The Slaying of Śiśupāla 8

English (machine translation) 8

Language: English

8.1

Panting with heavy breasts out of fatigue, their lotus eyes half-closed from weariness, / those hosts of women set their moving feet upon the earth and walked somehow toward the water.

Though the interval between them was quite large due to the stooping of shoulders of the black-browed women as they walked together, / the road, broad though it was, became crowded because their large hips rubbed against one another.

8.3

As they walked onto ground cooled by dense trees, the hot-rayed [sun] with its rays / briefly touched them through the gaps of branches tossed by the wind, as if apprehensively again and again out of curiosity.

8.4

Surrounded by the sun’s rays, the moon, instantly assuming the form of a white umbrella / for one woman, did what was pleasing for his service, having the splendour of his beauty surpassed by her lotus face.

8.5

For another woman whose sun-heat was fended off by her lover spreading his own upper garment above her out of love, / the shade was far greater than that from the umbrella of the other group of coquettish women.

8.6

As the pleasure of touch increased across all limbs of the lotus-eyed woman whose lover grasped her hand, / her silk garment, even as it was tightened, repeatedly slipped down as the knot of her lower garment loosened.

8.7

Seeing those slender women walking languidly, the female geese, filled with wonder, did not perform their gaits; / for having realised that it has been thoroughly surpassed by another, what shameless person would display their own virtue?

8.8

Surpassed by the beautiful, dense and large hips of the Yadava women, the river banks, / trembling quickly from tumbling stones, surely retreated in embarrassment into the inner waters of the river.

8.9

The women considered the sandbank of the rivers, made radiant by pearls / shed by oysters thrown up by the rush of water, to be equal to their couches charming with shed necklaces.

8.10

Having inhaled the ceaseless breath of the women, which arose from fatigue and was a faultless friend, / the wild flowers were not sought by bees; for who that desires superior quality considers mere propriety?

8.11

Seeing a peacock, fearful of his mate returning from the forest, / eagerly hide another peahen under the mass of his tail feathers in front of her, the passionate women believed in the deceitfulness of men.

8.12

The flocks of immaculate birds, their calls rivalled in sweetness / by the conversations of the Yadava women, disappeared into the beds of blue water lilies; for what conquered [being] shows itself before a victor?

8.13

When a shelduck, naive in the sports of love, was kissed fearlessly by her dearest mate, / the young women, waving their hands toward their lords, made a hissing sigh as a suitable reply.

8.14

Offering respectful guest-offering of high-tossed, open lotuses, loudly conversing affectionately as if through bird calls, / the lake, with her laugh of foam, extended foot-water with her wave-hands as if out of fondness for the women.

8.15

Because with the redness of their fingertips they banished Śrī from her lotus, / which was her perpetual dwelling, the queens of the Foe of the Earth’s Son surely made explicit their rivalry with her.

8.16

Scarcely had the timid women, held by their lovers' hands, / stepped down with difficulty, when, out of eagerness, / that water quickly took them into itself, as it were, through their reflected images.

8.18

First having them cautiously reach the shallows and then step in softly, / the passionate women, entering, dyed that water / with their impassioned limbs, just as they would the heart of a lover.

8.17

As the water was repeatedly thrown into commotion / by pairs of breasts displaying the splendour of mighty elephants' temples, / a pair of shelducks underwent separation; / for what reckless person ever brings happiness to others?

8.19

Seated on the bank, a plantain-thighed woman, unwilling to enter the lake / with excessive clamour, shaken by chill, / was sprinkled by her smiling lover in the water / as she waved her two hands so he might behold her playful graces.

8.20

Not wishing to plunge into the lake with him, / urged toward the water from the bank by her friends, / a newly wed bride clung to her husband with eyes startled by fear; / in calamity, the extreme resort is not blamed.

8.21

Seeing the man standing in water only up to his shoulders, / and thinking it reached only that high for her as well, / the slender-waisted woman, fearless out of naivety, sought to approach him / and was swiftly embraced by him as she began to sink.

8.22

When the fair-browed woman had waded into the lake up to her navel, / then, out of restless play, the water with its wave-hands / mounted her elevated pair of breasts; / or rather, how can there be restraint in those who have gained touch?

8.23

“The blue lotus was surpassed by the splendours of the beloveds' eyes, / but I alone was not outdone by the lustre of their faces!” / As if singing thus in delight with the buzzing of bees, / a great lotus danced upon the water's restless waves.

8.24

Trembling as her thighs were struck by darting carp, / the woman of lovely thighs attained an excess of coquetry; / ah, women are violently agitated by graceful charms even without a cause, / how much more so when a cause is present?

