops and height of hills.
21. So also did the prince act the part of the ministering prince, and washed the body of his beloved princess now in the form of Kumbha. Thus did the two friends anoint and absterge by turns, the persons of their quondam and future consorts.
22. Bathed and purified, they adored the gods, the munis and the manes of their ancestors, for the sake of their honour, and without any desire of getting any good or gain from them: for they well knew that they could benefit nothing their service, as the deities, the deified spirits and the divine sages.
23. They took their frugal and repast, as their nature and the course of the world required; and seasoned with the nectarine juice of their good and refined intelligence.
24. They wore the whitish barks of Kalpa trees, as their clean marriage raiments, and ate its fruits as their wedding cakes; then they repaired to the altar for their nuptial ceremony.
25. At this time the sun descended below his setting mountain, as if to consummate their conjugal union in secret.
26. As it now became dark and dusk they discharged their evening service and offered their prayers; and groups of stars now appeared on the plain of the firmament, to witness their union in marriage.
27. Then came the sable night the only friend of the happy pair, spreading the veil of darkness over the face of nature, and smiling with the blushing of snow white lotuses and lilies of the valley.