Canto 18 - Description of Nala’s palace; The joys of Nala and Damayantī

1. Nala then made Damayantī enjoy love’s dalliance, after he had thus won her, the best of wives. She was to him a boat for crossing the ocean of pleasure, the third object of human endeavour.

2. A knower of the self, he acquired no sin, though he enjoyed pleasure with her day and night. An artificial devotion to worldly pleasure taints not one whose mind is purified by knowledge.

3. Entrusting his kingdom to his ministers, eagerly did he worship Cupid in the company of his beloved, in his golden-storied mountain-high palace, with floors made of crores of multicoloured gems.

4. The palace surpassed the mountain of the gods, by virtue of having objects coming at its will, owing to the power of the string of divine gems which adorned Nala’s neck.

5. The interior of the palace was incessantly perfumed with the best of dark Agaru wood, and was cooled by a breeze, mellow with the camphor and sandal powder applied to the windows.

6. At one place, the palace was brightened by lamps with highly fragrant oil, havṃg wicks made of the incense known as ‘Cupid’s arrow’; (lamps) that seemed to be sprouts of the might of Cupid’s flashing arms.

7. The floors of the palace, with beautiful bejewelled pavements, shone forth, plastered with, a paste of saffron and musk. They were washed with water scented with camphor, and had wreaths of mountain flowers scattered in the corridor.

8. In one part of the palace, a bed made of flowers assumed the beauty of an ornamental brow-mark on the floor. It had charming hues, softness and fragrance mellow from the pressure of Nala’s limbs.

9. In another part, the waves of fragrance from masses of opening flower buds in the house garden near by, were perfectly like Damayantī’s breath.^[1]

10. The wind worshipped the Prāṇa breath, chief among the breaths^[2] of those who lived in the palace, with offerings of sprays of the honey of mango blossoms rent by parrots living in the garden,^[3] that had trees of all the seasons in their glory.

11. In one place, all the parts of the edifice were made of gold. In another it was made of immaculate jewels. In one place were picture galleries made. In another it was a magician with its unsteady shapes.^[4]

12. The Creator, a king among artists, was supposed to be suffering from gout owing to his old age, while he shook his head (in wonder), repeatedly looking at the palace, which contained multiform images reproducing the beauty of diverse wonderful objects, worthy of being reproduced.

13. The palace provided amusement in the form of mysterious talking and the like by persons kept hidden in chambers inset in the walls. It had numerous puppets causing wonder by their peculiar movements controlled by means of strings.

14. Even on dark nights it had profuse moonlight from the rays of jewels set in its walls.^[5] Even in the summer it utterly dispelled drowsiness caused by heat with showers gushing from water spouts.

15. There a house sparrow, expert in the art of love, occupying an ivory perch, observed what modes were followed in the dalliance of Damayantī and Nala, and what were not.

16. There, at one place, the eyes of Nala and Damayantī met with the amorous gaiety of pairs of swans adorning a pool of water; just as they did the repetitions of the sensual sports indulged in by frenzied sparrows.

17. There, their murmurs of love were drowned by the notes of lyres and the sound of flutes, by the cooings and hummings of cuckoos and bees in the pleasure garden, and by the noise of bracelets and other ornaments of dancers.

18. Even in the interior of the inner apartment, they heard the whistlings of the unsuspecting idols^[6] of Cupid and Rati installed in the palace, through windows stripped of their curtains^[7] at night.

19. In the front of the palace, a unique rivulet, sweet and bright-watered, curved like the horns of the black antelope, and resonant with the beautiful songs of Kinnarīs, never ceased to flow day or night.

20. There on the walls were legends depicted in pictures in their entirety: Cupiḍ laughing at Brahmā’s egregious rashness, his passion for his own daughter (Sarasvatī).

21. The rash act of adulterous frolic of Indra, the paramour of Gautama’s wife,^[8] was engraved on the walls; (an act) that pro-claimed Cupid’s triumph.

22. The Fame of the edifice, acquired by surpassing Indra’s palace, and resembling an autumnal^[9] full moon night, brightened the world, disguising itself as the bevies of pigeons flying over it.

