The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-25

9. This being is likened to an atom owing to its imperceptibleness,

and is also represented as a mountain on account of

its filling all space; though it is the figure of all formal existence,

yet it is without any form or figure of its own. (The

Sruti says: "neti-neti, He is neither this nor that").

10. The three worlds are as the fatty bulb of that pithy

intelligence; for know thou righteous soul! that it is that

Intelligence which dwells in and acts in all the worlds. (The

Sruti says: the vacuity of the heart is the seat of intelligence,

which is the pith of the mássa or muscular body, and the

vacuous air is the seat of the soul, whose body is the triple

world).

11. All these worlds are fraught with design of Intelligence,

which is quiet in its nature, and exhibits endless kinds of

beautiful forms of its own, know, O young vetála, that irresistible

power, reflect this in thyself and keep thy quiet.

[Pg 400]

CHAPTER LXXIII.

End of the Story of the Vetála Demon.

Arguments:—After part of Vetála's tale and Preamble to the tale of

Bhagíratha.

VASISHTHA resumed:—After hearing these words from

the mouth of the prince, the vetála held his peace and

quiet, and remained reflecting on them in his mind, which was

capable of reasoning.

2. Being then quite calm in his mind, he reflected on

the pure doctrines of the prince; and being quite absorbed

in his fixed meditation, he forgot at once his hunger and

thirst.

3. I have thus related to you, Ráma, about the questions

of the vetála, and the manner in which these worlds are situated

in the atom of the intellect and no where else.

4. The world residing in the cell of the atomic intellect,

ceases to subsist by itself upon right reasoning; so the body

of a ghost exists in the fancy of boys only, and there remains

nothing at last except the everlasting one.

5. Curb and contract thy thought and heart from every

thing, and enclose thy inward soul in itself; do what thou

hast to do at any time, without desiring or attempting

any thing of thy own will, and thus have the peace of thy

mind.

6. Employ your mind, O silent sage! to keep itself as clean

as the clear firmament, remain in one even and peaceful tenor

of thy soul, and view all things in one and the same light (of

tolerance and catholicism).

7. A steady and dauntless mind with its promptness in

action, is successful in most arduous undertakings, as was the

prince Bhagíratha with his unsevering perseverance.

[Pg 401]

8. It was by his perfectly peaceful and contended mind, and

by the lasting felicity of the equanimity of his soul, that this

prince succeeded to bring down the heavenly Ganges on earth,

and the princes of Sagar's line were enabled to perform the

arduous task of digging the bay of Bengal. (Where they were

buried alive by curse of the sage Kapila, for disturbing his

silent meditations).

[Pg 402]

CHAPTER LXXIV.

Account and admonition of Bhagíratha.

Argument:—Conduct and character of Bhagíratha, his private reflexion

and the Instructions of his tutor.

RÁMA said:—Please sir, to relate unto me, the wonderful

narrative of prince Bhagíratha, how he succeeded to bring

down the heavenly stream of Gangá on the earth below.

2. Vasishtha replied:—The prince Bhagíratha was a personage

of eminent virtues, and was distinguished as a crowning

mark (Tilaka), over all countries of this terraqueous earth and

its seas.

3. All his suitors received their desired boons, even without

their asking; and their hearts were as gladdened at the sight

of his moon-bright countenance, as were it at the sight of a

precious and brilliant gem.

4. His charities were always profusely lavished upon all

good people, for their maintenance and supportance; while he

carefully collected even straws (for his revenue), and prized

them as they were gems unto him. (i.e. He earned as he gave).

5. He was as bright in his person, as the blazing fire

without its smoke, and was never weak even when he was

tired in the discharge of his duties. He drove away poverty

from the abodes of men, as the rising sun dispels the darkness

of night from within their houses.

6. He spread all around him the effulgence of his valour,

as the burning fire scatters about its sparks; and he burned

as the blazing midday sun, among all his hostile bands.

7. Yet he was gentle and soft in the society of wisemen,

and cooled their hearts with his cooling speech. He shone

amidst the learned, as the moon-stone glistens under the

moon light.

8. He decorated the world with its triple cord of the sacrificial

thread, by stretching out the three streams of the Ganges,[Pg 403]

along the three regions of heaven, earth and infernal regions.

(Hence Gangá is called the tripathagá or running in the trivium

in heaven, earth and hell).

