RE-UNION OF THE LOVERS.
Argument. Sukra sees his beloved in heaven, and is joined to her at
that place.
Vasishtha said:—Thus Sukra being got among the gods in the celestial
city, forgot his former nature, without his passing through the pangs
of death.
2. Having halted awhile by the side of the Sachi’s consort (Indra), he
rose up to roam about the paradise, by being charmed with all its
various beauties.
3. He looked with rapture on the beauty of his own person, and longed
to see the lovely beauties of heavenly beings, as the swan is eager to
meet the lotuses of the lake.
4. He saw his beloved one among them in the garden of Indra’s Eden
(udyána), with her eyes like those of a young fawn; and with a stature
as delicate as that of a tender creeper of the _Amra_ (amarynthus).
5. She also beheld the son of Bhrigu, and lost her government on
herself; and was thus observed by him also in all her indications of
amorous feelings.
6. His whole frame was dissolved in affection for her, like the
moonstone melting under the moonbeams; so was hers likewise in
tenderness for him.
7. He like the moonstone was soothed by her cooling beauty, beaming as
moonlight in the sky; and she also being beheld by him, was entirely
subdued by her love to him.
8. At night they bewailed as chakravákas (ruddy geese), at their
separation from one another, and were filled with delight on their
mutual sight at the break of the day (which unites the Chakraváka pair
together).
9. They were both as beautiful to behold, as the sun and the opening
blossom of the lotus at morn; and their presence added a charm to the
garden of paradise, which promised to confer their desired bliss.
10. She committed her subdued-self to the mercy of the god of love, who
in his turn darted his arrows relentless on her tender heart.
11. She was covered all over her person with the shafts of cupid, as
when the lotus blossom is hid under a swarm of fleeting bees; and
became as disordered as the leaves of the lotus, are disturbed under a
shower of rain drops.
12. She fluttered at the gentle breath of the playful winds, like the
tender filaments of flowers; and moved as graceful as the swan, with
her eyes as bluish as those of the leaflets of blue-lotuses.
13. She was deranged in her person by the god of love, as the lotus-bed
is put into disorder by the mighty elephant; and was beheld in that
plight by her lover (Sukra), in the flight of his fancy.
14. At last the shade of night overspread the landscape of the heavenly
paradise, as if the god of destruction (Rudra) was advancing to bury
the world under universal gloom.
15. A deep darkness overspread the face of the earth, and covered it in
thick gloom; like the regions of the polar mountains; where the
hot-blazing-sun is obscured by the dark shade of perpetual night, as if
hiding his face in shame under the dark veil of Cimmerian gloom.
16. The loving pair met together in the midst of the grove, when the
assembled crowds of the place, retired to their respective habitations
in different directions.
17. Then the love-smitten-dame approached her lover with her sidelong
glances, as a bird of air alights from her aerial flight in the
evening, to meet with her mate on the earth below.
18. She advanced towards the son of Bhrigu, as a peahen comes out to
meet the rising cloud; and thought she beheld there a white washed
edifice, with a couch placed in the midst.
19. Bhárgava entered the white hall, as when Vishnu enters into hoary
sea, accompanied by his beloved Lakshmí; who held him by the hand with
her down-cast countenance.
20. She graced his person, as the lotus-stalk graces the bosom of the
elephant; and then spoke to him sweetly with her words mixed with
tender affection.
21. She told him in a sweet and delightsome speech fraught with
expressions of endearment: Behold, O my moon-faced lover! I see the
curve of thy bow as a bow bent for my destruction.
22. Cupid is thence darting his arrows to destroy this lovelorn maid;
therefore protect me from him, that am so helpless and have come under
thy protection from his rage.
23. Know my good friend, that it is the duty of good people, to relieve
the wretched from their distress; and those that do not look upon them
with a compassionate eye, are reckoned as the basest of men.
24. Love is never vilified by those, who are acquainted with erotics;
because the true love of faithful lovers, have endured to the last
without any fear of separation.
25. Know my dear, that the delightful draught of love, defies the dewy
beams distilled by the moon; and the sovereignty of the three worlds,
is never so pleasing to the soul, as the love of the beloved.
26. I derive the same bliss from the touch of thy feet, as it attends
on mutual lovers on their first attachment to one another.
27. I live by the nectarious draught of thy touch, as the _kumuda_
blooms by night, imbibing the ambrosial beams of the moon.
28. As the fluttering Chakora, is delighted with drinking the
moonbeams, so is this suppliant at thy feet, blessed by the touch of
the leaf-like palm of thy hand.
29. Embrace me now to thy bosom, which is filled with ambrosial bliss.
Saying so, the damsel fell upon his bosom with her body soft as a
flower, and her eyes turning as a leaflet at the gentle breeze.
30. The loving pair fell into their trance of love in that happy grove,
as a couple of playful bees creeps into the lotus cup, under the fair
filaments of the flower, shaking by the gentle breeze.