466. All of the archers had poisoned arrows
which they shot at the panicking game.
Here a rhinoceros charged madly about;
there, antelopes fell writhing in agony.
Wounded bears staggered round in circles.
Buffalo were lying on their backs,
kicking out with their hooves.
The cheetahs and leopards killed many deer.
The hounds overcame countless boar.
Many animals were caught still living,
but many died from the effects of the poison.
After hunting for about three hours, the entire group returned home again.
The two princes, wanting some fun in the water, began to swim in a river.
A Vision of Beauty
467. They said to themselves: ‘The sun is very hot,
let us go home only when it’s cooler.’
While the Princes were playing about in the water,
Pemā said to Madhumālatī: ‘The two Princes
are not at home today, so let’s go
to the picture-pavilion and swing there.
Today my mind wants to go to a place
where we can swing to our heart’s content.
When shall we get such a chance again
to swing happily in our parents’ home?’
Madhumālatī heard and got up happily, and they went to the mango grove together.
The moment they heard the word ‘swinging’, all their girlfriends ran to join them.
468. The lovely maidens took to the swings
and began swinging high and low,
singing songs in the sweetest of tones.
As they swung, one girl’s hair came undone.
Another’s garland broke on her chest.
Many girls’ heads became uncovered.
The edges of many maidens’ saris
began to flutter in the breeze.
They were swinging holding on
to the thin ropes of the swings,
so slender that their waists seemed
to join two separate bodies together.
As they swung they looked
like goddesses seated in flying chariots.
Their young breasts budded and blossomed, like children coming into new maturity.
They tucked their saris into the sashes at their waists and began to swing excitedly.
469. By evening it had become cooler,
and the heat of the sun had eased.
Grooms saddled and brought Arab horses,
and the two royal princes mounted.
So swiftly did they ride their stallions
that in a moment they were at the royal gate.
They asked where the Princesses were,
and were told they had gone to swing
with all their friends and companions.
Hearing they were not at home, they said,
‘Why should we go into an empty palace?’
Together they set off for the painted picture-pavilion in the mango grove
where the daughter of Vikram Rāi was swinging with all her friends.
470. When the two arrived at the entrance,
they saw that the doors were open.
Manohar rode to the door and dismounted.
Seeing nobody about, he went into the pavilion.
As he entered he made no sound,
so nobody knew when he came in.
There they swung, mad with delight,
singing as sweetly as cuckoos.
Intoxicated with youth, they were swinging
with the borders of their saris fluttering,
making no attempt to cover their breasts.
They swung holding on to the swings’ ropes, their jewelled earrings sparkling,
like goddesses who had flown down from heaven seated in their chariots.
471. Prince Tārācand was right behind him
and set both his feet within the threshold.
His gaze fell directly on Pemā,
who was swinging standing on her swing.
As she swung, her sari fell open at the breast.
Tārācand saw, and all knowledge left his mind.
Her two swelling breasts were prominent
and forced themselves into the Prince’s sight.
The moment that he saw her breasts,
they deprived him of his life.
His body fell lifeless to the ground.
His captive life came to live in his eyes, while his body lay senseless on the earth.
He shook violently as if stung by a serpent, and he could not utter a word.
Prince Tārācand in Love
472. A maidservant who had gone to the door
saw the Prince lying senseless there.
She cried out to Madhumālatī,
Prince Tārācand is lying at the door.
He could be bewitched by a demon
or a voracious female witch.
Perhaps he has fainted from an excess of bile,
or maybe he has a fever or dizziness.
Maybe someone has put the evil eye on him
since he lies there with his arms on his neck.
His eyelids will not close over his eyes and the blood in his body has dried up.
He lies unconscious on the ground and nobody knows what he suffers from.’
473. The moment that she heard, Madhumālatī ran,
sobbing loudly, ‘Brother, my dear brother.’
She lifted his head and put it on her lap,
praying to the Creator with folded hands.
She wept bitterly over the Prince.
With her hand she hit her forehead,
lamenting, ‘What has happened to you,
O brother from a foreign land?
You who found my beloved for me
now sleep as though quite dead.
For my sake you abandoned your life,
but I have done nothing to serve you.
Open your eyes and tell me of the pain in your heart, the weakness in your body.
If I could hear what is wrong then maybe I could devise a remedy for it.
474. ‘When I lost hope, you made my dream come true,
and I have done nothing to help you.
You abandoned your kingdom
and your throne to bring me here.
