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

108 VĀSAVADATTĀ
with thy hideous lips, vile for love’s burden, marked with streaks
of dust, devoid of auspicious signs, with thy moon-like face,¹ (when
once she had) clung to thy heart ² with her soft-formed hand,
with her breast, holding the water of drops of sweat, moving on
thy broad bosom, being won by gold unalloyed ?]’; [214] ‘What
gentle-eyed woman who fervently delighteth thee, that art not
inflamed with passion, (but art) the essence of love, delightsome,
(and) a most excellent lover, desireth another that is no lover,
with her breast a ravishing opponent, charming with an eye that
steals ³ the light of the gazelle’s eye? [Cruel with passion! Red-
eyed with lust! Alas, an unlovely dame with hostile breast,
gaining (thee) with an angry eye that steals ⁴ the light of sight,
desireth thee, the essence of lovelessness, hot,⁵ pitiless, absolutely
no lover, (and) bound for utmost woe!].’
Straightway the world rejoiced as if it had entered ⁶ the ocean
of milk, as if it had entered a house of crystal ; as if it enjoyed
the blessedness of habitation in the White Islands.⁷ [215] And ⁸
in due course Kandarpakētu, accompanied by Tamālikā and
Makaranda, went to the city of Vāsavadattā’s father,⁹ while, like
the sighing of the night, most gently blew the evening breeze ¹⁰
with far horizons tuneful with the murmur of swarms of bees in-
toxicated and delighted by many drops ¹¹ of nectar in calyxes of
forests of white lotuses with unfolded petals of their buds ; with
its coming greeted by amorous chickores sluggish from copious
draughts of moonbeams ; bewitching because of beads of perspira-
tion on the fair brides of the Pulinda king, wearied with the
exhaustion ¹² of excessive love.
¹ Ironical. ² See note 8, p. 107.
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘and with an eye that steals.’
⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘and with an angry eye that steals.’
⁵ Tel. ed., ‘lustful.’ ⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘plunged into.’
⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘as if it had settled in the White Islands.’ On the
White Islands see Hopkins, The Great Epic of India, p. 116, New York, 1901.
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘and then.’
⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘to the city of Vāsavadattā.’
¹⁰ Srirangam text adds ‘removing the heat.’
¹¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘swarms of bees delighted with intoxication from the
flavour of the abundant dripping of many drops.’
¹² Tel. ed. omits ‘exhaustion.’