L.
Sakhī: With soft persuasion all the maidens
Led her to her lover's side,
A fawn ensnaréd from the forest
Panting hard.
The sweet-face sits beside the bed
With busily averted looks,
Her mind wide-wandering,—
Love breathing hard.
Cruel is Love, and loveliness is stubborn,
She will not follow reason:
Fast is her girdle knotted, bodice bound,
And barriers before her lips.
Her body closely swathed on neither side
A glimpse revealed,
She yields her life at a hand's touch,—
How may Hari win his will?
Unhappy Kānta lays how many prayers
Upon the maiden's feet,
Hurting her soul (so Rādhā thinks):
Such is the song of Vidyāpati.
ABHISĀRA
LI.
Sakhī: Gainlier than a royal olifant, more graceful than the swan,
She goes to keep her tryst:
Her glorious body far surpasses any golden bud,
Or flawless flash of lightning.
Her tresses far surpass the clouds, the night, the yak,
Or bees, or moss:
Her eyebrow-tendril set on a crescent brow, surpasses
Bow and bees and snakes.
Her face excels the golden mirror, the moon, the lily,
Her lips the bimba-fruit and coral:
Her teeth surpass the pearl, the jasmine and the granate seed.
Her neck the figure of the conch.
Her beauteous breasts surpass the honey apple, or twin palmyra fruits,
Or golden jars, mountains, or goblets:
Her arms excel the lotus-root and jungle-rope.
Her waist the drum's and lion's.
Softer than moss her vine of down and darker than the sūrm,
The triple folds are lovelier than rolling waves:
Her navel far surpasses any lake, or lotus-leaves.
Her buttocks, head of olifant.
Her thighs excel the plaintain-stem, or trunk of royal olifant.
Her hands and feet, the lotus of the land:
Her nails surpass pomegranate-seeds, the moon, or gems.
Her speech is more than nectar-sweet.
Says Vidyāpati: Her shape is unsurpassed,
Peerless is Rādhā's beauty:
Rājā Shivasimha Rūpanārāyana
Is the eleventh Avatar!