________________
The Arvārs
[CH.
Again the lord replies to a friend's criticism of his infatuation for his mistress:
76
Those lilies red, which are the life of me
The eyes of her who's like the heaven of him....
The mistress is unable to endure the darkness and is yet further vexed by the appearance of the moon:
Oh, let the crescent moon which cleaves the dark Encompassing of night, cleave me as well! Ah, does it issue forth in brightness now, That happy bloom may come to desolate me Who only long for flowers of tulasi?
The mistress's friend despairs at the sight of her languishing:
...Ah! as she sobs and lisps The cloud-hued's names, I know not if she'll live Or if her frame and spirit mild must pass!
Again in Kula-sekhara's Tirumal-Tiru-mori, C. 5:
Though red fire comes itself and makes fierce heat, The lotus red blooms not
Save for the fierce-rayed one
Who in the lofty heavens has his seat.
Vitruvakōdu's Lord, Thou wilt not remove
My woe, my heart melts not save at Thy boundless love....
With gathered waters all the streams ashine Must spread abroad and run
And enter the deep sea
And cannot stand outside. So refuge mine,
Save in the shining bliss of entering Thee, is none, Vitruvakōdu's Lord, thick cloud-hued, virtuous one!1
Again from the same book2:
No kinship with the world have I
Which takes for true the life that is not true.
"For thee alone my passion burns," I cry, "Rangan, my Lord!"
No kinship with this world have IWith throngs of maidens slim of waist: With joy and love I rise for one alone, and cry
"Rangan, my Lord!"
1 Hooper, op. cit. p. 48.
2 Ibid. p. 44.
