The attendants of Ýambhu began to adorn their lord. His matted locks were formed into a crown and decked with a crest of serpents. He had serpents for His ear-rings and bracelets, smeared His person with ashes and wrapped a lion’s skin round His loins. He bore the crescent on His charming brow and the river Ga˘gŒ on the crown of His head and had three eyes and a serpent for the sacred thread. His throat was black with the poison swallowed by him at the beginning of creation and had a wreath of human skulls about His neck. Thus clad in a ghastly attire, He was nonetheless an embodiment of blessings and merciful to the core. A trident and a Damarµu (a shall drum shaped like an hour-glass) adorned His hands. Ýiva rode on a bull while musical instruments played. Female divinities smiled to see Him. “The world has no bride worthy of the bridegroom,” They said to one another. Viƒ˜u, BrahmŒ and hosts of other gods joined the bridegroom’s procession and rode on their respective vehicles. The gathering of the immortals was incomparable in every respect; the procession, however, was hardly worthy of the bridegroom. (1—4)