Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

I sacrifice myself upon the Couple, sacrifice myself again and again:
the lovely dark son of Dasharatha Ju and the fair darling of Sri Janaka.
In the fresh bower, fresh young companions shine with exquisite beauty on every side.
Sweet song, vīṇā, and the sound of mṛdaṅgas arise; Yugala-priya offers herself.

Young beloved, a new attachment to you has seized me.
Ever since you came to Mithila, your abundant companion-like beauty has enveloped me.
Come, lover, to the Forest of Delight, where the season of spring is filled with attachment.
In Awadh’s colourful jewelled Golden Palace, Yugala-priya is blessed with great fortune.

The two set out for a bower on the bank of the Sarayu, moving languidly among the companions with arms about one another’s necks.
Dishevelled curls beautify their lotus faces; their loving loveliness makes the lotus eyes of rasikas bloom, as though twin suns had risen within the forest.
All the rasikas whose devotional feeling had suffered and whose heart-lakes had dried for want of meditation on the rāsa now receive new life.
Yugala-priya fills the waters of the rasikas’ hearts with the rāsa and its narration.
Their seats prepared, they thrill with joy, tears of delight rising from every pore.

The darling has become singularly lovely, beautifully adorned, and intoxicated.
Sri Mithilesh Kumari is an image of graceful beauty, the darling of King Dasharatha.
Dark and fair, from nails to crown they are treasuries of happiness, every limb heavy with beauty.
Yugala-priya says: my life writhes with longing for the fulfilment of beholding them.

Rama, your glance is filled with magic.
Whoever it beholds, it conquers and holds under its power, O beautiful dark cloud, excellent bearer of the bow.
The moon of your face shines among curling locks, and the pendant from your nose-jewel captivates the mind.
Yugala-priya, dwelling in Mithila, is caught like a fish within its net.

The beloved lady comes to play Holi in the incomparable bower-abode beside the sacred Sarayu.
Colourful excellent women sing with vīṇā, mṛdaṅga, mucaṅga, and upaṅga.
The lover rushes in as though Love himself had descended; he places red powder upon his beloved’s forehead, and the two sit together.
Yugala-priya says: filling both fists with red powder, they beautify the limbs of the whole assembly.

They play the vividly colourful Phagun beside the sacred Sarayu.
Toward the city lies the Forest of Delight, divided into grounds of jewels and gold.
In its eastern quarter abides the perpetual loving relationship with Mithila.
Charushila, Kamala, Vimala, Chandrakala—the treasury of virtues—and the other companions
place in the hands of darling and Beloved the finest saffron-filled syringes of colour.