A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t3.52

v2.c19.s6.t3.52

First of all there is a beautiful description of how, on hearing that the prince is going out, the women of the city, full of curiosity, hasten from their rooms to the house-tops and the windows. Hampered by their falling girdles, they scamper up in the greatest haste, pushing and jostling one another, and scaring away the birds on the roofs by the clattering of the girdles and rings. The lotus faces of the fair ones, leaning out of the windows, look as though the walls of the houses were decorated with real lotus blossoms.¹ Beautifully the poet then describes the encounter with the old man, whom the gods cause to appear. In consternation the prince asks: