Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Loosened curls fall across her cheeks and breasts like splendid young serpents upon Shiva’s head.
The pearl of her nose-ring rests upon her lips like a parrot selecting grains of nectar.
A dark-coloured bodice adorns her form, while the necklace at her throat displays exquisite beauty.
Ornaments beautify her tender arms, and lovely rings set with gems grace her hands.
A beautiful skirt and tinkling girdle encircle her waist; bracelets and anklets produce a lovely sound.
Yugal Ali says: the happiness found in Sita’s limbs dwells in the heart and eyes day and night.

Bhāvanāmṛta-kādambinī

Sri Yugala Manjari Ji

A manuscript of this work, preserved at Sri Hanumat Nivas, is a beautiful treatise on contemplative immersion in rasa. It comprises fifty-five pages. From a literary standpoint it is without equal, and its language is exceptionally rich and saturated with rasa.

Overcome by love, he clasps her to his heart and steals away her very life.
Laughing and laughing, the connoisseur of rasa draws her close, filled with the wine of śṛṅgāra.
Fine cheeks and dangling earrings, curls glimmering as they fall, create a radiant beauty.
Yearning again and again, he presses her to his heart; in a single blink she steals consciousness away.

Swaying and swaying, bending and bending, they fall with garlanded arms laid across each other’s shoulders.
Laughing, they look and steal the heart—when, friend, shall I behold Sita and her beloved?

Curls are tangled over a moonlike face; the eyes and cheeks shine with the stain of betel.
Collyrium is smudged and the fine covering of the teeth is marked, revealing how intimately Sita and her beloved have met.

Their beautiful eyes are languid, and their speech is drowsy with love.
When, friend, shall my eyes behold them rising so beautifully from the couch?

Meditating again and again upon the happiness of that couch, they pass the watches of the night upon the lovely seat.
Friend, how beautifully they appear at dawn, still resting upon their beloved resting-place.

Curls are entangled with earrings, and necklaces press and tangle across their chests.
Every limb of the two is entwined with the other; bring this image into the heart.

The companions begin to disentangle them, but all their limbs have become entwined.
May the lovers remain forever interwoven within the connoisseur’s heart and eyes.

The beauty fashioned today cannot be described at all.
It transforms sages themselves into women—what, then, need be said of women?

Loose tresses fall across the neck, arms encircle the heart, and a necklace of great pearls rests upon the breast.
The two eyes of the royal prince rush forth and leave their victims wounded.