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Gita Govinda 1.11

English (machine translation) 1.11

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English

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1.11.1

When Keśava, having gratified the fawn-eyed woman with long entreaty and prepared his attire, had gone to the bed in the bower, / in the twilight that stole away sight, when her despondency was gone and her lovely ornaments were arranged, a certain friend spoke to Rādhā:

1.11.1.p1

|| Lyric Composition 20

1.11.1.p2

Sung to the vasanta melodic mode and the yati rhythmic meter.

1.11.2

He made sweet, flattering words; he offered prostration at your feet; / now he has retired to the couch of pleasure within the boundary of charming reeds.

1.11.2.p1

Innocent Rādhikā, follow after the slayer of Madhu, who is devoted to you! ||Refrain

1.11.3

With the heavy burden of firm hips and breasts, with your feet stepping gently and slowly, / with your gem-inlaid anklets chiming, approach! Emulate the movement of a swan!

1.11.3.p1

NOTE: {Variant reading: nikāram.}

1.11.4

Listen to the most delightful buzzing of bees, enchanting young women! / Harbor affection, for the flock of cuckoos is a herald obeying the command of the Flower-Bowed God!

1.11.5

With its hand of trembling tender shoots stirred by the breeze, the cluster of creepers / gives you an urge to go, as it were, woman with thighs like elephant calves! Abandon delay!

1.11.6

Ask this pitcher-like breast, which has trembled as if by the wave of the Bodiless One, indicating Hari's embrace, / and bears the pure water-stream of a captivating necklace!

1.11.7

All your confidantes have understood that your body too is prepared for the battle of amorous pleasure; / passionate woman, go without shame to the rendezvous, while the drum of your chiming girdle resounds passionately!

1.11.8

Holding your companion playfully by the hand with nails attractive as Smara's arrows, / proceed, and apprise even Hari of the habit of your gait through the jingling of your bracelets!

1.11.8.p1

NOTE: {Variant reading: nigadita.}

1.11.9

Spoken by auspicious Jayadeva, outdoing a pearl necklace, setting aside adversity, / may this reside continuously on the throat of those whose minds are placed on Hari!

1.11.10

"She will see me, speak of Smara, attain delight by embraces limb to limb, and will sport with me when she arrives, my friend!" Agitated by such thought, / in the bower packed with thick darkness, your beloved sees you, trembles, bristles with thrill, rejoices, perspires, steps forward, and swoons.

1.11.11

Applying collyrium to their eyes, clusters of tāpiñcha flowers to their ears, / a garland of dark blue lotuses on their heads, and musk markings on their breasts, / darkness, lovely as a blue cloak, everywhere embraces each limb of bright-eyed women in the arbor, my friend, / who are cunning and filled with excitement for the rendezvous.

1.11.11.p1

NOTE: {Reading in Haridāsa's edition: abhisāra-satvara-hṛdāṃ.}

1.11.12

With their bodies fair as saffron, having lines traced all about by the shoots of their radiance, / for these women going to meet their lovers, this darkness, black as leaves of the tamāla tree, acts as a touchstone for the gold of their love.

1.11.13

Illumined by the glitter of gems on a pearl necklace, a shimmering golden bell-girdle, armlets, and bracelets, / having seen Hari at the door of the dwelling in the arbor, this confidante then spoke to the bashful maiden:

1.11.13.p1

|| Lyric Composition 21

1.11.13.p2

Sung to the varāḍi melodic mode and the rūpaka rhythmic meter.

1.11.14

In this play-chamber within the lovely bower, / revel, O you whose face smiles with the impetuosity of amorous pleasure!

1.11.14.p1

Enter here, O Rādhā, near Mādhava! // Refrain

1.11.14.p2

[Note: In Haridāsa’s edition, the refrain beginning with “Enter, O Rādhā” is sung between the first and second lines of each stanza.]

1.11.15

Upon the excellent couch of fresh, gleaming aśoka leaves, / revel, O you whose pearl necklace sways upon pitcher-like breasts!

1.11.16

In this pure dwelling fashioned from heaps of blossoms, / revel, O you whose body is tender as a flower!

1.11.17

Cool and fragrant with the gentle, wafting breeze of the Malaya mountains, / revel, O you terrified by the multitude of Madana's arrows!

1.11.17.p1

[Note: Variant readings: “kusuma-śara-” (arrows of flowers) or “madana-rasa-” (the nectar of Madana); Haridāsa’s reading: “vilasa rati-valita-lalita-gīte” (revel, O you of lovely songs imbued with erotic pleasure!), with a variant “rasa-valita-” (imbued with flavor).]

