Arjuna and the Hunter 9

English (machine translation) 9

Language: English

9.1

When the sun with shining rays, resembling a central sapphire, underwent a fall on one side,
the sky bore the beauty of the day like a string of pearls swinging with movement.

9.2

Extremely thirsty with the hands of its rays, having intensely tasted the lotus-born honey,
as if fallen into intoxication, the sun assumed a red form as it approached the earth.

9.3

When the thousand-rayed sun grew red and became accessible to the eyes,
anguish, leaving the earth, reached the hearts of the cakravāka birds.

9.4

Light with its base released, having abandoned the east, accumulated densely in the western sky,
the mass of rays did not shine while the sun was half-submerged, looking weary and crooked.

Copper-red like saffron, as if female messengers from the beloved hurrying [them] toward the evening party,
the sunbeams falling through the lattice-windows of the mansions were gazed upon respectfully by the women.

9.6

Clinging with very tawny, soft rays to the trees on the high peaks,
did the sun enter the thicket of the Setting Mountain, or the ocean, or the earth?

9.7

Turbulent with the cries of flocks of moving birds, with the dawn-glow not risen,
and very pale with the horses of the sun vanished, the close of day came to resemble the break of day.

9.8

Resting upon a veil of clouds, the western part of the sky, with the twilight,
bore the splendour of an ocean reddened by the brilliance of an expanse of coral with waves.

9.9

Abandoning love for the person whose hands are joined, whose head is bowed, and whose mind is inclined to her,
the vanishing twilight, with its fickle nature, imitated friendship with a wicked person.

9.10

Having hidden in fear of the dawn's heat, growing sharper at the end of the day's radiance,
darkness, gathering as if gradually from low places, reached the level grounds.

9.11

No distinction of anything, even of something great, could be perceived, as if all had become one;
all distinctions of the worlds were deposited within the sun that had set, as if within its own self.

9.12

Though desiring not to be parted from their females, the birds that must be separated at night,
the pairs indeed suffered separation; the decree of time is truly inescapable.

9.13

Even when the bird came close and addressed sweet words toward its mate,
the lotus was brought down, its joy abandoned, like the face of the lotus-plant.

9.14

Were the various trees and mountains dyed, was the sky bent down or covered,
was the earth filled in its uneven parts, or were the quarters gathered up by the darkness?

9.15

The lotuses, stained by the night's hue, gave up their blossoming;
the sky, with its stars clearly revealed, attained fortune; everyone desires to dwell where there is no adversity.

9.16

Forsaking bloom, the lotuses darkened with the colors of night surrendered [their splendor];
the sky's fortune went to where the stars were clear: everyone desires to dwell where there is no misfortune.

9.17

Released by the moon, pale as the filaments of a ketakī blossom,
a mass of rays spread through the quarter of Vāsava like a handful of powder endowed with luster.

9.18

Cast off as if sorrow at nightfall, as the king of stars drew near,
the eastern quarter bore her face adorned with the virtue of clarity, bright with the smile of his beams.

9.19

White as snow, the web of rays falling from the white-rayed [moon], whose form was blocked by the mountain,
shone in the sky resembling a dark-blue lotus, like the water of the Gaṅgā in the ocean's brine.

9.20

Blocking the sky, resembling a dark-blue cloud, darkness being tossed aside in front
by him of upraised hands/beams, possessed of non-dark luster, gleamed like the elephant hide tossed by Śambhu.

9.21

As the web of beams cast by the nearby moon shed its crookedness,
the edge of the sky, freed from the obstruction of darkness's burden, shone as if breathing freely.

9.22

With a streak bright as pure coral, the moon steadily thrust away the darkness,
as the Primordial Boar once raised the orb of the earth with his tusk reddish-yellow like a chisel of gold.

9.23

Then, illuminating the sky with floods of rays, pale as breasts smeared with red saffron,
the cool-rayed [moon] slowly emerged from the eastern ocean like a golden jar.

9.24

People gazed insatiably upon the night, whose moon had risen yet whose darkness was not completely broken,
like a new bride whose garment has slipped to reveal her face, very shy with bashfulness.

9.25

The sky was not brought to its customary clarity, nor was darkness uprooted from the mountain forests,
nor was luster scattered across the faces of the quarters: yet the night was simply adorned by the cold-rayed [moon].

9.26

Receiving the glances of proud women, clouded with warm tears,
the cold-rayed [moon], risen very slowly, proceeded into the sky as if utterly terrified.

9.27

As the cold-rayed [moon] of outstretched beams embraced the near vicinity of his beloved wives, the stars,
a deep red glow, glowing all around, shone like an ointment for the body.

