Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c20.82

v2.c20.82

¹ Even the unbending tree is filled with delight and life by woman's splendour: "Even the trees bloom through the secret of beauty of form," we find in Karpūramañjarī, ii, 49¹. According to the poetical convention of the Indians the kurabaka, indeed, covers itself with blossoms, when a lovely woman clasps it, the tilaka, when she looks on it, the açoka, when it is touched by her foot, the mango, when her hand touches it, the priyala, when it hears her song, the keçava or the bakula, when sprinkled with intoxicant from her mouth. Raghuv., ix, 33; xix, 12; Gauḍavaha, 1087; Weber, Ind. Studien, xviii, 325; Karpūramañj., p. 62 ff.; Pārvatīpariṇ., iii, 6; etc. Indians often give a list of the charms through which woman puts a man in fetters. According to Buddha's saying (Schiefner, Bull. d. St. Petersburger Akad., Bd. 23, "Indische Erzählungen," No. xliii) this happens in eight ways: through dance, song, play, aughter, weeping, look, touch and question. Cp. also Lalitavistara, ed. Lefmann, p. 320; Kalpasūtra, ed. Jacobi, i, 221.