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482
VAJJÁLAGGAM
consort had assured her at the time of his departure that he would be returning after a certain fixed number of days. In order to keep a count of the days of his absence already expired and of those yet to expire, the lady used to draw a line for each day passed by her in his absence. (Cf. the similar device used by Robinson Crusoe to keep count of the days of his stay on the desolate island where he was stranded for 36 years). Her friends feared that the lady's consort may not be able to return exactly on the day stipulated by him. If it happened like that and if he did not turn up on the scheduled day, that might come as a shock to the lady. In order to spare her this shock, her friends stealthily removed or erased two or three lines on the wall. As two or three lines were erased, the count was less by two or three days than the actual number of days that had elapsed and even if the consort were to be late by two or three days, the lady would not notice it. If, however, he were to return on the promised day, the lady would think that he had returned two or three days earlier than what he had promised and in that case she would be extremely delighted. For a similar device to keep count of the period of separation, see Meghadūta st. 9: at qa fan9172971 -... Haar and st. 84 : TT AF1 T TEET 2979591 f4g-ya TA ESITEपुप्पैः । फुस is mentioned along with पुस, पुंछ etc. as a धात्वादेश for /मृज to wipe off or erase, at HŚ. VIII.4,105. It really represents the Sanskrit root v4753 to erase or rub away. The readings sister att (already inscribed on the wall) and aहिं चिय (= तस्मिम् एव कुड्ये) in Hala appear to be preferable to Rights (while she was inscribing and ng fead in the Vajjālagga, It would not be possible for the friends to earse 2 or 3 lines, while the Nāyikā is actually engaged in drawing the line for a particular day; they could, however, do so only when she has already finished the work of drawing the line and gone away. Further the use of the word aliats (secretly) shows clearly that the friends must have erased a couple of lines, not while the Nāyikā was engaged in inscribing the line for a particular day, but only after she had finished that and gone away.
379) अज्जेव कइ दिणा होति । Mss G and I read अज्जेण for अज्जेव.
Bostot = 3997 i.e. 31a eroa saft fara wafaa—when you say that he departed today, how many days since his departure does that
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