Chapter Four — The Eight Heroines

Kācic ca saṅketa-kuñjāntar-gatā tatra na paśyati,
Priyaṃ sakhyaṃ bhartsayitvā vipralabdheva bhāminī. (37)

One radiant maiden went from her own bower to another appointed as their meeting place. When she did not find her beloved companion there, she reproached him like the disappointed vipralabdhā heroine.

Kācit kuñja-gatā bālā tatrādṛṣṭvā priyaṃ svakam,
Virahānala-taptāṅgā bhavaty utkaṇṭhitā yathā. (38)

Another young woman entered her bower but did not see her own beloved. Her limbs burned in the fire of separation, and she became the yearning utkaṇṭhitā heroine.

Kācin mālāṃ granthayantī gāyantī priya-ceṣṭitam,
Puṣpa-śayyāṃ sajjayati yathā vāsaka-sajjikā. (39)

Another wove a garland while singing of her beloved’s charming deeds and prepared a bed of flowers, like the vāsaka-sajjikā who adorns herself and her chamber for his arrival.

Kācit priyaṃ na tyajati kṣaṇa-mātram uraḥ-sthalāt,
Prāṇāt param asaṅgopyaṃ yathā svādhīna-bhartṛkā. (40)

Another would not release her cherished beloved from her breast for even a moment, guarding him as something dearer than life itself. She was like the svādhīna-bhartṛkā, whose lover remains wholly devoted to her.