Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

One strings a garland of flowers while singing the Beloved’s deeds;
Another prepares a bed as one would fashion it from cloth.

One woman does not release her beloved from her breast even for a moment. He is dearer than her own life and worthy of protection; she is like a svādhīna-bhartṛkā, a woman whose husband remains willingly under her influence.

Another woman, longing for her husband, joyfully and swiftly leaves one bower and enters another, like an abhisārikā: a woman who, abandoning modesty in solitude, goes to her husband. As the definition says: Hitvā lajjām abhipretya madanena yābhisārayate kāntaṃ sā bhaved abhisārikā—“She who, driven by Love, casts off modesty and goes to meet her beloved is an abhisārikā.”

One offended companion is won over through tenderness; then, with careful effort, the lovers speak words that serve as a hook of love.

Another companion, skilled in understanding the influence of gestures and emotional expressions, smiles before Raghava.

Names of the Companions

Ujjvalā, Kāñcanī, Citrā, Citrarekhā, Sudhāmukhī, Hasī, Praśaṃsā, Kamalā, Viśadākṣī, Sudarśakā, Candrānanā, Candrakalā, Mādhuryaśālinī, Varā, Karpūrāṅkī, and Varārohā—these sixteen women, eager for the festival of rasa, shine upon the lotus’s sixteen petals.

Hear, O Agastya, foremost among sages, the names of the sixteen companions upon the petals of a second lotus: Śobhanā, Śubhadā, Śāntā, Santoṣā, Sukhadā, Satī, Cārusmitā, Cārurūpā, Cārvāṅgī, Cārulocanā, Hemā, Kṣemā, Kṣemadātrī, Dhātrī, Dhīrā, and Dharā. Equipped for many forms of service, they serve Sri Maithili and Raghunandan through the night.

Kṣīrodbhavā, Bhadrarūpā, Madracāru, Madaradā, Bhāvarañjitā, Vidyullatā, Padmanetrā, Pāvanī, Haṃsagāminī, Ramaṇīyā, Premadātrī, Kuṅkumāṅgī, and Rasotsukā—these companions dwell upon the petals outside the lotus.¹

Mahāṅgī, Mālavī, Mālyā, Kāmadā, Kāmamohinī, Rati, Kṣiti, Nativatī, Premadā, Kuśalā, Kalā, and Līlā—these twelve companions dwell upon the secondary petals. All serve Sri Ramachandra, immerse themselves in profound love, and behold Sri Raghava while united with bliss.

Then, within the eight petals, companions adorned with many signs of good fortune stand in bowers, eternally absorbed in Raghava’s service:

Within the eight-petalled lotus, adorned with every sign of bridal fortune,
They stand in the bower, their minds forever absorbed in Hari’s service.