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14
Appointment with Kalidasa
a variety of flowers will be there to greet the cloud, as there will be village women, pushing the hair back from their eyes and looking up to him. There will also be playful women, on the Kailasa mountain, who will poke the cloud with the points of their bracelets and turn him into a shower-house. At Ujjayini the cloud can refresh his memory with the story of Udayana; he can attend the evening worship at the Mahakala temple, where the attendants of Siva will greet him because he resembles the dark-blue throat of Siva in his colour, and he can take active part in the worship replacing the drums by his thunder. The rivers are the beloveds of the cloud; the one that looks emaciated the cloud will be able to revive with new vigour; the one that is buxom he can enjoy. The entire journey of the cloud will, thus, be crowded with pleasure and enjoyment.
The end of the journey is Alaka, which is the delight of delights. A semi-divine, fabulous city situated on divine precincts, it has all the splendour of the Lord of wealth, the luxuriance of nature and the charm of a dream city. All flowers bloom here all the year round, the nights are all moon-Jit, the men and women are blessed with eternal youth, and the Kalpa tree alone creates all the things needed by women for their toilette and decoration. Yakşa's own house is to the the north of Kubera's mansion. There is a young Mandara tree near it, reared by Yaksa's wife, and so small that she can pick its flowers easily. There is a beautiful arch, and a well in the house in which golden lotuses with green jewelled stalks bloom and emarald steps lead to it; the swans come to rest here forgetting the Manasa lake. There is a pleasure-hill near the well surrounded by gold plantain creepers, a favourite spot of Yakṣa's wife. A red Aśoka and a charming Kesara stand by the house; a marble board is fixed between them with gold sticks; it is a spot where the Yaksa's wife loves to sit and teach the peacock to dance keeping the musical rhythm by clapping her palms to the accompaniment of her tinkling bracelets. Besides, a conch and a lotus are painted on the door-jamb. These are the signs by which the cloud will be able to recognise the house without difficulty.
One cannot be sure what time of the day or night the cloud will reach Alaka and Yaksa's house. If the wife is asleep due to fatigue and the unbearable of separation, the Yakṣa would request the cloud not to disturb her but wait for a while. Mostly, she would be dragging herself through the long hours, keeping herself occupied doing the various cores. She may be placing the offerings on the doorstep; painting a picture of the emaciated Yakṣa; talking to the Särikä in the cage; or humming a personal song to the tune of the lute, forgetting the words and the melody lost in her tears; counting the remaining days of the period of separation by placing flowers on the threshold. The Yakṣapatni is a very beautiful woman, with an ideal form and perfect limbs, but the separation must have affected her terribly, making her lean, soiled, neglecting her toilette and decoration, somehow living on the hope that the separation will end and she will be in the arms of her husband, A
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