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ऋजुतां नयतः स्मरामि ते शरमुत्सङ्गनिषण्णधन्वनः । मधुना सह सस्मितां कथां नयनोपान्तविलोकितं च तत् ॥ | 24
Studies in
"I remember your merry talk with Vasanta and your casting a side-glance at me, as you were straightening the arrow, with the bow on your lap."
But where is Madhu (i.e., Vasanta) your bosom friend? Is he also, like you, reduced to ashes by Siva whose anger is dreadful? I hope not.
At that moment Vasanta made his appearance to console her. On seeing him she again wailed aloud :
तमवेक्ष्य रुरोद सा भृशं स्तनसंबाधमुरो जघान च । a
स्वजनस्य हि दुःखमग्रतो विवृतद्वारमिवोपजायते ||15
"On seeing him she wailed bitterly and beat her bosom violently causing pain to the breasts. Grief breaks out as if opening its flood-gates in the presence of one's own people."
Rati bids Vasanta heap the pyre so that she may follow Käma in death. This is the bounden duty of every pativrard (faithful wife) :
शशिना सह याति कौमुदी सह मेघेन तडित प्रलीयते ।
प्रमदाः पतिवर्त्मगा इति प्रतिपन्नं हि विचेतनैरपि || 20
"The moon-light goes with the moon and the lightning vanishes with the cloud; that ladies follow the path of their husbands, is thus admitted even by inanimate or lifeless things."
Besmearing her breasts with Kama's ashes Rati will place her body on fire as on a bed of fresh leaves. She asks Vasanta to make the fire burn quickly with the help of the Southern wind to enable her to join her husband at the earliest. After her death, only one handful of libation should be offered to herself and Kama who would share it in heaven. She asks Vasanta to offer mango-blossoms-which were so dear to Kama-as a funeral offering.
From this detailed summary of 'Rati's Lament' it is clear that the opening verse simply states how Rati, who was cast into a faint by the sudden blow of her husband's death, regains her consciousness. The fourth verse ('Atha så punareva vihvalä", etc.) vividly depicts the anubhavas of the sentiment of pathos Rati's overpowering grief (at finding Kama, her beloved husband, reduced to ashes), her rolling about on the ground with her breasts dusty, her hair all dishevelled and her wailing aloud. These reactions on the part of Rati are perfectly natural. Further on, when Vasanta (Spring), Kama's bosom friend, presents himself before the distressed Rati for consoling her she begins to weep still more bitterly beating her bosom all the while and her (pent up) grief flows forth with all its force (at Vasanta's sight). This reaction of Rati is also perfectly natural. Kalidasa's observation:
14. Kumāra IV-23.
15. Kumāra IV-26. 16. Kumāra IV-33.