9. He filled the ocean that had been dried up by the sage

Agastya, with the waters of Ganges; as the bounteous man

fills the greedy beggar with his unbounded bounty.

10. This benefactor of mankind, redeemed his ancestral

kinsmen from the infernal region (in which they were accursed

by the indignant sage); and led them to the heaven of Brahmá,

by the passage of the sacred Gangá (which ran through the

three worlds of heaven, earth and hell).

11. He overcame by his resolute perseverance, all his manifold

obstacles and troubles, in his alternate propitiations of the

god Brahmá and Siva and the sage Jahnu, for their discharging

the course of the stream. (The holy Gangá was first confined

in Brahmá's water pot, and then restricted in Hara's crown,

and lastly locked up under Jahnu's seat, whence the river has

the nickname of Jáhnaví).

12. Though he was yet in the vigour of his youth, he

seemed even then to feel the decay of age, coming fastly upon

him, at his incessant thoughts on the miseries of human life.

13. His excogitation of the vanities of the world, produced

in him a philosophical apathy to them; and this sang froid or

cold heartedness of his in the prime of his youth, was like the

shooting forth of a tender sprout on a sudden in a barren

desert. (So great was the early abstractedness from the world,

prized by the ancient Aryans, that many monarchs are mentioned

to have became religious recluses in their youth).

14. The prince thought in his retired moments on the impropriety

of his worldly conduct, and made the following reflections,

on the daily duties of life in his silent soliloquy.

15. I see the return of day and night, in endless succession

after one another; and I find the repetition of the same acts

of giving and taking (receipts and disbursements), and

lasting the same enjoyments, to have grown tedious and insipid

to me. (So it was with Rasselas the prince of Abyssinia,[Pg 404]

who felt disgusted at the daily rotation of the same pleasures

and enjoyments and one unvaried course of life).

16. I think that only to be worth my seeking and doing,

which being obtained and done, there is nothing else to desire

or do in this transitory life of troubles and cares.

17. Is it not shameful for a sensible being, to be employed

in the same circuit of business every day, and is it not laughable

to be doing and undoing the same thing, like silly boys

day by day?

18. Being thus vexed with the world, and afraid of the consequence

of his worldly course, Bhagíratha repaired in silence

to the solitary cell of his preceptor Tritala, and bespoke to him

in the following manner.

19. Bhagíratha said:—My Lord! I am entirely tired and

disgusted with the long course of my worldly career, which I

find to be all hollow and empty within it, and presenting a vast

wilderness without.

20. Tell me lord, how can I get over the miseries of this

world, and get freed from my fear of death and disease and from

the fetters of errors and passions, to which I am so fast enchained.

(The Hindu mind is most sensible of the baneful

effects of the primeval curse pronounced on man, and the accursedness

of his posterity and of this earth for his sake; and

is always in eager search of salvation, redemption or liberation

from the same by mukti, moksha, and paritrána).

21. Tritala replied:—It is to be effected by means of the

continued evenness of one's disposition (obtained by his

quadruple practice of devotion sádhana); the uninterrupted

joyousness of his soul (arising from its communion with the

Holy spirit); by his knowledge of the knowable true one, and

by his self sufficiency in everything (tending to his perfection).

(The quadruple devotion consists in one's attendance to holy

lectures and in his understanding, reflection and practice of the

same lessons, called the sádhana chatushtaya).

22. By these means the man is released from misery, his

worldly bonds are relaxed, his doubts are dissipated, and all his

actions tend to his well being in both worlds.

[Pg 405]

23. That which is called the knowable, is the pure soul of the

nature of intelligence; it is always present in everything in all

places and is eternal—having neither its rising or setting (i.e. its

beginning or end). The animating soul of the world, is identified

with the supreme and universal soul of God. The vedánta

knows no duality of the animal and animating souls.

24. Bhagíratha rejoined:—I know, O great sage! the pure

intelligent soul to be perfectly calm and tranquil, undecaying and

devoid of all attributes and qualities; and neither the embodied

spirit, nor the animal soul, nor the indwelling principle of

material bodies.

25. I cannot understand sir, how I can be that intelligence,

when I am so full of errors, or if I be the selfsame soul, why is it

not so manifest in me as the pure divine soul itself.

26. Tritala replied:—It is by means of knowledge only,

that the mind can know the truly knowable one in the sphere

of one's own intellect, and then the animal soul finding itself as

the all-pervading spirit, is released from future birth and transmigration.

(The belief of the difference of one's soul from the

eternal one, is the cause of his regeneration).

27. It is our unattachment to earthly relations, and unaccompaniment

of our wives, children and other domestic concerns,

together with the equanimity of our minds, in whatsoever is either

advantageous or disadvantageous to us, that serve to widen the

sphere of our souls and cause their universality.

28. It is also the union of our souls with the supreme spirit,

and our continual communion with God; as also our seclusion

from society and remaining in retirement that widen the scope

of our souls.

29. It is the continued knowledge of spirituality, and insight

into the sense of the unity and identity of God, which are

said to constitute our true knowledge; all besides is mere ignorance

and false knowledge.

30. It is the abatement of our love and hatred, that is the

only remedy for our malady of worldliness; and it is the extinction

of our egoistic feelings, that leads to the knowledge of

truth.

[Pg 406]

31. Bhagíratha responded:—Tell me, O reverend sir, how

is it possible for any body to get rid of his egoism, which is deep

rooted in our constitution, and has grown as big with our bodies

as lofty trees on mountain tops.

32. Tritala replied:—All egoistic feelings subside of themselves

under the abandonment of worldly desires, which is to be

done by the very great efforts of fortitude, in our exercise of the

virtues of self-abnegation and self-command, and by the expansion

of our souls to universal benevolence.

33. We are so long subjected to the reign of our egoism, as

we have not the courage to break down the painful prison house

of shame at our poverty, and the fear at our exposure to the

indignity of others. (Poverty is shameful to worldly people, but

graceful to holy men).

34. If you can therefore renounce all your worldly possessions

and remain unmoved in your mind (although in actual

possession of them); you may then get rid of your egoism, and

attain to the state of supreme bliss.

35. Bereft of all titular honors, and freed from the fear of

falling into poverty (and its consequent indignity); being

devoid of every endeavour of rising, and remaining as poor and

powerless among invidious enemies; and rather living in contemptible

beggary among them, without the egoistic pride of

mind and vanity of the body; if you can thus remain in utter

destitution of all, you are then greater than the greatest.

[Pg 407]

CHAPTER LXXV.

Supineness of Bhagíratha.

Argument:—Great bounty of Bhagíratha and his indigence in consequence;

and his recourse to asceticism with his tutor.

VASISHTHA related:—Having heard these monitions from

the mouth of his religious monitor, he determined in his

mind what he was about to do, and set about the execution

of his purpose.

2. He passed a few days in devising his project, and then

commenced his agnishtoma sacrifice to the sacred fire, for consecrating

his all to it, for the sake of obtaining his sole object

(of Nirvána or being extinct in the essence of God).

3. He gave away his kine and lands, his horses and jewels,

and his monies without number, to the twice born classes of

men and his relatives, without distinction of their merit or

demerit.

4. During three days he gave away profusely all what he

had, till at last he had nothing for himself, except his life and

flesh and bones.

5. When his exhaustless treasures were all exhausted, he

gave up his great realm like a straw to his neighbouring enemies,

to the great mortification of his subjects and citizens (paurakas).

6. As the enemy overran his territories and kingdom,

and seized his royal palace and properties; he girt himself in his

undergarb, and went away beyond the limits of his kingdom.

7. He wandered afar through distant villages and desert

lands, till at last he settled himself where he was quite unknown

to all, and nobody knew his person or face or his name and title.

8. Remaining there retired for some time, he became quite

composed and blunt to all feelings from within and without

himself; and he obtained his rest and repose in the serene tranquillity

of his soul.

[Pg 408]

9. He then roved about different countries and went to

distant islands (to see the various manners of men); till at last

he turned unawares to his natal land and city, which was in the

grasp of his enemies.

10. There while he was wandering from door to door, as he

was led about by the current of time; he was observed by the

citizens and ministers to be begging their alms.

11. All the citizens and ministers recognized their ex-king

Bhagíratha, whom they honoured with their due homage, and

whom they were very sorry to behold in that miserable plight.

12. His enemy (the reigning prince) came out to meet him,

and implored him to receive back his neglected estate and self-abandoned

kingdom; but he slighted all their offers as trifling

straws, except taking his slender repast at their hands.

13. He passed a few days there and then bent his course to

another way, when the people loudly lamented at his sad condition

saying: "Ah! what has become of the unfortunate

Bhagíratha".

