वासवदत्ता (महाकवि सुबन्धु - श्लेष-प्रधान शास्त्रीय गद्यकाव्य सान्वय सटीक)

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 99
lurking in the hoods of serpents, swart as lampblack ; the mantle,
as it were, of a woman who keeps an assignation by night ; the
remedy, if it might so be termed, for the gray hair of an aged
courtesan ¹ ; the offspring of life, one might say ; the friend, as it
were, of the iron age ; [179] the comrade, in all seeming, of a
rogue’s heart ² ; ⟨concealing⟩ manifest objects as Buddhist
doctrines ⟨deny⟩ manifest objects. It was darkness which
seemed to delight in the enchanting round lobes of absolutely
must elephants ³ ; which apparently yielded fruit in forests of
clusters of wide-spreading tamāla-trees with exceedingly close and
numerous leaves ⁴ ; which trembled, as it were, in the masses of
very ⁵ heavy tresses of dearest sweethearts ; which apparently was
mingled with rays of sapphire gems ⁶ ; [180] which was like the
exceeding dense blackness in pits, on river-banks, and in forests ⁷ ;
which was proud, it would seem, of swarms of bees, manifestly
cunning, huge, and evidently strong, drunkenly dancing on the
boughs of the conessi-bark trees ⁸ ; gleaming with the hoods of
serpents, destructive ⁹ with very thick venom ; broken ¹⁰ with
menacing flashes from the teeth of tuskers, mad with their burden
of ichor.¹¹
[181] And at the time of the rising of the moon with its black-
ness of night, bowing low, as it were, with folded hands under the
¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘courtesans.’ ² Tel. ed., ‘rogues’ hearts.’
³ Tel. ed., ‘in the lobes of must elephants’ ; Srirangam text, ‘in the enchanting
lobes of herds of must elephants.’
⁴ Tel. ed., ‘in swarms of bees, manifestly cunning, huge, and evidently strong,
hidden in the calyxes of great expanded flowers on the boughs of many trees in the
forests of clusters of wide-spreading tamāla-trees with exceedingly close and numerous
leaves.’
⁵ Tel. ed. omits ‘very’ and ‘dearest’ ; Srirangam text omits ‘very.’
⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘gems.’
⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘forests.’
⁸ Tel. ed. omits this description ; Srirangam text, ‘swarms of bees, manifestly
cunning, huge, and strong, with their feet hidden in the calyxes of great expanded
flowers on the boughs of many trees.’
⁹ Srirangam text, ‘destructive to elephants.’
¹⁰ Tel. ed., ‘utterly broken.’
¹¹ Tel. ed., ‘burden of ichor ; with the ⟨zone of earth⟩ folded up as the commence-
ment of sunrise has ⟨blue lotuses⟩ folded up ; concealing ⟨every fissure⟩ as the high estate
of the wicked conceals ⟨all character⟩ ; bowing, as it were, with folded hands under the
guise of closing blue lotuses to the night which had come’ ; similarly the Srirangam text.
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