The World of Courtesans c9.5

c9.5

The poet admires the peaceful hermitages in which the *rishis* discussed the mysteries of life, and also the laughing and playful men and women singing in the courts and in the royal processions, participating in festivals, going to music and dancing parties. He depicts men visiting courtesans and escorting them to gardens and forests to enjoy the pleasanter side of life. He was keenly alive to the beauty of the female form, and though he had no time to dwell on elaborate descriptions of women in all fields of life, like a great artist, he draws enduring images of them in the *Ritusamhara*, in the *Meghaduta* where women from various walks of life are described with an intensely poetic flavour. The poet gives us fleeting glimpses of the courtesans rambling among mountains, picking up jasmine flowers, perhaps to adorn themselves and their lovers. We have a glimpse of them dancing in the great temple of Mahakala at Ujjain. The poet addresses the cloud and asks it to stop close to Vidisha. He advises it to rest on Vichais Hill which is laden with blossoming *kadambas*, and gladdened as it were by the cloud's soft touch. The stones of the hill proclaim youth's joyous abandon and send forth fragrance gathered in the love sports of the courtesans. The poet again exhorts the cloud: "You rest for a while and then proceed to the garden that is full of jasmine groves and situated on the newly formed bank of the river. Spray them with fresh drops. There you could grant your cool shade to the lively faces of the flower pickers (*pushpalavi*) whose lotus earrings crumple as they wipe the beads of perspiration on their cheeks. For a brief instant you will be able to touch them. You will have to deviate from the straight road to the north, if you do not wish to miss the sights in the town of Ujjain, lovely women seated in the open terraces, their tremulous eyes dazzled by flashes of lightning."