The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)
The Yoga-Vasishtha Maharamayana of Valmiki, vol. 3 (of 4) part 2 (of 2)-36
7. Leaving the seat of the Gods in order to come down on
earth, I entered the region of air; and kept my pace with the
fleet steeds of the chariot of the sun, in the airy paths of the
skies.
8. Thus wafted together with the sun, I reached the point
of my separation from him; and there took my path through
the midway sky, as if I were sailing in the sea.
9. I saw there in a track before me, a path stretching amidst
the watery clouds of air, and marked the indignant sage
Durvása gliding swiftly by it.
[Pg 585]
10. He was wrapt in the vest of clouds, and girt with girdles
of flashing lightnings; the sandal taints on his body were washed
off by showering rains, and he seemed as a maiden making her
way in haste, to meet her lover at the appointed place.
11. Or as a devotee he hastened to discharge in due time
his fond devotion, on the beach of the river (Ganges), flowing
under the shade of the beaching boughs of the rows of trees on
the shore. (This refers to the custom of hastening to perform
the sandhyá rites on the river side in the evening, as it is customary
with other nations to hasten to the mosque or church
at the call to prayers and the striking of the church-bell).
12. I saluted the sage from my aerial seat, and said, you,
wrapt as you are in your blue vest of the cloud, seem to advance
in haste, as an amorous woman to meet her lover (by hiding
herself in her black mantle in the darkness of night).
13. Hearing this, the reverend sage was incensed and pronounced
his curse upon me; saying, "Be thou transformed to
an amorous woman as thou thinkest me to be."
14. "Go thy way, and bear my curse, that every night thou
shall become a woman, with thy protuberant breasts and long
braids of hairs on thy head, and fraught with all womanish
grace and dalliance (and seek about thy lover)".
15. As I was thunderstruck and deeply dejected at this
imprecation, I found the old muni had already disappeared
from before me; and then I bent my course this way from the
upper sky, being quite sick in my heart (at this direful
fulmination).
16. Thus I have related to you all, regarding my being
changed to a damsel at the approach of night; and my constant
thought of the manner, how I shall manage myself under my
womanhood.
17. How shall I divulge to my father, the shame of my
being a swollen breasted maid at night; and can I reconcile
myself to my dire fate, throughout the course of my life.
O how wonderful is the decree of fate, that we are fated to
bear in this world in the course of time!
18. I am now ill-fated to become a prey to young men, and[Pg 586]
the subject of fighting among them, like a piece of flesh among
ravenous vultures.
19. O what a fun have I become to the ludicrous boys of
the Gods in heaven, and ah! how shameful have I been before
the sages, who must be quite ashamed of me, and how shall I
remain anywhere and before any body in my female form at
night.
20. Vasishtha said:—After saying so far, Chúdálá became
as mute as a silent muni; and remained as quiet as if she were
in a swoon.
21. The pretended Kumbha then, seeming to recover his
senses and his patience also, thus spoke out to himself; ah! why
do I wail like the ignorant (for this change in my changeful
body), when my soul suffers no change by this?
22. Sikhidhwaja spoke:—Why sorrow you sir for the body,
that art the son of a God; let it become whatever may become
of it, it can never affect the intangible soul.
23. Whatever pain or pleasure betides us in this life, is
all concomitant with the changing body, and can never touch
the unchanging soul.
24. If you who are acquainted with the vedas, and fortified
against all events; should allow yourself to be so much moved
by these accidents, say what will be the case with others, at all
the casualties of life, to which they are incessantly
subject.
25. To be sorry in sorrow; is very sorrowful in the wise;
and therefore you who have yourself spoken these precepts before,
should now be overwhelmed in sorrow, but remain as unmoved,
as you are wont to be unshaken all along.
26. Vasishtha related:—In this did the two hearty friends,
continue to condole with one another; and console themselves
by turns, under the cooling shade of the grove where they sat
together.
27. At last the bright sun who is the light of the world, set
down in darkness like an oilless lamp, by involving Kumbha
under despondency of her female form.
28. The full blown lotuses closed their folia, like the[Pg 587]
closing eyelids of the busy worldlings; and the footpaths
became as deserted by their passengers, as the hearts of loving
wives are forlorn in the absence of their husbands, devoted to
travelling and staying in distant countries.
29. The upper sky borrowed the semblance of the lower
earth, by its spreading the curtain of darkness over the groups
of its twinkling stars, like the outstretched nets of fishermen
enfolding the finny tribe. (The similarity of the dark curtain
of the sky overspreading its shining stars, to the black nets
of fishers enveloping the silvery fishes under them).
