A History of Sanskrit Literature c14.s3.6.3

c14.s3.6.3

this gives Bilhaṇa the opportunity of describing the effect of the spring on the passions, and the beauties of the maiden in minute detail (viii). The wedding over, the king and his bride disport themselves; he swings her with his own hand, they pluck flowers, bathe together, and a carousal at which the Rājput ladies drink deep follows (ix–xi). The king now returns to Kalyāṇa, but merely to occupy a canto with fresh bathing scenes (xii) and an ode to the breaking of the monsoon (xiii). Jayasiṅha, however, gave trouble; he had to be overcome but pardoned (xiv, xv), and the king then engaged in hunting, slaying lions, hunting boars with dogs, and shooting arrows at deer (xvi). Sons were born to him, and he built a city Vikramapura, and erected a temple to Viṣṇu Kamalāvilāsin. But the Colas, having apparently been defeated rather in the poet’s imagination than in reality, gave more trouble. Vikrama has to defeat them again and occupy for a time Kāñcī. The last canto is refreshingly interesting, for it gives an account of Bilhaṇa’s own family and his life as a wandering Paṇḍit, attesting a practice which prevailed down to the most recent times.