8.25

Then the water of that ocean-like lake, / as the women swam with outstretched creeper-like bodies, / was churned by the great crags of their breasts / and the fluttering wings of their spread-out arms.

8.26

Though possessing depth, brought into turmoil / by the striking of the hips of women enjoying sport, / that ocean[-like lake], whose faces were blooming lotuses, / immediately transgressed its bounds.

8.27

Stretched forward by the ranks of waves / as if to seize her beloved who had plunged nearby, / a certain woman's splendid mass of hair shone in the lake, / its spread-out, moving locks appearing like fingers.

8.28

Delightful with waking priyangu blossoms, / the body of a lovely woman shone brightly in the lake; / indeed, even an overwhelming torrent of water / is not adequate to obscure those endowed with purity.

8.29

“Is this a lotus in the lake, / or does a young woman's face shine forth?” / Having doubted thus for a moment, someone discerned the truth / through proud flirtations unknown to the lake's crane-cohabitants.

8.30

Spraying-horns shining with melted gold, perfumes, / safflower-dyed garments clinging to broad pot-like breasts, / and meticulously prepared wine of madhūka blossoms: / these became the equipment for the women's water-sports.

8.31

With their garments fluttering in the wind, from the high bank's edge, / along with the hearts of their lovers showing fear, / jumping not slowly, the women plunged in swiftly / with heavy hips into the waters.

8.32

Being naive and ignorant of deceptive tactics, / quickly suffering defeat, / those young women played with their lovers the game of splashing water / cast from the palms of their hands, in which a tryst was the stake.

8.33

With waters raised in jar-like cupped hands, / one lover performed the great consecration of his beloved's moon-like face, / which was fit for the imperial sovereignty / over the army of Kāma, who had been consumed by the fire of the three-eyed god's eye.

8.34

As a woman, weak from the pain of desire, sprinkled her lover, / raising her arm with great difficulty, / a golden bangle slipped down from the tip of her hand, / as if it were the sole remainder of the beauty of her charm.

8.35

Fixing a loving gaze, filled as it were / with the tangible fluid of affection, / another woman, her heart intent on love, formed a hollow with her hands towards the youth / under the pretext of wishing to sprinkle a female friend.

8.36

While the lovely woman's face, displaying delight, / was being sprinkled by her dearest lover with water from his hand, / the face of a jealous rival, though unsprinkled, / became bathed in copious water of sweat.

8.37

Seeing another woman's pair of breasts / anointed with water cast from her lover's bud-like hands, / a bride in indignation repeatedly bathed her own [breasts] / with tears released from her broad pair of eyes.

8.38

With the very waters, bright as a mass of moonbeams, / with which a gallant sprinkled his beloved, making her facial radiance blaze perpetually, / he caused gloom from afar / for her rival.

8.39

Hurled toward her by her lover whose eyes were blinded by passion / because of an exchange of names, / the water-thunderbolt falling upon the body of the proud woman, / though slow by nature, broke her heart and could not be endured.

8.40

As the affectionate lover sprinkled his beloved's chest with love, / fresh water-drops, taking on her burning heat, / rebounded from the impact of her firm breasts / and severely scorched another woman nearby.

8.41

“Now the water in the lake will wash away / the body-paint transferred from my dearest lover's chest!” / Rejoicing thus, a certain rival was nevertheless tormented / when, even though that [paint] was removed, distinct nail-marks [remained].

8.42

When a bashful woman, whose moon-like face lost its lustre, / was addressed by her lover in front of her friends with another woman's name, / the waters sought to multiply / so as to swiftly hide her with their showers of teardrops.

8.43

Alas, when another woman was sprinkled after the lover had sprinkled one woman first, / the collyrium-water trickling from her eyes, / obtaining a faulty voice, / matched her face in blackness with [her lover's] mind.

8.44

Unable to bear golden ornaments, / wearing a companion bracelet of lotus-stalk fiber, / the young woman's arm, bearing the weight of a rival's side-glances, / became exceedingly heavy.

8.45

Though fitted with abundant, precious tinkling bells, / the girdles of the lovely women constantly taking their plunge / made no sound; / in whom is there fluency of speech when a wet string [or wet virtue] is present?

8.46

When her garment was carried away by the water in the transparent lake, / and she became ashamed before her restless-eyed lover, / a lotus clump swiftly befriended the fine-hipped woman / with a leaf-garment placed by the hand of a wave.

8.47

Because of their restlessness, as they washed away the body-paint / of the women whose hips were broad / and whose facial beauty conquered blooming day-lotuses, / the intent [and depth] of the waters became turbid.

8.48

Although possessing sufficient fragrance, having resembled the faces of the women
only at a distance, the blue lotus plunged into the stirring water, as if out of shame at being surpassed close by.

