Jain Ramayana Part 1

Author(s): Bhadraguptasuri
Publisher: Vishvakalyan Prakashan Trust Mehsana

Page 94

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JAIN RAMAYAN
with admiration for him. So sweet, in its soft golden smiles, fascinating as a fervent dream, faded the day as they were lost in their amorous sports. In the mornings, they walked along grassy plains arm in arm forgetting everything. Her eyes were deeper than the depth of waters stilled when no winds blow; but suddenly there would appear waves of joy and throw her into states of sheer passion and ecstasy. He tasted honey in her words and saw moonshine in her smiles.
In this manner, the river of hours and days passed into the endless and boundless ocean of time.
One day, Dashmukh Ravan happened to travel through the sky alone; he went flying higher and higher; he went beyond the boundaries of the earth, into some unknown areas in space. He was at such a great height that wherever he cast his eyes, he saw clouds, clouds and nothing but clouds. Dashmukh was above the clouds. It was as if the clouds had assumed the form of a garland of victory and had decked his neck; and as if they were clinging around his mighty head. All of a sudden, his eyes fell on the sky-high peaks of the mountain of Meghrava. The snow-covered mountains filled him with a boundless delight and peace. Very soon, he descended on the Meghrava mountain. As he kept watching with fascination, the various colourful and beautiful aspects of nature, his eyes, by chance, fell upon a spot there. He was thrilled to the brims of his being when he saw that infatuating sight.
Thousands of beautiful Vidyadhar damsels were freely bathing in a lake of pellucid water on the northern side.
Dashmukh Ravan made a decision in his mind and proceeded towards that land of the love-god, Manmatha. A little away from the lake there was a massive banyan tree. He stood among the bushes beneath the tree and from that place of hiding he kept watching the infatuating beauty of the damsels, with an inebriating fascination. When they sensed the presence of a stranger there, their eye-brows contracted with anxiety. But when they saw a young man who possessed a fascinating appearance and who possessed greater grace and