23. In the courtyard of the palace were enacted plays based on the story of the moon’s amorous wantonness in regard to Bṛhaspati’s wife; (plays) that were nectar streams of the art of Bharata.

24. The golden dove-cot of the palace was engraved with beautiful utterances strung together by Śukrācārya, on the subject of Śiva’s amorous enjoyment in the Devadāru grove, and Kṛṣṇa’s sports with the cowherd maids.

25. A parrot, going about there, sang of the sage Parāśara who caressed in broad daylight the fisherman’s daughter^[10] on the Yamunā, being made restless by Cupid who respects no time, place nor object.

26. There at one place were sages depicted in pictures, supporting themselves on the pitcherlike breasts of nymphs, without crossing the ocean of austerities, whose shore had come well within reach of their hands.^[11]

27. At the rumbling sound of drums, the peacock of the palace danced with the idea: “My master, and I who carry him, have both conquered Cupid who is so powerful, because we abstain from amorous dalliance.”^[12]

28. There, as if out of rivalry, Nala and Damayantī played the role of Cupid and Rati in order to conquer their conquerors, Cupid and Rati, who were yielding to passion at the sight of them both.^[13]

29. In that palace, resembling the mountain of the gods, there took place their sports of love, unseen even by great poets, unlearnt even by courtesans.

30. What fear did Damayantī have for her husband, Nala, a manly youth; while she was a girl who had not yet passed the years of her maidenhood!

31. Because she had formerly confessed her love to her beloved, when he met her during his mission,^[14] she knew not for shame what to do, thinking of the liberty she had taken.

32. Because she had hastily chosen Nala of her own accord, discarding all shame in the open assembly; recalling her rashness, she could not now look him in the face.

33. She did not even glance at the direction, which Nala occupied, on a seat covered with the rays of its gems; as if she were offended, becoming jealous of it.^[15]

34. Bowing her head so low as to plunge into the river of bashfulness, and looking like a puppet on the doorway, she turned a deaf ear to a hundred invitations of her consort.

35. For fear she entered not her consort’s apartment. When persuaded to enter it, she occupied not the bed. Though induced to occupy the bed, she did not lie close to him. Though persuaded to lie down, she turned not her face towards him.

36. Not only did Damayantī feel deeply shy before Nala; but Cupid himself, overpowered by Dame Shyness in Damayantī’s heart, was positively ashamed for a long space of time.

37. Even when she herself wished to do something, she who was fair as Pārvatī desisted from the attempt, when her consort besought her to do it.

38. When he recalled her feelings towards him, which he had ascertained during his mission to her; he suppressed in his mind, which suspected a coldness in her, the apprehension caused by her indifference to him^[16] from excessive shyness.

39. At first he had let her come to him in the company of her girl friends; then in the company of only one. Full of wiles, he sent away this one, too, on some errand, and reduced Damayantī to the position of having him alone as her companion.

40. A master of the art of love, he drew his beloved near with the circle of his embrace with the manner of one still far away,^[17] though she had been placed close to him by her maiden friends.

41. As she was drooping with shame, he kissed her first on the forehead; then on the cheeks, as she by degrees bent herself less. Then as her confidence grew at this, he smiled, abruptly kissing her on the face.

42. Child Cupid, just when he was astir a little in her heart, again sank low, admonished first by Shyness coming to her heart; and then threatened by powerful fear.

43. During love’s revelry, each one of her beloved’s arms, which wanted to clasp her round by force, was long resisted by the maid who left no entry for them, pressing herself close against the bed.

44. Feigning a curiosity to look at the beauty of her pearlstring, her consort touched the extremity of her neck with his hand, which passed close to her bosom.

45. He touched her budlike breasts, as he put his pearlstring (round her neck), saying, “Since thou didst honour me with thy wreath in the Svayaṃvara assembly, it is proper that I, too, should pay my homage to thee.”

46. While the fair maid was unconscious with sleep at night, his trembling hand, which he had placed near the knot of her skirt, was pushed back^[18] by her, when she was awakened by the movements of his hand to and fro.

47. The king smiled, gazing at the silken scarf of his beloved’s thighs. Overwhelmed with shame, she covered it with the fringe of her cloth, as if she were nude.

