A History of Sanskrit Literature c15.38

c15.38

Various birds to which poetical myths are attached are frequently introduced as furnishing analogies to human life and love. The *chātaka*, which would rather die of thirst than drink aught but the raindrops from the cloud, affords an illustration of pride. The *chakora*, supposed to imbibe the rays of the moon, affords a parallel to the lover who with his eyes drinks in the beams of his beloved's face. The *chakravāka*, which, fabled to be condemned to nocturnal separation from his mate, calls to her with plaintive cry during the watches of the night, serves as an emblem of conjugal fidelity.