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

were eager to consort with the [43] ⟨surasundarīs⟩; since it shone on a sea of conflict ¹ whose shores were covered with quantities of pearls fallen from must elephants’ frontal lobes which were shattered by sharp arrows, with flying ⟨darts⟩, with hundreds of ⟨fleshless, white-umbrellaed armies⟩ whose manifold charms were spread through the ⟨red⟩ waters, with ² ⟨convulsing corpses⟩, and terrible because of the fierce pride of ⟨warriors⟩ eager to consort with the ⟨Apsarasas⟩. [44] Then, once upon a time, when the night was finished ; when the Lotus-Lord of shell-like beauty was sinking with his spouse, the Night, into the western ³ sea ; while he was white, as it were, with the curds which constitute a morsel of food for (Buddhist) ascetics at their mealtime, and was like a mass of Yamunā’s foam by night, and resembled a fragment of stone ⁴ for the polishing of Mēnakā’s nails, and had the shade of the soma-plant in the centre of his body, and resembled the silvern earring ⁵ of a head laid softly down on the pillow of the western mount, and seemed to be the goblet of Lady Night containing a remnant of wine ; [45] when the bees had their feet caught in the pollen of the white lotuses which had been converted into cold ⁶ paste by the dew ; when by their soft chatter the mainas revealed women at their rendezvous ; when the huts of the ascetics awoke intent on study ; when the streets resounded with poetic tales chanted by mendicants in the vibhāsa mode ⁷ ; [46] when the lamps seemed unable, because of their exceeding thin- ness,⁸ to bear the blackness of night ⁹ which they had entirely

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¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘in the forefront of battle, as on a sea terrible with the roaring noise of soldiers marching in eagerness to consort with the Apsarasas’— apparently with no attempt to pun. ² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘undulating with.’ ³ The distinctly conventional character of Subandhu's romance is well illustrated by his making the moon set in the west because the sun does. ⁴ Tel. ed., ‘crystalline stone’; Srirangam text, ‘fragment of white stone for the polishing.’ ⁵ Tel. ed., ‘the circle of the silvern earring of night, with her head softly resting,’ etc.; similarly the Srirangam text. ⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘cold, icy water.’ ⁷ Tel. ed., ‘hāsa mode.’ ⁸ Or, ‘emptiness.’ ⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘mass of nocturnal blackness.’