2023-02-23 18:48:34 by ambuda-bot
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THE MAYŪRĀṢṬAKA OF MAYURA
77
With her face cooled by the perfume of her sighing lower lip,
and gently mirthful in her speech?
That man is to be envied, that lover [really] lives, who has such
a one as his beloved.
Notes. 1. The meter is fardalavikridita. 2. I take gaurimṛga to
mean 'beast of Gauri' (with a pun on mṛga [cf. above, stanza 2, note 3]
as the sort of girl the heroine is), and the beast of Gauri (in her incar-
nation as Durgā) is the tiger. As Parvati also, Gauri's vehicle is the tiger;
cf. Moor, Hindu Pantheon, London, 1810, plates 20, 21, 24. My interpre-
tation as 'tigress' seems also to be strengthened by the allusion to 'tiger-
sport' in the last line of the preceding stanza. 3. The word kşobhini is
not recorded in the lexicons except, with lingual nasal, as the name kşobhint
of a certain fruti in Samgitasarasamgraha, 23 (cf. St. Petersburg Wörter-
buch, abridged ed., s.v. kşobhint); it is here probably best regarded as the
feminine of kşobhana or of *kşobhin. 4. In Manu, 3. 10 (hamsavarana-
gaminim), the gaits of the hamsa and of the elephant are mentioned as
among the desirable graces of women. 5. Seven syllables are needed
to fill out this päda. 6. The manuscript is broken here, but part of a
vertical stroke can be seen, and the restoration of an i seems certain. 7.
The manuscript reads jivatih. For the sentiment expressed in jivati com-
pare the well-known line of Catullus (5.1), Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque
amemus.
g
eşā¹ kā jaghanasthalī sulalitā² pronmattakāmādhikā
bhrūbhangam kuṭilam tv anangadhanuṣaḥ prakhyam prabhā-
candravat
rākācandrakapolapankajamukhi kṣāmodarī sundari
viņīdaṇḍam idam vibhāti tulitam veladbhujam' gacchati
Who is this lovely one that goes, with rounded hips, with an
excess of ecstatic love-
Her curving frown like the bow of the Bodiless (Kāma), and
like the moon in splendor-
With cheeks like the full moon, and a lotuslike face, and she
[herself] slender-waisted and beautiful?
This neck of her lute seems like a raised quivering arm.
Notes. 1. The meter is färdalavikridita. 2. Lalita is one of the
stock terms used to define the graces of the heroine; cf. Daśarapa, tr.
Haas, 2. 68, 'Lolling (lalita) is a graceful pose of one of fair form.'
In the ligature here transliterated by hp, I have taken the first element
3.
77
With her face cooled by the perfume of her sighing lower lip,
and gently mirthful in her speech?
That man is to be envied, that lover [really] lives, who has such
a one as his beloved.
Notes. 1. The meter is fardalavikridita. 2. I take gaurimṛga to
mean 'beast of Gauri' (with a pun on mṛga [cf. above, stanza 2, note 3]
as the sort of girl the heroine is), and the beast of Gauri (in her incar-
nation as Durgā) is the tiger. As Parvati also, Gauri's vehicle is the tiger;
cf. Moor, Hindu Pantheon, London, 1810, plates 20, 21, 24. My interpre-
tation as 'tigress' seems also to be strengthened by the allusion to 'tiger-
sport' in the last line of the preceding stanza. 3. The word kşobhini is
not recorded in the lexicons except, with lingual nasal, as the name kşobhint
of a certain fruti in Samgitasarasamgraha, 23 (cf. St. Petersburg Wörter-
buch, abridged ed., s.v. kşobhint); it is here probably best regarded as the
feminine of kşobhana or of *kşobhin. 4. In Manu, 3. 10 (hamsavarana-
gaminim), the gaits of the hamsa and of the elephant are mentioned as
among the desirable graces of women. 5. Seven syllables are needed
to fill out this päda. 6. The manuscript is broken here, but part of a
vertical stroke can be seen, and the restoration of an i seems certain. 7.
The manuscript reads jivatih. For the sentiment expressed in jivati com-
pare the well-known line of Catullus (5.1), Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque
amemus.
g
eşā¹ kā jaghanasthalī sulalitā² pronmattakāmādhikā
bhrūbhangam kuṭilam tv anangadhanuṣaḥ prakhyam prabhā-
candravat
rākācandrakapolapankajamukhi kṣāmodarī sundari
viņīdaṇḍam idam vibhāti tulitam veladbhujam' gacchati
Who is this lovely one that goes, with rounded hips, with an
excess of ecstatic love-
Her curving frown like the bow of the Bodiless (Kāma), and
like the moon in splendor-
With cheeks like the full moon, and a lotuslike face, and she
[herself] slender-waisted and beautiful?
This neck of her lute seems like a raised quivering arm.
Notes. 1. The meter is färdalavikridita. 2. Lalita is one of the
stock terms used to define the graces of the heroine; cf. Daśarapa, tr.
Haas, 2. 68, 'Lolling (lalita) is a graceful pose of one of fair form.'
In the ligature here transliterated by hp, I have taken the first element
3.