The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.64

v2.c17.64

“The Gopī rejoined, ‘Shame to ye both whose minds are so much given to wicked inclinations as to desire to possess the wife of another. I am not such a woman as would become your mistress. Both of you shall positively be hurled to the mansion of Yama in a short time for your wickedness.’ So saying and deluding those two demons, suddenly she disappeared from their sight like a flash of lightning. When they observed her vanish, their eyes expanded through wonder, and they said to each other, ‘See, whose wife is this girl ?’ Knowing their intentions, the daughter of the mountain, with a face charming as the lotus, meditated upon Mahādeva residing at Kāśi. Whereupon that lord and benefactor of the universe resolved to leave Nandīśvara [67] and the rest of his goblin host (Pramatha Gaṇas) at Benares, and go to her. Tender in person as the indigo-coloured lotus, having eyes resembling the Vimba fruit, wearing a yellow garment and holding a flute, with his head adorned with Guñjas, Śiva started on his trip. Arrived at the Ekāmra wood, which was crowded with trees and fanned by the wind, purified by shaking the lotus flowers in the river Gaṅgā, and carrying particles of sandal from the Malaya mountain, the enemy of Manmatha began to play on his flute. The harmonious sound of Śaṃkara’s flute was (attentively) heard by cows, deer, peacocks, koels, sārakas, and other animals who stood rapped in horripilation by his charming music. Seeing her husband come in the shape of a cow-keeper the three-eyed Pārvatī exclaimed, ‘Who is this,’ and laughed. She then, with a mild countenance and a smile that surpassed ambrosia in sweetness, asked him, ‘Who are you that are come here dressed in yellow ?’ He, with a smile, replied to that female Gopa whose face was like the orb of the moon, ‘Who are you ! O daughter of a Gopa, who is so compassionate as to speak such sweet to me ?’ The goddess, hearing these words, fell upon the feet of that holder of the flute, and said, ‘I am the wife of him who art the lord of Gokula. Make me thy maid by bestowing on me the nectar of your Vimba-like lips. I have come here according to your desire, and am persecuted by two demons ; destroy those enemies of the gods, and tell me how am I to adore you.’