48. Clever as he was, he thus a little removed her fear by degrees. In her mind, too, Cupid slightly suppressed her bashfulness while he bent his bow.

49. She smiled, but laughed not; amused though she was by his witty remarks. What woman doth show to others the two rows of her priceless ruby teeth?

50. At the sight of Damayantī’s breasts, marked with the imprint of the gems of her necklace pressed into them, her maiden friends guessed (in the morning) that the fair damsel had undergone the ardour of her beloved’s embrace.

51. When (in the morning) she asked her friends, who helped her to dress, to tighten the knot of Her skirt, they guessed with a smile: “Here took place some frivolous act of her consort’s hand.”

52. Concealing her feelings somewhat out of shyness, and somewhat manifesting the grace of them with good humour, she, a woman of the Lily class,^[19] resembled a lily with buds and fullblown flowers.

53. Cupid urged the fair-browed maid to look at Nala; but shyness prevented, her looking at him. Her looks ran towards her consort; but turned back from their path over and again, full of shame.

54. She brought her consort neither within the range of her sight, nor placed him beyond it; for she fixed her eyes on diverse objects, by looking at which he could be looked at as well.

55. Impatient of separation during the day, she had longed for the night, the time when to meet her beloved. But abashed at her consort’s dalliance at night, for shame she wished for the coming of the day again.

56. “I only will do what thou dost allow. Be not shy. Away with fear. I am just like thy maiden friends.” Thus did Nala reassure her ever and anon.

57. The fire of her love, which had remained smothered by the magic herb of bashfulness, was stirred again by effective invocations, her beloved’s loving words.

58. Firmly she covered her breasts with her arms, turning back her beloved’s hand placed on her bosom. It seemed as if she, discarding her beloved from shyness while he was by her side, embraced his image that was in her heart.

59. “Once will I drink of thy lips; nothing else do I beg of thee.” Thus sayṃg in a low plaintive tone, he tasted her lips, crushing them with force.

60. “I, thy slave, have drunk the wine of thy mouth. Now I should do my duty. So I will render service to thy thighs.” Thus saying, he placed his?ea?y [leafy?] hand on them.

61. “Was there anything wrong during kissing and the like? Now, too, do not fear ṃ vain.” Thus saying, he effected the first unloosening of the gazelle-eyed maiden’s girdle.

62. Then did she experience a dalliance that had in it plenty of resistance and curiosity, perspiration and tremors, fear and desire, pleasure and pain.

63-4. “Proper it is that thou shouldst be abashed. For to thy mind new is thy union with me. But, even my mind, shameless because of constant union with thee (in dreams), yields now to shame!” Thus he, being clever, ridiculed her in such wise that she was ashamed even to feel shy before him; though she had been overwhelmed with bashfulness,^[20] full of resistance to him at the beginning of the dalliance.

65. Even during the day, when hustling people were about, he said to her by signs when he saw her, “I long for the clasp of thy arms and the fragrance of thy mouth; the joy of thy hips and the contact of thy bosom; and the curve of thy legs.”

66. At morn, holding her back when she would leave his bed, Nala, the Indra of the earth, compelled her, the Śacī of the earth, to give him a pleasure, to wit, the reposing of her face on his own and the like; something which he at other times could never compel.

67. At daybreak, going forth from her consort’s bed, she was ashamed to see the joy of her fair-browed comrades, spontaneously remembering her own recently finished gaiety of love.

68. Making himself invisible by virtue of the boon of the gods, he stood by and overheard her talk with her friends. Then did he emerge into view, laughing at her, while she narrated to a maiden friend the doings of herself and her beloved at night.

69. She was laughed at by her consort, as she was struck with fear when she saw female Cakravāka birds part with their mates. But the mind, perturbed about something without any cause, doth speak of events yet to come.^[21]

70. That she did not draw back her face when kissed, showered nectar in her consort’s heart. No longer she pushed back his hand when he placed it on her. Was not his whole being gratified at this?

71. He could place his hands only on her arms, with which she had covered her bosom; then on the scarf of her bosom without her arms on it; and then even on her uncovered breasts.

72. When she refused to give him a scratch with her finger nails despite his entreaties, he made her distracted with talk, and was delighted to scratch himself with her nails, while taking hold of her hand to place it on his bosom.

