A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s8.16

v3.c35.s8.16

Generally each of the stanzas is complete in itself; only now and then two or three such stanzas are combined to form one song. In the most concised form, in a few words a sentiment is expressed, a lament is made or the pleasure of the highest sensuous charms of love is described. A small picture, very often drawn with a few strokes from actual life, is brought in. There we hear the words of a damsel in love who gives expression to her feeling of anguish on account of love or to her longings. She requests the moon to touch her with the same ray-hands with which she had touched also her lover who is tarrying in a distant land. As in the whole of Indian love lyrics¹, so in these songs too, the wailing of the husband or of the beloved always occurs, likewise the longing of a man living in a distant place for his beloved staying in a foreign land. So a traveller speaks to the cloud to thunder over his head as much as it likes, but it should not kill his beloved. A woman counts on the fingers of her hands and feet the days that her husband has been away and weeps because there remains no finger for counting further (307). A young woman says:—