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

108 VĀSAVADATTĀ with thy hideous lips, vile for love’s burden, marked with streaks of dust, devoid of auspicious signs, with thy moon-like face,¹ (when once she had) clung to thy heart ² with her soft-formed hand, with her breast, holding the water of drops of sweat, moving on thy broad bosom, being won by gold unalloyed ?]’; [214] ‘What gentle-eyed woman who fervently delighteth thee, that art not inflamed with passion, (but art) the essence of love, delightsome, (and) a most excellent lover, desireth another that is no lover, with her breast a ravishing opponent, charming with an eye that steals ³ the light of the gazelle’s eye? [Cruel with passion! Red- eyed with lust! Alas, an unlovely dame with hostile breast, gaining (thee) with an angry eye that steals ⁴ the light of sight, desireth thee, the essence of lovelessness, hot,⁵ pitiless, absolutely no lover, (and) bound for utmost woe!].’ Straightway the world rejoiced as if it had entered ⁶ the ocean of milk, as if it had entered a house of crystal ; as if it enjoyed the blessedness of habitation in the White Islands.⁷ [215] And ⁸ in due course Kandarpakētu, accompanied by Tamālikā and Makaranda, went to the city of Vāsavadattā’s father,⁹ while, like the sighing of the night, most gently blew the evening breeze ¹⁰ with far horizons tuneful with the murmur of swarms of bees in- toxicated and delighted by many drops ¹¹ of nectar in calyxes of forests of white lotuses with unfolded petals of their buds ; with its coming greeted by amorous chickores sluggish from copious draughts of moonbeams ; bewitching because of beads of perspira- tion on the fair brides of the Pulinda king, wearied with the exhaustion ¹² of excessive love. ¹ Ironical. ² See note 8, p. 107. ³ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘and with an eye that steals.’ ⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘and with an angry eye that steals.’ ⁵ Tel. ed., ‘lustful.’ ⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘plunged into.’ ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘as if it had settled in the White Islands.’ On the White Islands see Hopkins, The Great Epic of India, p. 116, New York, 1901. ⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘and then.’ ⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘to the city of Vāsavadattā.’ ¹⁰ Srirangam text adds ‘removing the heat.’ ¹¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘swarms of bees delighted with intoxication from the flavour of the abundant dripping of many drops.’ ¹² Tel. ed. omits ‘exhaustion.’