14. Then the prince walked about with the calmness of his

soul, and with his contended mind and placid countenance; and

he amused himself with his wandering habits and thoughts,

until he came to meet his tutor Tritala on the way.

15. They welcomed one another, and then joining together,

they both began to wander about the localities of men, and to

pass over hills and deserts in their holy peregrinations.

16. Once on a time as both the dispassionate pupil and his

preceptor, were sitting together in the cool calmness of their

dispositions, their conversations turned on the interesting subject

of human life.

17. What good is there in our bearing the frail body, and

what do we lose by our loss of it. (Since neither reap nor

lose any real advantage, either by our having or losing of it at

any time, yet we should bear with it as it is, in the discharge

of the duties that have come down unto us by the custom of

the country).

18. They remained quiet with this conclusion, and passed

their time in passing from one forest to another; without feeling[Pg 409]

any joy above their inward bliss, or knowing any sorrow or the

intermediate state of joy and grief (which is the general lot of

humanity), and the rotatory course of pleasure and pain in this

world.

19. They spurned all riches and properties, the possession

of horses and cattle, and even the eight kinds of supernatural

powers (Siddhis) as rotten straws before the contentedness

of their minds.

20. This body which is the result of our past acts, must be

borne with fortitude, whether we wish it or not, as long as it

lasts; with his continued conviction in the discharge of

their duties (of asceticism).

21. They like silent sages, hailed with complaisance, whatever

of good or evil, or desirable or undesirable befell to their lot,

as the unavoidable results of their prior deeds; and had their

repose in the heavenly felicity, to which they had assimilated

themselves. (So the sruti: The Divine are one with Divine

felicity).

[Pg 410]

CHAPTER LXXVI

The descent of Gangá on earth.

Argument:—Reinstatement of Bhagíratha in his Kingdom, and his

bringing down the heavenly stream by means of his austere Devotion.

VASISHTHA continued:—It came to pass at one time as

Bhagíratha was passing through a large metropolis, he

beheld the ruler of that province, who was childless to be

snatched away by the hand of death, as a shark seizes a fish for

its prey.

2. The people being afraid of anarchy and lawlessness for

want of a ruler, were in search of a proper person joined with

noble endowments and signs to be made their future king.

3. They met with the silent and patient prince in the act

of begging alms, and knowing him as the king Bhagíratha himself,

they took him with them escorted by their own regiments, to

install him on the throne as their king.

4. Bhagíratha instantly mounted on an elephant, and was

led by a large body of troops, who assembled about him as

thickly, as the drops of rain water fall into and fill a lake.

5. The people then shouted aloud, "Here is Bhagíratha

our lord; may he be victorious for ever", and the noise thereof

reached to the furthest mountains, and filled their hollow caves

(which reached to the sound).

6. Then as Bhagíratha remained to reign over that realm,

the subjects of his own and former kingdom came reverently

to him, and thus prayed unto their king saying:—

7. The people said:—Great king! the person who thou

didst appoint to rule over us, is lately devoured by death as a

little fish by a large one.

8. Therefore deign to rule over thy realm, nor refuse to

accept an offer which comes unasked to thee (so it is said:—It

is not right to slight even a mite, that comes of itself to any

body, but it is to be deemed as a God-sent blessing).

[Pg 411]

9. Vasishtha said:—The king being so besought accepted

their prayer, and thus became the sole manager of the earth,

bounded by the seven seas on all sides.

10. He continued to discharge the duties of royalty

without the least dismay or disquietude, though he was quite

calm and serene in his mind, quiet in his speech, and devoid of

passions and envy or selfishness.

11. He then thought of the redemption of his ancestors,

who excavated the coast of the sea (and made this bay of

Bengal); and were burned alive underneath the ground (by the

curse of sage Kapila); by laving their bones and dead bodies

with the waves of Ganges, which he heard, had the merit of

purity and saving all souls and bodies. (The ancestors of

Bhagíratha were the thousand sons of sagara, who were

masters of Saugar islands in the bay of Bengal).

12. The heavenly stream of the Ganges did not till then

run over the land, it was Bhagíratha that brought it down, and

first washed his ancestral remains with its holy waters. The

stream was thence forth known by his name as Bhagíratha.

13. The king Bhagíratha was thenceforward resolved, to

bring down the holy Gangá of heaven to the nether world.