73. He, being the master, could take off by force the fair damsel’s scarf, the outer covering of her bosom. But never could he remove the inner screen of her maiden shame.

74. Brightly she shone, a frail maid who could not be made to shun bashfulness and patience even by mighty Cupid. Even without raiment might one appear to be beautiful, but not by discarding patience and shame.

75. Shaking her head, she turned him back, who was eager to make her talk. He said thus to her, “Since thou dost not say ‘no’ to me when I ask thee for love’s satiety, clearly hast thou given thy consent to me.

76. “Have I not grasped the meaning of the shaking of thy head, meant to express a ‘no’? The equal number of the negatives does clearly express an affirmative, thine own longing for love-play.^[22]

77. “Wilt thou not speak? Wilt thou not? Should I not then hear thy words?” Thus saying, he related in her own gentle words what she had told him, when he had gone as a messenger to her.^[23]

78. Formerly she had firmly restrained his hand when he placed it on the border of the knot of her skirt; but thereafter she did so with a languid hand. By degrees, she came to thwart him, by saying merely No, No, No.

79. Everyday she came to him ever new, displaying her art separately in her beauty, her dress, her clothing, beauty paint, ornaments and the like; an art which caused one to mistake her for a nymph.

80. She charmed him ever more, manifesting the ocean of her love by the expression of her feelings; her power of appreciation with pleasing words; and her devotion with constant service.

81. Though she appeased her beloved, when he was angry at her refusal to offer herself to him; she did not yield so far as to allow him to enjoy her by force, when he besought her again.

82. Offering her tender limbs to her beloved with a great reserve, she preserved for them the same affection from him as on the first occasion of dalliance; for they were made inaccessible by her stubborn pride, resistance, and bashful nature.

83. Devoted to her husband, she dallied with him, creating by her religious austerities (magic) forms one after another, and all that was fitted to accompany such forms; forms for her consort, beginning with that of Śiva and ending with that of a tree; forms for herself, beginning with that of Pārvatī and ending with that of a creeper.

84. There was no earthly spot nor ocean nor wood nor tableland nor province nor region of the universe where she did not sport with him. No mode was there in which she did not unite with him.

85. Bending herself, she blew out the burning light with the breath of her mouth, when her beloved pulled her scarf. But, with wonder she saw the regions around her lit up by her consort’s crown gem.

86. When she placed her lotus ear-ring on her beloved’s head, wishing to cover up the gem, it seemed as if she worshipped Cupid disguised as her beloved in order to sport with her.

87. She was glad to have covered up the gem. But when she saw a light emerging on either side of her, she was so confused that^[24] the sentiment of her love was merged in a commotion of curiosity, wonder, shame and fear.

88. She saw that, when she put out one of the lights, the other, though she had already put it out, burnt again. Then recalling the fire god’s boon^[25] to Nala. she merely closed her eyes, shaking her head.

89. “Timid girl, see thou canst not be seen by me, since thou hast closed thy eyes!” Thus mocking her, he enjoyed the bashful maid, bringing on darkness again.

90-1. “Here I kiss thee; here I scratch thee with my finger nails. Here I clasp thee round; here I carry thee on my bosom. I will do thy behest alone. But leave me, o leave me. I am thy serving maid.” Thus, during love’s career, feigning to be entirely submissive in her caresses, she, a cunning maid, played a trick on her beloved and on shame itself; while she gave him kisses and the like. What, indeed, is inconceivable to those who have a clever mind!

92. In the dark room, with the help of a lightninglike lamp, no sooner lit than extinct at his will, he enjoyed the pleasure of looking at her facial expression born of a dalliance free from diffidence.

93. While she knit her eyebrows during love’s union, it seemed as if Cupid bent his bow.^[26] The moaning sound which she then made was Cupid’s hum while discharging his arrows.

94. While she shook her hand, her lips being hurt by her beloved’s teeth, she was seen to give lessons to Cupid in dancing, who was at that moment transported with joy.

95. Embracing her beloved, she could not clasp round his spacious bosom; nor could he the bosom of the maid with arched eyebrows, widened as it was by her breasts, high and plump.

