Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Celebration of Rama’s Birth

Listen, royal prince—dark beloved of my childhood!
My eyes thirst for your form and are overwhelmed by separation.
Your sweet, sweet words and loving glance weave a net of beauty;
Gyanali says your smile pierces the heart day and night.

Beloved crest-jewel of clever lovers, darling of the king,
Intoxicated with youth, you speak words filled with sweet rasa.
Your glance leaves me helpless—you know it well, proud one.
Gyanali says the connoisseur and stealer of hearts has taken residence in his beloved’s mind.

Connoisseur of love, what have you done? You have driven me mad.
On one side I am innocent and guileless, and on the other still tender in years.
Cruel dark prince, illuminator of the world!
Gyanali thirsts for her beloved’s beauty and worships Sita’s feet.

Celebration of Sri Janaki’s Birth

Ever-new joy and celebration arise.
Through immense good fortune a daughter has appeared in the king’s palace today, bestowing happiness.
The jewel of Nimi’s lineage and Ramā of the ocean has manifested as a treasury of beauty and virtues.
She will destroy demons, become the gods’ very life, and spread immaculate fame through the universe.

The mistress of the world, life-giving root of youth, flashes with the beauty of lightning in every limb.
Seeing the daughter’s beauty, Usha, Lakshmi, and Rati sacrifice body, mind, and wealth before her.
Lovely, enchanting, and a treasury of every virtue—never before has anyone like her come to be.
The nine, six, four, eighteen, and fourteen branches of sacred learning sing her glory, says Gyanali.

Companion, today the heart’s beloved has been born!
Lovely and beautiful, a treasury of every virtue, she has appeared as Sunayana’s daughter.
For many days the king worshipped Shiva’s bow; now the fruit of that worship has visibly appeared.
How can the city’s joy be praised? The queen’s womb and heart have found peace.

Hearing the companion’s words, everyone arranges auspicious rites and distributes heaps of jewels.
Elephant-gaited and flashing like lightning, the child fills every heart with immeasurable delight.
The Vedas sing “not this, not this” of her, and she steals even Shankara’s heart.
Gyanali says we now see her manifest, increasing the fair fame of Nimi’s lineage.