________________
26
ŚṚNGARAMANJARIKATHA
the bridge of character melts; courage fails, discrimination disappears; strength is crushed and maturity flies away. Many who have erred have been destroyed. The company of the wicked, which is void of affection by nature, should be avoided even from a distance; the sight of dhūrtas is as undesirable as bad dreams and the company of singas is the unbolted door to evils. The sound of the triple harmony of instrumental music, singing and dancing is the drum announcing the banishment of wealth; songs are the hunter's songs to capture the deer in the form of mind; the merriments of pleasure-gardens are vital blows to wealth; the dips in waters for sport are the drowning of wealth; religious pilgrimages are the funeral processions of prosperity; the impassioned glances of young women bring about evil like drudgery; dice are the enemies of discrimination; the ties of friendship with singas are tightenings of fetters; gambling is the secret intention of acquiring wealth; the courtyards of prostitutes are sisters of slaughter houses; the streets in vicinity of brothels are unwholesome; therefore, being cautious, you should act in consideration of your own position. Who have not been reduced to the state of derision by acting contrary to their rank and position? We hear that even powerful kings like Purūravas and others were brought under subjection by courtesans like Urvasi and others".
Now, as days passed by, when his father had died and his mother followed him, and when with the passage of time his sorrow had lessened, Spring, the fiend of the fish-bannered God and the dancing teacher of the actor, sentiment of love, set in.
(It was the season) when gradually the mango groves were inlaid with clusters of buds; when the throats of the cuckoos became red with singing in the fifth note; when the Madhavi creepers were pained by the repeated blossoming (of flowers); when the thick clusters of lotuses smiled a little on seeing the perplexities of the separated people; when the forests of Kimśuka trees, because they were full of burning charcoals (in the form of flowers), appeared as if enveloped in the flames of love uprising after the smoke was seen first; when the Aśoka trees causing anguish to the separated ones by the abundance of blooming clusters were flashing in all the directions like the fire of love; when buds of blue, red and tawny colours, looking like Rati's bejewelled sporting ornaments, cropped up, fascinating the minds of all; when swarms of bees desirous of the fine fragrance of the Kurabaka trees did not steadily remain anywhere, because they had no attachment like the group of the separated; when the rows of trees attained loveliness like a new bride, being covered with a veil in the form of the fresh leaves; when the cooing of flocks of cuckoos was heard everywhere like the sound of the twanging of the strings (of the bow) of the flower
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
