Simhasanadvatrimshika 6.p1

6.p1

punar api rājā yāvat siṅhāsana upaviśati, tāvad anyā puttalikā bhaṇati: bho rājan, yas tu vikramasyau 'dāryavān, sa evai 'tat siṅhāsanam adhiroḍhuṃ kṣamaḥ. bhojeno 'ktam: tasyau 'dāryavṛttāntaṃ kathaya. sā 'bravīt: śrūyatāṃ rājan. vikramādityo rājyaṃ kurvann ekadā caitramāse vasantotsave sakalāntaḥpuravadhūsametaḥ krīḍārthaṃ śṛñgāravanam agamat. tatra vane:

When the king was again mounting the throne, another statue said: "O king, he who has the magnanimity of Vikrama is alone worthy to mount upon this throne." Bhoja said: "Tell me a tale of his magnanimity." She replied: "Hear, O king.

Once when Vikramāditya was king, at the spring festival in the month Cāitra he went into the Grove of Love with all the women of his harem, to enjoy himself. In that grove: 1. "Since the mango-trees are putting forth feathered shafts upon shafts with dense cascades of juices, and (with their rustling) are conversing in reply to the buzzing of the swaying swarms of the female bees, and (so) are providing an embellishment for the cries of the cuckoos in their self-centered sport; therefore the great festival of (the spring-month) Cāitra is spread far and wide." So they proclaimed on all sides. And likewise: 2. Carried by a gentle breeze from sandalwood trees, the pollen made dense (the air of) the highest heaven, and the charming young mango shrub spread gladness around, its easy-yielding twigs swaying with the touch of bees' wings. In this Grove of Love, adorned with such various sorts of trees and flowers, in a playhouse fragrant with different kinds of incense and containing a court built of moonstones, and charming with sapphire-inlaid walls, the king for some time indulged in play along with beautiful women of all the four classes, lotus-women [padminī] and the rest [see page 85, line 3], who were adorned with fair garments, betel, flowers, and ornaments. In the neighborhood of that grove there was a shrine of Caṇḍikā, and there a certain celibate stood.