SHIVA’S ROMANCE

Love stories from the womb of ancient India

Atma became one of the wavelets on Brahma’s chest. Infinite and timeless.

by

Kamalesh Dwivedi
 Copyright

Kamalesh Dwivedi
2006

2
 Introduction
As I sat in our family room looking out the window at the peaks of the Front
Range of the Colorado Rockies, I remembered my father, my babuji, reading
out Sanskrit poems to me during the winter harvest days in my village in
India. Using a precariously contrived bamboo ladder, we used to climb up
the stack of the freshly threshed paddy hay, piled some fifteen to twenty feet
high. He climbed up the ladder first while I held the poetry books tightly
under my left arm and held the ladder with both hands so that it would not
slip away. Then it used to be my turn to climb up the ladder with the books
under my arm, which proved tricky sometimes. Both of us used to sit at the
highest point of the hay-stack facing to the East and enjoying the morning
sun as it filtered through the leaves of the mango trees. As soon as we sat
down, browsing through the poetry books and picking one of them up, he
used to start reciting them to me. With so many distractions around us, it
was hard for me to display a consistency of attention his poetry recital
demanded. The oxen were monotonously going around as the pressure of
their feet separated the paddy grains from the stalks. The birds- the crows,
the sparrows and the mainas- used to compete for the grains as they chirped
loudly and playfully. A gentle nudge from my babuji was usually enough to
draw my attention back to listening to him. It was hard for me to pay
attention and it was harder still to imagine at that time that I would develop a
life long interest in Sanskrit poetry. Like dormant volcanic flames, several of
the poems like n:v: p:l:aS: p:l:aS: v:n:ö p:ÙrH, sPÙX p:rag: p:rag:tp:ökj:m:Ð from
Shishupal Vaddha and the opening line keÁ:t:Î kant:a ev:rh g:Ù,N:a sv:aeD:karat:Î
)m:¶:H from Meghadutam started to leap up from my memory as I grew

older. Many of the legendary lines like m:a en:\:ad )e¶:Åa tv:m:g:m:H S:aÃ:t:i s:m:a
from the story about the poet, Valmiki, also lit up in and leapt up from my
memory.
But no other poet in Sanskrit has more stories than Kalidas, the king of
simile. One of the stories about him goes like this: While composing
Kumarasambhavam, Kalidas described the beauty of Parvati, the intensity of
love between her and Shiva and their highly nuanced romantic plays so
vividly that he lost all his fingers to leprosy after the book was completed.
To redeem himself and more importantly to regain his lost fingers, the
legend says, he had to commit himself to writing Raghuvansham, a poetic

3
story about Ram’s great grandfather’s progeny. After Kalidas composed
Raghuvansham, his fingers grew back and he wrote several more
masterpieces of Sanskrit poetry and drama. When my babuji narrated this
story to me, I was around fourteen or fifteen years old. I did not understand
why a poet would lose his fingers to leprosy just because he composed
poems on love and beauty. I still do not. Maybe, this story about Kalidas
may have been just that, a story, or it may have been a mischievous
concoction of a jealous literary competitor. No one knows for sure.
As I continued to look at the mountain peaks of the Front Range in Colorado
from our family room, I could imagine Shiva and Parvati sitting in the
mountains the way they had been described in Sanskrit books to be sitting on
Mt. Kailash in the Himalayas. An unknown but strong stirring inside me
impelled me to head for the study room to browse through some of the
poetry books in Sanskrit. I opened Kumarasambhavam by Kalidas first. A
poem in the first chapter went like this:
Any:<ny:ö utp:iRy:t:Î utp:l:axy:aH
st:n:¾y:ö p:aNRÙ t:T:a )v:á¹m:Î
m:Dy:ð y:T:a Sy:am: m:ÙK:sy: t:sy:
m:áN:al: s:Ü*:ant:m:Î Aep: Al:By:m:Î

Parvati’s eyes had the beauty of a lotus flower and she had large breasts
with dark nipples in the middle. Her breasts touched each other so tightly
that not even a single thread of a fine fibre from the stalk of the lotus plant
could be passed through between them. The verse before this described her
abdominal muscle thus:
m:Dy:ðn: s:a v:ðed ev:l:gn: m:Dy:a
v:el:*:y:ö c:a, b:B:ar b:al:a
A:r<hN:aT:üm:Î n:v: y:>v:n:ðn:
kam:sy: s:<p:an:m:ÎÎ Ev: )y:ÙVt:m:Î

Kalidas compared Parvati’s abdominal muscle packs with the very steps
used by Kamadeva to climb up the higher reaches of her body– her breasts,
her lips and her face. Who had deployed these steps for this purpose?
Kalidas says, ‘the youth itself has deployed them, n:v: y:>v:n:ðn: s:<p:an:m:ÎÎ Ev:
)y:ÙVt:m:Î’. I understood then when I was a teenager and I understand now that

Parvati is not an ordinary woman. She is the incarnation of Kali, the consort

4
of Shiva. She is worshipped as a goddess by a billion people today and was
worshipped by millions of people during the times of Kalidas around two
thousand years ago. According to the story about Kalidas, he was let go with
a gentler punishment for what some might say was an outrageously
blasphemous description of Parvati’s physical attributes. The punishment
was reversed later, as the story goes, and Kalidas lived for many more years
to write many more poems and plays. However, there was no one gunning
for his head in what some might call a ‘beyond-liberal’ Indian sanskritic
tradition. At the core of that sanskritic tradition was an acceptance of even
the supremely outrageous views and the people who held such views. When
Sanskrit died as a popularly spoken language, the sanskriti, the culture, of
acceptance died, too, with it.
After browsing through Kumarasambhavam, I picked up Raghuvansham, the
book which was also a part of the legendary story about Kalidas. Going
through Raghuvansham, I discovered that Kalidas had certainly moved away
from vividly describing the physical attributes of Parvati and the nuanced,
romantic love plays between her and Shiva to a sublimated description of
Aja’s wailing when his wife, Indumati, passed away. Aja, Ram’s
grandfather, and Indumati were resting in a garden of their palace. As the
rishi Narad flew through the skies, a bunch of flowers broke off the garland
around his veena, the lute, due to a strong wind. These flowers fell on and
struck Indumati’s breasts. She was so delicate that she fainted and died in
the garden. Here is how Kalidas has sublimated Aja’s loss.
+eg:y:ö y:ed j:iev:t:ap:ha Ædy:ð
ekö en:eht:a n: hent: m:am:Ï
ev:\:m:ep: Am:àt:ö Vv:ec:t:Ï B:v:ðt:Ï
Am:àt:ö v:a ev:\:m:Ï IÃ:r EcCy:a
AT:v:a m:m: B:agy: ev:pl:v:
AdS:en:H kelp:t: O\: v:ðD:s:a
y:t:Ï An:ðn: t:,H n: p:aet:t:H
x:ep:t:a t:t:Ï ev:Xp:aeÂ:t:a l:t:a

Aja cries out, “If a bunch of flowers can kill someone, then why don’t they
kill me eventhough I have placed them on my chest? Ah, even the poison
turns into nectar and the nectar into poison through the will of god. Or,
maybe, through a reversal of the cruel fate, the providence had sent this

5
lightning bolt for me. For it has not killed the tree but, instead, it killed the
creeper clinging to the tree.” Aja remembers her long, black and curly hair
and wishes hopelessly for the return of his wife to life when he says, “O
lovely one, the memory of your long, black and curly hair fills me with the
hope that you might come back to life, tv:dÏ up:av:t:ün:S:e¢ m:ð m:n:H.” Kalidas
made Aja continue to wail through another heart rending verse,
g:àehN:i s:ec:v:H s:K:i em:T:H
e)y:eS:\y:a l:el:t:ð kl:aev:D:>
k,N:a ev:m:ÙK:ðn: m:àty:Ùn:a hrt:a
tv:aö v:d ekö n: m:ð Æt:m:Ï

“By taking you away from me, tell me, what the cruel death has not taken
away from me- my companion, my counsellor, my friend and a beloved
student of fine arts.” Aja’s cries over the loss of his dear wife made even the
trees shed tears in the form of the sap oozing out from their branches, Akr<t:Ï
p:àeT:v:i ,han:ep: +Ùt: S:aK:a rs: b:a\p: dÜe\:t:an:Ï. No wonder Kalidas regained his

lost fingers as he moved from a vivid description of the physical attributes of

Parvati to a sublimation of Aja’s love and yearning for his wife. Maybe, love
between a man and a woman moves over time from the form to the formless,
from a physical attraction to the spiritual sublimation.
As I finished browsing through Kumarasambhavam and Raghuvansham, I
felt inspired. From a distance and from the safety of our home in the
Greenwood Village, the lower mountain ridges reminded me of Parvati’s
youthful abdominal muscle packs. Two of the peaks, which were somewhat
round and which seemed to touch each other, reminded me of the imagery
used by Kalidas. I could very well imagine her beauty in the beauty of the
distant mountain. I could also imagine the sublimation of Aja’s love for his
wife as the snow rose into the skies as a vaporous cloud over the lofty
heights of the mountain range. I could also feel the pain of Aja’s yearning
for his departed wife as the mountain peaks rose to the sky but failed to
touch it. I could hear the shearing sound of the echo of Aja’s wailings for
Indumati coming back from the mountains through the windows in the
family room. I felt stirred to understand love, the sublime, and beauty, the
form, through the eyes of Sanskrit poets and playwrights.
This stirring, I felt, was also a way to pay a tribute to the memory of my
father who loved Sanskrit so much that one had to be with him to fathom the

6
depth of happiness on his face whenever he recited the poems. I was very
fortunate to have sat beside him, to feel his happiness and to be happy with
him. Besides a spinning-top, a gulli-danda and some kites to fly, that was
also one of the few ‘toys’ for me during my childhood in a Bihari village in
India. While the spinning-top, the gulli-danda and kites will forever be a part
of my memory, a vivid description of form, the beautiful, and a nuanced
portrayal of love, the formless, in Sanskrit poetry and plays haunt me the
most.
Love and beauty, however, are a much more complex topic than spinning a
top or hitting the gulli with the danda or flying a kite. They are much more
complex for someone like me who has been trained as an electrical engineer
and who has worked in the field of technology througout his career. One
can, however, draw a strained conceptual similarity which beauty, love and
electricity share among themselves- all of the these are felt by their impact
on others. Despite this conceptual similarity and with an engineer’s
understanding of beauty and love, I quickly discovered that getting inspired
was one thing and understanding the true nature of beauty and love, the
form and the formless, was quite another. When I started asking myself
whether there was a consistent and universal definition of beauty, I found
none. When I noted that a jackass gets attracted to a jackass, a pig gets
attracted to a pig, a parrot to a parrot and a peacock to a peacock, I wondered
why. I thought that these attractions were due to a pre-programmed, genetic
disposition and there was no free will involved.
When I looked around at the human world, I noted a bewildering bio-
diversity- skinny people, fat people, obese people, people with flat noses,
people with noses stopped half way during the construction process, people
with bulbous noses, people with nostrils like rat-holes, people with black
hair, blonde hair, red hair, curly hair, straight hair, people with large eyes,
with small eyes, with squinted eyes, with blue iris, with brown iris, with
hazel iris and people with big and round buttocks and those with small and
flat buttocks. There were a whole lot of personas who looked as if god had
made them in a hurry while he was going to the bathroom. However, it also
seemed to me that everyone spotted beauty in someone, beauty in
something. It appeared to me that a pre-programming of some sort was at
work in the human world, too. Free will seemed to play a lesser role in
getting attracted to someone and a much lesser role in falling in love with
someone. But humans pretend that they made a conscious choice when they
fall in love with someone and, sometimes, they even anchor their marital
happiness on this pretention.

7
It is also said that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. One may wonder
what happens if the beholder were a one-eyed or a completely blind person?
How will that blind beholder ever see beauty? One may also think that
beauty is a derivative concept as its perceptual existence depends upon the
existence of a beholder- where there is no subject, there is no object. One
may wonder some more- why to make so much fuss about a dependent
derivative concept? The more I tortured myself, the harder I strived for an
understanding of beauty which was independent of the existence of a
beholder.
During my search, I came across a line in Shishupal Vaddha by the poet
Magha: x:N:ð x:N:ð y:t:Ð n:v:t:aö up:òet: t:t:Ð Ov: -p:ö rm:N:iy:t:ay:aH. Beauty is that which
renews itself every moment, the poet has noted. Kalidas, in
Malavikagnimitram, makes the teacher Ganadas speak about beauty thus:
s:el:l:en:eD:H Ev: )et:x:N:ö m:ð B:v:et: s: Ov: n:v:H n:v:H Ay:m:Ð AxN:<H, it is just like an

ocean, which looks new every moment. According to these poets, beauty is
that which renews itself every moment- a form which changes very
frequently. When seen through the eyes of these Sanskrit poets, beauty is an
intrinsic quality and does not depend upon an extrinsic beholder- the object
exists in the its own objective domain.
Had I stopped here, I would have been content with the end of my search
and would have declared victory. I started to wonder again after I had read
the poetry books and found that almost every Sanskrit poet preferred a
heroine with long and gently dropping arms with slender fingers, large eyes
whose corners stretched until the middle of the ears, large buttocks, large
and convex breasts, red lips, a high nose, a longer chin, an ‘invisible’
stomach, well tapered thighs from the waist to the knees, a skinny waist and
a set of teeth tightly arranged like the rows of the pomgranate seeds and
shining white. Maybe, I thought, that which renewed itself every moment
and that which had all these physical features is what is called beauty. This
may be the reason why everyone finds beauty in someone and in something.
If one took away the quality of ‘ever evolving’ renewal of beauty from the
definition, then, it would be a very depressing experience for a lot of people,
indeed.
Love, the formless, posed a similar definitional problem. Love is attraction,
love is sensuous, love is what hatred is not, love is in giving, love lasts long,
love is light, love is unconditional and love is yearning for someone or

8
something. I found all kinds of words of wisdom about love. The Rati-
Rahasya, a Sanskrit text dwelling on the secrets of love, talks about the ten
steps in the process of falling and remaining in love:
n:y:n:)iet:H )T:m:ö ec:nt:as:¤H t:t:H s:öklp:H
en:dÔacCðdH t:n:Ùt:a ev:\:y:en:v:áe¶:H *:p:an:aS:H
unm:adH m:ÜcCaüH m:áet:H Eet: Ot:aH sm:rdS:a dS:òv: sy:ÙH

These ten steps or states or phases of love, according to the Rati-Rahasya,

are: nayan-priti(attraction through the eyes or the eye-contact), chintasang
(brooding over the experience of the eye-contact), sankalp(resolve), nidra-
chhed(loss of sleep), tanuta(loss of body weight), vishaya-nivritti
(withdrawal from other objects of senses), trapa-nash (loss of the sense of
social embarrassment), unmad (delusion), murchha (forgetfulness) and mriti
(experiencing a deathly, ‘the world is falling apart’ kind of feeling, ‘I wish I
were not alive’ kind of depressive state). After some or all of these phases or
states are experienced wholly or partially, then a sense of complete surrender
sets in, as Shiva had told Parvati, ‘A½ )B:áet: Av:n:t:ae¤ !’t:v: Aesm: das:H, O
Parvati, from now onwards, I am your slave.’ Or as Malavika expressed in
her song, ‘O my love, count me as your slave with a strong desire, n:aT: m:aö
p:raD:in:aö tv:ey: p:erg:N:y: s:t:à\N:am:Ð!’ Or as Agnimitra said to Malavika, ‘Your

slave, like no one else, is standing right in front of you, n:n:Ù t:v: s:ax:adÐ Ay:m:Ð
Ahm:Ð An:ny: s:aD:arN:H das:H.’ Nala, too, would not have felt a sense of social
embarrasment, were he to become Damayanti’s slave to get near her, tv:yy:ðv:
dasy:ð Aep: n: l:jj:t:ð. Love will have a definitional context in this book which

impells one to go through all the ten phases, wholly or partially, as described
in the Rati-Rahasya, and when one ends up in a complete surrender to one’s
object of love.
Here it is, then, Shiva’s Romance, which has seven love stories from India
of the yore. Starting with the story of Shiva and Parvati and ending with a
fictional love story of Atma and Brahma, this book covers a vast stretch of
time in the romantic landscape of India where Pururava and Urvashi,
Dushyant and Shakuntala, Nala and Damayanti, Udayan and Vasavadatta
and Agnimitra and Malavika have left their tales of love for all time to come.
Three of the stories belong to the same family tree. The story of Pururava
and Urvashi took place around fifty two generations earlier than the story of