30. The black vault of the sky, was smiling above with its
train of shining stars, as the blue bed of lakes was rejoicing
with its chain of blooming lilies below; and the sounding
black bees and beetles on the land, resounded to the cries of the
ruddy geese in the water.
31. The two friends then rose and offered their evening
prayers at the rising of the moon, and chanted their hymns and
muttered their mantras, and took their shelter under the sylvan
retreat.
32. Afterwards Kumbha, changed as he was in the female
form, and sitting before Sikhidhwaja, lisped his faltering
speech to him in the following manner.
33. Sir, I seem to fall down and cry out and melt away
in my tears, to see myself even now changed to my feminine
figure in your presence.
34. See Sir, how quickly are the hairs on my head lengthened
to curling locks, and to how they sparkle with strings
of pearls fastened to them, like the brilliant clusters of stars
in the azure sky.
35. Look here at these two snowy balls bulging out of my
bosom, like two white lotus-buds rising on the surface of waters
in the vernal season.
36. Look how my long robe is stretched down to the
heels, and how it mantles my whole body, like the person of
a female.
37. Look at these gemming ornaments and wreathes of[Pg 588]
flowers decorating my person, like the blooming blossoms of
spring ornamenting the forest tree.
38. Lo! the moon-bright vest covering the crown of my
head (like the disk of the moon resting on the hairy crest of
Siva); and the necklaces hanging about my body (like the
flowery wreathes of Káma).
39. Look at my features, how they are converted to their
effeminate comeliness, and see how my whole frame, graced all
over with feminine loveliness.
40. O! how very great is my sorrow, at this sudden change
of mine to a woman; and ah! tell me friend, what am I to do,
and where to go with this my female form.
41. I perceive also the change to take place in my inner
parts, and in my thighs and posteriors; Kumbha said so far
to her friend, and then remained quite mute and silent.
42. The prince also, seeing him thus, remained in his mute
gaze and silence, and then after a while, he oped his mouth and
spoke as follows:—
43. It is of course very sorrowful and pitiable, to see you
thus transformed to a female; but you, sir, who know the truth,
know also that there is no contending with fate.
44. Whatever is destined, must come to pass; and wise men
must not be startled at or feel sorry for the same; because all
those events betake the body only, and cannot affect the inward
soul.
45. Kumbha replied—So it is, and I must bear with my
feminine form, with an unfeminine soul. (So it is no disgrace
to be an effeminate female, combined with the grace of a manly
soul).
46. I will no more sorrow for, what is never to be averted;
but must endure with patience what I cannot abjure. Relying on
this principle, they alleviated their sorrow for what was impossible
to avoid.
47. They passed their nights in peace, and slept in the same
bed without touching one another; and Kumbha rose in the
morning in his masculine form again, without any trace of his
female features and feminine beauty or grace.
[Pg 589]
48. Kumbha was Kumbha again, by being shorn of his female
form; and thus he passed as bisexual and biform being of
the Bráhman boy Kumbha by day, and of Chúdálá the princess
by night.
49. In his male form, Kumbha continued as a friend to the
prince in the day time; and in female form of Chúdálá, he lived
as a virgin maid with him at night.
50. Thus did Chúdálá cling to her husband, as a string of
necklace hangs upon the neck and breast of a person. They
then continued to wander in the company of one another,
to different countries and over distant hills, to satisfy their
curiosity.
[Pg 590]
CHAPTER CVI.
Marriage of Chúdálá with Sikhidhwaja.
Argument.—The Gandharva form of marriage, its Courtship and ceremonial
rites.
VASISHTHA resumed:—After the lapse of some days in
this manner, Chúdálá thus bespoke to her husband, in her
guise of the pretended Bráhman boy (or Kumbha).
2. Hear me, O lotus eyed prince, she said, what I tell you in
good earnest; that since I am obliged to become a woman every
night, and continue to be so for ever more.
3. I wish to fulfill the part of my womanhood, by joining
myself to a husband by legal marriage for all that time.
4. I want to taste the pleasure of conjugal union, with a
dear friend, who is of his own accord so very friendly to me, and
without any endeavour on my part: so I hope you will interpose
no difficulty in my way.
5. So I choose you sir, as my husband, of all others in the
three worlds: therefore be pleased to accept me for your wife
every night.
6. The delightsome pleasure of conjugal union, has come
down to us ever since the commencement of creation; and therefore
our obedience to the ordinance of nature, can entail no guilt on
our part.
