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SETUBANDHA
105 54. The mountains looked white, with the lofty peaks distinctly visible, and the base coming into view, with the expanse of their shadows obliterated by the rays of the moon at the zenith.
55. A place dark amidst the deep shadows of the trees was shunned (by people) thinking it was a hollow; while a hollow, flooded with moonlight, was confidently traversed like level ground.
56, 57. When thus the eventide came, while the red geese, 11 separated from their mates, and kept awake by love, pined on the banks of streams; and the bees had hardly enough of space inside the closing day lotus blossoms: the hearts of the young women (of Lankā), overcome by passion, and beset with anxieties at the advent of Rāma, both desired and shrank from the acts of love.
58. The kisses of the lovers were lost upon the young women, as the sweetness felt melted away, and the joy was marred by passion slackened by anxieties, and the emotion subsided as it rose.
59. The young women trembled and sighed and languished. Faint-hearted, they tossed about on the bed. None knew whether they were scared or overcome by passion.
60. Having seen on the breast of their beloved the scars left by the thrusts of the tusks of the attacking elephants of the quarters, 12 they trembled for a long while, affrighted as they remembered the impending battle.
61. Their eyes, half closed in the joy of dalliance, and resembling Mālatī buds, lightly pressed by bees, opened with a panicky stare and betrayed their dread of war.
62,63. Thereupon at nightfall when the moon brought joy, and the exhilaration caused by wine heightened the pleasure of meeting the beloved, and passion rooted out pride, and the joy of love was dominated by mutual affection; the young women, with their hearts revealed by the effect of wine, appeared to turn away from their lovers, angry even though unoffended; yielded
11. Cf. verse 24. 12. In previous battles with the gods. S. 14
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| SR No. | 001384 |
| Book Title | Setubandha |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Krishnakant Handiqui |
| Publisher | Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad |
| Publication Year | 1976 |
| Total Pages | 812 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit |
| Classification | Book_English & Literature |
| File Size | 14 MB |