9
Udayan and Vasavadatta, while Dushyant and Shakuntala belonged to the
tenth generation after Pururava and Urvashi and around forty two
generations before Udayan and Vasavadatta. Udayan was a twenty seventh
generation Pandava. The stories of Pururava and Udayan are separated by
one thousand and two hundred fifty years. Assuming that the Mahabharat
war took place around five thousand and one hundred years ago, the story of
Urvashi and Pururava is around six thousand years old and that of Udayan
and Vasavadatta is more than four thousand years old. The story of Nala and
Damayanti is from the heart of India, the central India, and seems to be older
than three thousand years. The story of Shiva and Parvati appears to be as
old as the Indian civilization itself, perhaps more than ten thousand years old
or twenty thousand years old or more. No one knows with a reliable
certitude to be sure. The fictional story of Atma and Brahma is the oldest
and also the newest. The story of Malavika and Agnimitra is a post-Mauryan
story, which took place some time around two thousand and three hundred
years ago.
The theme of all these stories, however, transcends all generations and will
continue to do so in the future. When I was working on the stories, I felt
sufficiently inspired to compose couple of poetic lines in Sanskrit when my
wife was visiting Atlanta with our youngest daughter:
AXl:anXam:n:aem:kay:a s:h s:a g:t:a m:ð s:hc:ri
Okók x:N:H ev:y:<g:v:as:ð y:Ùg:m:ðv: p:erl:xy:t:ð
m:Dv:ag:m:n:ö s:Üc:n:aT:üm:Ï t:rv:H ev:l:s:ent: p:Ù\p:eB:H
sv:g:àhaeN: en:m:aüN:y:nt:H kl:rv:ö kÙv:üent: p:ex:N:H
m:as:an:Ï g:t:a s:a n:ag:t:a v:a v:s:öt:<ts:aH s:Ùev:g:t:a
dÙdüS:ay:a döeS:t:<|hm:Ï dÔÙm: dahðn: daem:n:i y:T:a
Aen:l:H An:l:<|B:v:t:Ï p:Ù\p:aeN: D:ary:et: D:aerN:i
ev:hay: n:iRaen: K:ð g:t:a p:ex:N:H eS:S:v:H t:T:a

“My companion has gone to Atlanta with Anamika. When the trees in full
bloom have announced the arrival of the Spring and the birds are chirping
while building their nests, every moment of separation feels like an era.
Months passed by, however, she did not return and the waves of the Spring
had already subsided. I feel as if I were stung by a bad condition or as if a
tree had been burnt by a lightning bolt. The cool breeze had turned into a

10
fire, while the flowers had fallen to the ground. Having left their nests, the
birds and their offsprings had taken to the skies”.
Those who walk stumble, sometimes, by mistake. While the wicked laugh at
them, the good-hearted empathize with them. Remembering this, enjoy
Shiva’s Romance.

g:cCt:H sK:l:n:ö Vv:aep: B:v:et: Ov: )m:adt:H

hs:ent: dÙj:ün:aH t:*: s:m:adD:et: s:jj:n:aH

Kamalesh Dwivedi
Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA
Year-2006

11
 in the memory

of

my father

Late Pandit Ramachandra Dwivedi

for

my wife

Rita Rani Dwivedi

12
 Content

1. Shiva’s Romance

2. Pururava’s Pain

3. Shakuntala’s Agony

4. Vasavadatta’s Thirst

5. Nala and Damayanti

6. Malavika

7. Atma’s Quest

8. Epilogue

13
 1. Shiva’s Romance
According to the Indian tradition, Shiva symbolizes the energy of dissolutive
forces; he is the embodiment of time itself. Along with Brahma, the symbol
of creative energy, and Vishnu, the symbol of sustaining energy, Shiva is the
symbol of the end of time or the beginning of time depending upon the way
one looks at it. He dissolves everything in himself; he is grasishnu, the
dissolver.

Mount Kailash: Home of Shiva

Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya and Mena, was the consort of Shiva. The
puranic history has it that she was the incarnation of Sati, also known as Kali
and Durga, the daughter of Daksha. She is the world-mother, jaganmata. As
Parvati grew older, she attained the beauty of the youth, which became the
very ornament of her body. Her beauty was much more intoxicating than
wine even though she was not wine; her beauty was the very arrow of
Kamadeva, the god of love, even though she was not a flower. As Kalidas
puts it:
As:mB:át:m:Î m:NRn:ö A¤y:ÄðH
An:as:v:aKy:ö krN:ö m:dsy:
kam:sy: p:Ù\p: vy:et:erVt:m:Î As*:ö
b:aly:adÎ p:rö s:a AT: v:y:H )p:ðdð

14
At the advent of her adolescent youth, having been endowed with great
beauty, she was like a perfect painting- unm:iel:t:m:Î t:Üel:ky:a Ev: ec:*:m:Î.
Parvati’s thighs were neither thick nor skinny; they were gently tapered in a
perfect proportion. As Kalidas describes it, Brahma had used up the world’s
supply of ingredients for making a human body after having made her
thighs:
v:á¶:an:Ùp:Üv:ðü c: n: c: Aet:diG:ðü
j:¥ð S:ÙB:ð s:áÄv:t:H t:diy:ð
S:ð\:a¤ en:m:aüN: ev:D:> ev:D:at:ÙH
l:av:Ny: utp:a½ Ev: Aas:y:tn:H
It is noteworthy that Sanskrit poets usually use the simile, for perfect
tapering of a women’s thigh, of the tapering of the trunk of a banana tree or
the tapering of the trunk of a baby elephant. Kalidas goes beyond these
traditional similies by stating that the trunk of the baby elephant is too rough
and hard and the trunk of the banana tree is too cold to be compared to the
beauty of Parvati’s thighs. Her neck was so beautiful that it was hard to tell
whether the pearl necklace she wore enhanced her beauty or she enhanced
the beauty of the necklace. Perhaps it was true either way! Her voice was so
sweet that even the sweet notes of the koel bird sounded harsh as if it were
coming out from a poorly played veena. Her eyebrows were dark, dense and
curved to such an extent that even Kamadeva stopped being proud of the
curvature of his love-bow. If the animals felt embarrassment as the humans
do, the chamari deer would stop loving the tuft of hair on its tail after seeing
Parvati’s long, black and wavy hair. As Kalidas summarizes:
s:v:ü up:m:a dÔvy: s:m:Ùcc:y:ðn:
y:T:a )dðS:ö ev:en:v:ðeS:t:ðn:
s:a en:em:üt:a ev:Ã:s:áj:a )y:tn:at:Î
OksT: s:>ndy:ü eddáx:y:a Ev:
Brahma wanted to see beauty in one place, this is the reason he gathered the
very best from everywhere and made Parvati. After describing Parvati’s
beauty, Kalidas asserts that beauty is as good as its success in attracting an
admirer, eh c:a,t:a s:>B:agy: Pl:a B:v:et:.
Let’s turn to Shiva now. At first sight, this is how Shiva looks like:

15
 B:Ùj:¤m:<nn:¹ j:Xa kl:ap:ö
kN:üav:s:Vt: e¾g:ÙN:ax: s:Ü*:m:Î
kNY )B:as:¤ ev:S:ð\: n:il:aö
ká\N: tv:c:ö g:ÔenT:m:et:m:Î dD:an:m:Î
Shiva’s hair was tied with snakes; the rudraksh garland was hanging off both
of his ears; he had wrapped himself with a dark deer-skin. And, to top this
all, he had three eyes! Despite what some might call a scary look of Shiva,
Paravti’s body burst into blossoms of thousand flowers of the kadamba tree
after he looked at her with all his three eyes. She could not hide the first
blush of attraction she felt for Shiva. She looked much more attractive as she
looked down. Shiva, too, was not untouched. He felt his own first blush of
attraction towards Parvati. He felt that Kamadeva, after having pulled the
bow-string all the way up to his right eye, was aiming to shoot his arrow of
love at him. As Shiva was engaged in meditation at the time, he felt a sense
of anger at the attractive distraction of Parvati’s beauty, which was being
assisted by Kamadeva, himself. Despite persistent pleas, from others around
him, of ‘stop your anger, stop your anger’, kÔ<D:m:Î s:öhr s:öhr, Shiva burnt
Kamadeva to ashes with the flames of fire coming out of his third eye. This
is how ended the first encounter of Parvati with Shiva. Wth a desire not to
come in contact with a woman, Shiva left for his invisible abode with all his
animals, s*:i s:eÀk\:öü p:erht:Ùüm:Ï EcCn:Ï Ant:düD:ð B:Üt:p:et:H s:B:Üt:H.

On the other hand, Parvati felt a strong sense of failure at not being able to
fulfill her father’s wish and also at the ineffectiveness of her own beauty as
she turned back towards her father’s house ‘empty handed’, S:Üny:a j:g:am:
B:v:n:aeB:m:ÙK:i . Her father, Himalaya, gave her a good hug to help her get over

her sense of initial failure and he carried his daughter farther away from
there because she looked scared after having seen the effect of Shiva’s
anger.
s:p:ed m:ÙkÙel:t:ax:iö ,dÔ s:örmB: B:ity:a
dÙeht:rö An:Ùkmpy:aö AedÔH Aaday: d<By:aüm:Ï
Parvati took it hard upon herself. Even though her beauty was without
blemish, as Kalidas has noted ‘Brahma wanted to see beauty in one place,

16
this is the reason he gathered the very best from everywhere and made
Parvati’, she started to hate herself and her beauty. This is the time of
despair when Kalidas notes, ‘beauty is as good as its success in attracting
an admirer, a lover’, eh c:a,t:a s:>B:agy: Pl:a B:v:et:. Although Parvati felt a
deep sense of failure at her first attempts to attract Shiva, she also felt a
strong sense of resolve to attract him. Against her mother’s advice, ‘you are
so delicate and the path of tapasya is so hard, do not take that path’, t:p:H Vv:
v:ts:ð Vv: c: t:av:km:Î v:p:ÙH, Parvati started performing tapasya. She ate nothing,

drank no water and sat still with closed eyes out in the open under the sky.
Months, seasons and years passed, Paravti sat still performing tapasya. As
the first drops of the rains fell on her face, Kaldias captured her beauty and
the beauty of the falling rain-drops thus:
esT:t:aH x:N:ö p:xm:s:Ù t:aeRt:aD:raH
p:y:<D:r<ts:ðD: en:p:at:c:ÜeN:üt:a
v:l:i\:Ù t:sy:aH sK:el:t:aH )p:ðedrð
ec:rðN: n:aeB:ö )T:m: udeb:ndv:H
This is how Kalidas paints the picture: the rain-drops fell first on Parvati’s
eyelids and, after lingering there for a moment, they passed over the upper
lip and then they fell on her lower lip where they stayed awhile. The rain-
drops were scattered into ‘million pieces’ when they fell down, from her
lower lip, on her hard breasts. After caressing her abdominal muscle, the
rain-drops reached her deep navel where they got trapped and were lost
forever. What an interesting journey for the rain-drops? It is Kalidas’ poetic
genius which can take an ordinary event like falling of rain-drops and turn it
into a golden opportunity to remind us, once again, of Parvati’s
extraordinary beauty. Parvati’s tapasya continued. Even the nights saw
Parvati through the ‘eyes of their lightning’ as she lay on a rock slab, outside
the shelter of a house, sometimes in a heavy downpour. As the poets notes,

eS:l:a S:y:aö t:aö Aen:kñt:v:aes:n:iö

en:rnt:ras:Ù Ant:rv:at:v:àeÄ\:Ù
vy:l:<ky:n:Ï n: uenm:e\:t:òH t:eRt:m:y:òH

17
 m:hat:p:H s:axy: Ev: esT:t:aH x:p:aH
She stopped eating even the mango leaves fallen on the ground. This is the
reason why she was referred to by the name of Aparna, v:ndet: Ap:N:aü Eet: c:
t:aö p:Ùraev:dH. In her tapasya, her body, which was as delicate as a lotus flower,

‘melted’ and she left even the hardiest of the hardy tapasvis behind,
m:àN:ael:ka p:ðl:v:ö Ov:ö AaedeB:H v:Ôt:òH sv:m:Ï A¤ö gl:p:y:ent: Ahen:üS:m:Ï
t:p:H S:riròH keYn:òH up:aej:üt:ö t:p:esv:n:aö dÜrö AD:Á:kar s:a
Even though Shiva had burnt Kamadeva with his third eye and had vowed
not to come in contact with a woman, s*:i s:eÀk\:öü p:erht:Ùüm:Ï EcCn:Ï Ant:düD:ð
B:Üt:p:et:H s:B:Üt:H, it appears that Paravti had left an indelible imprint on his

mind. In the guise of a brahmachari, a student and a seeker of spiritual

knowledge, wrapped in a piece of the deer-skin and holding a bramhachari
staff of the palash wood in his hand, he appeared before Parvati. He politely
inquired her about her well being thus,
Aep: ekÔy:aT:üö s:Ùl:B:ö s:em:t:Ï kÙS:ö j:l:aen: Aep: sn:an: ev:eD: x:m:aeN: t:ð
Aep: sv:S:Vty:a t:p:es: )v:t:üs:ð S:rirö Aa½ö K:l:Ù D:m:üs:aD:n:m:Ï
‘Are you able to collect wood for the fire? Are you able to get the kusha
plant to be used in the worship? Is the water safe here for taking a bath? Are
you going beyond your physical capability? Remember, this very body is a
means for carrying out all the dharma’. Shiva is obviously concerned about
her well being. He sounds worried that Parvati may die and reminds her that
the body is a very important vehicle for attaining greater goals in life, which
must be protected because it is the very means of conducting all the dharmic
work. Where there is no body, there will be no dharma, S:rirö Aa½ö K:l:Ù
D:m:üs:aD:n:m:Ï. He further asks Parvati, ‘O lotus-eyed, do you like these deer

when they snatch the kusha plant from your hand for their food? Verily,
their eyes resemble your eyes, )c:l:òH ev:l:<c:n:òH t:v: Aex: s:adàSy:ö Ev: )y:ÙWj:t:ð.’
He commends her by saying, ‘O the beautiful, of all the three vargas-
dharma, artha and kama- I feel more inclined towards dharma after seeing a
tapasvini like you, who has relinquished the means of artha and kama, which
is easily available in her father’s house, and adopted the path of dharma’.

18
An:ðn: D:m:üH s:ev:S:ð\:ö A½ m:ð e*:v:g:ü s:arH )et:B:aet: B:aev:en:
tv:y:a m:n:<en:ev:ü\:y: AT:ü kam:y:a y:t:Ï Ok Ov: )et:g:àÊ s:ðvy:t:ð
It is important to note that Shiva did not mention the fourth varga, the
moksha, because he may not want Parvati to be focused on moksha at this
stage in her life. He tells her, ‘you have been a great host to me, so do not
think of me as being a person apart from you, n: m:am:Ï p:rö s:m)et:p:¶:Ùö Ahües:.’
Shiva is being very polite and extremely careful when he informs her, ‘I am
about to ask you about something. If that is something you do not want to
talk about, please let me know.’ And Shiva asks this question,
kÙl:ð )s:Üet:H )T:m:sy: v:ðD:s:H e*:l:<k s:>ndy:üö uedt:ö v:p:ÙH
Am:àgy:ö OðÃ:y:ü s:ÙK:ö n:v:ö v:y:H t:p:H Pl:ö sy:at:Ï ekö At:H p:rö v:d
He says, ‘Firstly, you can trace your genealogy to Brahma himself, secondly,
you have the beauty of all the three worlds and you are not made of the five
elements, thirdly, it is impossible to speak of your inheritance of a great
wealth and, fourthly, you have just attained your youth. Despite having all
these things, what are you doing this hard tapasya for?’ Without waiting for
an answer from her, Shiva proceeds to imagine a few reasons for her
performing the tapasya. He says,
Al:By: S:<k AeB:B:v:a Ey:ö Aakàet:H ev:m:an:n:a s:ÙB:ÔÙ kÙt:H ep:t:ÙH g:àhð
p:raeB:m:S:üH n: t:v: Aest: kH krö )s:ary:ðt:Ï p:nn:g: rtn: s:Üc:y:ð
ekö Eet: Ap:asy: AaB:raN:aen: y:>v:n:ð D:àt:ö tv:y:a v:aD:ükS:<eB: v:lkl:m:Ï
v:d )d<\:ð sPÙX c:ndÔ t:arka ev:B:av:ri y:ed A,N:ay: klp:t:ð
‘O Lady, with beautiful eyebrows, no one can ignore your beauty and no one
can afford to insult you in your father’s house, either. Why have you
relinquished all the ornaments of the youth and have dressed yourself in a
valkala clothing, which is appropriate for an old age? Why would a
beautiful, young night with the moon and the stars shining in the sky wish
for the sunrise?’ He goes on imagining more reasons, ‘if you are performing
the tapasya for getting a good husband, even that does not make sense to me
because a gem does not look for a person. It is a person who looks for the
gem’, n: rtn:ö Aenv:\y:et: m:àgy:t:ð eh t:t:Ï. After beating around the bush for a
while, Shiva finally asked her a direct question, ‘How long will you suffer
form the pangs of tapasya? Who is that whom you have chosen? I want to

19
know this, eky:t:Ï ec:rö Â:amy:es: g:>er ?&&&& l:B:sv: kaöex:t:ö v:rö t:ö EcCaem: c: s:aD:Ù
v:ðedt:Ùm:Ï.’

