Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Hearing the account of the bow, he rejoiced and set out in rapture with the sage.
He came to Mithila, an ocean of beauty whose waters are fathomless.
Seeing the companies of bee-like companions, he rejoiced deeply and drank nectar from that flower-garden.
When grace descends upon rasika devotees and they become free of the shadow of deceit,
only then are their eyes immersed and covered by this beauty. Yugala-priya sacrifices herself.

The two come and sit with arms about one another in a lovely bower on the sandy bank of the Sarayu.
The ground is gold set with jewels, and the Forest of Delight overflows with the rapture of rasa.
Companies of companions shine in every direction.
Looking and looking, their eyes increase in love.
Crowns and lunar pendants beautify their heads.
Flower-coloured garments and ornaments cover them in splendour.
They offer and feed betel to one another
and exchange sweet, sweet words.
They drink the nectar of beauty and are never satisfied.
Their uncaused love cannot be described.
Yugala-priya says: gazing upon the beauty of this Couple, may my eyes forever hover there.

Dark clouds come surging and surging.
Dasharatha’s son and Janaka’s darling sit with their companions upon the palace roof.
Flower-coloured garments shine upon the Couple’s bodies, and ornaments glitter with light.
Curls lie scattered over their faces, while crowns and lunar pendants hang beautifully.
Chandravati strikes the mṛdaṅga, and Chandra plays tambūra and hand-cymbals.
Chandrakala Ju plays the vīṇā, while lover and beloved sing, overflowing with exhilaration.
The Sarayu’s current swells greatly, filling the Forest of Delight as they watch.
Yugala-priya says: the Couple are the inaccessible treasure of rasikas; beholding them, even the Lord of Love offers himself.

Awadh Bihari swings in colour beside the Sarayu, taking his beloved Sita with him.
The lovely, purifying bowers of Savan stand upon green jewelled ground.
From their own bowers come the eternal, qualified companions.
They sing songs filled with nectar and rain, revealing immense happiness.
Sometimes the beloved pushes her lover’s swing, and sometimes the lover pushes his beloved.
Yugala-priya says: intoxicated by rasa, the Couple enact their mutual līlā.

The two rasikas swing upon the bank of the Sarayu:
Raghunandana and the Daughter of Janaka, their bodies dark and fair—