the shade spread by their plumage.
18
Heated by a fiery sun,
the mud around the lake has dried,
and is now encrusted by
the weeds of bhadramusta:
a host of pigs dig deep into them
with long snouts, as if to reach
the cold richness of the earth below.
19
In the lake, the net of lotus roots
lies mangled and the fish imperilled
while the frightened birds have flown away;
a throng of elephants now makes it,
as they jostle one another,
a dense melee of mud.
20
The hooded snake is now tormented
by both the fire of its venom
and the glare of the sun;
the gem’s glow on its hood is dimmed
by the sun’s candescence;
overwrought with thirst, it sips
the air with forked and twitching tongue,
and does not hunt for frogs.
21
A herd of buffaloes has emerged
from the ravines in the hillside,
mouths frothing with a gush of foam,
and red tongues hanging out of them;
they too are distraught with thirst
and in search of water.
22
When viewed from high above,
the forest is a fearful sight
with water diminished everywhere
in the heat of a glaring sun,
with bamboo sprouts by fire singed,
and dry leaves swirling in the wind.
23
A flock of panting birds is perched
on the trees with withered leaves;
a family of apes, fatigued,
searches for some hillside grove;
a herd of wild oxen wanders—
all wishing for water;
and some brash young elephants
suck it straight out of wells.
24
It has the red glow of safflower
petals scattered fresh and clear,
it is the fire: stoked by gusts of wind,
strong and with a forceful speed,
anxious to embrace the trees
and the vines laced on their branches;
it has, on all sides, scorched the ground.
25
A fire from the forest outskirts
feeds on shrubs and spreads in moments
through groves of dry and withered bamboos
that crackle and sharply burst
with a sound by the wind carried,
as it pierces through the caves in hills,
driving bands of beasts away.
26
The fire, by the wind propelled
from forest outskirts, sweeps all over,
more so on silk-cotton trees,
their high branches bending down,
their hollows lit by its golden glow.
27
Elephants, lions and wild buffaloes,
their bodies almost seared by flames,
give up their mutual antipathy
and, together, like dear friends
suffering in a common distress,
come swiftly out of their abodes
to the sand banks of the river
in order to seek refuge.
28
But—a lake covered with lotus blooms,
pleasant bathing in its waters,
the lovely scent of trumpet flowers,
moonlight spreading a web enjoyable,
and, at night, some music sweet
with beautiful and charming maidens
on the terrace of a mansion:
thus happily, may your summer pass.
CANTO 2
Monsoon
1
The time of rains has come, my darling,
spreading its splendour like a king,
with streaming clouds, the rutting elephants,
lightning flashes, swirling banners,
peals of thunder, beating drums:
a season dear to lovers all.
2
Everywhere the sky is covered
by dark clouds which have a glow
like blue lotus flower leaves,
or the hue of nipples on the breasts
of young women who are pregnant.
3
Hanging low with the weight of water,
sought by thirsty chataka birds,
the clouds move slowly and rain down
in showers with delightful sounds.
4
Clouds also bear the bow of Indra,
colourful and stringed with lightning,
but their terrible twangs of thunder,
and arrows sharp of pouring rain
forcefully assail the mind
and torment all travellers.
5
The earth—covered with sprouting grass
gleaming like crushed emeralds,
and a new growth of plantain trees
with scarlet beetles upon them—
now does shine, like a lovely girl
in colourful jewels adorned.
6
A host of peacocks, brilliant
with plumes, gorgeous and spread out,
now eager for the sound of thunder,
which for them is always thrilling,
quickly seek to kiss their partners,
and begin their dance today.
7
Rivers rushing towards the sea
bring down, with the flow torrential
of their turbid, mud-laced waters,
trees which were upon their banks:
they are like wanton women in
a hurry to reach somewhere.
8
The woodlands on the Vindhya hills,
their trees embellished with new foliage,
and dales covered with dark green grass
that has sprouted tender shoots
now being nibbled at by does—
all this now enchants the mind.
9
The sandy forest grounds are teeming
with deer whose faces are adorned
with eyes lotus-like and large,
and tremulous with some sudden fright—
this too does fill the mind
with eagerness and longing.
10
Even on nights pitch-dark, with clouds
that thunder loud and constantly,
lightning flashes paths illumine
for girls in love who go to their lovers.
11
Scared witless by the terrible
rolling thunder of the clouds,
the girls do closely clutch in bed
even lovers who make mistakes.
12
But the wives of those who are
at this time out travelling:
they just stay without a hope,
with no garlands or ornaments
or any use of cosmetics;
only teardrops from their eyes
sprinkling the buds of their lips.
13
Water that rained recently,
now grey with vermin, twigs and dust,
starts flowing to lower levels
in curling patterns serpentine
as hosts of frogs stare at this cascade
with eyes that look frightened.
14
Eager bees, with hums enchanting,
now forsake the lilies that
have lost their leaves and petals,
and the fools descend on the disc-like patterns
on the plumage of the dancing peacocks,
hoping they are new lotus blooms.
15
Wild forest elephants, rapturous
at the thunder of the rain clouds,
their rut-stained temp
les drenched
and washed clean like lotus blooms,
and flocks of bees buzzing around them,
now trumpet again and again.
16
Their rocks caressed
by rain-filled clouds,
and flowing water
on all sides,
with a host of peacocks
ready to dance,
the hills now foster
moods of longing.
17
And the breeze rustling through
groves of sarja and kadamba,
of arjuna, nipa, ketaki trees,
carrying their flower scents
and also cooled by drizzling clouds:
whom does this not fill with longing?