You united me with the one I could not find.
When my mother exiled me as a bird,
you made me human again.
When my mother cut the moorings
and cast me out on the vast ocean,
brave brother, you brought me to shore again.
On the limitless ocean of sorrow
I was floating without any support.
My bark was drifting without an anchor line or a steersman to guide me—
you gave me anchor and support when I sank in the middle of the ocean.’
475. Manohar was in the picture-pavilion.
Hearing the commotion he came running
to the door. Seeing Tārācand’s condition,
he became very concerned, and sprinkled
cold water over the Prince’s eyes.
After a long wait, Tārācand’s soul
returned again to his body.
He sat up, breathing deeply from his chest.
Opening his eyes, he looked all around.
When Manohar thought he was steadier,
he had him taken to the palace in a litter.
The summons went out to all the different wise men to be found in the city,
and hearing the royal command they all came to the palace gates.
476. All the physicians and diviners
presented themselves at the palace
where Prince Tārācand was lying
bewitched by the enchantment of love.
They checked his pulse carefully
but could not discern any cause
for pain
within his body, although
they noticed that his blood had dried up.
The psychic channels of sun and moon
were flowing normally in his body.*
But his eyelids would not close,
and he could not wake up from the spell.
Finally they pronounced that his soul
was infatuated with someone,
and he would only awaken when he saw her.
They said that he should be asked to tell whom he loved so passionately.
Therefore he must reveal the name of his beloved, since there was no other cure.
Beauty Revealed
477. Then Madhumālatī, that best of maidens,
approached Tārācand and spoke gently to him.
She came alone and sat near the Prince,
asking him, ‘What pains you, dear brother?
If you have fallen in love with somebody,
I will bring her to be with you
and nobody will be any the wiser.
Apart from you, me, and the Creator,
no one else shall know a thing about it.’
Tārācand replied, ‘I cannot speak,
so how can I tell you of my suffering?
I do not know the name of the beautiful one who has stolen my soul.
Moreover, I would feel ashamed to speak about such matters with you.’
478. ‘Brother, how can you feel shame with me?
Forget this shame and tell me all about it.
If I knew her name I could bring her here
to be with you, even if she were a heavenly goddess.’
Tārācand replied: ‘I saw her standing as she swung.
The moment my gaze fell on her my soul was lost.
Her two eyes shone as brightly as two stars
risen in daylight and shining on earth.
If you sit here and listen for a moment,
I shall tell you what I saw there.
My tongue can not recount what my eyes have seen.
Of her thousand qualities, hear but one as I describe her.’
479. ‘Listen first while I tell of her parting,
like a naked sword set on her head.
I was slain by that sword
and cut in two the moment that I saw her.
It seemed like the flame of a lamp
burning in the darkness of her hair.
Her head was covered in red blood.
The cobras of her locks seized me
and devoured me whole. Where is the healer
who can remove the waves of this venom?
I was dazzled when I saw her forehead.
Even now my eyes see only darkness.
Just as one cannot look directly at the shining rays of the sun
so, when I saw her forehead, I was blinded and fell unconscious.
480. ‘Her eyebrows were sharp pointed arrows,
murderous weapons that kill on sight.
Whoever she looks on, turning her glances,
his soul becomes her captive instantly.
Her eyelashes were like the finest arrows
which are only seen when they hit home.
Seeing her nose I was speechless.
How can I describe her lovely nose?
It is worth the whole of creation.
Her lips were bimba fruits* filled with nectar.
They were reddened from drinking the blood of lovers suffering the pangs of separation.
Her lips, the colour of flame and full of nectar, caused only distress to me.
I do not know for whom they are nectar sweet, but to me they were fiery sparks.
481. ‘Seeing the brilliance of her teeth
I could not control myself—
I fell senseless as one struck by lightning.
Between them lives her priceless tongue.
When it spoke, a well of nectar opened.
And when my gaze fell on her mole—
let me tell you my true state—I felt as if
I had lost all power over my body.
Seeing the glow and beauty of her cheeks,
the mirror tries to clean itself every day
by rubbing its own face with ashes.
Earrings sparkled on both sides of her ears
as though lit up by a flash of lightning.
How beautiful were the lovely black lines of collyrium around her eyes,
as if her eyes were reaching to her ears in order to make friends with them!
482. ‘Her neck was quite beyond compare,
as if the All-maker had fashioned it himself.
