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SETUBANDHA
97
. 81. The course of the swift horses of the Sun on the mountain could be recognised, being marked by the pollen of flowers scattered by their breath, with the bees flying about, and hairs from their white Cámara whisks settling on the creepers on the slopes.
82. There, the tears of the captive nymphs,48 rolling down their cheeks, and always coloured dark by the collyrium paint of their eyes, soiled the scarves hanging from the celestial creepers.49
83. The track of the sun, marked by clumps of trees withered and crushed, and worn out by its constant journeys through the sky in its northern and southern courses, seemed to terminate on a single peak of the mountain.
84. Spreading in all directions, it seemed to extend the three worlds as it grew in extent, cleaving the earth with its weight and enveloping the nether regions, and covering up the sky.
85. There, the mutually hostile seasons abode all together, attached to the groves of celestial beauty, with the bees attracted by the fragrance of the flowers; even as the elephants of the gods, resorting to the celestial garden, are tied to a single post, with the bees following the scent (of their ichor).50
86. The sun, overcome by fear of Rāvana abiding near by, was seen to slink away, extricating its slanting orb when it got stuck between the peaks of the mountain.
87. There, as the deer, delighted to hear the charming songs of the Kinnaras, closed their eyes, and stopped chewing the cud, their hair, standing on end, slowly became smooth again.
88. The angry elephants quarrelled in the waters of the lakes, resounding with the call of the noisy swans moving about on the banks; and the tips of the petals of the night lotus beds suffered no harm even at sunrise, because they touched the moon in the sky.51
48. Cf. verses 47 and 50. 49. i.e., they wiped their eyes with the scarves for which see verse 25. 50. See verse 61.
51. The night lotus shrinks at sunrise and blooms by moonlight. Here the plants on the lakes at the top of the mountain were in constant bloom owing to the proximity of the moon.
S. 13
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