Parvati felt a sense of hesitant bashfulness as she hinted at her friend to

respond to the brahmachari’s question. Not knowing that it was Shiva,
Parvati’s friend told the brahmachari that her friend was in love with Shiva
and that once she drew his portrait and used to talk to the portrait thus,
‘People call you omniscient, how come you don’t know what is going on in
my heart, y:da b:ÙD:òH s:v:üg:t:H tv:ö ucy:s:ð‹ n: v:ðets: B:av:sT:ö Em:ö kT:ö j:n:m:Ï ?’ She
further adds that even the trees, which are a witness to her tapasya, have
borne fruits, however, her friend’s wish to get Shiva as her husband has not
even sprouted, n: c: )r<h AeB:m:ÙK:H Aep: dàSy:t:ð m:n:<rT:H Asy:aH. Upon hearing
this from Parvati’s friend, Shiva asked Parvati, ‘Is this all true or is it just a
good humour?’ Parvati could not contain her emotions anymore when she
said,
y:T:a Â:Ùt:ö v:ðdev:da v:r tv:y:a j:n:H Ay:ö ucc:òH p:d l:¥n:H uts:ÙkH
t:p:H ekl: Edö t:t:Ï Av:aept: s:aD:n:ö m:n:<rT:an:aö Ag:et:H n: ev:½t:ð
‘Yes, that is true’, she admitted her love for him. She added further that there
is no limit to human desire’, m:n:<rT:an:aö Ag:et:H n: ev:½t:ð . The brahmachari told
her that he knew Shiva, however, he would not recommend him as a groom
for her because Shiva was a wierd man. ‘I do not feel encouraged to
recommend him to you’, he said politely, t:v: An:Ùv:àe¶:ö n: kt:Ùüm:Ï uts:hð.
Disguised as a brahmachari as he was, Shiva started to test the strength of
her love and her resolve by focusing on those aspects of Shiva which would
repel her.
He said, ‘How will your beautiful hand, decorated with lovely wedding
bracelets on the wrists, hold Shiva’s hand which has snakes wrapped around
the wrist? How will your shawl ever touch his blood-stained skin garment?
Even your enemies would not wish for you that your feet, which have
alaktaka applied to them and which are used to walking on the beds of
flowers, walk over the ground in an open air crematorium with him’. He
adds futher,

20
Ay:ÙVt: -p:ö ekö At:H p:rö v:d e*:n:ð*: v:x:H s:Ùl:B:ö t:v: Aep: y:t:Ï
st:n: ¾y:ð Aesm:n:Ï herc:ndn: Aasp:dð p:dö ec:t:a B:sm:rj:H ker\y:et:
‘And assume, for a moment, that he becomes your husband. How ugly will it
look when the ashes from the crematorium, which are applied on his chest,
get rubbed against your breasts which have the harichandan paste applied to
them, st:n: ¾y:ð Aesm:n:Ï herc:ndn: Aasp:dð p:dö ec:t:a B:sm:rj:H ker\y:et: ’? ‘After
your wedding with Shiva, you would be riding on a bull with him, instead of
an elephant. You will thus become a laughing stock for all good and noble
people. What can be more misfortunate than that?’ He continues to rail
against Shiva, ‘No one even knows about the genealogy of that man who has
three eyes! People can get an estimate of the extent of his wealth just by
looking at him and the way he dresses’. He asked Parvati, ‘Tell me, O fawn-
eyed, do you find any of the three qualities of a groom in him- a handsome
body, a good pedigree and a lot of money, v:rð\:Ù y:dÏ b:al:m:àg:aex: m:àgy:t:ð t:t:Ï Aest:
ekö vy:st:ö Aep: e*:l:<c:n:ð?’ He concludes his tirade by saying,

en:v:üt:y: Asm:at:Ï As:dÏ Ieps:t:at:Ï m:n:H Vv: t:t:Ï e¾D:H tv:ö Vv: c: p:ÙNy: l:x:N:a
Ap:ðxy:t:ð s:aD:Ù j:n:ðn: v:òedki Sm:S:an: S:Ül:sy: n: y:Üp: s:etkÔy:a
‘Take your mind off from Shiva. It is an aweful wish because he is full of all
the undesirable qualities, whereas you have all the good qualities. People do
not use the wood from a funeral pyre for a yagya!’ This is Shiva’s final dart
thrown for dissuading Parvati from having him as her husband. When
Parvati had told her mother that she was going to perform tapasya to get
Shiva as her groom, Mena had told her, ‘You are so delicate and the path of
tapasya is so hard, do not take that path’, t:p:H Vv: v:ts:ð Vv: c: t:av:km:Î v:p:ÙH.
Almost at the end of her tapasya, Shiva, disguised as a brahmachari, told her,
‘It is an aweful wish because he is full of all the undesirable qualities,
whereas you have all the good qualities, Vv: t:t:Ï e¾D:H tv:ö Vv: c: p:ÙNy: l:x:N:a.
What a double whammy for Parvati who was caught between her mother’s
advice against tapasya and now her future groom’s dissuasive tactics when
the tapasya was going to be almost over?

After patiently and politely listening to what the brahmachari had to say
about Shiva, Parvati told him that he did not know Shiva, although he
claimed that he did. It must have hurt her tremendously when the
brahmachari had said this to her, ‘People do not use the wood from a funeral

21
pyre for a yagya, Ap:ðxy:t:ð s:aD:Ù j:n:ðn: v:òedki Sm:S:an: S:Ül:sy: n: y:Üp: s:etkÔy:a’. She
told the brahmachari, “Actually, you do not know Shiva well enough. That’s
why you are saying this kind of things about him. Fools usually envy the
character of great people without any rhyme or reason, e¾\:ent: m:ndaH c:ert:ö
m:hatm:n:am:Ï”. She defended Shiva against every point the brahmachari had

made. She told him that Shiva was the very source of all the wealth in the
world, he was the ruler of all the three worlds, even though he himself lived
in a an open air crematorium and that there was no one in this world who
knew his true identity! Even the ashes from the crematorium become sacred
after being touched by him and even Indra pays respect to him even though
he rode on a bull. She is obviously angry at the brahmachari when she said
this to him, “Out of your wicked nature, when you were counting all the
faults in Shiva, you got your facts right on only one point that no one knew
about his genealogy. He has been said to precede Brahma, how can any one
find out about Shiva’s birth?” After taking the brahmachari to task, she
thought that there was no use debating this because she loved Shiva so much
that even if what the brahmachari told her were true, she would not change
her mind, anyway, because, as she says, those in love are not afraid of public
calumny, n: kam: v:àe¶:H v:c:n:iy:ö Ix:t:ð. To stop the brahmachari from saying
anything more, Parvati told her friend to basically tell him to shut up
because, in her view, it is not only the person who badmouths others but also
the person who listens to badmouthing, both, commit an ethical violation, n:
kñv:l:ö y:H m:ht:H Ap:B:a\:t:ð Â:àN:<et: t:sm:at:Ï Aep: y:H s:H p:ap:B:akÏ . Paravti did not

want to be a party to such an ethical violation, to such a pap.

After instructing her friend, she moved away from the brahmachari.
Readying herself to leave the place, she got up with such a swerve that her
valkala shawl slipped off her breasts. Right at the very moment, Shiva came
out of his disguise and caught hold of her, t:aö s:m:al:l:mb:ð. Upon seeing that
brahmachari-turned-Shiva, Parvati trembled. She started to sweat. Even
though she had lifted one of her feet up to walk away, her situation was like
a river which cannot move forward nor can it move backward upon
encountering a mountain in its way. Parvati did not move ahead, nor did she
stay back, S:òl: AeD:raj: t:n:y:a n: y:y:> n: t:sT:>. Kalidas has captured this very
moment through a beautiful verse,

22
t:ö v:ixy: v:ðp:T:Ùm:t:i s:rs:a¤y:eÄH en:x:ðp:N:ay: p:dö udÏD:àt:ö u¾hent:
m:ag:üac:l: vy:et:krakÙel:t:òv: es:nD:ÙH S:òl: AeD:raj: t:n:y:a n: y:y:> n: t:sT:>
This is also the time when Shiva tells Parvati, “A½ )B:áet: Av:n:t:ae¤! t:v: Aesm:
das:H, O Parvati, from now on, I am your slave”. Although Shiva had tried to

dissuade her and in a way had tested the strength of her love for him, he
admitted his defeat when he finally appeared before her to admit ‘I am your
slave from now, t:v: Aesm: das:H’. When Parvati heard these words from
Shiva, she forgot about all her pangs during her tapasya. The poet notes that
after attaining a desired goal, the pain goes away and people feel
rejuvenated, Vl:ðS:H Pl:ðn: eh p:Ùn:H n:v:t:a ev:D:¶:ð .
As their love progressed over time, their wedding was arranged. Himalaya
prepared himself to give away his daughter’s hand into Shiva’s. Parvati and
Shiva were sitting together in front of the nuptial fire, agni, while their eyes
were making ‘love contacts’ intermittently with each other. The playful eyes
of Shiva and Parvati were used to meet for a moment, then, used to look
away from each other. With a longing in their hearts, they used to exchange
glances with each other, however, they used to turn their eyes away from
each other when they noticed others looking at them. This is the way Kalidas
paints the sprouting of love between them:
t:y:<H s:m:ap:e¶:\:Ù kat:raeN:
ekeWc:t:Î vy:v:sT:aep:t: s:öÆt:aen:
ehÔy:n*:N:aö t:t:Î x:N:m:Î An:ÙB:v:n:Î
Any:<ny:l:<l:aen: ev:l:<c:n:aen:
As Himalaya gave away his daughter’s hands, which had become red after
applying henna, into Shiva’s, Kalidas writes as if those were the very first
sprouts of love, sm:rsy: p:Üv:üm:Î )r<hm:Î Ev:. Love was sprouting all over
Parvati’s body as if the very first attack of Kamadeva were in progress. “O
daughter, this fire is the witness to your wedding. Follow your dharma with
your husband, Shiva, now”, pronounced the purohit, v:eÈH ev:v:ahö )et: km:üs:ax:i
eS:v:ðn: B:*:üa s:h D:m:üc:y:aü kay:aü tv:y:a m:ÙVt: ev:c:ary:ðet:.

Kalidas describes the first few days of their conjugal life in

Kumarasambhavam in a way which is hard to find elsewhere. No detail has

23
been missed. Such subtle details include, but are not limited to, false starts,
deliberate pretention, playful mutual teasing and tender care of each other.
Whenever Shiva asked Parvati about some thing, she used to remain
deliberately quiet. Whenever he touched the corner of her sari, she
deliberately used to pretend to move away from him. She used to playfully,
teasingly and pretentiously turn her face away from him while sleeping
together. Shiva enjoyed these deliberate ‘hard to get’ acts of Parvati. He had
his own plays and pretention. He used to pretend that he was not looking at
her by closing his eyes the moment she looked at him. When he used to
catch her in her acts by opening his eyes, Parvati used to close hers as if she
were not looking at him. She trembled whenever he came close to her to
loosen the knots of her sari. However, as the poetic genius of Kalidas
captures it, the knots of her sari used to loosen by themselves!
n:aeB:dðS: en:eht:H s:kmp:y:a
S:ökrsy: ,,D:ð t:y:a krH
t:dÎ dÙkÝl:m:Î AT: c: AB:v:t:Î
sv:y:ö dÜrm:Î ucCÎv:es:t:n:i ev:b:nD:m:Î
Kalidas has pointed out that her friends used to coach her in the art of love-
making. However, she used to forget all the critical lessons when she came
close to Shiva. Whenever Shiva used impolite words, she used to give him
an admonishing glance and responded to him only through her gestures, not
through words, p:av:üt:i m:ÜD:ü kmp:m:y:ö u¶:rö dd> . Whenever he wanted to kiss
her, she used to move her lips away from him and whenever he tried to lock
her in a tight embrace, she used to put her arms and hands across her breasts.
Despite all these playful acts of Parvati, Shiva enjoyed every moment. But
as the days went by, all these changed as Kalidas notes. She pulled him
tightly towards her whenever he embraced her; she moved closer to him
whenever he kissed her and whenever he tried to untie her waistband, she
pretended that she was trying to prevent him from doing so.
s:sv:j:ð e)y:m:Î ur<en:p:iRn:m:Î
)aeT:üt:ö m:ÙK:m:Î An:ðn: n: Ahrt:Î
m:ðK:l:a )N:y: l:<l:t:aö g:t:ö
hst:m:Î Asy: eS:eT:l:ö ,r<D: s:a

24
The love between Parvati and Shiva blossomed to such an extent that they
could not live without seeing each other even for a moment, c:aXÙm:t:Î x:N:
ev:y:<g: kat:rm:Î. Parvati’s mother, Mena, felt happiness upon learning that her

daughter was receiving lots of love from Shiva. As Kalidas notes, B:t:áü
v:ll:B:t:y:a eh m:an:s:iö m:at:ÙH Asy:et: S:Ùc:m:Î v:D:Üj:n:H, the mother of a newly wed

daughter feels happiness upon learning that her son-in-law loves her
daughter.

25
 2. Pururava’s Pain
The story of Pururava, who was the son of Ila and, perhaps, the first
documented king in India, and Urvashi, who was a dancer, an apsara, in the
court of Indra, is at least as old as Rigveda, which has a short dialogue
between the two in the tenth mandala. Their story or a reference to their
story is also found in Indian epics, puranas and story books like Shatpatha
Brahman, Matsya Purana, Vishnu Purana, Padma Purana, Mahabharata,
Bhagawat and Kathasaritasagara. Kalidas has captured this love story in his
play Vikramorvashiyam with all the literary flavour he is known for. Even
though the Rigvedic dialogue between Pururava and Urvashi is short and
lacks the literary flair of Kalidas, it does capture the intensity of love
between them. The dialogue seems to have taken place when Urvashi had
borne him a son and she was ready to go back to the swargalok as was
ordained by Indra. A part of the dialogue is reproduced below.
Pururava: O cruel lady, stay here for a while with a loving heart. Let’s talk to
each other a little longer. If we do not talk at this time, we will not be happy
during the days to come.
hy:ð j:ay:ð m:n:s:a et:\Y G:<rð v:c:aöes: em:Â:a kàN:v:av:hò n:Ù
n: n:> m:n*:aH An:Ùedt:as:H Ot:ð m:y:H krn:Ï p:rt:rð c:n: Ahn:Ï
Urvashi: What shall we get out of more talk? We have already spent a lot of
time together, O Pururava, go back to your palace. I am as difficult to touch
now as the wind.
ekö Ot:a v:ac:a kàN:v: t:v: Ahm:Ï ) AkÔem:\:m:Ï u\:s:am:Ï Aeg:Ôy:a Ev:
p:Ù-rv:H p:Ùn:H Ast:m:Ï p:ra Eeh dÙHAap:n:a v:at:H Ev: Ahm:Ï Aesm:
Pururava: Due to my separation from you, I am unable to pull the arrows out
from the quiver; I do not attain victories in the battlefield anymore; all the
work of the kingdom has come to a halt and my soldiers have stopped
making the battle cries in the wars.
E\:ÙH n: eÂ:y:ð E\:ÙD:ðH As:n:a g:<s:aH S:t:s:aH n: röehH
Av:irðð kÔt:> ev:d ev:½Ùt:t:Ï n: ura n: m:ay:Ùm:Ï ec:t:y:nt: D:Ùn:y:H
Urvashi: Pururava, when I was with you in the palace, we used to make love
three times a day. There was no other woman I had to compete with either.

