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

138 VĀSAVADATTĀ
conflict¹ ; with a welcome appearance caused by headless corpses
of bodies occupied by Vētālas ²; greedy for the adornment,³ in
a she-fiend's ear, of a mortar filled with the foot of an elephant
that had been hacked off by the sword of a soldier ⁴; [295] with
laudations in the excessive din that arose ⁵; (and) with timid
jackals ⁶—the warriors drew at once the ⟨lives⟩ of their foes and
the ⟨strings⟩ of their bows, paying no heed to the bodies as if
they were lumps of flesh to be the prey of jackals,⁷ or had been
bitten by serpents.⁸
‘The ⁹ mighty elephants were like ⟨generous⟩ donors that bear
not ¹⁰ meeting with «beggars», for they ⟨shed ichor⟩ and bore
not ¹⁰ meeting with «arrows»; like fortunate paramours adorned
with ⟨passion⟩ and with golden «girdles», for they were adorned
with ⟨minium⟩ and had golden «girths» ; like goodly gardens
⟨beauteous with plantain-trees⟩ and «filled with birds», for they
were ⟨bright with banners⟩ and were «attended by elephants» ;
like nights ¹¹ adorned with garlands of ⟨constellations⟩, for they
had garlands of ⟨pearls⟩ ; like days with ⟨blossoming flowers⟩, for
they had ⟨lashing trunk-tips⟩.¹² [296] And ¹³ the horses seemed
like creatures bereft of sense ¹⁴ ⟨abandoning patience⟩, for they
¹ Tel. ed., ‘with the circle at its doorway formed by the many feet of the bards of
the gods that had come to witness the conflict.’
² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit this clause. The Vētālas are a class of malevolent
ghosts who animate corpses and haunt cemeteries. They often enter the body of
a living man while his spirit is absent, or may even be spirits of the living which prefer
to make their dwelling in corpses (cf. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of
Northern India, 2 ed., I. 243–244, Westminster, 1896).
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘with the adornment.’
⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘foot soldier,’ the former adding ‘with folk drawn by
curiosity.’
⁵ Tel. ed., ‘with shouts of praise arising’; Srirangam text, ‘with laudations in the
words spoken by folk drawn by curiosity.’
⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add ‘with cowards destroyed; like a conqueror eager
for combat.’
⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘she-jackals and jackals.’
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add ‘or were wretched fragments of white leprosy.’
⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add ‘there.’ ¹⁰ Srirangam text omits ‘not.’
¹¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘multitudes of nights.’
¹² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘like autumn days with ⟨blossoming lotuses⟩, for they
had ⟨sparkling drops of water⟩.’
¹³ Tel. ed. omits ‘and.’ ¹⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘like angry creatures.’