Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Upon the artfully arranged bed of five-coloured flowers,
the beloved boy and darling girl, filled with rasa, sleep together in affection.
A splendid and exquisite canopy rises above the excellent couch;
clear, radiant festoons of pearls hang gracefully on every side.
Four lovely golden poles, set with heart-enchanting red gems, support it—
a wondrous treasury of the joy and happiness of love, celebrated in sacred books.
Wondrous colour, brilliance, and masses of delight
cast the luminous beauty of the bower-palace.
Festoons of elephant pearls glitter; jeweled lamps shine among them.
Fine cloth curtains have been hung, and fans wave above at the movement of air.
Carpets are spread on all four sides, lovely with golden thread and inset gems;
in some places lie exceedingly soft rugs with flower designs woven within.
Elsewhere stands a golden stool and a ewer filled with Sri Sarayu’s water—
cool, sweet, fragrant, delightful in taste, clear and full of rasa,
removing thirst, bringing auspiciousness, and filling one with matchless bliss.
Many jeweled bowls are set out, holding delicious nuts and delicacies.
Betel boxes are filled, and innumerable varieties of fragrance stand nearby.
Behind another curtain, beautifully adorned companions rise to dance—
first the initial group joined with the eighth, and thereafter the sixteen companions.
Behind them many lovely women shine, each splendid in her own service:
one holds betel, another a water vessel, another prepares floral adornments.
Wearing garlands of many colours, they fix their minds upon the Beloved’s path.
Hearing the sound from the inner palace, each dances toward her appointed place.
From bower after bower come countless companions with every implement:
sandalwood, aloe, fragrant flowers, and all things needed for auspicious service.
The beloved Couple’s happiness in the bower is eternally new and stainless;
even the five devotional dispositions cannot reach the end of its description.
Seeing all this, Raghuraja awakens, and a curtain is gently raised.
The Beloveds wake, saturated with the night’s rasa, and adorn one another.
The darling girl and beloved boy shine together, their lovely limbs relaxed by affection—
the wealth of the married Couple, mutually immersed in the contest of rasa.