26
You paid all your attention to me when I was with you. You were my
victorious king. You were the very harbinger of all my happiness.
e*:H sm: m:a AÈH Â:T:y:H v:òt:s:ðn: ut: sm: m:ð Avy:y:ò p:àN:aes:
p:Ù-rv:H An:Ù t:ð kñt:m:Ï Aay:m:Ï raj:a m:ð v:ir t:nv:H t:t:Ï Aas:iH
Pururava: All the apsaras disappeared by becoming invisible whenever I had
tried to go closer to them, talk to them and touch them. Urvashi, however,
was the one who fulfilled all my desires and borne a son to me. May her
blessing make him live long, uv:üS:i )et:rt: diG:üm:Ï Aay:ÙH.
Urvashi: Pururava, you have fathered a son through my womb to rule the
world. I have told you earlier about the event which will take me away from
you and back to the swargalok, because I had known this all along.
However, you did not pay attention to that. I do not see a need for you to
indulge in useless things, look after the kingdom now.
j:ew\:ð EtT:a g:<p:iTy:ay: eh dD:aT: t:t:Ï p:Ù-rv:H m:ð A<j:H AS:as:m:Ï
tv:a ev:dÙ\:i s:esm:n:Ï Ahn:Ï n: m:ð Aa AS:àN:<H ekm:Ï AB:ÙkÏ v:daes:
Pururava: ...... who wants to separate a loving couple, kH dmp:et: s:m:n:s:a
ev:y:Ùy:<t:Ï?

Urvashi: ...... Don’t be foolish, go back to your home. You will not be able
to keep me, p:ra Eeh Ast:m:Ï n:eh m:Ür m:a Aap:H .
Pururava: ...... Then, let me die now. Let the wolves eat me alive.

Urvashi: Pururava, do not wish for death and do not kill yourself either. Let
the wolves not eat you alive. The love of a woman and a wolf is not
permanent. Their hearts are also alike, n:v:ò s*:òN:aen: s:Ky:aen: s:ent: s:al:av:àkaN:am:Ï
Ædy:aen: Ot:a .

p:Ù-rv:H m:a m:àT:aH m:a )p:pt:H m:a tv:a v:àkas:H AeS:v:as:H ux:n:Ï
n:v:ò s*:òN:aen: s:Ky:aen: s:ent: s:al:av:àkaN:am:Ï Ædy:aen: Ot:a
After hearing these harsh words from Urvashi, Pururava made the final plea,
“My heart is burning, O Urvashi, please return, en:v:t:üsv: Ædy:m:Ï t:py:t:ð m:ð”.

Urvashi did not come back to Pururava.

27
This is the core of the story of love between Pururava and Urvashi around
which several poets and playwrights have woven their literary works. Since
Urvashi was an apsara in the court of Indra, she had been ordained by Indra
to return to the swargalok after she had borne a son to Pururava and after he
had seen his son’s face. She had enjoyed her stay with Pururava and she
was not angry at him when she left as is evident when she said, “Pururava,
when I was with you in the palace, we used to make love three times a day.
There was no other woman I had to compete with either. You paid all your
attention to me when I was with you. You were my victorious king. You
were the very harbinger of all my happiness, e*:H sm: m:a AÈH Â:T:y:H v:òt:s:ðn: ut:
sm: m:ð Avy:y:ò p:àN:aes:, p:Ù-rv:H An:Ù t:ð kñt:m:Ï Aay:m:Ï raj:a m:ð v:ir t:nv:H t:t:Ï Aas:iH .

The first eye-contact between Urvashi and Pururava took place when
Pururava set her free from the hands of the daitya, Keshi. Urvashi was
returning with her other apsara friends after worshipping Shiva. On the way
back, she was abducted by Keshi. When Pururava heard the uproar caused
by her friends and a cry for help from them, he asked the apsaras to wait on
the mountain, Hemakut, while he went after Keshi to free Urvashi. Pururava
killed Keshi in the battle and freed her. Urvashi fell in love with Pururava
and he, too, fell in love with her. Although she went back to the Indra’s
court with her friend, Chitralekha, and he went back to his palace, both were
attracted to each other during their brief encounter. At the time she was
about to depart, Urvashi’s pearl necklace got entangled with the boughs of a
creeper and she asked Chitralekha to help her untangle it. Meanwhile, she
looks at the king again and again. Pururava talks to himself thus,
e)y:ö Aac:ert:ö l:t:ð tv:y:a m:ð g:m:n:ð Asy:aH x:N: ev:Gn:ö Aac:rnty:a
y:t:Ï Ey:ö p:Ùn:H Aep: Ap:a¤ n:ð*:a p:erv:à¶:a A¹üm:ÙK:i m:y:a eh dàÄa
“O creeper, you helped me a lot by putting obstructions in her path which
gave me an opportunity to have a look at the face of the beautiful woman
with a sideways glance”. While he climbs up his chariot, Urvashi opines,
“Will I see this king again whom I am so much grateful to, Aep: n:am: p:Ùn:H
Aep: up:kaerN:ö On:ö )ðexy:\y:ð?” Pururava kept looking at the path Urvashi took to

go back as he says to himself, “O, indeed, Kamadeva impells a person to

opine for someone who is difficult to get, Ah< ! dÙl:üB: AeB:n:ðv:ðS:i K:l:Ù m:dn:H”.
And not unlike Dushyant who had said when he was going away from

28
Shakuntala after their first eye-contact, ‘g:cCet: p:ÙrH S:rirö D:av:et: p:Á:ads:öst:Ùt:ö
c:ðt:H, c:in: AöS:Ùkö Ev: kñt:<H )et:v:at:ö n:iy:m:an:sy:, although my body is going

forward, my heart, as if it were not a part of my body, is running backwards

like a silk banner being carried against the wind’, Kalidas makes Pururava
say, “This apsara, who is going away through the skies, is forcibly taking my
mind away just like a female swan forcibly taking out the threads from the
stalk of a lotus plant, which is broken at one end, s:Ùra¤n:a k\:üet: K:eNRt: Ag:Ôat:Ï
s:Ü*:ö m:àN:al:at:Ï Ev: raj:hös:i ”.

O\:a m:n:H m:ð )s:B:ö S:rirat:Ï ep:t:ÙH p:dö m:Dy:m:ö utp:t:nt:i

s:Ùra¤n:a k\:üet: K:eNRt: Ag:Ôat:Ï s:Ü*:ö m:àN:al:at:Ï Ev: raj:hös:i
While Dushyant’s body moved ahead on his chariot but his heart moved
backwards towards Shakuntala, Pururava’s mind was being pulled towards
Urvashi with a strong force while he rode on his chariot to go home.
Shakuntala’s departure from Dushyant was delayed, too, when a thorn had
gotten into her foot and her garment got entangled with the kurabaka twigs.
As she took the thorn out and untangled her dress, she caught a glance of the
king, all alone, a little longer. Urvashi looked at Pururava again and again
while Chitralekha helped her untangle her pearl necklace from the boughs of
the creeper.
After couple of days of his arrival in the palace, he speaks about his
condition to the Vidushak thus,
AadS:ün:at:Ï )ev:Äa s:a m:ð s:Ùrl:<k s:Ùndri Ædy:m:Ï
b:aN:ðn: m:krkñt:<H kàt:m:ag:üm:Ï Av:nDy: p:at:ðn:
Pururava tells the Vidushak that Urvashi had entered his heart like the
inextricable arrows of Kamadeva since he had seen her, b:aN:ðn: m:krkñt:<H
kàt:m:ag:üm:Ï Av:nDy: p:at:ðn:. He also asked the Vidushak whether he had kept the

secret well hidden from the queen, Aushinari, who was the princess of
Kashi, the modern day city of Varanasi. Viduhsak had already spilled the
beans inadvertently after being tricked by the palace attendant of the queen,
therefore he kept quiet and diverting the king’s attention away from this
topic, he asked Pururava, “Is Urvashi as unparalleled in beauty as I am in
ugliness?” Upon getting an opportunity to talk about Urvashi’s beauty,
Pururava says, “O Friend, her body is the very ornament of all the

29
ornaments; it is the cosmetic of all the cosmetics and a simile for all the
similies, up:m:an:sy: Aep: s:K:ð )et: up:m:an:ö v:p:ÙH t:sy:aH”.
AaB:rN:sy: AaB:rN:ö )s:aD:n: ev:D:ðH )s:aD:n:Œev:S:ð\:H
up:m:an:sy: Aep: s:K:ð )et: up:m:an:ö v:p:ÙH t:sy:aH

Aushinari’s Kashi (Varanasi/Banares) with the river Ganges as its necklace

As they talked, they reached the palace garden where flowers were abloom
and trees were adorned with new leaves. The vasant season was at its youth
and the southerly breeze was blowing. Pururava tells the Vidushak that the
southerly breeze was not only increasing the beauty of the vasant season but
was also adding to the pain of his love-lorn condition. He was afraid to look
at the new leaves on the trees while the ground was covered with the yellow
leaves fallen from the trees during the preceding hemant season. He
compares this seasonal scene with his own condition by observing, “I have
already been weakened by Kamadeva in the hopelessness of attaining an
unattainable object. What will happen to my already weakened mind when I
will see the yellow leaves fallen on the gound while the new leaves were
sprouting on the trees?” The five arrows of the Kamadeva have already
debilitated him, )T:m:ö Aep: m:n:H m:ð p:Wc:b:aN:H ex:N:<et:”. He was afraid as to what
will happen to him when looks at the sprouts of the new leaves, ekö ut: m:l:y:
v:at: unm:Üel:t:a p:aNRÙ p:*:òH up:v:n: s:hkaròH deS:üt:ð\:Ù A{ÏkÙrð\:Ù ? The five arrows of

Kamadeva are each made up of the flowers of the red lotus, the ashok tree,
the mango tree, navamallika and the blue lotus, Arev:ndm:Ï AS:<km:Ï c: c:Üt:ö c:
n:v:m:ell:ka, n:il: utp:l:ö c: p:Wc:a Ot:ð p:Wc:b:aN:sy: s:ay:kaH . Vidushak advises the

king against feeling sad and, instead, to enjoy the nature’s beauty. Pururava

30
affirmed that he was enjoying the beauty of the nature and decribed to the
Vidushak what saw. To him the kurabak flowers with the redness at their
tips reminded him of a woman’s nail painted red, Ag:Ôð es*:n:K: p:aXl:ö kÙrb:kö ,
and the beauty of the vasant season appeared to be somewhere in between its
adolescence and youth, m:ÙgD:tv:sy: c: y:>v:n:sy: c: s:K:ð m:Dy:ð m:D:ÙÂ:iH esT:t:a .
Pururava finally admits that he could not focus his attention at the nature’s
beauty in his love-lorn condition as he says, “O Friend, I am finding it hard
to concentrate on the nature’s beauty because my eyes are going everywhere
after they saw Urvashi, c:x:ÙH b:¿:aet: D:àet:ö t:t:Ï A¤n:a l:<k dÙHl:el:t:m:Ï”. He
understands that Urvashi is hard to get because she had gone to the
swargalok when he tells the Vidushak,
As:Ùl:B:a s:kl: EndÙ m:ÙK:i c: s:a ekm:Ï Aep: c: Edm:Ï An:¤ ev:c:ðeÄt:m:Ï
AeB:m:ÙK:i\:Ù Ev: v:aeWCt: es:e¹\:Ù v:Ôj:et: en:v:àüet:m:Ï Okp:dð m:n:H
Urvashi, whose face had the beauty of the full moon, was not going to be
easily attainable. As Pururava was desirous of seeing Urvashi again, so was
Urvashi yearning for meeting the king again. With her friend, Chitralekha,
Urvashi comes back to the earth right where Pururava was in the garden.
When Urvashi was flying down to the earth, Chitralekha asked her, “O
friend, where are you going without telling me the reason? Are you going to
see the king, Pururava?”

“I am doing this without worrying about what others might think, Urvashi
replied, O\: m:m: Ap:hest:t: l:jj:H vy:ap:arH , without worrying about lajja”.
“Should you think a little more? Whom did you send there first?”, asked
Chitralekha.
Urvashi replied, “Actually, it was my heart, N:ö ehAAm:Ï ‡n:n:Ù Ædy:m:ψ”.
“And who are you being impelled by?”
“Kamadeva is impelling me, m:dn:H K:l:Ù m:aö en:y:<j:y:et:”, was Urvashi’s reply.
After saying ‘I have nothing to say anymore’, Chitralekha reminded Urvashi
that they had come close to the palace of Pururava, which was located in the
city of Prayag, the modern day city of Allahabad, at the confluence of the
rivers Ganga and Yamuna. They landed in the garden area of the palace
from where the king was clearly visible and was talking to the Vidushak.
Urvashi did not want to be seen by Pururava, therefore, they both became

31
‘invisible’ while they eavesdropped on the conversation between the king
and the Vidushak. They heard the Vidushak advising Pururava that one way
to come in contact with Urvashi was to pray for a dream which comes in a
deep sleep. Another way was to draw a portrait of Urvashi and keep looking

Pururava’s Prayag: On the delta of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna

at it. Pururava is apprehensive that these two methods may not work as he
says,
Ædy:ö E\:ÙeB:H kam:sy: Ant:H s:S:ly:ö Edö s:da
kT:ö up:l:B:ð en:dÔaö sv:pn:ð s:m:ag:m: kaerN:im:Ï
n: c: s:Ùv:dn:aö Aal:ðKy:ð Aep: e)y:aö As:m:apy: t:aö
m:m: n:y:n:y:<H udÏb:a\p:tv:ö s:K:ð n: B:ev:\y:et:
“How can I have that dream which usually comes in a deep sleep, which I
cannot have due to the pain in my heart caused by the arrows of Kamadeva?
How can I complete her portrait which will certainly be interrupted by the
tears in my eyes and will thus remain incomplete forever”? Pururava asked
these two questions. His condition was not dissimilar to Nala as the poet
Harsha had noted through the swan, “Nala has lost his sleep without you s:a

32
en:dÔa AD:Ùn:a n: tv:dÎ ?t:ð, even that deep sleep is not there with the king

anymore”. Kalidas has noted the futility of drawing a portrait of his wife by
Yaksha in Meghadutam, too, as the cloud carries the Yaksha’s message to
her,
tv:aö Aael:Ky: )N:y: kÙep:t:aö D:at:Ù rag:òH eS:l:ay:am:Î
Aatm:an:ö t:ð c:rN: p:et:t:ö y:av:t:Î EcCaem: kt:Ùüm:Î
A+òH t:av:t:Î m:ÙhÙH up:ec:t:òH dáeÄH Aal:Ùpy:t:ð m:ð
#ÜrH t:esm:n:Î Aep: n: s:ht:ð s:ög:m:ö n:> kát:ant:H
“After drawing a picture of you on a rock and portraying you angry like
chandi in love, I wanted to draw my own picture lying prostrate at your feet
as if I were asking for forgiveness from you. However, I could not draw that
picture, because I could not see a thing due to tears having welled up in my
eyes. The cruel fate does not want to see us together even in a picture, #ÜrH
t:esm:n:Î Aep: n: s:ht:ð s:ög:m:ö n:> kát:ant:H”. Pururava is apprehensive that he may

not be able to complete Urvashi’s portrait because tears might well up in his
eyes and block his vision, m:m: n:y:n:y:<H udÏb:a\p:tv:ö s:K:ð n: B:ev:\y:et:. When
Urvashi and Chitralekha heard this, Chitralekha asked her, “Did you hear the
king say that?” Urvashi replied, “Yes, I did. However, it is not enough for
my heart, Â:Ùt:m:Ï. n: p:Ùn:H p:y:aüpt:ö Ædy:sy: ”. Pururava heaves a deep sigh as he
says,
en:t:ant: keYn:aö ,j:ö m:m: n: v:ðd s:a m:an:s:iö
)B:av: ev:edt: An:Ùrag:ö Av:m:ny:t:ð v:a Aep: m:am:Ï
Al:bD: Pl: n:irs:ö m:m: ev:D:ay: t:esm:n:Ï j:n:ð
s:m:ag:m: m:n:<rT:ö B:v:t:Ù p:Wc:b:aN:H kàt:i
“She either does not understand my unbearable mental pain or she knows
that I am in love with her. Whatever it may be, she is just ignoring me.
Maybe, Kamadeva wants to feel good by making me unsuccessful in my
desire to meet her again”. Kalidas has packed a lot of mental pain when he
makes Pururava say, “She either does not understand my unbearable mental
pain, en:t:ant: keYn:aö ,j:ö m:m: n: v:ðd s:a m:an:s:iö”. It must have been extremely