The three lines on the neck of that maiden
were snares for the innocent deer of my eyes.
Vermilion and saffron mixed together
filled her shining crystal throat.
Her two breasts had dark shades
over their tips. Spontaneously,
they came and pierced my eyes.
These two brave conquerors of souls
would have fought without the necklace
which acted as peacemaker between them.
Both her firm, cruel breasts were vessels filled with the nectar of love.
I beheld the maiden’s swelling breasts, like inverted bowls of gold.
483. ‘I can find nothing in the world
to compare to her lovely arms.
How can I praise them properly?
There is nothing which matches them.
Either I am too stupid to describe them,
or maybe the Creator Himself
made them uniquely beautiful.
Some might call them lotus stalks,
yet others, tender plantain stems.
I was enchanted on seeing her wrists,
their beauty enhanced by golden bracelets.
Her palms shone as pure as quartz
on which red minium had been rubbed.
Holding the ropes with her leaf-like palms, she was swinging with her friends.
The nails on her hands, when I saw them, were like the scarlet buds of the coral tree.
484. ‘Through rubbing it with unguents
she had made her stomach flat.
No matter what I compared it to,
in the end it was still matchless.
Her navel was a deep, unfathomable pool.
Whoever fell in, wouldn’t reach the bottom.
When she was swinging standing on the swing
her waist seemed to want to snap into two.
And when I saw her buxom buttocks
I could hardly contain myself—
a single mountain had split into two hills.
I don’t know what happened when I saw her thighs,
they were like the golden trunks
of plantain trees, turned upside down.
Her legs were murderous brigands who kicked at me with separation’s pangs.
If you looked at the soles of her feet openly, you’d see they were stained with blood.’
Madhumālatī Arranges Matters
485. The Prince finished telling his story.
When she heard, Madhumālatī was speechless.
She began thinking, puzzling in her mind
over whom the Prince had seen
and became very distressed.
‘I do not have a companion like that,
though, of course, it might be Pemā.’
‘My brother,’ she said, ‘be patient.
I will go and find the answer to your pain.’
Then Madhumālatī realized for sure
that it could be no one else but Pemā.
‘I will call all my companions here and look into the matter at once.
Whether she be a maiden or a married woman I shall come and tell you.’
486. Madhumālatī rose and returned home,
where she explained everything to Manohar.
That beautiful one repeated to her beloved
all that she had told Prince Tārācand.
He was overjoyed
when he heard,
and said, ‘What is the worry?
When I killed the demon and took Pemā
back to her home, she was given to me.
I did not accept the offer then
because I had no deep love for her,
but now I shall take her
and marry her to Prince Tārācand.’
Saying this, the Prince and Princess both went to see King Citrasena.
He seated them all in a place of privacy and sent for
Queen Madhurā.
487. Prince Manohar stood before the King
with hands joined in entreaty and said,
‘Father, I have a humble request to make.
With your permission I shall ask you,
though I feel shame to say this to my father.’
The King granted his permission
and promised to take their words seriously. They both then revealed the whole matter.
‘Prince Tārācand belongs to a noble family.
He is the lord of great and powerful Māngarh.
He is learned, generous and truthful.
Your darling daughter Pemā is my adoptive sister. If you just say the word,
we can give her to Prince Tārācand and tie the marriage knot between them.’
488. The King heard, and looked at Manohar’s face.
‘Why’, he said, ‘do you ask me this?
From the day that you killed the demon
and snatched Pemā back, she was your servant.
Take her hand and give her in marriage
to whomsoever you please. Who am I in this?’
When the king delivered his promise thus,
they went back and set the house rejoicing.
The Prince immediately sent for astrologers
who worked out the stars and signs for the couple.
All the families, all the relatives and retainers, were sent invitations to the wedding.
Celebrations rang out in every house, and the whole city sang auspicious songs.
The Wedding Feast
489. News of the wedding spread abroad
and the work for the feast grew apace.
Monday, the thirteenth day of the month,
was the day fixed for the wedding.
Every house in the city celebrated.
The King invited every town and city.
When the thirteenth day arrived,
King Citrasena threw a grand banquet.
The finest couches were brought
and spread out. The King and court
all took their places. When they were seated,
the wedding feast was served.
Thousands of dishes were put before everyone.
The king and all the distinguished guests were given the ‘five nectars’* to feast on.
Delicacies of every sort were placed before each person
to savour.
490. When the wedding feast was over,
people began to return home