Setubandha

SR No.: 001384
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

Page 287

126
SETUBANDHA
16. Wearily the young women set about returning home, turning to their beloved as they parted; 11 listlessly setting their left foot down, and stepping forth unsteadily because of the plump faltering thighs.
17. Stirring the lotus pools into bloom, the day returned, having travelled all night, with the visage decked with the gleam of the morning; even as an elephant, gone astray, returns after roaming through the night, with its face smeared with red earth, having troubled the water of the lotus pools.
18. The opening lotus blossoms, seemed to declare that the Beauty adorning the day had planted her foot on them as she, awakened by the morning glow, rose to greet the sun that had come.
19. Separating without fear at nightfall in the waters of the sea, the conches, isolated from one another, and helpless in the morning, closed in on the reflection of the moon, as if it were their mother.
20. The scent of the day lotus beds as they burst into bloom was rich, even though scattered by the wind, because it issued all at once after long confinement (within the petals);12 and was sweetened by the honey of the flowers stirred by the breeze).
21. As the Raksasa warriors took leave of their mistresses, who were shedding tears, the pleasure of embracing them was the last they ever had.13
22. Rāma woke, even though he had not really slept. The day had arrived for him to requite the wrong done by Rāvana, and the time was ripe for letting loose his wrath; while the joy (of meeting Sitā) was delayed only by the impending war.
23. Unequal in suffering was that night and the long time that had elapsed as Rāma endured the grief of separation from Sītā, which was to persist only for the four watches of that night.14
11. Or, retiring from the presence of their beloved. 12. The petals of the day lotus remain closed during the night. 13. Because they never returned from the war with Rāma.
14. i.e., the night preceding the battle that was to end in the recovery of Sitā seemed to Rāma to be longer than the years of separation from her.