Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Hearing the cuckoo’s call, a companion cries out to the sun:
“Stop, radiant one! The elders will soon come here; this is not a good hour.”
Upon the stainless bed, lotus eyes and lovely bodies
that blossomed, sported, shone, and grew languid through the night rise at dawn.
The prince awakens, immersed in the colours of rasa, steeped in mutual love;
they rise into one another’s arms, emerald joined with gold.
Crying “Beloved! Beloved!” the darling girl is helpless and cannot arrange her dark garment;
the two boys, intoxicated with rasa, remain leaning together, their eyes turning.
When great love rises, fear and bodily identity disappear.
The thought “I am the Beloved” and “I am the Beloved Lady” falls away.

The play of love

Love turns back upon itself and grows ever new within the hearts of the darling girl and beloved boy;
returning again and again to that same way, the taste of love makes even poison sweet.
The two princes blossom like fresh lotuses in the lake of affection;
loving bee-companions cling to their enchanting eyes.
Whoever naturally plunges the eyes into the ocean of the Couple’s love
loses every memory and understanding, remaining there astonished.
Sometimes the youthful Couple shine upon a lovely swing,
their wondrous beauty increasing while companions stand on every side.
They swing in complete union, stealing the hearts of a hundred thousand companions,
their two necks joined by a single perfectly matched flower garland.
With beautiful arms around one another, the incomparable Beloveds shine;
body, mind, breath, cheeks, and eyes meet and become one form.
Fair and dark move together as though made into one body;
they enchant the minds of women and steal the heart through affection.
His earring tangles with her curl, hand-bracelet with garland;
mind with mind and eye with eye—the two Beloveds remain entwined.
Although the married Couple are forever immersed in love’s rasa,
each loses the self and remains even more subject to the other.