द्वितीय राजतरङ्गिणी (जोनराज - कल्हणोत्तर मध्यकालीन कश्मीर का प्रामाणिक इतिहास)

134 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
towards the king illumined his court with lights from
the Nāga world ; and the lines of lamps shone like
jewels on the heads of the Nāgas who had come to
witness the dance. Those who were at a distance
doubted if the lights were really lamps, or the spirits
of former kings assembled to view the present sovereign,
or stars and the moon descended from the sky to attend
on the king, or the spirits of holy men who had attain-
ed emancipation, or if they were the great gods as-
sembled there in their grace and beauty. The spectators
seemed to view Indra himself in the king ; the poets
and paṇḍitas beside the king were like demigods, his
servants were like the attendant gods, and the yogis
around him were like holy men who had obtained
salvation ; the actresses were like apsarās whose charms
were heightened by their emotions, the singers were
the Gandharvas, and the stage was heaven itself.
Fireworks of various colors made by the mixture of
charcoal powder, sulphur, and saltpetre pleased the
men. Tubes were filled with saltpetre, and the thick
sparks of fire which issued out of them looked like a
creeper of gold ; and the spectators were filled with fear
and wonder on beholding a flame issuing out of water
like a serpent. From the tubes rose balls of fire to the
sky, beautiful as silver, and looked like the planets
Jupiter and Venus. A tube filled with saltpetre was
tied to a string ; it went off to a distance like a flame,
and when pulled, it returned in flames. Such flames shot