7. I desire this that we may do as we like, without desiring
or disliking anything; and be far from expecting the consequence
of what we like or dislike.
8. Sikhidhwaja answered:—I see friend, neither any good
nor evil, of accepting your proposal; so you are at liberty to
do as you like.
9. Being possessed of the indifference of my mind, at every
thing in the world; I see everything in the same and in an
equal light: so I let you have your option as you may like.
10. Kumbha replied:—If so, then I say that this day is[Pg 591]
very favourable for celebrating the marriage ceremony; it is
the full moon of Srávana, and all lucky asterism according to
my best calculation.
11. On this day of the full moon, our marriage may take
place both in the day as well as night-time in the Gándharva
form (by mutual choice and consent).
12. It will be celebrated either on the summit of the
Mahendra mountain, or on the delightful table-land there
abouts; or in the grotto of some mineral mine, and in the
light of the shining gems and mineral ores in the mountain;
(serving as lamps and candle lights in the festivity).
13. The rows of stately trees all around, will shed their
flowers at the nuptial ceremony; and the twining creepers on
them, will represent the dance of nanch girls by their tremulous
shaking. (Dance and music being necessary accompaniments
of marriage festivities).
14. Let the bright luminary of the night, accompanied by
his consort train of shining stars, witness our marriage from
the high sky with their wide open and glaring eyes.
15. Rise, O prince, for your marriage; and let us both hie
to cull the forest flowers, and prepare the sandal paste and
collect the scattered gems, in order to deck our nuptial seats
therewith.
16. Saying so, they both rose together, and culled the
flowers and collected the gems.
17. Then in a short time, they repaired to the gemming
steppe, and heaped it with flowers of various kinds.
18. They had their marriage vests and necklaces ready on
the spot, and the God of love helped with the supply of every
thing required on the occasion.
19. Having thus prepared the paraphernalia of their nuptials,
and stored them in a golden grotto of the mountain, they
both repaired to the sacred stream of the heavenly Ganges Mandákiní,
for making their holy ablutions therein.
20. Here Kumbha served as the priest, to lave the holy water
profusely on the lofty head and elevated shoulders of the[Pg 592]
prince; as the elephantine clouds of Indra, pour the rain water
in plenteous showers, on the towering tops and height of
hills.
21. So also did the prince act the part of the ministering
prince, and washed the body of his beloved princess now in the
form of Kumbha. Thus did the two friends anoint and absterge
by turns, the persons of their quondam and future
consorts.
22. Bathed and purified, they adored the gods, the munis
and the manes of their ancestors, for the sake of their honour,
and without any desire of getting any good or gain from them:
for they well knew that they could benefit nothing their
service, as the deities, the deified spirits and the divine sages.
23. They took their frugal and repast, as their nature and
the course of the world required; and seasoned with the nectarine
juice of their good and refined intelligence.
24. They wore the whitish barks of Kalpa trees, as their
clean marriage raiments, and ate its fruits as their wedding
cakes; then they repaired to the altar for their nuptial ceremony.
25. At this time the sun descended below his setting mountain,
as if to consummate their conjugal union in secret.
26. As it now became dark and dusk they discharged their
evening service and offered their prayers; and groups of stars
now appeared on the plain of the firmament, to witness their
union in marriage.
27. Then came the sable night the only friend of the happy
pair, spreading the veil of darkness over the face of nature, and
smiling with the blushing of snow white lotuses and lilies of
the valley.
28. Kumbha collected the rich stones, and placed those
gemming on the table land of the mountain, while Brahmá
lighted his two lamps of the sun and moon together in the
heavens.
29. Being then changed to the female form, Kumbha anointed
the prince with the fragrant sandal paste, agallochum,
camphor powder and pulverised musk.
30. She adorned his person with strings, bracelets and[Pg 593]
wristlets of flowers, and dressed in a robe of the thin bark of
Kalpa tree.
31. His body was also decorated with the filaments of Kalpa
plant, and clusters of párijáta flowers and with many other
flowers and gems from his head to foot.
32. She appeared also at this time in her bridal garb and
maiden like figure, with her big and swollen breasts, and with
all her youthful grace and blandishments.
33. She thought that as she was now attired and appeared
as a nuptial bride, she must now offer herself to a husband
worthy to her.
34. Here am I as a lovely bride, said she to herself, and
there is my husband in my presence; I must ask him to accept
my hand, nor is this time to be slipped from hand.
