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

232 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
female dancers Ratnamāla, Dipamālā, and Nṛipamāla
danced charmingly displaying emotions and gestures.
The king praised the beautiful actress Ratnamāla, her
forehead marked with tilaka, and he praised her dancing
and owned that she had melted the hearts of all by her
steps and her movements, by her tremour and her ac-
tion. How she commenced the expected dance ! And
how her gestures, her movements, the expression of her
passions, and the swelling song which flowed incessantly
from her throat, inflamed all men ! The vaunt of the
skilful is worthless as straw in comparison with her.
Possessed of loveliness and famed for her beauty, she
was the renovator of men ! Her song was without
a fault, her person was decorated with jewels, her
beauty was great, and she was possessed of merit.
The Creator made her face like the full moon, and
out of a portion of the nectar [ of which the moon
was made ]. The beauty of her face was nectar, and
a drop of nectar hung from her nose in the form of a
pearl pendant. The pearls which hung interwoven in the
locks of hair which fell on the cheeks of the women
were looked upon by the king as drops of nectar melt-
ing away from their moon-like faces ! Thus the youth-
ful king praised the women in presence of his boon
companions, and took cups of wine from them.
Admirable are the kings who devote themselves every
day to learning and to the compositions of poets, who
encourage beautiful women skilled in music and