96. The circle of their creeper arms locked in an embrace which held fast both of them, was truly Cupid’s noose made of stalks of golden lilies.

97. On the beloved Damayantī’s bosom, the resting ground of Cupid and Rati, her breasts pressed by her beloved’s embrace^[27] looked like^[28] two pillows, round and contiguous.

98. Damayantī’s thighs shone forth with the gentle nailmarks given by Nala, as if they were two golden triumphal pillars of Cupid and Rati with their panegyric engraved on them.

99. ^[29]

100. Her breasts, stout and firm as a pitcher, transmitted the lustre of the pearlstring over them to her beloved’s tender lotus hands,^[30] which wanted to squeeze them in their grasp.

101. With Palāśa blossoms, his own finger nails, he worshipped the breasts of his bride, which had a blue and red hue, embellished with musk and saffron, and grew up spontaneously on his beloved’s bosom.^[31]

102. Then Nala’s face like the lunar orb, while it kissed the face of the maid whose face was like the lotus resembled the moon not fully risen from the ocean, and joined to its own reflection on the water.

103. During their delights, they perfectly enjoyed the pleasure of wine drinking with the nectar of their lips; (nectar) reddened by an excess of betel in their mouths, and perfumed with the camphor known as the Rising Sun.

104. At that time, making a whistling sound, and passing through violent emotional tremors, the fair damsel declared, even without the medium of language, that her consort’s mouth while kissing was like the cold-rayed moon.

105. The orb of Nala’s face, while it came in contact with his beloved’s breasts, in order to kiss them, resembled the moon with two golden pitchers attached for filling them with the moon’s own nectar.

106. Looking and looking again at her, he looked at her more and more in joy. Embracing her more than once, he embraced her again. Though he had kissed her, eagerly did he kiss her again. But in no wise was satiety to be found.

107. The beautiful fair-eyed maid, with her bosom spotted with drops of sweat, did not long notice the wide circle of the pearlstring on her bosom, though it was torn asunder by the sportive movements of the dance of dalliance.

108. “Merit” was the reason why the pearls of her pearlstring could abide on her bosom. Otherwise, at that moment, stripped of their “merit,”^[32] why could they not remain there?

109. At that time, the pearlstring resting on one of them became by reflection an ornament of the other’s bosom, which was flooded with perspiration, and had its own pearlstring tom asunder.

110. She ranged unto the farthest limit of all joys, while her budding youth was enjoyed by Nala, who kept a nightlong watch over her face, and destroyed Cupid’s pride of beauty with, utter disdain.^[33]

111. In contact with her limbs, Nala felt his inmost heart to be solaced. To look at her was to him the feasting of his eyes on the quintessence of nectar.

112. He was first delighted with the ornaments of his beloved. But he was sad to think they were standing in the way of his looking at parts of her body, screening them from view.

113. They regarded even the interval caused by their thrills during embraces as one of miles. While looking at each other, they felt even the blink of their eyes to be an interval of years.

114-17. ^[34]

118. The scratches which they gave to each other with their finger nails in their frenzied joy, when they reached the culmination of their passion, was like a seasoning of molasses with red pepper sprinklings, giving relish though sharp.

119. Her beloved was not tired of looking at her, when she was for a moment languid with the exhaustion caused by love’s exertion, eyes half closed and pupils rolling.

120. Her exhaustion led her beloved to fan her for a while. A wife like her, a godḍess of worldly happiness, makes even the Creator lose the stability of his mind.

121. With drops of perspiration on the tip of her nose; with the red lac paint of her nether lip gone; with thrills half dying on her cheeks, her face brought indeed delight to Nala.

122. To her beloved’s mind, owing to her love, her face was at that moment worth a million; deeply abashed it was, imbued slightly with passion, heavily weary, and tinged with joy.

123. Strange that the thirst of Nala’s eyes was not quenched, in a measure proportionate to their drinking in the pores of his beloved’s skin filled with perspiration!

124. He sank in an ocean of delight at the sight of her shining armpits made visible by herself, when she threw back her hanḍs to bind her lock of hair that had no longer its wreath of flowers.