9.28

The flood of beams sent forth by the moon dispelled darkness, however dense,
just as the Ocean of Milk churned by Mandara [dispelled] dense, lofty forests of trees.

9.29

Rendered dappled by the moon's beams, the shade of the trees
attained equality with the floors of residential chambers variegated by white sacrificial offerings laid down.

9.30

The [cakravāka] bird, patient in the daylight but separated from his mate by night,
could not endure the beams of the cold-rayed [moon]: when the heart is distressed, everything is unbearable.

9.31

Bearing fragrant pollen raised aloft, scattering the perfume of opening night-lotuses,
the night wind rushed over rows of groves in the waters where birds lay sleeping.

9.32

To perform the consecration of Love, the woman that is night lifted up the moon—
a flood of shining water-rays, its mark spread across it, like a silver pitcher filled with blue lotuses.

9.33

Surely royal fortune in victory never approaches one without allies, even if he be endowed with vast might;
for the bodiless Love, though all-powerful, took up his victorious bow only when he made the moon's rays his companion.

9.34

Though endowed with beauty by the decoration of their chambers, though messages from their lovers had arrived,
the celestial women, with lovemaking near at hand, desired ornament even though already adorned.

9.35

Garlands did not please the fair women in separation, nor sandalwood, nor wine;
for among the means of pleasure, union with the beloved alone confers charm.

9.36

Proud women setting out for their master's abode, ignoring the counsel of dear female companions,
were seized by intoxication that, as if dispelling their firmness, brought them low.

9.37

The fair women, sending many messages to their lover's dwelling, departed straight away for lovemaking:
for those whose minds are stolen by Love, even a stumble is generally of help.

9.38

The face of a woman who hastened to meet her lover, her cheeks seized with horripilation,
with its decorative foliage-paintings, surpassed in beauty the unbroken moon.

9.39

"Let everything reproachful be said to him! Harshness toward one's lord is not right, friend!
Bring him after mollifying him! Or rather, how can he be mollified when he is causing displeasure?"

9.40

"What is the use of going? It is indeed not proper to approach him! What pride can there be toward a lover, O proud girl?"
In such conversations of women, lovers who had gathered experienced steadfastness fraught with many emotions.

9.41

For a woman bearing drops of perspiration born of first union that checked her horripilation,
falling upon her lover's chest, the very disarray of her ornaments became an ornament.

9.42

Restraining pride and quickly loosening modesty in women shaken by drinking liquor,
as they met with their lovers—did passion lay hold of the passionate women, or was it intoxication?

9.43

"Her eye is on the door, her cheeks in her hand, her life is in you: whence this quarrel of hers?"
This repeated speech of passionate men took on ever-new freshness to give delight.

9.44

Casting her pair of eyes askance and lowering them, holding back from falling upon her lover's chest,
modesty created an ornament for the fair-browed woman, and in union it ceased.

9.45

As her heart's lord, distressed at being spurned with resentment, set out at once in anger,
the woman's flood of falling tears held him back like a friend.

9.46

The dense bristling of hair betrayed the proud woman whose mind was turned toward her lover,
though out of jealousy she had turned away and shed tears before the anxious man.

9.47

When her dearest impetuously kissed the beloved woman's face whose gaze was wavering,
the knot of her skirt untied, and her garment slipped loose from her hips along with her bashfulness.

9.48

Cast off through bashfulness, the waist-knot slipped; tossing aside the lower garment whose girdle clung loose,
the lord of her heart was embraced by his beloved with the rounded mass of her swelling breasts.

9.49

Embraces were honored with nail-marks, kisses with the dense imprint of teeth:
though Love's fame is built upon the quality of gentleness, he is perverse even in acts of love.

9.50

The fluttering of leaf-like hands, sighs of pleasure within, the half-closing of eyes—
these served as the weapons of Love for women speaking in faltering accents in secret.

9.51

Young men longed to drink the smiling faces of their brides and the wine with lotuses,
both imparting pleasure, both kindling desire, whose savor was ever new.

9.52

When the anger of proud women was vanquished by union with their lovers, their quarrel stilled by tasting wine,
and peace was concluded, the bodiless Love no longer set an arrow to his bow.

9.53

"Grow angry quickly; submit your minds; and wait upon the young men whom you have angered!"
Such varied instruction, as it were, was savored by the young women along with their round of wine.

9.54

Tasting the excessively sweet wine offered by their husbands with agitated affection, / did the young brides acquire skill, or indeed their heart, due to the loss of shame and delusion?

9.55

Tasted by oneself, then made to swell [in pride], / bestowed by dearest lovers, drunk in their company— / the wine seemed at every step to take on / manifold forms and flavours for the impassioned women.