35. So saying, she approached her husband sitting apart
from her in the wood; and appeared as Rati—the goddess of
love, was advancing towards her loving Káma.
36. She went to him and said:—"I am Madaniká by name
and thy loving wife I therefore bow down at your feet, with
the regard due to a husband."
37. So saying, the beauteous lady, bent down her head with
female bashfulness; and made her obeisance to her lord, with
the pendant locks on her head.
38. And then she said to him:—"O thou my lord! do thou
adorn me with ornaments also, and then light the nuptial fire,
to attest thy acceptance of my hand."
39. Thou appearest as exceedingly fair to my eyes, and
makest me quite fond of thee; and thou seemest to me to
surpass the God of love in the beauty of person, even when he
wedded his Rati at first in his youthful bloom.
40. O prince, these wreathed flowers on thy person, appear
as the brightsome beams in the body of the moon; and those
strings of flowers pendant on thy bosom, seem to me as the
stream of Ganges, gliding on the breast of the Sumeru
mountain.
41. With the flowing braided hairs on thy head, thou[Pg 594]
appearest as the mount of Mandara, with the clusters of creepers
hanging down from its top; while thy head itself appears as
golden lotus, with its hanging hairs resembling the filaments
of the flower, and studded with strings of blackening bees.
42. The gemming ornaments and flowery decorations of
thy person, add to it the lustre and gracefulness of the mount
Meru, with its mineral ores on one side and its floral beauty on
the other.
43. After her flattering speech was over, the new bride and
bridegroom, and future husband and wife sat contented together,
unmindful and forgetful of their past conjugal relation.
44. The brave princess now Madaniká by name, and the
noble prince Sikhidhwaja the saint, both sat together on a
golden seat (of the mineral mountain); which added fresh
lustre to the beauty and decoration of their persons.
45. They were bedecked with their head dresses, garlands of
flowers and ornaments of gems and pearls, and were furnished
with flowers and ointments, and clad in fine cloths all over
their bodies.
46. The young lady Madaniká blazed as Venus with her
maddening beauty, and appeared as the goddess Gowrí—the surpassing
paragon of beauty, at her wedding festivity.
47. The noble lord having embellished his noble lady with
his own hands, thus spoke to her after her toilet; "O thou
fawn eyed fairy, thou art as graceful as the goddess of grace
and prosperity".
48. I pray for all that prosperity to attend on thee, as it
does with Sachí.—The queen of heaven, in the company of her
lord Indra; and as it subsisted between the mutual pairs of Hara
and Gowrí; and Hari and his consort Lakshmí—the goddess
of fortune.
49. Thou appearest as a limpid lake of lotuses, with thy
breasts blooming like lotus buds; and thy black blue eyes
resembling the cerulean lotuses (nilumbiums); and the sweet
fragrance of thy lotus like person, inviting the buzzing bees
fluttering all about thee.
50. Thou appearest likewise as a tender shoot of the Kalpa[Pg 595]
plant of Cupid, with thy rubicund palms resembling its reddish
leaves; and thy swollen breasts likening to its blooming buds,
and every part of thy body, is as delicate as its delicious fruits.
51. With thy cold and cooling body, and thy moon like
face and its smiles as moon beams, thou art as beautiful as the
full-moon, and equally delightful to sight.
52. Rise therefore my beauteous lady and ascend on the
matrimonial altar, and there perform the marriage ceremony,
standing on the slab of stone, marked with creeping plants and
their fruits. (The gloss says, that this stone or stool, is also
painted with the colours of the nine sorts of precious gems
nava-ratna, that are sacred to the nine planets).
53. Vasishtha said:—The altar was studded with strings of
pearls, and bunches of flowers suspended on all sides; and it
had four large cocoanut fruits, hang over the four sides of its
square.
54. There were pots filled with the holy water of Gangá
set about it, and the sacred matrimonial fire was lighted amidst
it, and fed with the fuel of the sandal wood and other fragrances.
55. They turned round the flaming fire by the right hand
side, and then sat on seats of leaves with their faces turned
towards the east.
56. After sitting on the altar, the matrimonial couple
kindled the nuptial fire, and made offerings of sesame seeds,
and fried rice upon its flames.
57. The married pair turned again about the sacred fire, and
offered to each other their own selves and loves as their marriage
dowries.
58. They showed to one another their shining faces, as
their nuptial presents; and completed the ceremony by going
round the fire, and scattering the fried rice upon it.
59. The husband and wife now parted other hands, from
their hold of the palms of one another; and their smiling faces,
appeared as the lunar disk on the new moon.