125. The slender-waisted maid could not help smiling at the sight of her consort’s nether lip, which was beautiful with the collyrium paint of her eyes attached to it, and looking like a red Bandhūka blossom with a bee clinging to it.

126. Seeing her turn back and smile, her consort asked her the cause of her mirth, whereupon the bashful bride gave him a reply, putting a mirror into his lotus hand.

127. When she saw his face, the brow charming with the red lac paint of her feet attached to it, while he kissed them, she recalled the rising moon with its crimson hue still remaining, bending and bending her face in shame.

128. Drooping with shame, she with her extremely gentle breath, removed the erotic langour of her beloved, while she saw him reflected on her perspiring bosom; as if he lived incarnate in her heart.

129. Finding on her nether lip a cut left by her beloved’s teeth, she gently touched it and was surprised; it was causing a pang hitherto unfelt, owing to the freaks of Cupid’s commands.

130. Ever looking at the playful nailmarks^[35] left by her beloved on her breasts, she cast a look at her smiling consort; the comers of her eyes shrinking with a gentle wrath.

131. Seeing that his beloved’s face seemed to be tinged with ire, he said to her in a voice somewhat tremulous with fear, “Slender one, I know not who made thee angry.

132. “Slender maid, let not this untimely colouring with a thin paint of the saffron of anger, appear in thy silent drooping face, worthy of the moon’s respect.

133. “Let this wish-fulfilling wreath of gems clasping my neck, shower sprays of nectar, besought to do so by me. Let it remove thy pain anon, caused by my finger-nails and teeth.^[36]

134. “My hand which produced rainbowlike nailmarks on thy bosom wiped off its offence by its service of fanning thee. Let it again, if need be, caress thy feet.

135. “Fair maid, if it was improper for my mouth cruelly to bite thee with its teeth; why not, say, take revenge on it, biting my lips in thy turn?

136. “Let my crown gem, which rendered futile the putting out of the lights by thee, while I was stripping thee of thy vesture, bow low at thy feet. Compensation alone will not make amends for its offence.”

137. After he had spoken these gentle words, bowing low on the bed;^[37] he brought the stream of the beams of his crown gem in contact with her crimson lotus feet.

138. Combined with his own reflections on all her toe-nails, he looked like Cupid, as if the latter assumed eleven forms in order to overcome the manifold forms of Śiva.^[38]

139. He said to her, “Cease thy wrath. Look, the brief vernal night decays. Wilt thou another night choose to pursue for a moment the remainder of this same wrath?”

140. Then the fair damsel gratified her consort, hiding with her hands her lotus feet;^[39] while she showed a smiling face, whose sensitive pride was swept away by his obeisance.

141. By virtue of the elixir of their mutual love, they became desirous of union agaṃ; but could not fulfil their wish. Shortlived was the lowborn night.

142. When they occupied the bed for sleep, the lover freely spoke to his beloved, his words being interrupted at intervals by the revelry of biting and drinking her lips.

143. “Let lifelong devotion be the apology of Nala, who cruelly gave so great an offence to thee, fearing to deviate from the path of virtue, having undertaken a mission on behalf of the gods.

144. “Fair maid, it is a carnival to look at thee. Whatever delights thee I value as if it were a mighty realm. The joy of embracing thy limbs is an ablution of nectar to Nala.

145. “What happiness is there in Viṣṇu’s installing his beloved on his bosom, or in Śiva’s union with the half of Pārvatī’s body? But, slender maid, during love’s revelry, I wish thee to be united with me as a river is with the ocean.

146. “It would be unseemly to say to thee, ‘Devotedly consider me to be thine own.’ With the price of thy kindness hast thou bought me, spurning Indra like a straw.

147. “When overhearing thy conversation with thy maiden friends, more than once have I seen thee restless with fear on hearing the story of Sītā, fated to be forsaken by Rāma without cause.

148-9. “When thy friends spake of their terror, caused by the shrub which shrinks up when its leaves are touched, and by the quivering flesh of turtles, and the chameleon which keeps moving its head; I have secretly heard thee say thine own fear was caused by the chance of separation from me. But never will I part from thee.” This boon he uttered, for he was afraid of speaking falsely.