33
pleasing to Urvashi’s ears after hearing this from the king. Chitralekha did
not have to ask, although she did, “Did you hear that, Â:Ùt:ö tv:y:a?” Despite
these good and affectionate words from Pururava, Urvashi did not want to
become visible at this point in time. She wrote a letter, instead, on
bhojapatra, a leaf of the birch tree, and threw it in front of the king and the
Vidushak who assumed that it must have been Urvashi who wrote a love
letter and dropped it there. Pururava commented, “There is no limit to
human desire, n: Aest: Ag:et:H m:n:<rT:an:am:Ï” as he read the letter. In
Kumarasambhavam, when Shiva, disguised as a brahmachari, had asked
Parvati whether all that he had heard from her friend about her love for him
was true, Parvati had responded, “Yes, that is true”. She added further that
there is no limit to human desire, m:n:<rT:an:aö Ag:et:H n: ev:½t:ð. It was the
intensity of love which made Parvati and Pururava philosophize in a similar
way. Upon prodding from the Vidushak, Pururava read the letter aloud to
him in the Prakrit language,
s:aem:A s:öB:aev:Aa j:h Ahö t:ÙO AN:Ùem:Aa
t:h A AN:Ùr¶:ss: s:ÙhA OAm:ðA t:Ùh
N:v:er A m:ðl:et:A p:aerAaA s:AeN:jj:emm:
h<öet: s:Ùha dp:N: v:N: v:aAa ev: es:ehvv: s:rirðð
which read like this in Sanskrit,
sv:aem:n:Ï s:mB:aev:t:a y:T:a Ahö tv:y:a Awa*:i
t:T:a c: An:ÙrVt:sy: s:ÙB:g: Ov:ö Ov: t:v:
An:nt:rö c: m:ð l:el:t: Œ p:aerj:at: Œ S:y:n:iy:ð
B:v:ent: s:ÙK:a n:ndn:v:n: v:at:a Aep: eS:K:i Ev: S:rirð
“O swami, it is appropriate for you to think that I do not understand your
unbearable pain because you are in a deep love. However, even the breeze
from the Nandan forest in swargalok felt like a fire to my body whenever I
lay on the bed made up of the parijat flowers”. Pururava felt that Urvashi
loved him, too, as he said to the Vidushak, “It feels as if Urvashi’s lips had
touched his lips, t:sy:aH s:m:ag:t:m:Ï Ev: Aan:n:m:Ï Aan:n:ðn:”. Pururava handed over

34
the letter to the Vidushak for safekeeping because he was afraid that the
sweat from his fingers might destroy it.
Chitralekha appeared in her visible form. Upon being asked by the king
about her friend’s whereabout, she told him that the cloud preceeds the
lightning, n:n:Ù )T:m:ö m:ðG:raeS:H dàSy:t:ð p:Á:adÏ ev:½Ùt:Ï l:t:a. She also told him that
Urvashi was feeling the pangs of love and the pain arising out of the wounds
caused by the arrows of Kamadeva, b:l:v:dÏ b:aDy:m:an:a m:dn:ðn: ...... ‘I am being
forcefully hurt by Kamadeva’, she carried the message from Urvashi to
Pururava who was quick to seize the opportunity, “Were that true, then,
make some efforts to bring her here”. Urvashi appeared in her visible form
in front of Pururava, who had difficult time believing what he saw.
However, he felt a sense of victory, m:y:a n:am: ej:t:m:Ï. As soon as he held her
hand in his and sat with her, she was called back by a voice from the skies to
the court of Indra for a performance. An extremely short-lived union turned
out to be an extremely painful experience as Pururava pleads with departing
Urvashi, “I do not want to make you disobey your employer, however,
remember me, eknt:Ù sm:t:üvy:H t:Ù Ay:ö j:n:H, remember this human being”. He
could not believe what his eyes had seen for a moment as he said, “My eyes
have become useless now, v:òy:Ty:üm:Ï Ev: c:x:Ù\:H s:m)et:”.
As it happens, sometimes, misery never comes alone. It brings its relatives
and friends, too. The queen, Aushinari, arrived in the garden where Pururava
and Vidushak had been hanging out together. Urvashi’s letter, written on the
bhojapatra leaf, had fallen off from the hands of the Vidushak. It
accidentally got entangled in the ringlet of one of the queen’s toes as she
walked towards the king. She asked her maid to pick the piece of the paper
up and read the letter to her. The queen Aushinari confronted the king who,
like a thief who had been caught red-handed, fell prostrate at her feet and
begged for forgiveness, “O rambhoru, be pleased at me, don’t be angry. I am
the one who has committed a crime, Ap:raD:i n:am: Ahö )s:id rmB:<, ev:rm:
s:örmB:at:Ï”. After the queen, Aushinari, walked away from there with her

attendants, Vidushak asked the king to get up from his prostrate state, “Get
up now, the queen has left in great anger, which was very much like a river
swelled up in the monsoon season, )av:àX n:di Ev: A)s:Àa g:t:a dðv:i. n:n:Ù ue¶:\Y
”. Pururava regretted the whole situation by saying, “The way an artificial
gem does not attract women, similarly, false and artificial words of love,

35
which are devoid of a sincere intent, do not attract them, either, e)y: v:c:n:
kàt:H Aep: y:<e\:t:aö dey:t: j:n: An:Ùn:y:H rs:at:Ï ?t:ð, )ev:S:et: Ædy:ö n: t:dÏ ev:daö m:eN:H

Ev: kàe*:m: rag: y:<ej:t:H”. Vidushak added his own words of wisdom to it,

“This adequately describes the situation you are in. A hurting eye cannot
stand the light from a lamp, n: K:l:Ù Aex: dÙHeK:t:sy: )m:ÙK:ð dip:eS:K:a s:ht:ð”.
This is how Pururava’s second encounter with Urvashi ended.
Urvashi went back to the swargalok to take part in a play by the name of
Lakshmi-Swayamvara in Indra’s court. Menaka, a celestial performer, was
acting the role of Varuni and Urvashi acted the role of Lakshmi in the play.
A short dialogue between Urvashi and Menaka proved to be another turning
point in the love affair between Pururava and Urvashi.
Menaka: Of all the devas assembled here, whom do you like the most and
who is in your heart, kt:m:esm:n:Ï t:ð Ædy: AeB:en:v:ðS:H ?
Urvashi: Pururava.
As per the dialogue of the play, Urvashi should have said, “bhagavan
Vishnu”. Instead, she said, “Pururava”. The director of the play punished her
by saying that she would not be able to retain her place in the swargalok due
to the mistake she made in the play. Indra, with his face downcast, modified
the punishment, “Because you love him so much, stay with Pururava as long
as you do not beget a son with him”. Urvashi went back to the earth again
with her friend, Chitralekha. When they arrived at the part of the palace
where Pururava was hanging out at the time, they saw some sort of festivity
going on there. The queen, Aushinari, had organized a ‘Priya-Prasadan’
event to ‘re-attract’ her husband towards her and to get his love for her
reaffirmed. This was certainly an occasion which had all the ingredients of
blowing up. Urvashi and Chitralekha decided to watch all this in their
invisible form and wait for the festivities associated with the event to come
to an end. They also heard all the conversation which took place at the event.
Urvashi was surprised when she heard Pururava say this to the queen, “O
kalyani, why are you making your lotus-like delicate body wither away by
doing this vrata? I am desirous of your love. Why are you trying to please
your slave like this, s:H ekm:Ï tv:y:a das: j:n:H )s:a½t:ð” ? Upon hearing this,
Urvashi told her friend with apprehension, “Looks like the king loves the
queen a lot.” Chitralekha shared a word of wisdom with her, “Don’t be

36
foolish. Clever men, who have love affairs going on with other women,
usually make such grandiose statements to their wives, Any: s:{ÏkÔant: )ðm:aN:H
n:ag:raH B:ay:aüm:Ï AeD:kö dex:N:aH B:v:ent:”. At the concluding part of the Priya-

Prasadan vrata, the queen surprised everyone by saying, “With the moon and
his wife, Rohini, as witnesses, I am affirming that I will love the woman
whom the king is in love with and who is in love with the king, A½ )B:àet:
Aay:üp:Ù*:H y:aö es*:y:ö kam:y:t:ð‹ y:a Aay:üp:Ù*: s:m:ag:m: )N:ey:n:i t:y:a s:h A)et:b:nD:ðn:

v:e¶:üt:vy:m:Ï.”

Urvashi could not believe what she had heard. Vidushak did not believe
what he had heard either.
“O queen, is the king so much dear to you?”, he asked the queen.
The queen replied, “I want to see the king happy at the expense of my own
happiness. Based upon this, O foolish man, you can reach your own
conclusion as to how much I love him.”
The queen left with her attendants.
After she had left, Pururava stayed in the company of his ever-present
confidante, the Vidushak and opined for the company of Urvashi,
g:ÜZö n:Üp:Ùr S:bd m:a*:ö Aep: m:ð kant:ö Â:Ùt:H p:at:y:ðt:Ï
p:Á:adÏ Oty: S:n:òH kr<tp:l:v:àt:ð kÙv:iüt: v:a l:<c:n:ð
hmy:ðü Aesm:n:Ï Av:t:iy:ü s:aDv:s:v:S:at:Ï m:nday:m:an:a b:l:at:Ï
Aan:iy:ðt: p:dat:Ï p:dö c:t:Ùry:a s:Ky:a m:m: up:aent:km:Ï
“I wish that Urvashi could make my ears hear the sound of the bells from her
anklets and, after that, coming from behind me if she could close my eyes
with her lotus-like delicate hands and if she could be brought to me by her
friend walking fearfully and apprehensively through the corridors of the
palace”. After hearing this painful and, perhaps, wishful thoughts from
Pururava, Chitralekha asked her friend to fulfill his wish. Pururava could not
believe it when he felt the touch of Urvashi’s hands, coming from behind
and closing his eyes. Chitralekha advised Pururava to behave with Urvashi
in a way such that Urvashi would forget all about her previous experiences
in the swargalok. “How can the experiences of the swargalok be forgotten?

37
For whom there is no other woman, this Pururava is her slave”, said
Pururava.
Aen:dðüSy: s:ÙK:ö sv:g:üö kT:ö ev:sm:arey:\y:t:ð
An:ny: n:ari s:am:any:H das:H t:Ù Asy:aH p:Ù-rv:a
Love has made yet another man declare that he had become a slave to his
love, das:H t:Ù Asy:aH p:Ù-rv:a. Shiva had declared his slavery to Parvati when
had said to her,“ A½ )B:áet: Av:n:t:ae¤! t:v: Aesm: das:H, O Parvati, from now
on, I am your slave”. Agnimitra had also said to Malavika, “Your slave, like
no one else, is standing right in front of you, n:n:Ù t:v: s:ax:adÐ Ay:m:Ð Ahm:Ð An:ny:
s:aD:arN:H das:H”. Nala, too, would not have cared about the world even if he
had to become Damayanti’s slave to get near her, tv:yy:ðv: dasy:ð Aep: n: l:jj:t:ð.
And now Pururava had followed suit. A complete surrender, slavery, to
one’s love appears to be a culmination point and, perhaps, a sublimation
state in the eyes of Sanskrit poets. This is something which women of all
times and of all ages would enjoy.
Chitralekha said to them and Vidushak led Pururava and Urvashi to the
king’s suite in the palace. Pururava was very happy to have Urvashi back
from the swargalok. He tells Urvashi that the happiness, which comes after a
lot of suffering, feels much more enjoyable, y:t:Ï Ov: up:n:t:ö dÙHK:at:Ï s:ÙK:ö t:t:Ï
rs:v:¶:rm:Ï. Just brefore entering the king’s suite in the palace and walking

with Urvashi with her hand in his, Pururava wished for an endless night of
happiness as he told his wish to Urvashi,
An:Ùp:n:t: m:n:<rT:sy: p:Üv:üö S:t:g:ÙeN:t:ðv: g:t:a m:m: e*:y:am:a
y:ed t:Ù t:v: s:m:ag:m:ð t:T:òv: )s:ret: s:ÙB:ÔÙ t:t:H kàt:i B:v:ðy:m:Ï
“O the beautiful, the nights used to feel a hundred times longer when my
desires were not being fulfilled. I wish that they should still feel that way in
now that I am with you”.
After spending some time at the palace, Pururava and Urvashi went to the
mountains to celebrate their honeymoon. The river Ganga caressed the
bottom of the mountain, Gandhamadan, flowing gently along the it. They
walked around the place. They build sand castles on the beach of the Ganga.

38
While they were having a great time together, Pururava’s oogling at
Udayavati, the princess of the Vidyadhar sur people, angered Urvashi. She
left the king in anger and went to the Kumar forest, where women were not
allowed to enter. As fate would have it, due to a curse from the muni Bharat,
she turned into a creeper as soon as she entered the forest. Pururava was torn
asunder. He looked for her everywhere. He got angry at the clouds who, he
thought, were taking away Urvashi from him. He cried, “She has
disappeared from my eyes. What a luck do I have, s:a c: Aty:nt:m:Ï AdS:ün:m:Ï
n:y:n:y:<H y:at:a Eet: kH Ay:m:Ï ev:eD:H? ” As he searched for her, he wondered

whether she had left any footprints on the wet and sandy soil? He wondered
whether some of her belongings may have dropped on the way?
p:Á:at:Ï n:t:a g:Ù, en:t:mb:t:y:a t:t:H Asy:a
dàSy:t:ð c:a, p:d p:{ÏeVt:H Al:Vt:k A¢a
“Maybe, due to her heavy buttocks, she has left the prints of her feet, which
were decorated with the alaktaka paste, on the wet soil”, Pururava theorized.
He found a shawl, which was as green as the underbelly of a parrot, on the
ground which he thought belonged to Urvashi. He thought that the shawl
may have slipped off her shoulders and fallen to the ground as Urvashi, who
had a deep navel, walked away briskly in anger,
Æt:>\Yrag:òn:üy:n:<deb:ndÙeB:en:üm:gn:n:aB:ðen:üp:t:e»re¢t:m:Ï
cy:Ùt:ö ,\:a eB:öÀg:t:ðrs:öS:y:ö S:Ùk<drSy:am:em:dö st:n:aöS:Ùkm:Ï
When borken into its piece parts, the first line reads like this: Æt:H A<\Y rag:òH
n:y:n: ud eb:ndÙeB:H en:m:gn: n:aB:ðH en:p:t:e»H Ae¢t:m:Ï . Unlike the poets Bharavi and

Magha, Kalidas is not famous for ‘engineering’ complex words from simpler
words. Somehow, he must have felt inspired when writing this line to
combine ten words into one. Pururava picked up the shawl and kept walking
and searching for Urvashi. He was so heart broken that asked a peacock
whether the bird had seen his sweetheart, “Have you seen my sweetheart in
this forest? Maybe, you might recognize her by her moon-like face and a
swan-like gait. Have you seen the beautiful Urvashi who has a long and
slender neck and large eyes?” The peacock ignored his question and started
dancing. Pururava moved on and asked the koel bird, “Have you seen my
sweetheart walking around in the Nandan forest. O koel, love-lorn people
know you as a messenger of Kamadeva. Either bring her to me or take me to

39
her, t:aö Aan:y: e)y:t:m:aö m:m: v:a s:m:ip:ö , m:aö v:a n:y: AaS:Ù kl:B:ae\:eN: y:*: kant:a”.
The koel bird kept herself busy by eating the fruits from the jamun tree and
ignored Pururava’s question.
Pururava kept walking until he heard what he thought was the sound of the
bells from Urvashi’s anklets. His heart was filled with hope as he went to
find out the source of that sound. What he came across, instead, was a swan
readying himself to fly back to the lake, Manasarovar. He asks the swan,
hös: )y:cC m:ð kant:aö g:et:H Asy:a tv:y:a Æt:a
ev:B:aev:t: Ok dðS:ðn: dðy:ö y:t:Ï AeB:y:Ùjy:t:ðð
“O swan, give back to me my sweetheart because you have ‘stolen’ her gait.
A stolen good is returned when even a small piece of it is found”. The swan
flew away leaving the king who asked the chakravaka bird, “O chakravaka,
tell me, have you not seen my wife walking around in the spring season? I
have been looking for my sweetheart whose buttocks are as round as a
wheel”. The chakravaka bird kept quiet. Pururava asked the black bee, then
he asked an elephant who was resting nearby while keeping his trunk rested
against a bough of the neem tree. Getting no response from the black bee as
well as from the elephant, he asked the mount Kandar, “O mountain, have
you seen my sweetheart, Urvashi, who has large breasts, a large buttock and
who slightly leans forward?” He heard the echo of his own voice reflected
from the mountain. He then asked a river, a deer, the kadamba tree and the
ashok tree but all in vain. He came across a red gem when hea heard an
oracle from the sky, “Pick it up, pick it up. One who wears this padmaraga,
sangamaniya gem, which comes out of the alaktak paste applied on Parvati’s
feet, finds one’s sweetheart quickly.” Pururava picked the gem up. He went
near a creeper which he felt looked like Urvashi to him. As soon as Pururava
embraced the creeper with his eyes closed, it turned into Urvashi.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Urvashi standing right there in the place of
the creeper. “You have been found by me the way a dead person finds
consciousness, edÄy:a )et: up:l:bD:a Aes: c:ðt:n:a Ev: g:t:as:Ùn:a”, he tells Urvashi.
She told him about the entry-rule into the Kumar forest which was made by
Kartikeya. As they departed for the city of Prayag, Pururava asked her,
“How did you bear the pain of separation from me, s:a tv:ö e)y:ð s:hðT:aH kT:ö
m:diy:ö ec:r ev:y:<g:m:Ï?”

