The World of Courtesans c10.146

c10.146

The Vita goes into ecstasies over a girl who is on her way to a tryst. It is a dark, cold and rainy night and her movements are impeded. At that time her tinkling anklets indicate her movement. The Vita says he prefers suffering in hell for aeons, if he is wakened by the sweet sound of the tinklers, if he is given a chance to kiss her face. The rain has effaced the *tilaka* mark on her forehead and washed away the collyrium from her eyes. Her full lips throb and the mouth carries the sweet aroma of wine. A lover has no need for paradise when he can, on a clear moonlit winter night, sport in a lotus lake with a bevy of young girls whose foreheads are marked with red *tilakas*. There is unparalleled joy in a cold, fragrant winter night when a lover kisses his beloved's lips that have cracked by the vigour of the cold. One can imagine nothing more pleasant than the close embrace of the beloved in a luxurious bed and the restful sleep that follows lovemaking.