(The triple Ganges is called the Tripathagá or fluvium trivium

or running in three directions).

14. The pious prince then resigned his kingdom to the

charge of his ministers, and went to the solitary forest with the

resolution of making his austere devotion, for the success of

his undertaking.

15. He remained there for many years and under many

rains, and worshipped the Gods Brahmá and Siva and the sage

Jahnu by turns, until he succeeded to bring down the holy

stream on the earth below. (It is said that Gangá was pent-up

at first in the water pot of Brahmá, and then in the crown

of Siva and lastly under the thighs of Jahnu, all which are

allegorical of the fall of the stream from the cascade of Gangotri

in Haridwar).

16. It was then that the crystal wave of the Ganges,[Pg 412]

gushed out of the basin of Brahmá the lord of the world and

rushed into the moony crest of Hara; and falling on earth

below it took a triple course, like the meritorious acts of great

men (which were lauded in all three worlds of their past,

present and future lives).

17. It was thus the trivium river of Gangá, came to flow over

this earth, as the channel to bear the glory of Bhagíratha to

distant lands. Behold her running fast with her upheaving

waves, and smiling all along with her foaming froths; she

sprinkles purity all along with the drizzling drops of her

breakers, and scatters plenty over the land as the reward of

the best deserts of men.

[Pg 413]

CHAPTER LXXVII.

Narrative of Chúdálá and Sikhidhwaja.

Argument:—Story of the Princess Chúdálá and her marriage with

Sikhidhwaja and their youthful sports.

VASISHTHA related:—Ráma! do you keep your view

fixed to one object, as it was kept in the mind of Bhagíratha;

and do you pursue your calling with a calm and quiet

understanding, as it was done by that steady minded prince in

the accomplishment of his purpose! (For he that runs many

ways, stands in the middle and gets to the end of none).

2. Give up your thoughts of this and that (shilly-shallying),

and confine the flying bird of your mind within your bosom, and

remain in full possession of yourself after the example of the

resolute prince Sikhidhwaja of old.

3. Ráma asked:—Who was this Sikhidhwaja, sir, and how

did he maintain the firmness of his purpose? Please explain

this fully to me for the edification of my understanding.

4. Vasishtha replied:—It was in a former Dwápara age,

that there lived a loving pair of consorts who are again to be

born in a future period, in the same manner and at the same

place.

5. Ráma rejoined:—Tell me, O great preacher! how the

past could be the same as at present, and how can these again

be alike in future also. (Since there can be no cause of the

likeness of past ages and their productions with those of the

present or future. It is reasonable to believe the recurrence

of such other things, but not of the same and very things as of

yore).

6. Vasishtha replied:—Such is the irreversible law of destiny

and the irreversible course of nature, that the creation of the

world must continue in the same manner by the invariable will

of the creative Brahmá and others. (i.e. The repeated creation

of worlds must go on in the same rotation by the inevitable will[Pg 414]

(Satya Sankalpa) of the creative power; wherefore bygone

things are to return and be re-born over and over again).

7. As those which had been plentiful before come to be as

plenteous again, so the past appears at present and in future also.

Again many things come to being that had not been before, and

so many others become extinct in course of time (e. g. as past

crops return again and again and vegetables grow where there

were none, and as a lopped off branch grows no more).

8. Some reappear in their former forms and some in their resemblance

also; others are changed in their forms, and many

more disappear altogether (see, for example, the different shapes

of the waves of the ocean).

9. These and many other things are seen in the course of

the world; and therefore the character of the subject of the

present narrative will be found to bear exact resemblance

to that of the bygone prince of the same name.

10. Hear me tell you, also, that there is yet to be born

such another prince, as valiant as the one that had been in the

former dwápara age of the past seventh manvantara period.

11. It will be after the four yugas of the fourth creation,

past and gone, that he will be born again of the Kuru

family in the vicinity of the Vindhyan mountains in the Jambudwípa

continent. (This extravagant sloka is omitted in other

editions of this work).

12. There lived a prince by name of Sikhidhwaja in the

country of Malava, who was handsome in his person, and endowed

with firmness and magnanimity in his nature, and the

virtues of patience and self control in his character.

13. He was brave but silent, and even inclined to good

acts with all his great virtues; he was engaged in the performance

of the religious sacrifices, as also in defeating bowyers

in archery.

