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

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 133
Kumāra’s peacock ‹bears Śarajanman›¹; quelling the ‹expanse of
dust› as a great² ascetic quells the ‹tide of passion›; with water-
giving ‹hail› as an anchorite has a water-giving ‹pot›; showing a
wandering of many ‹ships› as the time of doom shows a wandering
of many ‹suns›; with ‹cātakas eager³ because of the clouds› as an
unmolested forest district has ‹exceedingly curious³ gazelles›;
[282] ‹giving joy to the husbandman› as Rēvatī’s tender hand
‹inspired courage in Balarāma›.⁴
The slender lightning shone like the bejewelled⁵ boat of Love
in the sky that seemed to be a pleasure pool with a forest of blue
lotuses which were the riven clouds⁶; the dancing cord, as it
were, of a Caṇḍāla maiden who was the Lakṣmī⁷ of the clouds;
[283] even as a garland⁸ for the gate of the palace of the sky; a
row of nail marks upon the cloud, in all seeming, given for
remembrance by the departing heat of day⁹; the jewelled¹⁰
girdle strand, one might fancy, of a beauty of the sky; the lovely
clustering¹¹ blossoms, so to say, of the coral-tree of heaven; like
to a begemmed stick¹² for cleaning Rati’s nails; the jewelled
shell, it might be termed,¹³ of the God whose banner is of flowers.¹⁴
The cloud¹⁵ seemed to vomit forth, like a crane, what appeared
¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘with ‹lofty pen-reed grass› as Kumāra’s peacock has
‹Śarajanman mounted upon it›.’
² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘great.’
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘proud.’ According to the conventions of Sanskrit
literature, the cātaka (Cuculus melanoleucus) is supposed to live only on the raindrops
which it drinks.
⁴ Tel. ed. adds ‘‹loud-resounding› as the lord of Laṅkā [Rāvaṇa] had ‹Mēghanāda›;
‹dark with clouds› as Vindhya is ‹intensely dark›’; so also the Srirangam text, which
adds ‘‹with swollen clouds› as young women have ‹plump breasts›.’
⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘golden and bejewelled.’
⁶ Tel. ed., ‘dark with a forest of riven blue lotuses’; similarly the Srirangam text.
⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘dark Lakṣmī.’
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘jewelled garland.’
⁹ Tel. ed., ‘given, in all seeming, upon the breast of his sky spouse by her dark
departing lover, the heat of day.’
¹⁰ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘beauteous.’
¹¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘clustering.’
¹² Tel. ed., ‘stone pick.’
¹³ Tel. ed., ‘the jewelled lance, as it were, even as the pleasure staff’; Srirangam text,
‘the jewelled pleasure staff.’
¹⁴ Kāma. ¹⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘the mass of clouds.’