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76
THE MAYURAṢṬAKA OF MAYURA
Who is this lovely one advancing along the path, moon-faced,
in the bloom of youth,
Bewildered with sleep, her eye rolling, her lower lip like a ripe
bimba fruit,
Bewildered by her [disordered] locks, scratched by finger-nails,
and torn to pieces by teeth?
How is this? By a demon in love has she, imitating tiger-sport,
been beloved!
Notes. 1. The meter is färdülavikridita. Note the pun possibly implied
in fardalavikriditä, line 4. 2. I resolve as kanta apathi. Compare the Vedic
apathyo (RV, 1. 64. 11), which evidently means, as Geldner (Der Rig-Veda
in Auswahl, Stuttgart, 1909, vol. 1, p. 23) says, 'auf der Strasse fahrend'
(cf. also Bezzenberger, in T'épas, Abhandlungen zur idg. Sprachgeschichte
Aug. Fick... gewidmet, Göttingen, 1903, p. 175-176), a connotation
which is also supported by Sāyaṇa's commentary ad. loc. Or perhaps we
should read käntä pathi, with pathi as fem. nom. sing. of *patha (*pathi),
with which compare the epithets of the Maruts-apathi, vipathi, antas-
patha, anupatha, RV, 5. 52. 10; yet note tripatha. 3. The manuscript
reads vimdalita. 4. References to scratching and biting, as concomitants
of indulgence in rati, are found throughout Sanskrit erotic literature.
For nakhacchedya (scratching with the nails), see Schmidt, p. 478-496,
and for dafanacchedya (biting with the teeth), ibid., p. 496-508. Is there
not also in khandikṛta a possible punning allusion to the khandabhraka
('broken-cloud') bite on the breast, in the form of a circle, with uneven
indentures from the varying size of the teeth (Schmidt, p. 504)? The
reference to his daughter's disheveled appearance, as being due to the
scratches and lacerations, may have been responsible for that lady's anger
and her consequent curse of Mayūra (see Introd., p. 25). And in this
connection it may be added that the obscene puns in stanza 3 would prob-
ably not tend to lessen her displeasure.
6
eṣā¹ kā paripūrṇacandravadanā gāurīmṛgā² kṣobhini³
līlāmattagajendrahamsagamanā* .
n[i]hśvāsādharagandhaśītalamukhi vācā mṛdūllāsinī
sa ślāghyaḥ puruṣas sa jīvati' varo yasya priyā hi "dṛśi
5
Who is this frantic tigress, with a face like the full moon,
With the gait of the hamsa, or of the lordly rutting elephant in
wantonness
THE MAYURAṢṬAKA OF MAYURA
Who is this lovely one advancing along the path, moon-faced,
in the bloom of youth,
Bewildered with sleep, her eye rolling, her lower lip like a ripe
bimba fruit,
Bewildered by her [disordered] locks, scratched by finger-nails,
and torn to pieces by teeth?
How is this? By a demon in love has she, imitating tiger-sport,
been beloved!
Notes. 1. The meter is färdülavikridita. Note the pun possibly implied
in fardalavikriditä, line 4. 2. I resolve as kanta apathi. Compare the Vedic
apathyo (RV, 1. 64. 11), which evidently means, as Geldner (Der Rig-Veda
in Auswahl, Stuttgart, 1909, vol. 1, p. 23) says, 'auf der Strasse fahrend'
(cf. also Bezzenberger, in T'épas, Abhandlungen zur idg. Sprachgeschichte
Aug. Fick... gewidmet, Göttingen, 1903, p. 175-176), a connotation
which is also supported by Sāyaṇa's commentary ad. loc. Or perhaps we
should read käntä pathi, with pathi as fem. nom. sing. of *patha (*pathi),
with which compare the epithets of the Maruts-apathi, vipathi, antas-
patha, anupatha, RV, 5. 52. 10; yet note tripatha. 3. The manuscript
reads vimdalita. 4. References to scratching and biting, as concomitants
of indulgence in rati, are found throughout Sanskrit erotic literature.
For nakhacchedya (scratching with the nails), see Schmidt, p. 478-496,
and for dafanacchedya (biting with the teeth), ibid., p. 496-508. Is there
not also in khandikṛta a possible punning allusion to the khandabhraka
('broken-cloud') bite on the breast, in the form of a circle, with uneven
indentures from the varying size of the teeth (Schmidt, p. 504)? The
reference to his daughter's disheveled appearance, as being due to the
scratches and lacerations, may have been responsible for that lady's anger
and her consequent curse of Mayūra (see Introd., p. 25). And in this
connection it may be added that the obscene puns in stanza 3 would prob-
ably not tend to lessen her displeasure.
6
eṣā¹ kā paripūrṇacandravadanā gāurīmṛgā² kṣobhini³
līlāmattagajendrahamsagamanā* .
n[i]hśvāsādharagandhaśītalamukhi vācā mṛdūllāsinī
sa ślāghyaḥ puruṣas sa jīvati' varo yasya priyā hi "dṛśi
5
Who is this frantic tigress, with a face like the full moon,
With the gait of the hamsa, or of the lordly rutting elephant in
wantonness