Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

At every appointed hour she lovingly performs the delightful services of the palace.
She makes the inaccessible and imperceptible visible, revealing through gestures what words cannot express.
She gives Rasika worshippers the eternal lover and beloved’s conscious rasa to drink.
Nurturing the servants’ virtues through Sita and her lover’s happiness, she increases her own devotional feeling.
Kripanivas says: this singular, playful companion awakens longing in everyone.

At the lovely hour, behold the beautiful Couple.
Their fresh bodies tastefully adorned by the companions, dark Shyama and fair Sita shine like an inexhaustible treasure.
In new ornaments and charming new garments stand the youthful lover and maiden.
The captivating daughter of Janaka is adorned as the garland of their lives, flowering and bearing fruit.
Upon a throne of beauty spread with cloth, they sit with arms around one another and feet gracefully crossed.
Supremely generous, they remain forever in one place displaying their ornamented beauty for the sake of their worshippers.
The companions of the eight mansions gather and stand all around.
With their eyes they drink the Couple’s sweetness, intoxicated and immersed in its colour.
One serves through speech, another through a glance, another through love, and another through a smile.
Kripanivas says: attached to lover and Sita, my eyes will not close.

The daughter of Janaka is the eternally auspicious bride.
Root of bliss and moon to the night-lotuses, she showers excellent fortune by the crore.
The royal hero who broke Shiva’s bow and wandered through the forests remains dependent upon her loving appeal.
Countless universes sing his formidable glory, yet that cultivated lover is held captive by this enchantress of love.
Terrible Time makes worlds tremble and revolve, and the gods long to imitate him;
yet he who is beyond qualities, endowed with qualities, and the ocean of every virtue is the rasika jewel who relishes Sita’s virtues.
Sharada, Uma, Sachi, Rati, and Kamala are able only to serve her feet.
Before her they are like a spark of fire before the sun, swept away when the wind changes its course.
She is her husband’s life, the all-in-all of life, and the treasure contained within that all-in-all.
Those who worship Sita’s feet with mind, action, and speech are praised immeasurably by the Vedas.
Embodiment of modesty and natural virtue, a temple of goodness, she bears dark Shyama shining within her fair body.
Kripanivas says: may the beauty of Rama’s beloved never leave my eyes, even for an instant.

Today Rama and Sita are beautifully adorned—the excellent rasikas who bestow the gift of rasa.
Accomplished mistresses of rasa take up new vīṇās and sing fresh phrases of Sita and her lover’s delight, their bodies thrilling.
Delighted by rasa, drenched in rasa, and filled with rasa, they send forth songs of “Victory! Victory!” formed wholly of rasa.
They are the sport of rasa, the laughter of rasa, and the dwelling of rasa. Companion, I sacrifice body and life upon this rasa-filled Couple.