[113] 3.
"Having ascended a mansion (vimāna) bright and radiant,
with pillars of beryl, adorned with manifold designs,
you dwell there, O goddess (devī) of great power,
like the moon on the fifteenth day upon the pathway of the sky.
Your complexion is like that of gold,
supreme in form, exceedingly fair to behold;
seated upon a peerless, most excellent couch,
you are alone — you have no husband.
And these lotus ponds of yours on every side,
abounding in blossoms, with many white lotuses,
strewn all about with gold dust —
no mud and no waterweed is found there.
And these swans, too, fair to see and delighting the mind,
circle about upon the water at all times;
gathered together, they all call out sweetly,
rich-voiced, like the sound of kettledrums.
Blazing with splendor, O splendid one,
you stand leaning in a boat —
O you of arching lashes, smiling, of endearing speech,
fair in every limb, you shine exceedingly.
This mansion, free of dust, standing on level ground,
its garden grove heightening delight and joy —
I wish, O lady of flawless appearance,
to rejoice here together with you in this Nandana of yours."
"Perform a deed that will be experienced here,
and let your mind, too, be turned toward this place;
having performed a deed here to be rejoiced in,
thus shall you win me, who delights in pleasures."
"So be it," he assented to her,
and performed a deed to be experienced there;
having performed the deed to be experienced there,
the young man arose in companionship with her.
The Rathakārī Peta Story, the third.
The second recitation section (bhāṇavāra).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.