9.56

As if to imitate the playful graces / of the young women's eyes, lovely with eyebrow gestures, / the trembling of the wine in the cups / was assumed by the blue lotuses through their soft-glancing petals.

9.57

For lovers yearning to bite their sprout-like lips, / the round of wine attained a special charm / through the women's face-like cups, / adorned with wide-open eyes like dark-blue lotuses.

9.58

Even a possessor of virtues clearly acquires / a distinction of qualities through the influence of the receptacle; / for just so, offered from the beloved’s mouth, / the wine spread far with an exquisite taste.

9.59

Seeing in the gemmed cups the surpassing grace / of the ornaments made by the teeth-marks of lovers, / the rounds of wine that washed away the red dye of their lips / were held in highest esteem by the impassioned women.

9.60

Having assumed the redness produced on eyes and lower lips, / and having its fragrance enhanced by perfumed mouths, / the wine effected an inversion, / or perhaps an exchange, between its own virtues and another’s.

9.61

Knowing the dark lotus worn at the ear, though like in beauty, / to be useless to her eyes, / the flush of intoxication, like a dear friend, / shared itself out to the woman, imparting brilliance to her gaze.

9.62

Though its red lacquer dye had faded through excessive drinking, / made radiant by the marks of her lover’s teeth, / the colour of the young woman’s sprout-like lower lip / seemed to attain an even deeper intensity.

9.63

Deeply rooted in eyes tinged with passion, / and upon cheeks red as coral, / the glory of intoxication, though pervading everywhere, / was seen in women's faces as if in mirrors.

9.64

It brought even those women who feigned anger / to a state of lovely submissiveness to their lovers; / wine-intoxication desires the welfare of its own allies, / for everyone seeks the good of their own kind.

9.65

Causing the loosening of garments near the navel, / the banishing of shame, and wrath out of place, / wine, placing herself on the side of virtue, / wiped clean what might be reproached in women.

9.66

As they threw themselves upon their husbands in the presence of female friends, / spurred on by the intoxication of wine, / useless shame neither remained / nor vanished from the hearts of the women.

9.67

Restraining the expansion of glance and speech, / yet causing both arms to sink down in an embrace, / the drunkenness of the young women, through many virtues, / imitated the delicate beauty of a bashful maiden.

9.68

A woman, though possessed of wounded pride, / with passion aroused by the mind-born god, went to her lover's lap; / undisguised wine indeed causes / the disclosure of secrets, whether virtues or faults.

9.69

Whether sweetness had been infused into their gestures by wine, / or whether it had brought them to full blossom, / a newly intensified occasion for the flower-arrowed god / shone forth among the passionate women.

9.70

"Lest, with minds bewildered by drunkenness, they leave us / and go to make love elsewhere," fearing their masters, / the women did not crave much wine; / love perceives dangers even where there is no cause.

9.71

A secluded place bringing joy to the heart, / love, wine-intoxication, moonlight, / and union with their beloveds / led the passion of the young women to an indescribable realm.

9.72

In the love-sport with a proud woman, where customary bounds were crossed by boldness, / and where curly locks and garlands were mercilessly dishevelled, / the flower-arrowed god attained a wild confusion, / as if utterly intoxicated.

9.73

When the bodies of the young women were helpless from drinking liquor / and had reached a state of inertness, / their pursuit, infused with the essence of love-play, / shone forth among lovers even though its aim was lost.

9.74

Then, for those Apsarases of Indra’s friend, whose minds were mutually enamoured / and who bore the command of the mind-born god, / the night, its latter half announced by the chants of bards, / drew to a close as if contracted.

9.75

For the youths, their intense fatigue from love-making dispelled by sleep, / awakened by prolonged, auspicious morning sounds, / love-makings with the women, troubled by imminent separation, / seemed to take on a freshness as of the first time.

9.76

Approaching very softly, as if to massage / the beloved women whose eyes were closed from sexual exhaustion, / the breeze at night's end disclosed in the mansions / the fragrances of enjoyed garlands and wine.

9.77

On their trembling lower sprout-lips perfumed with fragrance, / in their widely opened eyes reddish-brown from sleep, / and on their cheek-drawings wiped away, / the remnant of intoxication bound a beauty to the faces of the charming women.

9.78

When their cosmetic paste had become visible only by nail-scratches, / and their deep-red bimba lips had been drunk by impassioned lovers, / the splendor of nocturnal enjoyment sustained the women's hearts, / troubled by impending separation, like a dear and faithful female friend.

Commentaries (1)

Ghaṇṭāpatha — Mallinātha Sūri, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Kirātārjunīya — Bhāravi, Sanskrit