150. “Sleep seems to flee from us to-night, angry with us, saying, ‘Alas, you are devoting my time of repose to your love-play, though I helped you to live during your separation, uniting you (in dreams)’.”

151. While her beloved spake thus, she lightly closed her eyes in joy; just as the night lily closes its petals, owing to its keeping awake at night, when at dawn the cuckoo sweetly sings.

152. Then they slept, pressing each other with the fold of their embrace, and beholding their mutual acts in dreams; thighs interlaced and lips conjoined.

153. In joy slept the couple, the oneness of their life’s breath being clearly declared by the ceaseless mingling of the currents of the gasps caused by their lovelorn langour, which could be noticed from the rapid intake and outgoings of their breath; while the king’s bosom, imprinted with the figures of elephants and dolphins that were among the pictorial designs painted on his young consort’s bosom, symbolised the unity of their hearts.^[40]

154. Epilogue.

Śrīhīra etc. In his work, the epic “Story of Nala”, praiseworthy for its relationship of a good brother to the sister work “Śiva-śakti-siddhi”, the eighteenth canto is at an end.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Lit. adopted a kinship to Damayantī’s nostrils. See also Vocab. under “kuṭī”.

[2]:

Lit. chief of its family. The Prāṇa or life breath passing through the nose is the chief among the five vital winds (Prāṇa, Apāna, etc.).

[3]:

i.e., the inmates of the palace could inhale the fragrance of the mango blossoms wafted by the breeze.

[4]:

The reference seems to be to the play of light and shade.

[5]:

Lit. jewel-rays present on the walls.

[6]:

Idols consecrated with mantras are supposed to have life (cf. prāṇapratiṣṭhā).

[7]:

This is the alternative meaning of “kapaṭakuḍya” given by Nārāyana. The sentence might also mean:..... windows which were made to give up the character of counterfeit walls at night, i.e., the windows of the sacred chamber were opened at night, but kept closed during the day when they looked as if they were part of the wall.

[8]:

Ahalyā.

[9]:

Lit. belonging to the month of Kārttika.

[10]:

i.e., Satyavatī.

[11]:

The reference is to the stories of sages yielding to the temptation of nymphs. The imagery is that of a swimmer exhausted before reaching the shore, and supporting himself on a floating pitcher.

[12]:

Kārttika, whose conveyance is a peacock, is a chaste bachelor, while the peacock is said to have offspring without sexual connection.

[13]:

i.e., the deities of love, who had made Nala and Damayantī suffer the pangs of love, now themselves yielded to passion at the sight of the newly married couple.

[14]:

See Canto IX.

[15]:

Direction (diś) is feminine in Sanskrit and often described as a woman.

[16]:

Lit. caused by her who was indifferent.........

[17]:

Lit. as if he were at a distance.

[18]:

The reading “apāsayannijam” has been followed. Lit. he had his hand removed by her who was awakened, etc.

[19]:

“padminī”, the best of the four classes of women.

[20]:

See Vocab. under “lajjita”.

[21]:

This was a tragic foreboding of how she would one day be forsaken by Nala in the woods.

[22]:

She had shaken her head twice, which Nala interprets as two negatives making one affirmative.

[23]:

See Canto IX.

[24]:

Lit. had a state of mind where the sentiment, etc.

[25]:

See 14.77.

[26]:

The eyebrows of a beautiful woman likened to Cupid’s bow.

[27]:

Lit. pressed by her beloved in an embrace.

[28]:

Lit. acquired the character of......

[29]:

Indelicate.

[30]:

Lit. struck her beloved’s......... hands with the lustre of the pearlstring.

[31]:

The breasts are indirectly likened to two phallic forms of Śiva. See Notes.

[32]:

There is a pun on “guṇa” which means both “merit” and “thread”; here, the thread with which the pearls had been strung together.

[33]:

Lit. with the sole of his left foot.

[34]:

Indelicate.

[35]:

Lit the play of finger-nails.

[36]:

Lit. nails and the like.

[37]:

Lit. he whose hair kissed the bed.

[38]:

i.e., the eleven Rudras.

[39]:

i.e., by way of preventing him from touching her feet.

[40]:

Lit. the couple whose hearts had a unity symbolised by the king’s bosom, etc.