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

56 VĀSAVADATTĀ swallowed up, and which they vomited, as it were,¹ under the guise of lampblack, and were exhausted by having stretched their necks a hundred times as if to see the tremulous delights of amorous union,² [47] and had been witnesses of manifold ways of wanton sport,³ seeming to protect the darkness ⁴ lurking beneath them as if it were a refugee ; when they had become <dull> because their «oil» had been consumed as knaves ⁵ become <slack> because their «affections» have been consumed ; when they had reached the end of their <wicks> as the exceed- ingly aged reach the end of their <lives> ; when they had only their <bowls> left as noble lords reduced in their estate have only their <bodies> left ; [48] when they were <put in the middle of the house> as demons <wander abroad at the end and middle of night> ; when they had <moths> flying about them as the <sun> descends on the summit of the western mount ; when the gifts of flowers in the boudoirs, that had been noisy with the humming ⁶ of swarms of bees delighting ⁷ in the abundance of unceasing drops ⁸ of honey had withered ; [49] when the downy Nepal jasmines had fallen from the tresses ; when fair women seemed to be pouring forth teardrops for grief at separation from their lovers ⁹ and, with bud-like feet ¹⁰ tinkling with anklets, delayed, as it were, the departure of their best beloved ; when the mist of perspiration ¹¹ had been dried by the wind of the wings of a swarm of bees enamoured of the perfume of the wreaths of half-opened Malabar jasmine ¹² in thick tresses dishevelled by weariness of ¹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit 'as it were.' ² Tel. ed., 'the quivering of amorous women.' ³ Tel. ed., 'varied love-joys with delights manifold'; Srirangam text, 'wanton sport with perturbations manifold.' ⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'mass of darkness.' ⁵ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'the voices of knaves.' ⁶ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'sound of the humming.' ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'stupefied with the intoxication of tasting.' ⁸ Tel. ed., 'drops fallen unceasingly'; Srirangam text, 'drops falling unceasingly.' ⁹ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'best beloved.' ¹⁰ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text add 'when they (the fair women) shone with bud-like feet.' ¹¹ Tel. ed., 'particles of the mist of perspiration'; Srirangam text, 'particles of perspiration.' ¹² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, 'mādhavī.'