A certain yaksha who had been negligent in the execution of his own duties,on account of a curse from his master which was to be endured for a year andwhich was onerous as it separated him from his beloved, made his residenceamong the hermitages of Ramagiri, whose waters were blessed by the bathingof the daughter of Janaka1 and whose shade trees grew in profusion.
That lover, separated from his beloved, whose gold armlet had slipped fromhis bare forearm, having dwelt on that mountain for some months, on the firstday of the month of Asadha, saw a cloud embracing the summit, whichresembled a mature elephant playfully butting a bank.
Managing with difficulty to stand up in front of that cloud which was thecause of the renewal of his enthusiasm, that attendant of the king of kings,pondered while holding back his tears.
Even the mind of a happy person isexcited at the sight of a cloud.
How much more so, when the one who longs tocling to his neck is far away?
As the month of Nabhas was close at hand, having as his goal the sustainingof the life of his beloved and wishing to cause the tidings of his own welfareto be carried by the cloud, the delighted being spoke kind words of welcometo the cloud to which offerings of fresh kutaja flowers had been made.
Owing to his impatience, not considering the imcompatibility between a cloudconsisting of vapour, light, water and wind and the contents of his messagebest delivered by a person of normal faculties, the yaksha made this request tothe cloud, for among sentient and non-sentient things, those afflicted by desireare naturally miserable:
Without doubt, your path unimpeded, you will see your brother’s wife, intenton counting the days, faithful and living on.
The bond of hope generallysustains the quickly sinking hearts of women who are alone, and which wiltlike flowers.
Just as the favourable wind drives you slowly onward, this cataka cuckoo,your kinsman, calls sweetly on the left.
Knowing the season for fertilisation,cranes, like threaded garlands in the sky, lovely to the eye, will serve you.
Your steady passage observed by charming female siddhas who in trepidationwonder ‘Has the summit been carried off the mountain by the wind?’, youwho are heading north, fly up into the sky from this place where the niculatrees flourish, avoiding on the way the blows of the trunks of the elephants ofthe four quarters of the sky.
This rainbow, resembling the intermingled sparkling of jewels, appears
Mt Valmikagra, on account of which your dark body takes on a particularloveliness, as did the body of Vishnu dressed as a cowherd with the peacock’sfeather of glistening lustre.
While being imbibed by the eyes of the country women who are ignorant ofthe play of the eyebrows, who are tender in their affection, and who arethinking ‘The result of the harvest depends on you’, having ascended to aregion whose fields are fragrant from recent ploughing, you should proceed alittle to the west.
Your pace is swift.
Go north once more.
Mt Amrakuta will carefully bear you upon its head—you whose showersextinguished its forest fires and who are overcome by fatigue of the road.
Even a lowly being, remembering an earlier kind deed, does not turn its backon a friend who has come for refuge; how much less, then, one so lofty?
When you, remembling a glossy braid of hair, have ascended its summit, themountain whose slopes are covered with forest mangoes, glowing with ripefruit, takes on the appearance of a breast of the earth, dark at the centre, therest pale, worthy to be beheld by a divine couple.
Having rested for a moment at a bower enjoyed by the forest-dwellingwomen, then travelling more swiftly when your waters have been discharged,the next stage thence is crossed.
You will see the river Reva spread at the footof Mt Vandhya, made rough with rocks and resembling the pattern formed bythe broken wrinkles on the body of an elephant.
Your showers shed, having partaken of her waters that are scented with thefragrant exudation of forest elephants and whose flow is impeded by thicketsof rose-apples, you should proceed.
Filled with water, the wind will be unableto lift you,
O cloud, for all this is empty is light, while fullness results inheaviness.
Seeing the yellow-brown nipa with their stamens half erect, eating the kankaliflowers whose first buds have appeared on every bank, and smelling thehighly fragrant scent of the forest earth, the deer will indicate the way to thecloud.
Watching the cataka cuckoos that are skilled in catching raindrops, andwatching the herons flying in skeins as they count them, the siddhas will holdyou in high regard at the moment of your thundering, having received thetrembling, agitated embraced of their beloved female companions!
I perceive in an instant, friend, your delays on mountain after mountainscented with kakubha flowers—you who should desire to proceed for the sakeof my beloved.
Welcomed by peacocks with teary eyes who have turned theircries into words of welcome, you should somehow resolve to proceed at once.
Reaching their capital by the name of Vidisha, renowned in all quarters, andhaving won at once complete satisfaction of your desires, you will drink thesweet, rippling water from the Vetravati River which roars pleasantly at theedge of her banks, rippling as if her face bore a frown.
