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

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 63
Love ; a production of the Creator, so to say, for the enchantment
of the triple world.
Then, while he drank her in, as it were, with eyes dilated with
joy, sleep, which he had long served, became jealous¹ and de-
serted him. [68] But when he awoke, he was unable to sustain
himself, being drowned, so to speak, in a sea of poison, and as if
submerged in the words of his enemies. Thus then, for an instant,
he embraced the sky, and with outstretched arms² cried to his
beloved, as if she were painted in the heavens,³ graven on his
eye, and carven on his heart: ‘O, dearest one, come! come!
where dost thou go’⁴? Then in that very place he passed the
day on his bed, with his eyes closed,⁵ with all his attendants
barred out, with the doors shut, [69] and refusing all enjoyment
of food,⁶ betel, and the like. Thus, too,⁷ he spent the night as
well with longings for the coming of the dream.
Then his confidential friend, named Makaranda, somehow
gained entrance⁸ and thus addressed Kandarpakētu, who was
overwhelmed with the wounds of the arrows of Love: ‘My friend,
[70] why dost thou take to this unwonted course, which is unbe-
coming to a man of honour? When they behold this conduct
of thine, the good are swayed by perplexity, while the wicked, on
the other hand, make it out to be undesirable and indecorous⁹;
for the heart of the evil man finds its highest delight centred in
bringing to light what is undesirable. Who, pray, can discern
the true character of such an one?
‘Thus, even though a <Bhīma>, he is «no foe of Baka»,¹⁰ for he
¹ In like manner life becomes jealous of Mahāśvētā because of her love for Puṇḍarīka
in the Kādambarī, p. 325, Bombay ed., 1890 (tr. Ridding, p. 128, London, 1896).
² Tel. ed., ‘stretching out his arms for an instant to the sky to embrace it’;
Srirangam text, ‘blindly stretching out his arms to the sky to embrace it.’
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘in the heavens and its subdivisions.’
⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘O, dearest one, go not! go not’!
⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘clinging to his couch.’
⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘food.’
⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add ‘somehow or other.’
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘gained entrance and a sight (of Kandarpakētu).’
⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘pursue thy (Srirangam text, ‘this’) indecorous and
undesirable course.’
¹⁰ See Mahābhārata, I. 159–166.