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

102 VĀSAVADATTĀ [187] Forthwith¹ black darkness spread like a mass of colly- rium from the forest of the sky, reduced to ashes by the rays² of the sun ; blotting out <the heavens and the sky> as the words of revelation blot out <the doctrines of the Digambara Jains>³ ; a molten rājapaṭṭa gem,⁴ as it were ; and as the surge of the ocean.⁵ And⁶ straightway the Lord of Night ascended with the ruddy disc of his arising ; the ball⁷ of the princess Night ; the ⁸ golden mirror of Kāma ; like to a cluster of young red coral-flowers on the eastern mount ; round as drops of saffron on the foreheads of eastern damsels⁹ ; [188] like a golden earring of the beautiful sky ; a mass of henna, as it were, dropped from the hands of tiring- maids of celestial brides ; a golden jar, it would seem, in the stucco of the heavens ; a golden¹⁰ dish in motion, it might be termed, for the progress of the God of the Dolphin Banner, set- ting forth for the conquest¹¹ of the threefold world ; stealing the beauty of the top of Kāma’s golden quiver ; possessed of the colour of the China roses that grow on the topmost peak of the eastern mount ; a dish, as it were, filled with a ball of pellucid saffron belonging to a wanton of the night ; [189] even as a single¹² jar-like breast, tawny with saffron, of a fair dame of the east¹³ ; <occupied by a gazelle> as the milk ocean¹⁴ is <ruled by Viṣṇu> ; ¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘then.’ ² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘by the forest conflagration of the rays.’ ³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add ‘though <Kṛṣṇa>, it concealed the distinctive characteristics of «Viṣṇu», for it was <black> and concealed the distinctive characteristics of «all forms».’ ⁴ An inferior sort of diamond. ⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘as running streams of cloth of molten silver.’ ⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘then.’ ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘like a patchwork garment.’ ⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘like the.’ ⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘round as sectarial marks of bandhūka-flowers fastened to the forehead as adornments of eastern damsels.’ ¹⁰ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘auspicious.’ ¹¹ Tel. ed., ‘seeking to conquer.’ Tel. ed. omits the two adjectives following ; the Srirangam text omits the second only, having for the first ‘like the mouth of Kāma’s golden quiver.’ ¹² Tel. ed. omits ‘single.’ ¹³ Srirangam text adds ‘a cage, so to say, for the pleasure birds of the female Vidyādharas that wander in the sky ; the lute-gourd, wrapped in red cloth, one might fancy, of a pair of kinnaras resting on the summit of the eastern mount.’ ¹⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘Garuḍa.’