2023-03-04 04:29:05 by Alok Kumar
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moon looks as if sucking darkness from the cup of sky,
his rays acting as lotus stalks to suck through.*
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45. The moon who is the lord of miraculous herbs,
practises alchemy, as it were, by transforming the
'iron' called darkness into the 'silver' called moonlight,
by subjecting the former to a fire-process called udaya-
rāga (redness of dawn).
46. The damsel called the Eastern Region draws
out her white silk of moonlight presented to her by
Night from the conch-white box of moon-globe and
dresses herself with it, and looks splendid.
47. The moon embraces with his hands of rays
the damsel of Eastern Region, and at the same time,
also touches another called Kumudvati (bed of night
lotuses). This shows, that lustful men ought not to be
trusted.
trusted.
48. Though the moon touches incessantly with
his rays, as with hands, the lotus clusters, the latter
do not look up to him nor return his attentions. That
proves how virtuous women are firm in their vow of
chastity.
49. The sun enters the moon every new-moon,
and so, the latter is also endowed with the heating qua-
lity of the former. And this, he exhibits in the case
of lovers in separation.
50. The bee-black spot that is observed in the
centre of the moon's globe is not the sign of deer as
*In Sanskrit, unlike in English, 'moon' is masculine.