8.49

Fallen off swiftly through the playful plunges into the water,
the women's golden ornaments, yellow like crushed jasmine, shone in the lake like fragments of submarine fire.

8.50

Thinking, 'Does this collyrium grant unfailing splendor to the young women's eyes like our own shade? What use are they?'—
envious of the concealment of their own qualities, the waters washed away the collyrium.

8.51

When the yellow sandalwood paste was washed away by the torrents of water from the pale breast-pitchers
of a woman, the pearl necklace, having lost its contrast, immediately parted from them, as if out of sensitivity.

8.52

Possessing a quality no less than that of nectar, adorned with blossoming, vibrant lotuses,
and enjoyed together with lovers, the lake and the wine both produced redness in the eyes of the women.

8.53

The breast-pitchers of the lovely-eyed women while bathing shone, speckled with large, clear drops of water
clinging all around like the gems of their necklaces fallen from their strings, as if longing for a virtuous refuge.

8.54

Even if born from oneself, once having climbed high and then fallen, it must be abandoned by the pure:
thinking thus, the waters cast out to the bank with their ripples the blue lotus that slipped from the women's ears.

8.55

The impressions of the teeth brought splendor to the lower lip devoid of red lac, and the fresh marks of nails brought splendor
to the body stripped of unguent in the water; those who take refuge with the good bring beauty even in misfortune.

8.56

On the face of a certain woman whose painted foliage was washed away, a variegated beauty was created
by the clinging tips of hair-tendrils heavy with water, their interiors tawny with the mingled filaments of flowers.

8.57

The water took away the thick unguent from the chests of the Yadus and the crest-garlands from their hair;
only the charming redness of passion in their eyes remained—indeed, the innate virtue of the great cannot be overcome by others.

8.58

The color that was outward was indeed washed away by the waters, but that which was inside their hearts remained just as it was;
for among the steadfast, nothing that is within ever falls subject to being overcome by an outside party.

8.59

The play of garlands upon their breasts in the form of foam, the grace of garments upon their hips in the form of moss,
and clear leaves of lotus creepers upon their cheeks were decoration enough for the women in the water.

8.60

Falling from the limbs of the women into the water, the heavy ornaments sank as if out of shame,
while the cast-off floral garlands danced upon the surface; for excessive is the audacity of the worthless, even when discarded.

8.61

The brilliance of forehead-marks was wiped off, garlands cast away, red garments turned pale, and unguents removed;
Love, as if remorseful for having hindered his own cause, made the women exceedingly beautiful.

8.62

As if suffering intensely from the cold caused by the splashing of water and shaken by the cool breeze,
the fresh, wet garment clung to the slopes of the breasts of the women who possessed the warmth of fresh youth.

8.63

Then, having finished their play among the restless ripples, the troops of beloved women emerged from the lake,
the water dripping from the edges of their garments, as if shedding the beauty drawn excessively from contact with their bodies.

8.64

Gazing upon a certain woman rising from the water, who caused wonder even to divine beings,
with hands lovely as blossoming lotuses, looking like Śrī herself, Śauri was reminded of the churning of the ocean.

8.65

The fine silk put on to cover the thighs clung to them when drenched with water;
and the exceptionally clear thighs of the women, shining through, seemed to conceal the silk itself.

8.66

The fresh garments donned by those women laughed with joy, as it were, through their radiance like white clouds,
while those discarded ones dripping with bathwater wept in grief, as it were, with heavy flows of tears.

8.67

Having attained an excessive clinging owing to their wetness, the newly dyed red garments,
even though vigorously shaken off many times, were barely separated from the limbs of the fair-eyed women.

8.68

One woman with hair tumbling over her shoulders dried for a long time her body wet from bathing;
she did not realize that, seeing her beloved nearby, it became even more bathed in the water of sweat.

8.69

Another woman, arranging the parting of her hair with both hands, revealing the slopes of her breasts and armpits,
was gazed upon repeatedly by her husband who longed for her; ah, the curious fascination of lovers never ceases!

8.70

A body cleansed by washing in clear water, a lower lip clear with the brightness of betel,
and a delicate, white garment—such is sufficient adornment for graceful women, provided it is not devoid of the Flower-Arrowed One.

8.71

Beholding the Yādavas, whose bodies had their impurities washed away by bathing in the lake and who attained transcendent splendor,
the Sun of Non-Cool Rays likewise desired at once to plunge into the mass of waters of the western ocean.

Commentaries (2)

Sarvaṅkaṣā — Mallinātha Sūri, Sanskrit
Śiśupālavadhaṭīkā — Mallinātha, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Śiśupālavadha — Māgha, Sanskrit