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SETUBANDHA
101
18. A bank of light clouds, suffused with the evening glow, clung to the sky, as if reddened by the rays that shot up when the orb of the sun, falling from above, appeared to dash against the earth.
19. The evening glow appeared on the summit of the sunset mountain, as if it were the banner, rising after it had gone down, of the sun's swift chariot as it wound its way round the Meru mountain; (the banner) reddened by the molten gold of the mountain rubbed off its slopes.
20. The night lotus bed burst into bloom while being swayed by the breeze. With the filaments coloured by the gleam of the evening, it assumed a white and reddish hue, resembling a lion's mane smeared with the blood of the elephant (killed by it).
21. The shadows at the end of the day that made the ten directions grey were faint and long, and still free from the onset of darkness, with the partly dissolving gleam of the evening scattered here and there.
22. Bereft of the evening glow, with the sun far down, the sky looked everywhere alike, resembling a hearth where a blazing fire was dying down.
23. As the remaining splendour of the day faded away the light of the lamps, dimmed by the evening glow, became distinct, being set off by the partly accumulating darkness.
· 24. A helpless pair of red geese parted from each other, with the bond of passion rent asunder, and their life reduced to moans, their only joy of love being the meeting of their eyes as they lingered on the opposite banks of a stream. . 25. Black as a grove of Tamāla trees, darkness, meanwhile, pressed heavily on the extensive evening glow, even as the mud
- 7. Meru is the golden mountain at the centre of Jambudvipa round which the planets were supposed to revolve. Here, the gold of the mountain is fancied as being melted by the sun; and the glow of the sky at sunset is figured as the banner of the sun's chariot that had brushed against the molten gold.
8. The reference is to a pair of Cakravāla birds supposed to separate at nightfall.
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