Page:The Sanskrit Drama.djvu/242

Rh largely spoiled in their context by their being embedded in masses of tasteless matter. Thus the benediction of the Viddhaçālabhañjikā is decidedly graceful:

kulagurur abalānāṁ kelidikṣāpradāne

paramasuhṛd anan̄go rohiṇīvallabhasya

api kusumapṛṣatkair devadevasya jetā

jayati suratalīlānāṭikāsūtradhāraḥ.

'Family preceptor of young maidens for the bestowal of the sacrament of love, the bodyless one, dearest friend of Rohiṇī's lover, he that with his flower arrows overthrew the god of gods, he is victorious ever, the director of the comedy of the play of love's mysteries.'

The description of summer is also pretty if banal:

rajaniviramayāmeṣv ādiçantī ratecchām

kim api kaṭhinayantī nārikelīphalāmbhaḥ

api pariṇamayitrī rājarambhāphalānām

dinapariṇatiramyā vartate grīṣmalakṣmiḥ.

This is the glorious season of summer, delightful in the length of the days, when the royal plantain fruits are ripened, and the milk in the coco-nut is hardened, and the season bids us enjoy the delight of love in the closing watches of the night.'

The signs of a maiden distracted by unfulfilled affection are quaintly described:

candraṁ candanakardamena likhitaṁ sā mārṣṭi daṣṭadharā

bandhyaṁ nindati yac ca manmatham asau bhaṅktvāgrahastān̄gurīḥ

kāmaḥ puṣpaçaraḥ kileti sumanovargaṁ lunīte ca yat

tat kāmyā subhaga tvayā varatanur vātūlatāṁ lambhitā.

'Biting her lip, she wipes out the figure of the moon sketched in sandal paste; snapping her finger-tips she mocks at love as barren; to flout his darts, the flowers she gathers she tears in shreds; assuredly the fair one whom thou shouldst love hath been brought by thee to madness.'

antastāraṁ taralitatalāḥ stokam utpīḍabhājaḥ

pakṣmāgreṣu grathitapṛṣataḥ kīrṇadhārāḥ krameṇa

cittātan̄kaṁ nijagarimataḥ samyag āsūtrayanto

niryānty asyāḥ kuvalayadṛço bāṣpavārām pravāhāḥ.

'Rippled on the surface of the pupil, slightly foaming, forming drops on the tips of the lashes, then slowly issuing in streams,