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

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 99 lurking in the hoods of serpents, swart as lampblack ; the mantle, as it were, of a woman who keeps an assignation by night ; the remedy, if it might so be termed, for the gray hair of an aged courtesan ¹ ; the offspring of life, one might say ; the friend, as it were, of the iron age ; [179] the comrade, in all seeming, of a rogue’s heart ² ; ⟨concealing⟩ manifest objects as Buddhist doctrines ⟨deny⟩ manifest objects. It was darkness which seemed to delight in the enchanting round lobes of absolutely must elephants ³ ; which apparently yielded fruit in forests of clusters of wide-spreading tamāla-trees with exceedingly close and numerous leaves ⁴ ; which trembled, as it were, in the masses of very ⁵ heavy tresses of dearest sweethearts ; which apparently was mingled with rays of sapphire gems ⁶ ; [180] which was like the exceeding dense blackness in pits, on river-banks, and in forests ⁷ ; which was proud, it would seem, of swarms of bees, manifestly cunning, huge, and evidently strong, drunkenly dancing on the boughs of the conessi-bark trees ⁸ ; gleaming with the hoods of serpents, destructive ⁹ with very thick venom ; broken ¹⁰ with menacing flashes from the teeth of tuskers, mad with their burden of ichor.¹¹ [181] And at the time of the rising of the moon with its black- ness of night, bowing low, as it were, with folded hands under the ¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘courtesans.’ ² Tel. ed., ‘rogues’ hearts.’ ³ Tel. ed., ‘in the lobes of must elephants’ ; Srirangam text, ‘in the enchanting lobes of herds of must elephants.’ ⁴ Tel. ed., ‘in swarms of bees, manifestly cunning, huge, and evidently strong, hidden in the calyxes of great expanded flowers on the boughs of many trees in the forests of clusters of wide-spreading tamāla-trees with exceedingly close and numerous leaves.’ ⁵ Tel. ed. omits ‘very’ and ‘dearest’ ; Srirangam text omits ‘very.’ ⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘gems.’ ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘forests.’ ⁸ Tel. ed. omits this description ; Srirangam text, ‘swarms of bees, manifestly cunning, huge, and strong, with their feet hidden in the calyxes of great expanded flowers on the boughs of many trees.’ ⁹ Srirangam text, ‘destructive to elephants.’ ¹⁰ Tel. ed., ‘utterly broken.’ ¹¹ Tel. ed., ‘burden of ichor ; with the ⟨zone of earth⟩ folded up as the commence- ment of sunrise has ⟨blue lotuses⟩ folded up ; concealing ⟨every fissure⟩ as the high estate of the wicked conceals ⟨all character⟩ ; bowing, as it were, with folded hands under the guise of closing blue lotuses to the night which had come’ ; similarly the Srirangam text. H 2