60. After this they went to sleep on a flowery bedstead[Pg 596]
which they had newly prepared before, when the moon had
already run her course of the first watch of the night.
61. She cast her beams to fall aslant on the bedstead, as
when the attendant women cast their glances askance on the
bridal bed.
62. She next spread her bright beams all about the leafy
bower of the pair; as if to listen to the pleasant conversation,
of the new married couple.
63. The pair having sat there awhile, in the light of the
mineral lamps, retired to their sleeping bed, which they had
prepared beforehand in a secluded spot.
64. It was a bedding of flowers, and beset by heaps of
flowers of various kinds. (It is called the pushpa-talpa and
is still in vogue even in the present form of marriage).
65. There were heaps of lotuses of golden hue, as also mandára
and other sorts of flowers, to drive away fatigue by their
fragrance.
66. The flat of the flowery bed of the bridal pair, resembled
the plane of the broad and bright moon, and a level surface
covered by the cooling ice.
67. It bore likewise the resemblance of the wide sea, whose
waters are impregnated by the bright moon, and whose surface
supplies a bed to Ananta—the sleeping spirit of the endless
God.
68. The loving pair then lay themselves down, and rolled
upon their snow white bed of flowers; as when Mandara mountain,
rolled about and churned the Milky ocean.
69. They passed their bridal night in mutual caresses and
conversation on topics of love, and the live long night glided
before them as a few moments only.
[Pg 597]
CHAPTER CVII.
The advent of false Indra in the cottage of the happy pair.
Argument.—The travels of the pair, and their meeting the false Indra,
and their call to Heaven.
NOW as the orient sun, gilded the world with his golden rays;
the queen consort of Sikhidhwaja, changed her form of
Madaniká to that of the Bráhman boy Kumbha.
2. She stood confest as such before her friend, sitting in
the cavern of Mandara, where they lived in conjugal union
together, as a pair of sylvan deities by night.
3. They roved about in the daytime, amidst the sylvan forests
and amongst the trees and plants loaded with fruits, and
flowers of various hues.
4. They passed the day as the two loving friends together,
and spent the night as a wedded couple; and never separated
from the company of one another either by day or night.
5. They rambled about the caverns and arbours of the mountain,
and sported under the bowers of támala and mandára trees.
6. They roved about the skirts of Dardura, Kailása, Mahendra,
Malaya, Gandhamádana, Vindhádri and Lokáloka.
7. On every third day or night, when Chúdálá found the
prince to be fast asleep; she used to take upon herself her former
form of the princess, and repair to her royal palace, whence
she returned to her husband in the forest, soon after her discharge
of the state affairs as before.
8. Thus the loving pair lived as two friends by day, and as
husband and wife at night; both decked in flowers, and
sleeping on their flowery bed.
9. They remained for a month in a gemming grotto of the
Mahendra, and under the shade of the delightful sarala trees;
where they were greatly endeared by the sylvan deities and the
Kinnara foresters.
[Pg 598]
10. They lived a fortnight in the arbour of Suktimat
mountain, beset by mandára trees and Kalpa plants; and
feasted upon the fruits which they could reach with their hands.
11. They passed two months on the southern ridge of the
winged mountain of Maináka, and its bowers overhung by the
fruits and flowers of the celestial párijata trees.
12. They dwelt a month in the valley of Jammu, at the
foot of Himálayan range and beside the Jambu river; they
regaled on the fruits of Jám, which gave its name to the
whole country (Jambudwípa).
13. They travelled through the northern Kuru country for
ten days, and for seven and twenty days, they sojourned in
the districts lying north of Kosalá. (Oudh).
14. In this manner they passed over many countries and
hilly districts, living together as two friends by day, and as a
conjugal pair at night.
15. Thus many months rolled away in their travels through
many places, till there arose a thought in the mind of Chúdálá,
to make a trial of her associate, and said:—
16. I will make a trial of the heart of my partner, and see
whether it is liable to have any attraction toward beauty and
pleasurable objects.
17. Thinking so, Chúdálá showed by her magic skill the god
Indra, sporting in the company of celestial nymphs in that
forest.
18. Sikhidhwaja seeing the god with his companion there,
advanced before him and worshipped him, as he deserved,
and said:—
19. "O lord of gods!" will you deign to reveal unto me,
the cause of your advent to this forest from your seat in the
high and far distant heaven.
20. Indra replied:—It is the attraction of the virtues, that
has brought us down to these woods, as the flying kites of the
air are drawn on earth, by the string fastened in their breasts.
