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

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 115

is adorned with ‹tamāla-leaves›¹; ‹languid with intoxication› as
Aśvatara's daughter was ‹Madālasā›.²
Then sudden ³ faintness seized the consciousness of Kandar-
pakētu as he drank her in with an eye dilated with affection.⁴
Beholding him in her turn, Vāsavadattā fainted.⁵ Then, with
their consciousness restored by the exertions of Makaranda and
the attendant maidens, they ⁶ twain adorned a single settle.
[238] Thereupon a vessel ⁷ of all confidence named Kalāvatī,
dearer than Vāsavadattā's own life (to her), addressed Kandar-
pakētu: 'Scion of noble parentage! This is no occasion for
confidential conversation ⁸; therefore thou art told only the least
part ⁹! The pain that hath been felt by this maiden for thy sake
might be written or told ¹⁰ in some wise or in some way in many
thousands of ages if the sky became paper,¹¹ the sea [239] an
ink-well, the scribe Brahmā, (and) the narrator the Lord of
Serpents.¹² By thee ¹³ a kingdom has been abandoned—what
need of more? Thou thyself art brought into peril! When the
night shall be near to dawn, against her will ¹⁴ this daughter of

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¹ Tel. ed., '‹giving joy› and adorned with a «sectarial mark» as the Rēvā is the
‹Narmadā› and is adorned with «tamāla-leaves»'; similarly the Srirangam text.
² This daughter of Aśvatara is probably identical with the one carried off by
Kuvalayāśva (see below, p. 130). The mythology given by Subandhu, however,
seems confused, and may be influenced by paronomasiac requirements. No daughter
of Aśvatara is thus far known to be mentioned elsewhere, and Madālasā is usually
described as the child of the Gandharva Viśvavasu and as abducted by Pātālakētu,
a Dāitya prince, from whom she was rescued by Kuvalayāśva, who made her one of his
wives. She died of grief when she heard that her husband had fallen in battle. See
Mārkaṇḍēyapurāṇa, 21–22.
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit 'sudden.'
⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit 'with affection.'
⁵ Tel. ed., 'Vāsavadattā fainted after him.'
⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'these.' ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'a friend.'
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'of confidential conversations.'
⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'only the least part is told.'
¹⁰ Tel. ed., 'might be written or not.'
¹¹ See Köhler, 'Und wenn der Himmel wär Papier,' in his Kleinere Schriften, 3. 293–
318, Berlin, 1900; Zachariae, 'Und wenn der Himmel wär Papier,' in Zeitschrift des
Vereins für Volkskunde, 11. 331.
¹² The cosmic serpent Śēṣa.
¹³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'and by thee.'
¹⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'into the peril of her, who has learned that "when
the night shall dawn, against her will,"' etc.
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