40
As fate would have it, a vulture, mistaking it for a piece of meat, took away
the red, sangamaniya gem, which was later on found when a court attendant
brought the dead vulture and the gem. From the mark on the arrow, Pururava
discovered that the arrow belong to the ‘son of Pururava, whose mother was
Urvashi and whose name was Ayush. He was perplexed as he had not seen
any sign of Urvashi being pregnant. However, a tapasvini from the ashram
of the rishi Chyavan came to the court with Ayush. She told the king that for
some reason, which was unkown to her, Urvashi had left her baby boy under
her foster care in the ashram. She further told the king that the rishi Chyavan
had asked her to take the boy back to her mother because the rishi was angry
at him for killing a vulture. Urvashi was called to the court to see Ayush, her
son. She told Pururava the reason why she kept their son in a foster care at
the rishi’s ashram. She also told him that, as per the rule made by Indra, she
would have to return to the swargalok because Pururava had seen the face of
their son.
Pururava heaved a deep sigh, “Fate is against happiness, Ah< s:ÙK: )ty:eT:üt:a
dòv:sy: ?” He told Urvashi that he would renounce the world and become an

ascetic in the forest after she went back to the swargalok. Understanding his
desire to become an ascetic, Indra sent the rishi Narada as his messenger
who told Pururava that a war was about to break out between the surs and
the asurs and it would be undesireable if Pururava became an ascetic and did
not fight in the war on behalf of the surs. In return for this favour, Indra had
ordained that Urvashi did not have to return to the swargalok and she would
stay with Pururava as his wife, uv:üS:i y:av:t:Ï Aay:ÙH t:v: s:hD:m:üc:aerN:i B:v:t:Ù”.
Unlike the Rigvedic short story about Pururava and Urvashi, this version of
the story by Kalidas has a happy ending. Pururava and Urvashi stayed
together in the palace at Prayag at the confluence of the rivers Ganga and
Yamuna and their son, Ayush, was annointed to the throne.

41
 3. Shakuntala’s Agony
No other love story is so closely connected with modern India’s political
identity than that of Dushyant and Shakuntala. While the story of Shiva and
Parvati and their two sons, Ganesh and Kartikeya, connect India with its
spiritual identity, the very Indian name of India, Bharat, with the first ‘a’
being long, is after Bharat, who was the fruit of the love between Dushyant
and Shakuntala. While the love between Shiva and Parvati is celebrated
every year all over India as Shiva-ratri, literally meaning the night of Shiva,
India is called by Indians as Bharat-mata, the mother Bharat. The story of
Dushyant and Shakuntala is an interesting story. Dushyant was the king of
Hastinapur and was a tenth generation descendent of Pururava and around
forty two generations before Udayan in the same genealogy of Puru-Kuru
kings. The kingdom of the Puru-Kuru kings was centered around the modern
day region of Delhi, including the area around the city of Prayag to the
south-east of Delhi. Shakuntala was the daughter of the rishi Vishwamitra
and apsara Menaka. The rishi Kanva was her foster father.

Rishi Kanva’s Ashram: On the bank of the river Malini near Kotdwara
Dushyant saw her for the first time when he had gone on a hunting trip to a
forest. Shakuntala was living in the ashram, a hermitage, of her foster father.
She was watering the flower pots around the hermitage when the first eye-
contact between her and Dushyant was established. He was surprised, rather
shocked, to find out how beautiful Shakuntala was. As he says, ‘Is this
Kanva’s daughter? Why has he asked her to do the hard work around the
ashram?’ He thinks that the rishi is crazy in the sense that he would not
hesitate cleaving a sami tree, which is hard, with the leaves of a lotus plant!

42
Otherwise, why would he ask this heart-stealing beauty to water the plants as
if it were a penance for some crime committed by her?
Edm:Ð ekl:a vy:aj: m:n:<hrm:Ð v:p:ÙH t:p:Hx:m:ö s:aD:ey:t:Ùö y: EcCet:
D:ÙÔv:ö s: n:il:<tp:l: p:*: D:ary: S:m:il:t:aö Cð¶:Ùö @e\:H vy:v:sy:et:
Dusyhant, while standing behind a tree, continues to look at her as he
resolves, ‘I will keep looking at her without arousing suspicion, ev:Ã:st:aö t:av:d
On:aö p:Sy:aem:.’ He describes what he sees thus,

Edö up:eht: s:Üxm: g:ÔenT:n:a sknD:dðS:ð st:n:y:Ùg: p:erN:ah AacCaedn:a v:lkl:ðn:

v:p:ÙH AeB:n:v:ö Asy:aH p:Ù\y:et: sv:aö n: S:<B:aö kÙs:Ùm:ö Ev: ep:n:¹ö p:aNRÙp:*: udrðN:
A bark garment, which is hanging by strings tied around her neck in delicate
knots, is covering her youthful body and her breasts. Her garment is
preventing her body from displaying its charm the way yellow leaves hide a
flower before it blooms. Dushyant feels that, despite her bark clothings, the
garment is enhancing her charm the way the lotus flower looks beautiful
even if it is covered with moss and the way the moon looks beautiful even
though it has blemishes. This slender beauty looks lovelier dressed even in a
bark garment. Everything is an ornament for a beautiful form, ekem:v: eh
m:D:ÙraN:aö m:NRn:ö n:akàt:in:am:Ð !

s:res:j:ö An:Ùeb:¹ö S:òv:l:ðn:aep: rmy:ö m:el:n:m:ep: ehm:aöS:<H l:xm: l:xm:iö t:n:<et:

Ey:m:eD:k m:n:<wa v:lkl:ðn:aep: t:nv:i ekem:v: eh m:D:ÙraN:aö m:NRn:ö n:akàt:in:am:Ð
As Shakuntala is being beckoned by the kesara tree with its finger like
leaves, Dushyant, in his first eye contact with Shakuntala, admires her
beauty. He finds her lower lip glowing red like a new and tender mango leaf,
her arms are stretching out like a slender stalk and the very youth, as
enchanting as a blossom, is shining in all her body parts, y:>v:n:ö A¤ð\:Ù s:ön:¹m:Ð.
As Kalidas says,
AD:rH eks:l:y:rag:H k<m:l: ev:Xp: An:ÙkaerN:> b:ahÜ
kÙs:Ùm:ö Ev: l:<B:n:iy:ö y:>v:n:ö A¤ð\:Ù s:ön:¹m:Ð
Dusyhant admits to himself that his noble heart has developed a longing for
her, y:dÐ Aay:üö Asy:am:Ð AeB:l:ae\: m:ð m:n:H. He sees Shakuntala turning her eyes to

43
and following the bees in the garden as if she were taking a lesson in the
‘play of her eyes’ through fright and not through love, though. He feels a
little bit jealous of the bees when they almost touch the corner of her eyes

Shakuntala’s River: The river Malini

and when they buzz near her ears as if they were sharing a secret of love
with her! Whenever she waved her hands, the bees seemed to fly past her
lower lip, which was a treasure of all delight. It appears to Dushyant that
although he is disappointed in his search for the truth, the bees have attained
their wish, v:y:ö t:¶v:anv:ð\:an:Ð m:D:Ùkr ht:aH tv:ö K:l:Ùkàet:, as the poet writes:

44
c:l:ap:a¤aö dàeÄö sp:àS:es: b:hÙS:< v:ðp:T:Ùm:et:ö
rhsy:aKy:ay:iv: sv:n:es: m:àdÙ kN:aüent:kc:rH
kr> vy:aD:Ùnv:ty:aH p:b:es: ret:s:v:üsv:ö AD:rm:Ð
v:y:ö t:¶v:anv:ð\:an:Ð m:D:Ùkr ht:aH tv:ö K:l:Ù kàet:
Shakuntala gets fed up with the nagging black bees and calls out to her
friends, Priyamvada and Anasuya, to protect her from them. Her friends tell
her to call Dushyant, the king, instead to protect her, because it is the king’s
duty to protect his subjects. Her friends did not know that the king was
around the corner busy oogling their friend. Dushyant heard all this
conversation and quickly went closer to the ‘hermit-girls’. Seeing Dushyant,
Anasuya tells him that it was just a black bee which was frightening her
friend, Shakuntala. It was Shakuntala’s first eye contact with Dushyant.
Upon seeing the king, she wondered to herself, ‘how come I feel an emotion
which is not consistent with my life style in a hermitage’, ekö n:Ù K:l:Ù Em:ö )ðxy:
t:p:<v:n: ev:r<eD:n:H ev:karsy: g:m:n:iy:aesm: s:öv:à¶:a ? Anasuya then briefly narrates

the story of Shakuntala’s lineage to the king. Shakuntala was born of

Menaka, an apsara, and the rishi Kanva was her foster father. All this makes
sense to Dushyant as he wondered how could an ordinary woman give birth
to such a beautiful form? He notes that the fluid morning light does not arise
from the surface of the earth, it is of celestial origin, instead, and so was
Shakuntala, daughter of the apsara Menaka. As the poet makes Dushyant
say,
m:an:Ù\:i\:Ù kT:ö v:a sy:at:Ð Asy: -p:sy: s:öB:v:H
n: )B:at:rl:ö jy:<et:H udðet: v:s:ÙD:a t:l:at:Ð
At this stage, Dusyhant does not want to ask Shakuntala, so he asks
Priyamvada whether the life style of her friend at the ashram was going to
last only up to the time when she got married or whether she was determined
to spend rest of her life at the ashram in the midst of the deer and the plants.
Dushyant feels hopeful when Priyamvada tells him that the rishi Kanva had
a desire to give Shakuntala away in marriage to a suitable man. As he says,
‘O my heart, be hopeful. All doubt is gone now. What you dreaded as fire is
like a gem worthy of being touched’, B:v: Ædy: s:aeB:l:a\:ö s:ö)et: s:ödðh en:N:üy:H
j:at:H‹ AaS:¢s:ð y:t:Ð Aegn:ö t:t:Ð Edm:Ð sp:S:üx:m:ö rtn:m:Ð . Dushyant feels empathy for

45
Shakuntala when he finds her sweating caused by carrying the water pots to
water the plants; he finds her breathing heavily which made her breasts
move in and out with her breathing. Dushyant gives a ring to Shakuntala as a
gift, as he says, not ‘from a king’ but from ‘the king’s officer’ as Anasuya
and Priyamvada, along with Shakuntala, take leave to go back to the ashram.
As the three friends leave, a thorn gets into Shakuntala’s foot and
hergarment gets entangled with the kurabaka twigs. As she takes the thorn
out and untangles her dress, she catches a glance of the king all alone. The
king, Dushyant, expresses his love for Shakuntala by saying,

A Painting by Raja Ravi Varma: Shakuntala Taking The Thorn Out

g:cCet: p:ÙrH S:rirö D:av:et: p:Á:ads:öst:Ùt:ö c:ðt:H
c:in: AöS:Ùkö Ev: kñt:<H )et:v:at:ö n:iy:m:an:sy:
‘Although my body is going forward, my heart, as if it were not a part of my
body, is running backwards just like a silk banner being carried against the
wind.’ From Shakuntala’s desire to catch the last glimpse of Dushyant,
before their parting, to Dushyant comparing his heart with a banner flowing
backwards against the wind even though his body is moving forward,
Kalidas has beautifully painted the first eye-contact and ‘love at first sight’

46
between the two. What had started as a demonstration of her ‘sisterly’ love,
s:<dr sn:ðh, for the plants around the ashram, ended up in her going back with

‘love-sprouts’ for Dushyant. When Shakuntala had complained against

Priyamvada, about the tightness with which she had tied Shakuntala’s bark-
garmant around her chest and had asked Anasuya to loosen it a bit for her,
Kalidas gave an indication of her youth by making Priyamvada tease
Shakuntala thus, A*: p:y:<D:r ev:st:arey:t:à Aatm:n:H y:>v:n: up:al:B:sv:. m:aö ekö
up:al:B:s:ð ? Priyamvada teased her by saying, ‘Why don’t you blame your

youth, which has given such a swell to your breasts? Why do you blame me
for the tightness?’ Shakuntala, rishi Kanva’s daughter, had definitely stepped
into her youth.
After Dushyant went back to his hunting camp, he told one of his attendants
that even though his love was not easily attainable, he was hopeful after
noting the extent to which Shakuntala seemed to be affected by his love. He
added that even though their love had not reached its peak yet, their mutual
longing for each other caused him delight. As Kalidas paints it,
kam:ö e)y:a n: s:Ùl:B:a m:n:H t:Ù t:»av: dS:ün: AaÃ:aes:
Akàt:aT:ðü|ep: m:n:es:j:ð ret:ö uB:y: )aT:ün:a kÙ,t:ð
As the poet says, they were both praying to Rati, Kamadeva’s wife, ret:ö uB:y:
)aT:ün:a kÙ,t:ð. Dushyant was aware that he was imagining Shakuntala’s

emotional state by gauging his own, as he admits that those who are in love,
usually, project their own feelings onto their lovers, Ov:ö Aatm: AeB:)ay:
s:öB:aev:t: EÄj:n: ec:¶:v:àe¶:H )aT:üey:t:a ev:Rmby:t:ð. Despite this understanding,

Dushyant does not stop projecting his feelings onto Shakuntala, when he
says,
esn:gD:ö ev:ex:t: m:ny:t:<|ep: n:y:n:ð y:t:Ð )ðy:ry:nty:a t:y:a
y:at:ö y:t:Ð c: en:t:mb:y:<H g:Ù,t:y:a m:ndö ev:l:as:aedv:
m:a g:a Eet: up:,¹y:a y:dep: s:a s:as:Üy:m:ÙVt:a s:K:i
s:v:üö t:t:Ð ekl: m:t:Ð p:ray:N:ö Ah< kam:i sv:t:aö p:Sy:et:
Back at the camp, he remembered her delicate glances cast at him even
though she appeared to be looking somewhere else; he remembered her slow

47
gait even though that was more due to her heavy hips and he remembered
her angry words spoken to her friend who had told her not to go. All this
definitely was directed towards him, he thought. Oh, a lover ‘sees’ himself
everywhere, Ah< kam:i sv:t:aö p:Sy:et:! Dushyant feels so much overpowered by
the thought of Shakuntala that he does not feel like hunting anymore as he
says, m:m: Aep: kaSy:p: s:Ùt:aö An:Ùsm:àty: m:àg:y:aev:Vl:v:ö c:ðt:H! He finds himself too
weak to string the bow now and place an arrow to take an aim at the deer,
who, he thinks, have imparted the graceful looks of their eyes to Shakuntala.
When one of his attendants reminded him that he was going after a tamarind
fruit when dates were available at the palace, Dushyant rebuked him by
saying that the attendant had not seen her and that is why he was making
such thoughtless statements. Dushyant spoke of her beauty to the attendant
thus,
ec:*:ð en:v:ðSy: p:erkelp:t: s:tv:y:<g:a
-p:<cc:y:ðn: m:n:s:a ev:eD:n:a kàt:a n:Ù
s*:irtn: s:àeÄH Ap:ra )et:B:aet: s:a m:ð
D:at:ÙH ev:B:Ùtv:ö An:Ùec:nty: v:p:ÙH c: t:sy:aH
An:aG:Ôat:ö p:Ù\p:ö eks:l:y:ö Al:Ün:ö kr,hòH
An:aev:¹ö rtn:ö m:D:Ù n:v:m:n: Aasv:aedt: rs:m:Ð
AK:NRö p:ÙNy:an:aö Pl:ö Ev: c: t:t:Ð -p:ö An:G:ö
n: j:an:ð B:<Vt:arö kö Eh s:m:Ùp:sT:asy:et: ev:eD:H
‘Was Shakuntala sketched first as a picture and then transferred to a human
form? Or was she assembled from all the lovely ingredients in Brahma’s
mind? Whenever I think of her beauty and the power of Brahma, she appears
to be a woman who has no match.’ Dushyant does not stop here. He says
that Shakuntala was like a flower never smelled before; she was as delicate
as a new mango leaf not yet torn by a careless touch of a lover’s nails; she
was like an unstrung diamond and she was like fresh honey not yet tasted. I
do not know whom will the fate award her to, as a reward for good deeds, to
enjoy, n: j:an:ð B:<Vt:arö kö Eh s:m:Ùp:sT:asy:et: ev:eD:H?’ It is worthy to note that
Shakuntala was not the very first woman sculpted with the finest of
ingredients like the Yaksha’s wife in Meghadutam. Nor was she like

