Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Laughing and filled with rasa, the lover opens her bodice.
His darling checks the gleaming hand, turns her face again and again, and speaks.
The companions giggle among themselves and sing a little, while the two are stirred by Love’s emotion.
He grasps her waist; the beautiful lady pulls away, but he touches her lips and kisses her cheeks.
Drawing breast to breast upon the royal bed, they sport in the arts of love.
Kripanivas says: the pleasure-loving Couple increase the treasure of the rāsa.

They recline happily through the night in the colourful palace.
Like a swan and female swan upon the lake of love, they play amid Kamadeva’s deep intoxication.
Friend, drinking the nectar of lips restores the lover’s life; beautifully filling one another’s necks with their arms, they rest at ease.
Excellent lip meets excellent lip and breast meets breast, as though today all distinction had disappeared.
A cool, gentle, fragrant breeze moves through that delightful, bustling palace.
Victory to Janakiraman’s lotus feet, where Ali Nivas dwells forever in intimate repose.

The companions secretly glimpse the happiness of the two.
Their playful gestures make the rasika mind’s Love swell like warriors advancing in a beautiful battle.
Revealed limbs shine together like golden lotus-buds upon a lake.
Chest pressing against chest, excellent saffron is rubbed between them as the lovers perform their abundant play.
Embraces and kisses are saturated with rasa; lightning flashes and the earth seems to tremble.
Kripanivas says: beholding this play, the hope within every companion’s heart bears fruit.

Victory to the beautiful Couple, the excellent field of love!
Garments crushed against their bodies possess an astonishing radiance, while their delicate forms smile beneath the weight of rasa, conquering every army.
Disordered hair lies upon their limbs like swarms of bees drinking blissful nectar in a forest of lotuses dense with beauty.
The close-set marks of nails and teeth admit no comparison; even an indirect description only proclaims the crest-jewel Rasaraja.
Dense red flowers seem joined with lightning, and a golden flowering creeper appears wrapped around a blue tree.
Or perhaps red muniyā birds have settled upon tree and vine, while many gather beautifully to worship the moon-faces.
Friend, seeing the paired bodies become one, I marvel: two fresh lotuses bear saffron coloured by the radiance of Love’s battle.
Victory to Sri Prasad and the relish of bliss, the treasury of rāsa! Its glory cannot be contained within the mind.

Meeting his beloved, the lover performs sweet and playful delights.
In the great divine recreation appears a graceful pair of rasika jewels.
They turn and whirl their bodies like a wheel, displaying formidable vigour.
Their skilful movements awaken the lady’s longing as they play with Love’s ball—