18
Women with contrived ornaments
of fragrant flowers for their ears,
and floral garlands on their breasts,
their braids resting on the hips,
now, with some wine in their mouths,
arouse the passions of their lovers.
19
Clouds adorned with rainbows
and flashing streaks of lightning,
hanging low with the weight of water,
and women with their gem-encrusted
girdles and bright earrings—
both entrance the minds of travellers.
20
Chaplets strung with flowers fresh
of kadamba, kesara, ketaki,
are worn on women’s heads today,
and on their ears the sprouting clusters
of blossoms from kakubha trees,
made up to be ornaments.
21
At dusk, having heard clouds rumble,
women quickly leave their elders
and to their own bedchambers go,
their limbs perfumed with sandal paste
and the dark incense of aguru,
their scented hair adorned with flowers.
22
Clouds, from heights descended,
dark as blue lilies, full of water,
move slowly in a gentle breeze;
and with their rainbows heavenly,
they seem to steal away the broken
hearts of travellers’ lonely wives.
23
And the forest, its heat cooled
all over by showers of rain,
is as if filled with a great delight:
the kadamba flowering everywhere,
and tree branches dancing in the breeze
as the ketaki laughs with its needle leaves.
24
Like a lover for his bride,
the host of clouds has now created
for the forest’s head a wreath
of bakula and of malati sprays,
with new blossoms of yuthika buds
and fresh kadamba blooms for ears.
25
Young women, with garlands worn
looped around their upthrust breasts,
sheer snow-white silks on rounded hips—
their waists are marked with charming folds
and a faint, fine line of hair
where fresh rain droplets too appear.
26
Cooled by waters of the rain,
the wind carries the pleasing scent
of pollen from the ketaki blooms,
makes the trees, bent low with flowers,
to dance, and thus can steal away
the hearts of lonely travellers.
27
‘When we hang low with water’s burden
this is our ultimate refuge.’
It is as if with this consideration
that rain clouds shower and give joy
to the Vindhya mountain peaks
that smouldered in summer’s fire.
28
Delightful with its many virtues,
enchanter of all lovers’ hearts,
friend of trees, their vines and branches,
freeing all of them from miseries,
may this season of the rains,
the very life of all the creatures,
grant you all the benefits
that are most often sought.
CANTO 3
Autumn
1
Autumn comes, a sight agreeable,
like the arrival of a new bride:
her cloak, the kasha florets white;
the lotus bloom, her lovely face;
the passionate cries of water birds
are the charming tinkles of her anklets;
and the bowing stems of ripened rice
in fields are the embodiment
of her slender bending form.
2
All has now been made more white:
the earth with kasha blooms on grass;
the night with moonlight’s lucid glow;
the rivers with many swans;
the lakes with kumuda water lilies;
and in forests the devil’s trees
are bent with masses of their blossoms,
and gardens gleam with malati flowers.
3
With the glittering flits of shaphari fishes
as their girdles many-stringed,
and white birds along the shores
forming their pearl garlands,
rivers, with now broadened banks,
are like comely wide-hipped women,
and they have a gentle flow today.
4
The clouds have shed their waters now,
fluffy, small, they float in hundreds,
like ivory, conch shells, lily-roots pale,
along the currents of the wind;
and the sky then looks in places
like a sovereign being saluted
with the waving of white yak tails
as royal whisks around the throne.
5
The sky now has a charming sheen,
blue-grey, like spilt eye powder,
and the ground is reddened by
the pink pollen of bandhuka blooms,
while the sloping land is covered
with rolling fields of ripened rice:
in this world, which youthful heart
would not by all this be aroused?
6
Which heart would not be rent asunder
by the sight of kovidara trees?
Their tender branch tips are now rippling
in soft currents of the breeze,
as their foliage is embroidered
with a spread of flowers,
the nectar from which is quaffed
by the maddened, hovering bees.
7
Freed of veils that were the clouds,
garbed but in a film of moonlight,
with a host of stars as jewels arrayed,
and for its face a waxing moon
that will grow from day to day,
night now appears just like a girl,
into a beautiful woman turning.
8
The flowing waves look like their garlands,
pecked at by flocks of swimming ducks;
their banks now filled with geese and storks
and the resonant cries of swans;
their waters are now reddened by
the pollen of lotus and lily flowers—
such at present are the rivers,
that gladden people everywhere.
9
The moon is a feast for every eye,
its rays steal the hearts of all
in deep delight, then cool them
as if with fine sprays of water:
but it can also greatly hurt
the minds and bodies of young women
wounded by the poisoned arrows
of separation from their husbands.
10
A breeze quivers the nets of plants,
grain-filled, in the fields of rice;
it also makes the amaranth shrubs
dance laden with flowers;
and it ruffles the lilies blooming
in their muddy pools:
this breeze unsettles forcibly
the minds of all the youths.
11
And the lakes, embellished with
amorous pairs of swans,
with lotus blossoms ornamented
in colours white and blue
rippling in a gentle breeze,
make hearts tremble all at once.
12
Now, Indra’s bow has disappeared
within the bellies of the clouds,
and lightning, his flag celestial,
no longer does flash:
cranes no more upwards fan the air
with the flapping of their wings,
nor peacocks with uplifted faces
look towards the sky.
13
As peacocks have now stopped their dancing,
Kama has forsaken them
for the sweet symphony of swans;
the treasury of blossoms too
has passed from trees such as kadamba,
kutaja, arjuna, sarja and nipa
to the seven-leafed devil’s tree.
14
With the fragrance wonderful