48
Damayanti of Naishadh-Charitam, who was sculpted after making several
trial runs in the form of other women before her. Kalidas surmises whether
she was sketched first, then, transferred to a human form? Nevertheless,
Shakuntala appears to have been sculpted out of all the best ingredients
available to Brahma.
Let’s see now what is happening to Shakuntala and what her friends are
talking about. Back at the ashram, Priyamvada told Anasuya that she was
finding Shakuntala greatly affected with the king since the time she made
the first eye-contact with him. Anasuya agreed with Priyamvada and
suspected the same when decided to be nosy by asking Shakuntala, ‘Dear,
we are perfectly ignorant about matters of love. But we suspect that you are
in a love-lorn condition described in the legendary tales of the yore. Tell us
what has caused your illness? We cannot apply a remedy without knowing
the malady, ev:karö K:l:Ù p:rm:aT:üt:<|watv:a An:armB:H )t:ikarsy:’. Priyamvada is
also pushing Shakuntala for a full disclosure, ‘Why do you neglect the
remedy? Your limbs are weakening everyday, even though your exquisite
beauty has not left you.’ Even Dushyant is able to see that when he says,
‘Her cheeks look emaciated and her bosom has lost the firmness of her
breasts, x:am: x:am: kp:<l:ö Aan:n:ö urH kaeYny: m:ÙVt:st:n:ö’ and she is looking pale,
Cev:H p:aNRÙra. Prodded thus by her friends, Shakuntala breaks her silence, ‘To

whom shall I tell? I do not want to make you feel sorry for me’. When her
friends tell her that a grief shared with affectionate friends becomes
bearable, esn:gD:j:n: s:öev:B:Vt:ö eh dÙHK:ö s:Êv:ðdn:ö B:v:et:, she tells them that she had
been reduced to this state from the very moment she saw the king.
Shakuntala, after breaking the news, pleads with them to help her out by
asking Dushyant to understand her condition, otherwise her friends will have
to give her tilanjali, ie, they may have to perform her last rites, Any:T:a Av:Sy:ö
es:öc:t:ö m:ð et:l:<dkm:Ð! What a dire foreboding? Having understood the condition

their friend was in, Anasuya and Priyamvada told each other that arranging
for a rendezvous with Dushyant would not be difficult, because he looked
like as if he, too, were in love with Shakuntala. From his own accounts,
Dushyant had been losing sleep and his body had become so emaciated that
his amulet had started to freely slide along his arm, although it had not fallen
off like the amulet of Yaksha in Meghadutam. After several months in exile
away from his wife, Yaksha’s amulet had fallen off his arms, n:itv:a m:as:an:Ð

49
kn:k v:l:y: B:ÔöS:erVt:H )k<\YH. Since it had been only a few days after the first

eye-contact with Shakuntala, Dushyant’s amulet had not fallen off yet, kn:k
v:l:y:ö s:Ôst:ö s:Ôst:ö m:y:a )et:s:ay:üt:ð , it was only being pushed up again and again

by him because it had started to slide down his arms.

Priyamvada advised Shakuntala to write a love-letter to Dushyant. Even
though Shakuntala was fearful of rejection, she started thinking of writing a
letter. Dushyant, meanwhile, heard all this. He says this to himself with
happiness,
Ay:ö s: t:ð et:\Yet: s:ög:m: uts:ÙkH
ev:S:¢s:ð B:i, y:t:H Av:D:irN:am:Ï
l:B:ðt: v:a )aT:üey:tv:a n: v:a eÂ:y:ö
eÂ:y:a dÙrap:H kT:ö Ieps:t:H B:v:ðt:Ï
“Here stands a man who is desirous of becoming one with you and, O timid-
hearted, you are afraid of rejection? A seeker may or may not find wealth,
however, can the wealth not find a seeker if it wanted to?” He compared
himself with a seeker and Shakuntala with wealth. Were the wealth, instead,
a seeker, Dushyant implied that it would find lots of takers! Shakuntala had
thought of a song to write but there was nothing to write on and nothing to
write with, n: K:l:Ù s:öen:eht:aen: p:Ùn:H l:ðK:n: s:aD:n:aen:, as she said to her friends.
Priyamvada, with her presence of mind, quickly offered a lotus-leaf and told
her to engrave the letters with her nails, Ot:esm:n:Ï S:Ùk udr s:ÙkÙm:arð n:el:n:ip:*:ð
n:K:òH en:ex:pt: v:N:üö kÙ, , here, write on this lotus leaf, which is as delicate as the

underbelly of a parrot, with your nails. Shakuntala, literally, ‘nailed’ down

the following verse on the lotus leaf,
t:v: n: j:an:ð Ædy:ö m:m: p:Ùn:H kam:H edv:aep: ra*:av:ep:
en:G:àüN: t:p:et: b:l:iy:H tv:ey: v:à¶:m:n:<rT:aen: A¤aen:

The verse said, ‘I do not know what is in your heart, but I know that all my
limbs are aflame in love, day and night, totally focused on you.’ When
Dushyant reads this verse, his response is more painful,

50
t:p:et: t:n:Ùg:a*:i m:dn:H tv:aö Aen:S:ö m:aö p:Ùn:H dhet: Ov:
gl:p:y:et: y:T:a S:S:a¢ö n: t:T:a eh kÙm:Ù¾t:iö edv:s:H

A Painting by Raja Ravi Varma: Shakuntala Writing the Love-Letter

‘O slender-bodied, love is burning you all the time, without a break, on the
other hand, love is quietly eating me up. Truly, the effect of a day is harsher
on the moon than on the night lilies’, was the king’s reply. Anasuya and
Priyamvada hailed Dushyant to take advantage of this opportunity when
they told him, “Welcome, then, the object of your desire without delay,
sv:ag:t:m:Ï Aev:l:emb:n:H m:n:<rT:sy:”. As Shakuntala got up to greet the king,

Dushyant was afraid that her legs, which had become weaker, might feel a
greater pain, g:Ù, p:ert:ap:aen: n: t:ð g:a*:aeN: up:c:arö Ahüent: . Priyamvada made
Dushyant and Shakuntala share a stone slab in the garden around the ashram
while she teased the king, “Your love seems to be mutual. Can I say some
more?”
Dushyant: Excellent, it should not be suppressed. That which needs to be
told but remains unsaid produces regret later on, ev:v:ex:t:ö eh An:Ùt:ap:ö j:n:y:et:.
Priyamvada: You have a kingly duty to remove the pain of your subjects.
Dushyant: There is no duty other than this, n: Asm:at:Ï p:rm:Ï .

51
Priyamvada: Understand this, then. Our friend has been brought to this love-
lorn condition by you, therefore, it is only ethical that you take care of her.
Dushyant: Lady, our love is mutual. I will remain ever thankful.
Even though the sarcasm was directed towards Dushyant, Shakuntala broke
her silence by asking Priyamvada, ‘Why should you keep the king here
when he is suffering from the pain of separation from his queens in the
palace?’ Dushyant responds in a poetic manner, ‘O beautiful-eyed one, if
you think that my heart, which is devoted to you, is devoted to someone else,
then, I have been ‘killed’ twice, once by the arrows of love and now by your
words, m:dn: b:aN: ht:H Aesm: ht:H p:Ùn:H’. He assured Anasuya and Priyamvada,
“There will be two glories for my genealogy- this ocean-clad earth and this
friend of yours, s:m:ÙdÔ v:s:n:a c:<v:iü s:K:i c: y:Ùv:y:H Ey:m:Ï”. Her friends having left,
the king asked Shakuntala,

ekö S:it:l:òH Vl:m:ev:n:<edeB:H AadÔüv:at:an:Ï

s:öc:ary:aem: n:el:n:i dl: t:al: v:ànt:òH
A¢ð en:D:ay: krB: u, y:T:a s:ÙK:ö t:ð
s:öv:ahy:aem: c:rN:> ut: p:¼ t:am:Ô>
“Should I make a fan out of the lotus leaves to blow a cool breeze, O
tapered-thighed one, or should I place your feet on my lap and give them a
gentle massage”? Getting up to leave, Shakuntala replied, “I will not insult
those whom I am bound by duty to respect”. Dushyant held her hand to
prevent her from leaving, “How can you go away in such a love-lorn
condition leaving the bed of flowers on the ground and where the lotus
leaves will be a cover for your breasts? How will you walk out in the sun
with your limbs weakened by love, uts:àjy: kÙs:Ùm: S:y:n:ö n:el:n:i dl: kelp:t: st:n:
Aav:rN:m:Ï, kT:ö A:t:p:ð g:em:\y:es: p:erb:aD:a p:ðl:v:òH A¤òH”? Shakuntala, reminding

him of his descendence from Puru, who was a great-great-grandson of

Pururava, replied, “O descendent of Puru, protect the bounds of modesty.
Although I am aflame with love, I am not ready to surrender myself yet,
p:>rv: rx: Aev:n:y:m:Ï . m:dn: s:öt:pt:a Aep: n: K:l:Ù Aatm:n:H )B:v:aem:”. When he asked

her not to be afraid of her elders, Shakuntala asked him to leave her alone
for a while so that she could consult her friends. Dushyant said, “Yes, I will

52
leave you alone, B:v:t:Ù. m:<xy:aem:”. She asked him, “When? When”? Dushyant
responded to her question with this verse,
Ap:erx:t: k<m:l:sy: y:av:t:Ï
kÙs:Ùm:sy: Ev: n:v:sy: \:XÏ p:dðn:
AD:rsy: ep:p:as:t:a m:y:a t:ð
s:dy:ö s:Ùnder g:àÊt:ð rs:H Asy:
Dushyant told her that he would let her go after he had ‘stolen the nectar of
her lower lip’ and quenched his thirst, AD:rsy: ep:p:as:t:a m:y:a t:ð‹ s:dy:ö s:Ùnder
g:àÊt:ð rs:H Asy:, just like a black bee that does not leave a flower untouched

until it takes away some pollen. Dushyant reminisced his experience

afterwards, “Her face looked very beautiful with her soft eye-lashes when
she told me not to do it by covering her lips again and again with her fingers.
Somehow I raised her face towards me, but did not kiss her, kT:ö Aep: uÀem:t:ö
n: c:Ùemb:t:ö t:Ù”.

m:ÙhÙH A¤Ùel: s:öv:àt: AD:r<\Yö

)et:\:ðD: Ax:r ev:Vl:v: AeB:ram:m:Ï
m:ÙK:ö Aös:ev:v:et:ü p:xm:l:axy:aH
kT:ö Aep: uÀem:t:ö n: c:Ùemb:t:ö t:Ù
After their rendezvous and after Shakuntala had left for the ashram,
Dushyant was little bit lost as he asked himself, “Where shall I go now”? He
hung out there for a while to reminisce a little longer.
t:sy:aH p:Ù\p:m:y:i S:rir l:Ùel:t:a S:yy:a eS:l:ay:aö Ey:m:Ï
Vl:ant:H m:nm:T: l:ðK: O\: n:el:n:i p:*:ð n:K:òH Aep:üt:H
hst:adÏ B:ÔÄö Edö eb:s: AaB:rN:ö Eet: A:s:jy:m:an: Ex:N:H
en:g:ünt:Ùö s:hs:a n: v:ðt:s: g:àhat:Ï S:Vn:<em: S:Üny:adÏ Aep:
“Here is the stone slab where she lay and where the flowers look faded now
after having been crushed by her body. Here is another sign of our love-
making- these lotus leaves have the marks of her nails and here is the
bracelets of lotus stalks fallen off from her arms. As I look at these , I feel

53
powerless to leave this place even though she is not here anymore”. After
hanging out there for a while, Dushyant left for his palace.
Meanwhile, Shakuntala was cursed by rishi Durvasa for not paying attention
to him when he visited the ashram while she was inside it. The rishi cursed
her that the person she was thinking of would not remember her. After a lot
a pleading by her friends, the rishi Durvasa told them that although his curse
could not be recalled, it would be reversed when Dushyant saw the ring he
had given to Shakuntala as a gift. This remained known to only Anasuya and
Priyamvada, who vowed not to tell anyone. As Priyamvada told Anasuya,
“Who would throw boiling water on a jasmine flower, kH n:am: u\N: udkñn:
n:v:m:ael:kaö es:öc:et:”.

When it was known that Shakuntala was carrying Dushyant’s child, the rishi
Kanva prepared for her departure to Dushyant’s palace with escorts from the
ashram. The rishi said these heart rending words of fatherly love to his
departing foster daughter,
y:asy:et: A½ S:kÙnt:l:a Eet: Ædy:ö s:ösp:àÄö utkNYy:a
kNYH st:emB:t: b:a\p:v:àe¶: kl:Ù\:H ec:nt:aj:Rö dS:ün:m:Ð
v:òVl:vy:ö m:m: t:av:t:Ð IdàS:ö Aep: sn:ðh AadrNy:>ks:H
p:iRÐy:nt:ð g:àehN:H kT:ö n: t:n:y:a ev:Sl:ð\: dÙHK:òH n:v:òH
He said, “Shakuntala will go away today. My heart is stricken with anguish;
my voice is choking; tears are not coming out and I am losing my
consciousness because of the grief and worries. If a rishi like me, who is
detached from the world, is suffering like this, how do ordinary fathers bear
the pangs of the first parting away from their daughters”? Shakuntala went
to touch the feet of her father to bid him goodbye. This is the rishi’s
blessings to his daughter, “May you be cherished by your husband the way
Sharmistha was cherished by Yayati, the mother and the father of the king
Puru. May you bear a son like Puru as she did, who will rule over the
world”.
y:y:at:ðerv: S:em:ü\Ya B:t:ÙüH b:hÙm:t:a B:v:
s:Ùt:ö tv:m:Ð Aep: s:m:Ôaj:ö s:ðv: p:Ü,m:Ð Av:apn:Ùeh
As they walked out of the ashram, Shakuntala requested her father to send
him the news about the birth of a fawn from her dear female antelope, who
was expecting. The rishi assured her that he would do so. He further told her

54
to control her tears that blocked her eyes. And here was her father’s advice,
‘Pay respect to your elders; treat other queens like friends; should your
husband wrong you, let not your disapproval drive you to disobedience; be
courteous to your servants and maids; do not be arrogant because of your
wealth. By behaving this way, a young woman becomes an honoured wife.
By not behaving this way, a wife becomes a bane for the family.’ Shakuntala
hugs her father and cries out, ‘Removed from my father’s lap, like a young
sapling of the chandan tree uprooted from the slopes of the Mt. Malaya, how
will I survive in a foreign land?’ The rishi spoke the final words of goodbye,
“May you have all that I desire for you”. These were a father’s thoughts after
Shakuntala had departed, ‘A daughter is indeed another’s keepsake. Having
sent her to her husband’s house, my spirit has found peace after it has
returned the keepsake safely.’

A Memorial To The Rishi Kanva’s Ashram, 12 km from Kotdwara

AT:<ü eh kny:a p:rkiy: Ov: t:aö A½ s:ö)ð\y: p:erg:Ôhit:ÙH
j:at:< m:m: Ay:ö ev:S:dH )kam:ö )ty:ep:üt: ny:as: Ev: Ant:ratm:a
The love story of Dushyant and Shakuntala took an unexpected turn when
the king refused to recognize her at the palace after her arrival. She was
accompanied by a maid and a messenger from the ashram. Dushyant told the
messenger, “I do not remember to have taken this lady in marriage. How can
I take her as my wife who seems to be expecting a child”?
Shakuntala felt torn into several pieces as Dushyant told the maid, “All
females are naturally cunning. Look at the koel bird which lays her eggs in a
crow’s nest. If a female bird can be that cunning, how much more a human
female blessed with reasoning could be”?

55
 es*:N:aö AeS:ex:t: p:XÙtv:ö Am:an:Ù\:i\:Ù
s:ödàSy:t:ð ekö ut: y:aH )et:b:<D:v:ty:H
)akÏ Ant:erx: g:m:n:at:Ï sv:ö Ap:ty:j:at:ö
Any:òH e¾j:òH p:rB:àt:aH K:l:Ù p:<\:y:ent:

Dushyant’s Hastinapur: Around New Delhi

Shakuntala could not keep quiet after hearing all this cannard from the king,
“Anarya, you seem to be measuring everyone by your own yardstick. Who
else would behave like you, who is donning a garb of virtue like a water-
well concealed with a layer of grass”? She compares Dushyant with a water-
well covered with a layer of grass, t:àN: cCÀ kÝp: up:m:sy: t:v: An:Ùkàet:ö
)et:p:tsy:t:ð. She called him an Anarya, not an Arya, who wore a cloak of

dharma, D:m:ü köc:Ùk )v:ðeS:n:H, but who did not follow the dharma. Shakuntala
regreted that she trusted someone from the Puru dynasty but he turned out to
be a man with honey in his mouth and poison in his heart, m:ÙK: m:D:<H Ædy:
esT:t: ev:\:sy:. She covered her face with the end of her dress and cried.

