Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

This garland enchants me, O Abhirama.
One companion lovingly feeds him betel, while another holds up a mirror.
One sprays a fountain of rosewater, while another takes him in her arms.
Their eyes strike and arrest beauty itself.
One plays intricate rhythms upon the mṛdaṅga, while another sings ascending and descending notes.
One tugs at his garment and signals with her eyes, another leads him toward love’s garden, and another wipes the perspiration from his body.
For the sake of connoisseurs, the beloved performs this secret, flowing rasa of śṛṅgāra.
Shiva and Sanaka and the other sages know this nectar—the recreation of Sita’s beloved Rama.
Shyam Sakhe, hold it within your own heart.

The Pair approach with arms about one another’s necks, intoxicated by beloved Sita Ji’s beauty.
The beloved’s curls and earrings are entangled—who can disentangle them?
Their eyes awaken, steeped in rasa.
Tossing flowers and playing ball, they taste a happiness beyond description.
Slowly, gently, they turn toward home.
Shyam Sakhe longs in mind and body for the Couple’s sweetness and for the slightest smile from them.

Come, friend—the royal youth is reclining.
Within a lovely bower of Kanak Bhavan, the Pair shine with the combined beauty of cloud and lightning.
Janaka’s darling lies at his feet, overwhelmed by the dense current of rasa.
In the palaces Manjari sings, and sweet melodic phrases resound.
Shyam Sakhe says: friend, at the break of dawn she has brought the yellow pītāmbara.

A dark-hued beauty has come, exquisitely adorned.
Her lips are sweet bimba fruit, her face a nectar-bearing moon saturated with delightful rasa.
The parting of her hair is covered with pearls.
Rahu, Cupid, a pair of fish, and the full moon appear to meet there in beauty.
Her teeth possess the succulence of pomegranate seeds.
Betel stain flashes upon her cheeks, enhancing their radiant charm.
A lovely bodice clings to her form.
Filled beneath it, her breasts are the dwelling of affection and fulfil her beloved’s longing.
Every element of beauty has increased.
Shyam Sakhe says: smiling, she meets her beloved, who draws her to his breast.