14. He did many acts (of public endowments), and supported

the poor people of the land; he was of a graceful appearance

and complacent in his countenance, and loved all men

with his great learning in the sástras.

[Pg 415]

15. He was handsome, quiet and fortunate, and equally

as valiant as he was virtuous. He was a preacher of morality

and bestower of all benefits to his suitors.

16. He enjoyed all luxuries in the company of good people,

and listened to the lessons of the Srutis. He knew all knowledge

without any boast on his part, and he hated to touch

women as straws.

17. His father departed to the next world, leaving him a

lad of sixteen years in age; and yet he was able at that tender

age to govern his realm, by defeating his adversaries on all

sides.

18. He conquered all other provinces of the country by

means of the resources of his empire; and he remained free

from all apprehension by ruling his subjects with justice and

keeping them in peace.

19. He brightened all sides by his intelligence and the

wisdom of his ministers, till in the course of years he came to

his youth, as in the gaudy spring of the year.

20. It was the vernal season, and he beheld the blooming

flowers glistening brightly under the bright moon-beams; and

he saw the budding blossoms, hanging down the arbours in the

inner apartments.

21. The door ways of the bowers were overhung with

twining branches, decorated with florets scattering their fragrant

dust like the hoary powder of camphor; and the rows

of the guluncha flowers wafted their odours all around.

22. There was the loud hum of bees, buzzing with their

mates upon the flowery bushes; and the gentle zephyrs were

wafting the sweet scent amidst the cooling showers of moonbeams.

23. He saw the banks decorated with the kadalí shrubbery

glistening with their gemming blossoms under the sable shade of

kadalí (plantain) leaves; which excited his yearning after the

dear one that was seated in his heart.

24. Giddy with the intoxication of the honey draughts of

fragrant flowers, his mind was fixed on his beloved object, and[Pg 416]

did not depart from it, as the spring is unwilling to quit the

flowery garden (so says Hapiz,—no pleasant sight is gladsome

to the mind without the face of the fair possessor of the heart:

see Sir Wm. Jones' version of it).

25. When shall I in this swinging cradles of my pleasure

garden, and when will I in my sports in this lake of lotuses,

play with my love-smitten maid with her budding breasts resembling

the two unblown blossoms of golden lotuses?

26. When shall I embrace my beloved one to my bosom on

my bed daubed with the dust of powdered frankincense, and

when shall we on cradles of lotus stalks, like a pair of bees

sucking the honey from flower cups?

27. When shall I see that maiden lying relaxed in my arms,

with her slender body resembling a tender stalk, and as fair as

a string of milk-white kunda flowers, or as a plant formed of

moon-beams?

28. When will that moonlike beauty be inflamed with her

love to me? With these and the like thoughts and ravings he

roved about the garden looking at the variety of flowers.

29. He then went on rambling in the flowery groves and

skirts of forests, and thence strayed onward from one forest to

another, and by the side of purling lakes blooming with the

full blown lotuses. (The lotus is the emblem of beauty in the

east, as the rose is in the west).

30. He entered in the alcoves formed by the twining

creepers, and walked over the avenues of many garden grounds

and forest lands, seeing and hearing the descriptions of woodland

sceneries (from his associates).

31. He was distracted in his mind, and took much delight

in hearing discourses on erotic subjects, and the bright form of

his necklaced and painted beloved was the sole idol in his breast.

32. He adored the maiden in his heart, with her breasts

resembling two golden pots on her person; and this ween was

soon found by the sagacious ministers of the state.

33. As it is the business of ministership to dive into matters

by their signs and prognosis, so these officers met together to

deliberate on his marriage.

[Pg 417]

34. They proposed the youthful daughter of the king of

Syrastra (Surat) for his marriage, and thought her as a proper

match for him, on account of her coming to the full age of

puberty (lit. to the prime of her youth).

35. The prince was married to her who was a worthy image

(or like co-partner) of himself; and this fair princess was known

by the name of Chúdálá all over the land.

36. She was as joyous in having him, as the new blown

lotus at the rising sun; and he made the black-eyed maid to

bloom, as the moon opens the bud of the blue lotus. (Lotuses

are known as helio-solenus, the white ones opening at sun rise

and the blue kind blooming with the rising moon).

37. He delighted her with his love, as gives the white

lotus to bloom; and they both inflamed their mutual passions

by their abiding in the heart of one another.