प्रियदर्शिका नाटिका (सम्राट हर्षवर्धन - चतुरङ्क शास्त्रीय नाटिका सान्वय सटीक)

Act II. ] 9 pp. 12–13. VIDU.—(Approaching) Hail to your Honour! May you prosper! KING.—(Looking at him) Vasantaka, for what do you appear to be delighted! VIDU.—Because the Queen is going to honour a Brāhmaṇa. KING.—If so, how does it benefit you? VIDU.—(With pride) Oh, such a Brāhmaṇa, indeed, that I get the Svastivāchana-present first from the Queen in the palace crowded with thousands of Brāhmaṇas, vers- ed in four, five or even six Vedas. KING.—(Laughing) Your Brāhmaṇaship (Vedic scho- larship) is shown by the number of the Vedas (mention- ed by you). Come then, great Brāhmaṇa. To the shower-house garden itself we go now. VIDU.—As your Majesty commands. KING.—Lead the way. VIDU.—Come, oh! Let us go. (Walking round and looking on) O friend, see, the loveliness of the shower- house-garden, the surface of the stone-slab in which is soft on account of the various kinds of flowers ceaseless- ly falling upon it, wherein the bunches of the Bakula and the Jasmine flowers are broken by the weight of the bees buried in the fragrance, where the cups of the Bandhūka flowers are opened by the breezes richly charged with the perfume of lotuses, and where the light of the sun is obscured by the dense tamāla trees. KING.—Friend, you have well described it. For, here, By the stems of the Śephalikā flowers (scattered about) the ground appears as if covered with small bits of corals; the scent of the Saptachhada flowers at once gives rise to the false idea of its being the odour of the rut of elephants; and these bees here, having the colour of their bodies tawny with (or having the tawny un- guents of) the thick mass of pollen dropped from the expanded lotuses, and intoxicated with the drafts of liquor (honey), are humming something in indistinct accents. (3).