1.11.18

Dense with the fresh sprouts of many spreading creepers, / revel long, O you of languid and plump hips!

1.11.19

Filled with the hum of swarms of bees intoxicated by honey, / revel, O you who are passionate with the flavor of Madana!

1.11.19.p1

[Note: Haridāsa’s reading is “rabhasa-rasa-”.]

1.11.20

Resounding with the calls of flocks of sweetest cuckoos, / revel, O you the points of whose teeth gleam with loveliness!

1.11.21

Bestow hundreds of blessings, O Murāri, / as Jayadeva, king among prince-poets, / who has created joy for the assembly of Padmāvatī, recites!

1.11.22

“Bearing you in his heart for so long, he is utterly exhausted and intensely tormented by Kandarpa, / and he longs to drink the bimba-fruit of your lower lip, overflowing with nectar; / therefore, adorn his lap here for a moment—when his lotus-feet are attended by you who have bought him with a mere fraction of the charm of your arched brows, like a slave, why any timidity?”

1.11.23

With timidity and delight, her eyes fluttering toward Govinda / and her lovely anklets tinkling, she entered the bower.

1.11.23.p1

[Note: Haridāsa’s reading is “praviveśābhiveśanam”.]

1.11.23.p2

|| Lyric Composition 22

1.11.23.p3

Sung in the varāḍi melodic mode and yati rhythmic meter.

1.11.24

In whom varied waves of emotion unfolded at the sight of Rādhā's face, / like the ocean whose towering billows are stirred by the sight of the moon's orb;

1.11.24.p1

She beheld Hari, single-minded in passion, who had long desired amorous dalliance, / whose face was subject to intense joy, the dwelling-place of the Bodiless One. // Refrain

1.11.25

Wearing on his chest a necklace of exceedingly pure, large pearls hanging down long, / like the current of Yamunā's waters mingled with clusters of glistening white foam;

1.11.26

Whose dark and soft bodily frame had donned fine pale silk, / like a blue lotus surrounded at its base by a mass of fallen yellow pollen;

1.11.27

The passion of whose amorous desire was born of a charming face with restless sidelong glances, / like an autumn pool where a pair of wagtails frolic in the hollow of an open lotus;

1.11.28

Splendid with earrings resembling the sun that had met in contemplation of the lotus of his face, / who provoked longing for amorous pleasure with his sprout-like lower lip radiant with the beauty of a smile;

1.11.29

Whose flower-decked hair was beautiful as a cloud touched in its interior by rays of the moon, / upon which a pure forehead mark of sandalwood paste was placed like the moon's orb rising in darkness;

1.11.30

Thrilled with an abundance of bristling hairs, eager for the arts of erotic play, / his handsome body adorned with jewels glowing with a multitude of rays—

1.11.31

Bow down, holding in your hearts Hari, the essence of the dawn of merit, / whose weight of ornaments is redoubled by the glory spoken by the venerable Jayadeva!

1.11.32

Reaching past their outer corners, as if by the effort of traveling all the way to the path of the ears, / of her two eyes whose pupils had grown exceedingly tremulous, / now, at the moment of beholding her beloved, / there fell from Rādhā a flood of joyful tears, like an outpouring of sweat.

1.11.32.p1

[Note: Variant reading: “samāyāta-” (arrived).]

1.11.33

As the deer-eyed woman approached the edge of the couch, / her smile hidden under the guise of scratching her face, / and the attending companions left the room with discreet attention, / looking at her beloved's face, charming with intention overcome by Smara, / even her shame, being ashamed, seemed to vanish far away.

1.11.34

Joyfully, gently holding Rādhā between his arms and pressing her tight out of loving affection, / may the son of Nanda grant you boundless bliss—he who looked with turned neck, / [wondering] lest her two firm breasts, of magnificent and beautiful form, might pierce through her back and burst out from behind!

1.11.35

Honored as if with mandāra flowers cast by the goddess of victory, / marked as if by herself with vermilion in the joy of battle with the elephant, / spattered with drops of blood from the Kuvalayāpīḍa elephant slain in the sport of wrestling— / triumphant is the staff-like arm of the conqueror of Mura!

1.11.36

Showing himself, through his taste for sporting on the lovely lotus-breasts / of Rādhā—that sole treasury of beauty, who delights in the playful grace of the Bodiless One's woman— / in the pond of her heart, the sole arena for the sport of mind-born love, / to be like the royal swan of the meditator’s mind, may Mukunda grant joy!

1.11.36.p2

Canto Twelve: / Pītāmbara Delighted

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