With great care, she awakened her beloved from sleep, caressing his thighs and adorning him with kapittha powder and a garland of curd. In the kitchen, ghee was blended with milk and barley, filling the air with a pleasing fragrance as the food was prepared. Rāma, the rituals of purification unfolded: sipping water, cleansing the body, contemplation, cooking, awakening from sleep, fumigation, and perfuming—all these eight acts were performed using kapittha, bilva, mango, and karavīra leaves. Any substance washed with water was considered pure, and in the absence of water, musk water brought about the same sanctity. For fumigation, sarala and devadāru woods were used, along with camphor, kunda, bāla, kunduruka, guggulu, śrīnivāsaka, and sarja resin—making up twenty-one sacred incense substances. From these, as many as desired could be chosen. Two parts of each were mixed with equal parts of sarja resin, combined further with nail, sesame cake, and honey, to create the perfect incense. For bathing, māsi, surā, and kuṣṭha were prescribed. Any three of these, mixed with musk, made a bath that kindled love. Bathing water scented with blue lotus and blended with valerian, musk, and oil became fragrant with saffron. When tagara was added, the water took on the sweetness of jasmine flowers, and with vakula flowers, it gained a similar delightful scent. Adding madder, tagara, colā, cinnamon bark, vyāghranakha, nakha, and gandhapatra made the perfumed oil auspicious and pleasing. Oil pressed from sesame seeds and infused with an abundance of flowers certainly became fragrant. For the mouth, cardamom, clove, kakkola, nutmeg, long pepper, and jātī leaves were used individually as perfumes. Camphor, saffron, musk, deer musk, hareṇuka, kakkola, cardamom, clove, and jātī fruit were also employed. Cinnamon leaf, cyperus root, musta, creeper, kastūrikā, the thorns of clove, and the leaves and fruit of jātī added their scents. When these fragrant substances were placed in the mouth, they destroyed all diseases of the mouth. Areca nut, washed well with water from five kinds of leaves and perfumed with these ingredients, became a refreshing mouth perfume. Bitter toothsticks, soaked for three days in cow’s urine and prepared like areca nut, also produced a fragrant effect. Equal parts of cinnamon and pathyā, with half as much śaśibhāga and equal to betel leaf, made a delightful mouth perfume. In this way, the king was advised to always protect women, though never to trust them fully, especially concerning their sons and mothers. Then, Puṣkara spoke: The ruler must ensure the prince is protected and educated in the scriptures of dharma, artha, and kāma, as well as the science of archery. The prince should learn the arts from trustworthy teachers, not from flatterers or those who speak falsely. Guardians should be appointed for his bodily protection. The prince must not associate with the angry, greedy, or arrogant; but a virtuous yet unruly prince should be gently restrained with comforts. The disciplined prince should be appointed to all offices, while the king himself must avoid hunting, drinking, gambling, and actions that could bring ruin to the kingdom. He should not sleep during the day, wander aimlessly, speak harshly, slander, inflict cruel punishments, or misuse wealth. The destruction of fortifications, neglect of strongholds, or disorder in the use of wealth would spell disaster for prosperity. Giving at the wrong time or place, to the unworthy, or for selfish reasons was considered unrighteous and corrupt. Desire, anger, intoxication, pride, greed, and arrogance must be abandoned. Having mastered his servants, the king should then win over the citizens and country people. He must first conquer external enemies, then internal ones, and all three kinds of adversaries. Elders, relatives, and artificial kin should be honored as before. The friend of one’s father or grandfather, a companion, a border chief, even an enemy or an artificial friend—these were counted as the three kinds of friends. The seven limbs of the kingdom were declared: the king, his ministers, the country, the fortress, the treasury, the army, and the ally. The king is the root of all, and the kingdom depends upon him; one who betrays these limbs should be punished as the situation demands. The king should avoid being mocked by servants in this world or the next, for such scorn destroys his joy and reputation. To win the people, he should make gifts, speak with a gentle smile, and act to delight them. A king who is slow to act will see his work destroyed; passion, arrogance, pride, enmity, and evil deeds will bring his actions to ruin. When something unpleasant must be said, patience is praised. The king should keep his counsel secret, for a king with secret plans does not meet with disaster. By observing appearance, gestures, movement, actions, speech, and changes in the eyes and face, what is hidden within may be discerned. Yet, the king should neither consult alone nor deliberate with too many. Thus were the sacred instructions given, guiding the king in both the purity of daily life and the wise governance of his realm.