There, for the sake of rest, your should occupy the mountain known as Nicaihwhich seems to thrill at your touch with its full-blown kadamba flowers, andwhose grottoes make known the unbridled youthful deeds of the townsmen byemitting the scent of intercourse with bought women.
After resting, move on while watering with fresh raindrops the clusters ofjasmine buds that grow in gardens on the banks of the forest rivers—you whohave made a momentary acquaintance with the flower-picking girls by lendingshade to their faces, the lotuses at whose ears are withered and broken as theywipe away the perspiration from their cheeks.
Even though the route would be circuitous for one who, like you, isnorthward-bound, do not turn your back on the love on the palace roofs
Ujjayini.
If you do not enjoy the eyes with flickering eyelids of the womenstartled by bolts of lightning there, then you have been deceived!
On the way, after you have ascended to the Nirvandhya River, whose girdlesare flocks of birds calling on account of the turbulence of her waves, whosegliding motion is rendered delightful with stumbling steps, and whoseexposed navel is her eddies, fill yourself with water, for amorous distraction is a woman’s first expression of love for their beloved.
When you have passed that, you should duly adopt the means by which
Sindhu River may cast off her emaciation—she whose waters have becomelike a single braid of hair, whose complexion is made pale by the old leavesfalling from the trees on her banks, and who shows you goodwill because shehas been separated from you,
O fortunate one.
Having reached Avanti where the village elders are well-versed in the legendof Udayana, make your way to the aforementioned city of Vishala, filled withsplendour, like a beautiful piece of heaven carried there by means of theremaining merit of gods who had fallen to earth when the fruits of the goodactions had nearly expired;
Where, at daybreak, the breeze from the Shipra River, carrying abroad thesweet, clear, impassioned cries of the geese, fragrant from contact with thescent of full-blown lotuses and pleasing to the body, carries off the lassitudeof the women after their love-play, like a lover making entreaties for furtherenjoyment.
And having see by the tens of millions the strings of pearls with shining gemsas their central stones, conches, pearl-shells, emeralds as green as fresh grasswith radiating brilliance and pieces of coral displayed in the market there, theoceans appear to contain nothing but water;
And where the knowledgeable populace regale visiting relatives thus: ‘Herethe king of the Vatsa brought the precious daughter of Pradyota.
Here was the golden grove of tala-trees of that same monarch.
Here, they say,
Nalagiri (the elephant), having pulled out his tie-post in fury.’Your bulk increased by the incense that is used for perfuming the hair thatissues from the lattices, and honoured with gifts of dance by the domesticpeacocks out of their love for their friend, lay aside the weariness of the travel while admiring the splendour of its palaces which are scented with flowers and marked by the hennaed feet of the lovely women.
Observed respectfully by divine retinues who are reminded of the colour oftheir master’s throat, you should proceed to the holy abode of the lord of thethree worlds, husband of Chandi, whose gardens are caressed by the windsfrom the Gandhavati River, scented with the pollen of the blue lotuses andperfumed by the bath-oils used by young women who delight in water-play.
Even if you arrive at Mahakala at some other time,
O cloud, you should waituntil the sun passes from the range of the eye.
Playing the honourable role ofdrum at the evening offering to Shiva, you will receive the full reward foryour deep thunder.
There, their girdles jingling to their footsteps, and their hands tired from thepretty waving of fly-whisks whose handles are brilliant with the sparkle ofjewels, having received from you raindrops at the onset of the rainy seasonthat soothe the scratches made by fingernails, the courtesans cast youlingering sidelong glances that resemble rows of honey-bees.
Then, settled above the forests whose trees are like uplifted arms, being roundin shape, producing an evening light, red as a fresh China-rose, at the start
Shiva’s dance, remove his desire for a fresh elephant skin—you whosedevotion is beheld by Parvati, her agitation stilled and her gaze transfixed.
Reveal the ground with a bolt of lightning that shines like a streak of gold on a touchstone to the young women in that vicinity going by night to the homes oftheir lovers along the royal highroad which has been robbed of light by adarkness that could be pricked with a needle.
Withhold your showers of rainand rumbling thunder: they would be frightened!
Passing that night above the roof-top of a certain house where pigeons sleep,you, whose consort the lightning is tired by prolonged sport, should completethe rest of your journey when the sun reappears.
Indeed, those who havepromised to accomplish a task for a friend do not tarry.
At that time, the tears of the wronged wives are to be soothed away by theirhusbands.
Therefore abandon at once the path of the sun.
He too has returnedto remove the tears of dew from the lotus-faces of the lilies.
If you obstruct his rays, he may become greatly incensed.
