Sweat Beads Shine on the Autumn Moon
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 115
Doha 115 · Movement 2 of 2
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The brothers sit beneath the tree with matted locks crowning their graceful heads. Their eyes are wide, their arms and chests broad, and the signs of strength remain luminous beneath the austerity of forest dress.
Travel has laid a fine net of sweat across their faces, each radiant like the full autumn moon. Dust from the path rests upon skin and bark, but hardship cannot obscure their beauty.
Instead, exertion becomes adornment. The tiny beads catch light as dew gathers upon a lotus at dawn, revealing the living body within the sacred image. The villagers do not behold distant perfection untouched by earth. They behold loveliness made more intimate by heat, dust, and the shared fatigue of the road.
Upon the moonlike faces of the forest princes, sweat and road dust gleam like dawn dew on a lotus.
Read the passage from the Manas
जटा मुकुट सीसनि सुभग उर भुज नयन बिसाल। सरद परब बिधु बदन बर लसत स्वेद कन जाल।।115।।
Crowns of matted locks grace their lovely heads, their chests and arms and eyes are broad and wide. On their beautiful faces, radiant as the full moon of autumn, a net of glistening sweat-beads shines. The dust of the path only adorns them further, as dew adorns the lotus at dawn.