21. Now rise from here, and proceed with us to heaven;
where the celestial nymphs are in eager expectation of seeing
thee, since they have heard of your wondrous virtues.
[Pg 599]
22. Wear these sandals and hold the sword, and anoint
thy body with the ointment of these pills, and ascend to the
upper sky and thence to heaven, in the manner of siddhas and
perfect yogis.
23. On reaching to the region of the gods, you will enjoy
all sorts of delights, which awaits on the living liberated souls
in this world and the next, and to which I come to invite you
at present.
24. No holy man like yourself, doth ever neglect the
proffered occasion to their prosperity, nor should you scorn to
take your heavenward course with ourselves at his moment.
25. Let there be no impediment to your ascent to and
enjoyment of heaven, where you will enjoy your full bliss, and
which will be blessed by your presence as the three worlds
by that of Hari.
26. Sikhidhwaja said:—I know O lord of gods, the delights
that there abound in heaven; but I have my heaven every where,
and there is no particular place which I deem as heaven.
27. I am content every where, and am pleased with every
place; and my soul being desirous of nothing from its fulness
in itself, I am fully satisfied every where.
28. O God! if it be forever to remain in one place and in
the same state, what you call heaven; then pardon me for I decline
to it (because I am at liberty here to go wherever I
like).
29. Indra answered:—I know, O holy saint! that those
that have known the knowable, and are perfect in their understandings,
are indifferent to their sensual gratification; it is
however not the part of the wise to reject an enjoyment, which
offers itself unto him by the gracious allotment of his destiny.
30. After the God had said so, the prince remained silent
and returned no answer; when the God told him saying, "If you
are resolved not to leave this place, then I must leave you here,
and take my way to heaven".
31. Sikhidhwaja said:—I must not go there now ("though
I may do so on some future occasion"). Upon this the God made[Pg 600]
farewell to Kumbha (who had invoked him down by his spell,
and disappeared from the spot).
32. All the other Gods that were in the train of Indra,
vanished also from view upon the disappearance of their chief;
as the huge surges of the sea, subside in the deep together with
their foaming froths, and the shoals of whales and fishes that
played and lashed about the main, after a lull of the gales that
had raised them.
[Pg 601]
CHAPTER CVIII.
Manifestation of Chúdálá in her own form.
Argument:—Chúdálá's artifices to deceive Sikhidhwaja, and Sikhidhwaja's
strength of mind.
VASISHTHA related:—The princess retracted the enchantment
by which she had presented the God Indra before
the prince; and was glad to find, that he had subdued (lit.—put
to blush) his desire of enjoyment.
2. He remained with perfect tranquillity and equanimity of
his mind, at the advent and in the presence of the God Indra,
and was fearless and indifferent to and unmoved even by the
persuasion of that God.
3. I will again try to know by some artifice or other,
whether this prince is subject to the passions of anger or annoyment
or any other feeling, which serve at best but to blind-fold
the understanding.
4. With this intention she took upon her the form of the
chaste Madaniká, at the approach of night; and when the moon
had already appeared above that forest land.
5. The wind was blowing gently, bearing the sweet fragrance
of flowers; and Sikhidhwaja was sitting by the side of a
river, to perform his evening devotion.
6. At this time she entered her bower formed by the twining
creepers, and decorated with garlands of flowers, resembling
the covert of a sylvan goddesses.
7. She slept there on the bed of flowers decked by herself,
and adorned with wreaths of flowers on her own person; she
had her beloved one seated in her heart; and laid her on a pillow.
8. Sikhidhwaja sought for her in the gardens and groves,
and found her out at last sleeping in the bower, with the pretty
paramour enfolding her neck in his arms.
9. He had his hairs hanging on his neck and shoulders,
and his beauteous body daubed with pasted sandal wood. He[Pg 602]
had a chaplet of flowers on his head, which was distorted from
his crown, and lay loose on the pillow over which it rolled.
10. The flowing tresses of the mistress, fell in two fold
braids, on her shoulder blades of golden hue; and hung over
her ears and eye-brows and her cheeks and face.
11. He beheld the amorous pair, with their smiling faces;
and both kissing and embracing one another, as when the ivy
entwines a large tree. (Their bodies and lip-like leaves are
joined together).
12. They lay with their wreathed flowers, hanging loosely
on their persons; and both were enamoured of one another by
the mutual contact of their bodies, which infused their reciprocal
passion in the heart of each other.
