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

78 VĀSAVADATTĀ
rubbed by the frontal lobes ¹ of Āirāvata ; with its waves in com-
motion from their beating by the round hips of wanton Apsa-
rasas ; with its current pure because of the perfume of the forest
of matted locks of the Seven Sages ² come down to bathe ; wind-
ing because of the very purification produced by its revolutions
in the terrible cave of the matted locks ³ of Him ⁴ whose crest is
the moon.
‘ As the earth is capable of the delight of touching the ⟨trunk
of Sārvabhauma⟩, it is capable of the delight of touching the
⟨hands of universal sovereigns⟩ ; as a pool in the autumn-tide has
⟨white lotuses and (other varieties of) white lotuses⟩ submerged ⁵
by the water but revealed by swarms of bees hovering about and
intoxicated with ⁶ the perfume, so it has ⟨Kumuda and Puṇḍa-
rīka⟩ ; [119] as the Chandōviciti has the ⟨mālinī (metre)⟩ ⁷ it has
the ⟨Mālinī (river)⟩ ⁸ ; though it has its darkness destroyed, it is
⟨full of darkness⟩, for it has the ⟨Tamasā⟩ ; though it has ⁹ billows,
it is ⟨not difficult to cross on account of its billows⟩, for it is
⟨impassable for the Avīci-hell⟩.
‘ This city is also adorned in one place and another with trees
of pleasure gardens that produce ¹⁰ flowers multitudinous as the
hosts of stars ; [120] that prop up the clouds with shoots ¹¹ made
¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘ cheek.’
² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘ forest of pure matted locks of the circle of the Seven Sages.’
³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘ winding even now as if in the purification produced by its revolution in the cave of the terrible matted locks.’
⁴ Śiva.
⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘ deeply submerged.’
⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘ and intoxicated with.’
⁷ See Weber, Ueber die Metrik der Inder, p. 391, Berlin, 1863. South Indian manuscripts give the name Chandōviciti to the sixteenth book of the Bhāratīya-nāṭyaśāstra (ed. Regnaud, ‘ La Métrique de Bharata,’ in Annales du Musée Guimet, 2, Paris, 1881), and Krishnamachariar (Introd., pp. 35-36) likewise discards the old hypothesis that the Chandōviciti mentioned by Subandhu was the one written by Daṇḍin.
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add ‘ as the series of planets is adorned with ⟨Saturn, the moon, and the sun⟩, it has the ⟨Yamunā and flamingoes⟩; as the beauty of an autumnal day has ⟨the sound of yawning Brahminy ducks and Viṣṇu awakened⟩, it has ⟨blazing red lotuses and the eyes of expanded white lotuses⟩.’
⁹ Tel. ed., ‘ is full of.’
¹⁰ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text insert ‘ a multitude of flowers, as it were, of the santānaka-tree clinging to its pinnacles,’ the santānaka being one of the five trees of Indra's heaven.
¹¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘ tips of shoots.’