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520 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
did not. She walked at her usual pace and reached the spot where the messengers were.
VI
They asked her why she did not run for shelter and so preserve her clothes. She answered that she had plenty of clothes, but that if she ran she might damage a limb which she could not replace. “ Unmarried girls,” she said, “are like goods awaiting sale, they must not be disfigured.”
The party which was already struck by her beauty was greatly impressed by her intelligence. The party offered her a bouquet of flowers which she accepted as a proposal of marriage.
After Visakha returned home the marriage party followed her and laid Punnavadhana’s suit before Dhananjaya. The proposal was accepted and confirmed by an exchange of letters.
When Pasendi heard of it, he offered to accompany Punnavadhana to Saketa, as a mark of signal honour. Dhananjaya welcomed the king and his retinue, Migara, Punnavadhana and their followers with all regard, attending personally to all the details of hospitality.
Five hundred goldsmiths were engaged to make ornaments for the bride. Dhananjaya gave his daughter, as dowry, five hundred carts full of money, five hundred with vessels of gold and cattle, etc.
When the time came for Visakha to leave, Dhananjaya gave her ten admonitions, which Migara overheard from the next room. These admonitions were: Not to give fire from the house outside: not to take into the house fire from without; to give only to those who gave in return, not to give to those who did not give in return, to give him that gives and to him that gives not; to seat, eat and eat happily; and to tend the fire and to honour the household deities.
On the following day Dhananjaya appointed eight householders to be sponsors to his daughter and inquire into any charges that might be brought against her.
Migara wanted that his daughter-in-law should be seen by the public of Shravasti. Visakha