No creature or goddess—not Bharati, Sati, Parvati, or Rati— possesses their pure and stainless loveliness.
Filled with tenderness and compassion, modesty, and gracious discernment, they nourish all equally like the moon and are tender buds of blessing to devotees.
Though dwelling beneath the spell of Love, they bring every other heart beneath their sway. Says Rasa Rama: the finest eyes are those of my mistress Maithili.
Stanza 9
To decorate the crimson soles of Janaka’s Daughter, the young barber-woman arrived in great haste.
She poured clear white water into a basin for lotus-feet whose soles put even roses to shame.
Their reflection colored the water with the Jewel of rasa; again and again she brought fresh water, brimming with eagerness.
“Have I already applied it, or must I still begin?” she wondered within her heart; bewildered, she stood holding the red lac in her hand.
Stanza 10
Stars dwell in her nails, a moon in the circle of her face, and the flashing of lightning in the radiance of her teeth.
The three sacred rivers meet within her eyes; every rank of accomplishment rests upon her couch; within her feeling lies the exquisite problem that inspires the poetry of all nine rasas.
Curvature dwells in her hair and absorption in her sidelong glance; skill resides in her ears, and every tale submits to her.
Says Bindu Kavi: this is a matter established by knowledge and proof— within Janaki’s body dwells the beauty of the entire world.