Hearing all this, the king’s priest, Sharngarava, quietly commented, “If not
controlled, it is the behaviour of one’s own which causes remorse later. One
should give in to other’s desire with a lot of thinking. Love turns to hate

56
between those who do not know each other’s heart well, At:H p:rixy: kt:üvy:ö
ev:S:ð\:at:Ï s:ög:t:ö rhH, Awat: Ædy:ð\:Ù Ov:ö v:òri B:v:et: s:>Ædm:Ï”. The messenger from

rishi Kanva’s ashram told Dushyant, “Here is your wife, desert her or keep
her, ty:j: v:a On:aö g:àhaN: v:a” and departed for the ashram with the maid,
Gautami. Shakuntala wanted to return to her father’s ashram as well and she
followed them, however, they told her to stay back and she did.
After they were gone leaving her behind, Dushyant asked the advice of his
priest, “When it is not clear whether I really slept with her out of my
foolishness or she is lying, which is ethically worse- should I forsake my
own wife or should I sleep with another woman while remaining still
married to my wife, m:ÜZH sy:am:Ï Ahm:Ï O\:a v:a v:dðt:Ï em:Ty:a Eet: s:öS:y:ð, darty:ag:i
B:v:aem: AahH p:rs*:i sp:S:ü p:aös:Ùl:H”. Sharngarava told him that he would keep

Shakuntala at his place until the child was born and he advised her that if her
child carried the birth-mark on his forehead as prophesized by the court’s
astrologers, then, the king should keep her, otherwise, she should be sent
back to her father’s ashram.
She left the palace in tears with the king’s family purohit, Sharngarava. On
the way to his home, Shakuntala was taken sway to the apsara-world by
what appeared to be a column of light.
As months passed by, Dushyant felt tortured. He tried to walk around the
palace garden with the Vidushak to distract himself but this was of no avail.
During one of his walks, he wondered, “Was it a dream? Or was it an
illusion? Or was it a mental delusion? Or was it that having borne so much
fruit, my good karma had come to an end? All is gone now and may never
return and all my desires are falling down like a waterfall hard on to the
ground”.
sv:pn:H n:Ù m:ay:a n:Ù m:et:B:Ôm:H n:Ù
eVl:Äö n:Ù t:av:t:Ï Pl:ö Ov: p:ÙNy:m:Ï
As:öen:v:à¶y:ò t:dÏ At:it:m:v:
m:n:<rT:a n:am: t:X )p:at:aH
As he walked around, Dushyant remembered the words he had told
Shakuntala when he had put the ring on her fingers and when she had asked

57
him, “When will I get some news back from you”? He had told her then,
“Count the letters of my name embossed on this ring one by one. As soon as
you finish counting them, a messenger will come and escort you to the inner
halls of the palace”, Ok Okö A*: edv:s:ð edv:s:ð m:diy:ö n:am:ax:rö g:N:y: g:cCes: y:av:t:Ï
Ant:m:Ï, t:av:t:Ï e)y:ð m:t:ÏÏ Av:r<D: g:àh )v:ðS:m:Ï n:ðt:a j:n:H t:v: s:m:ip:ö up:ò\y:et: Eet:”.

What had followed and what had happened since their first meeting was not
even close to the promise made by Dushyant to her. Shakuntala must have
counted the letters of his name several times. Vidushak thought that his king
had become a lunatic in love as the king cursed the ring, “How could you
have left her finger, which is as delicate as the bandhur, dupaharia, flower,
and fallen off into the river? Or could be that an inanimate object might not
have appreciated a beautiful finger. How can I blame my love for this”?
kT:ö n:Ù t:ö b:nD:Ùr k<m:l: A¤Ùel:ö
krö ev:hay: Aes: en:m:gn:ö AmB:es:
Ac:ðt:n:ö n:am: g:ÙN:ö n: l:x:y:ðt:Ï
m:y:a Ev: ksm:at:Ï Av:D:irt:a e)y:a
Dushyant pleaded, “O my love, abandoned without reason, let this
remorseful heart be with you once again, An:ÙS:y: t:pt: Ædy:H t:av:t:Ï An:Ùkmpy:t:aö
Ay:ö j:n:H p:Ùn:H dS:ün:ðn:”. He was shown a portrait of Shakuntala, however, that

did not satisfy him. He felt that he was now possessed with a longing for a
mirage, j:at:H s:K:ð )N:y:v:an:Ï m:àg:t:àe\N:kay:am:Ï. He found several faults with the
portrait because he found many things missing from it,
kàt:ö n: kN:ü Aep:üt: b:nD:n:ö s:K:ð
eS:ri\:m:Ï Aag:NR ev:l:emb: kñs:rm:Ï
n: v:a S:rt:Ï c:ndÔ m:riec: k<m:l:m:Ï
m:àN:al: s:Ü*:ö rec:t:ö st:n: Ant:rð
He found that the shirish flowers hanging off her ears were missing and the
necklace made with the lotus stalk and its fibre was not drawn over her
breasts, either. He could not meet her even in a dream because he hardly

58
slept and his tears, by welling up in his eyes, would not see him suffer when
he looked at her picture, b:a\p:H t:Ù n: ddaet: On:aö dÔÄÙö ec:*:g:t:aö Aep:.
Dushyant’s suffering continued, though. His courtiers tried their best to keep
him happy and distracted without much success. However, their failure did
not deter them from helping their king who was in an emotional and mental
distress. Matali, his charioteer, took him to the forest where Dushyant had a
chance encounter with his son from Shakuntala, Sarvadaman, which was the
birth name of Bharat. Dushyant saw him playing with a lion cub while two
women kept an eye on him. Shakuntala came out of the ashram and saw the
king. Both recognized each other. Dushyant had obviously wronged her for
which he apologized to her, “O my love, even my cruel deeds towards you
have come to a happy ending. You have recognized me”. Shakuntala told
her heart to feel comfort and it seemed to her that the fate had shown
empatthy for her. Her son asked her, “Who is this man who calls me his son
and has been hugging me, too”? Shakuntala replied, “Ask your fate, my
child, v:ts:‹ t:ð B:ag:D:ðy:aen: p:àcC”. Having fallen at her feet, Dushyant tendered a
formal apology, “O beautiful, please forgive me for the wrong done to you.
A powerful ignorance had overtaken me at that time. Such should be the
forgiveness shown towards those whose hearts have been overrun by a pall
of darkness caused by ignorance. A blind man mistakes even a garland of
flowers thrown around his neck for a snake, s:Ôj:ö Aep: eS:res: AnD:H ex:pt:aö
D:Ùn:<et: Aeh S:¢y:a”.

Shakuntala helped him to get up and told him that it must have been a result
of her karma. She may have remembered her foster father’s advice to her
when she was leaving the ashram for the first time, “Should your husband
wrong you, let not your disapproval drive you to disobedience”. However,
she asked him, “How did you remember me”? Dushyant told her the story of
the recovery of the ring, which he had gifted her when they met for the first
time, from the stomach of a fish. Shakuntala had dropped the ring in a river
while performing a puja on the way to the palace. The ring had been
recovered by a fisherman and brought to the palace, to the king. The bad
effect of the curse from the rishi, Durvasa, was removed as soon as the ring
was recovered and the king, as a result, had regained his memory. Dushyant
showed her the ring and offered to put it on her finger one more time. She
declined his offer with a suggestion of her own, “I do not trust this ring

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anymore. Aryaputra, you should wear it, n: Asy:a ev:Ã:es:em:. Aay:üp:Ù*: Ov: Ot:t:Ï
D:ary:t:Ù ”.

Dushyant returned to the palace with Shakuntala and their son, Sarvadaman.
He was crowned the king, Bharat by name, in due course of time.

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 4. Vasavadatta’s Thirst

The story of Udayan and Vasavadatta is approximately two thousand and six
hundred years old and is intricately woven around the political landscape in
India at that time. There were four major power centers- Kaushambi,
Koshal, Magadh and Avanti. All these power centers were near and around
modern day Prayag, Lakhanau, Patna and Malava regions respectively.
Pradyota, Vasavadatta’s father, was the king of Avanti with his capital at
Ujjayini in central India. Avanti competed with Kaushambi from a political,
military and trade point of view. Pradyota did not want to create animosity
with Udayan’s kingdom of Vatsa, which had its capital at Kaushambi, by
initiating a direct conflict, even though he was after increasing his influence
over Magadh and Koshal states.

Priyadarshika’s Anga: The Munger region

The story of Udayan and Vasavadatta is a painful and intriguing story of

how they were used as pawns in the hands of the ambitious king, Pradyota,
and Udayan’s crafty chief minister, Yougandharayan. Theirs is also a story
of love which gets frequently interrupted and remains largely unrequited.
Their love is less sensual between each other and more intense for the things
they both love- music and arts. They were bound to each other, indeed,
through music and arts. Over time, Udayan also got married to the princess
of Magadh, Padmavati, to the princess of Anga, the modern day Munger
region of Bihar, Priyadarshika, and to Ratnavali, the princess of Sinhala
island, the modern day country of Sri Lanka. Priyadarshika was the daughter
of Vasavadatta’s mother’s sister and Ratnavali was her mother’s brother’s

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daughter. All these multiple marriages of Udayan could be called ‘marriages
of convenience’ in modern terms. They were all plotted and arranged
through the machinations of Udayan’s chief minister, Yougandharayan, and
due to the political compulsions of the time. Udayan loved Vasavadatta a lot,
although his love for her was more a projection of his love for the music and
arts. In this sense, Vasavadatta to Udayan was not like Shakuntala to
Dushyant or Damayanti to Nala or Parvati to Shiva. The love story of
Udayan and Vasavadatta is an example of the possibility of an intense love
between a man and a woman without the ‘baggage’ of sensuality.

Udayan’s Capital: Kaushambi(Kausambi)

Historically and genealogically, Udayan was a twenty seventh generation
Kaurava from the Pandu side. Approximately twenty generations before
Udayan, during the rule of Nichakshu (son of Adhisim Krishna, son of
Ashvamedha Datta, son of Shatanik, son of Janamejaya, son of Parikshit,
son of Abhimanyu who was the son of Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers),
Hastinapur was lost to the river Ganga in a major flood. After this
catastrophic loss, the king, Nichakshu, moved his subjects to the Vatsa
region and located its capital at Kaushambi. Since that move, the succeeding
kings of the Kuru-Puru dynasty made Kaushambi their home.
Udayan had come to know about Vasavadatta and her musical skills of
playing the veena, the lute. She, too, had heard of his love for the veena and

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arts and also for hunting. However, Udayan, for the fear of being rejected
did not ask the king Pradyota for his daughter’s hands in marriage, nor did
Pradyota approached Udayan. Pradyota, too, had the fear of being rejected
by Udayan, who was a descendent of the Pandavas, belonging to a well
known and well respected lineage of kings. Yougandharayan, the chief
minister of Udayan, was an ambitious minister who wanted to expand his
influence. He thought of a plan to get the two kingdoms of Avanti and Vatsa
related through marriage. He sent spies to Avanti to spread the story of
Udayan’s great knowledge of and love for the veena and arts. The story
reached the ears of Vasavadatta’s mother, the queen Angaravati. As an
anxious mother to get her daughter married to a well qualified king, she
urged Pradyota to devise a way to get their daughter married to Udayan.

After consulting his ministers, Pradyota got a mechanically operated

elephant engineered and got the elephant’s belly filled with his soldiers,
something like a ‘trojan elephant’. The mechanical elephant was placed
across the border in the Vatsa kingdom. While on a hunting trip, Udayan
noticed the elephant and approached it. As he walked closer, the elephant
was mechanically operated, in a pre-planned way, to turn towards the border
into Avanti. As Udayan followed the elephant deeper into the Avanti region,
Pradyota’s soldiers caught and arrested him. Udayan was made a prisoner
and kept as a captive in Pradyota’s palace. He was asked to teach veena
lessons to Vasavadatta. In an interesting way, Udayan was told that
Vasavadatta was a hunch-back and an ugly woman so that he could focus on
the lessons and not get distracted. Vasavadatta was also told that Udayan
was a leper and an ugly man. A curtain was placed between them during the
lessons so that they could not see each other. One day, as the fate would
have it, out of anger and after exchanging disrespectful words between them,
Udayan pulled the curtain aside. What he saw was a beautiful woman and
what she saw was a handsome man! This was their first eye-contact, which
resulted in a powerful, mutual attraction towards wach other.
Later on, with the help of another plot by Yougandharayan, Udayan eloped
with Vasavadatta to Kaushambi where they were given a grand reception by
its citizens. They were married in Kaushambi. Udayan and Vasavadatta
began their married life enjoying the nature, the arts and the music, walking
around in the palatial gardens and watching the garden-birds. Vasavadatta
loved the palace garden, which had the vegetables like mulak(radish), the
palaki(spinach), amratak(amra), airvaruk(phut), tripush(cucumber),
vrintak(eggplant), kushmand(red pumpkin), alambu(the lauki, yellow, long

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pumpkin), suran, shukanasa(agast), swayamgupta(kewanch), lashun(gralic),
palandu(onion) in one area of the garden. In the other area of the garden,
spices like jeerak(cumin), Sarshap(mustard), haridra(turmeric), ela(cloves),
lavang(long), samphu(saunf), tejapatra(tejapata) had been planted. The
flowering bushes of kubjak malati, navamallika, jati, kurbak, mallika and
javakusum were all abloom in the garden. The flowers from these plants
were used to decorate her honeymoon bedroom in the palace. The swans and
the peacocks were roaming around the palace. As her attendants led her to
the honeymoon bedroom, Vasavadatta saw the grand bed which was made
of sandalwood. Scented candles, sandalwood paste and several beautiful
boxes of perfume had been placed on the night tables. A veena was hanging
off an elephant tusk on the wall. There was a chess board on a table, jaded
with gems. Musical instruments like veena, venu, mridang, pannav and
dardur had been placed in one area of the room, while the bookshelves were
standing in another. There was also a portrait of Pururava and Urvashi
hanging off the wall. Vasavadatta wondered whether the room belonged to a
king or to an artist. While she wondered at the beauty of the bedroom,
Udayan brought her back to the world by gently touching her chin. They
retired to the well decorated bed, which was strewn with the petals of
flowers. The sarika bird welcome Vasavadatta by singing, “Arye, home is
the happiness of the kingdom, wife is the happiness of the home, a beautiful
bed is the happiness for a wife and a bed holds the secrets of a married life”.
As they lay on the bed in a tight embrace, it was now the parrot’s turn to
talk, “Only the fortunate are able to taste the honey from the lips of their
love”.
Udayan became so much lost in his own world of music and arts that he
forgot to take care of his kingdom. After his kingdom was lost to the king
Aruni, Udayan’s arch enemy, Udayan and Vasavadatta moved to a smaller
town, Lavanak, which was geographically located between the Vatsa and the
Magadh kingdoms.
The minister Yougandharayan did not rest on his laurels after getting the two
royal families of Avanti and Vatsa related. He saw an opportunity in the
misfortune of Udayan. He also wanted the Vatsa kingdom to be related to
the Magadh kingdom, which was ruled by the king Darshak. The king
Darshak had a sister named Padmavati whom he had wanted to get married
to Udayan but had been rejected in the past. Knowing that Darshak would
not marry his sister away to a man who was already married,
Yougandharayan thought of a plot to get a rumour spread that when Udayan
was out on a hunting trip, his camp at Lavanak had caught fire and that

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Vasavadatta had died in that fire. Meanwhile, Yougandharayan, in the guise
of a brahmin, took Vasavadatta to the palace of Darshak and requested
Padmavati to keep Vasavadatta with her until he came back to take her with
him. A part of this plot was known to Vasavadatta and all of the plot was
known to Udayan’s commander, Rumnavan, who had agreed with the plan
in the hope of regaining the kingdom of Vatsa from Aruni.

Padmavati’s Magadh: The Patna-Gaya region

To give fruition to his plans, Yougandharayan got Udayan invited by

Darshak for a hunting trip to the Magadh region. Padmavati was married off
to Udayan while he was on this trip. The Vatsa kingdom was attacked and
Aruni was defeated and killed. Udayan returned to the palace in Kaushambi
with Padmavati and also with Vasavadatta, who had been given a new name
of Avantika by Yougandharayan. Udayan was not aware of Vasavadatta’s
presence in the palace. Even though he was married to Padmavati, he never
forgot about Vasavadatta and her musical skills. In Swapnavasavadattam,
the poet and playwright, Bhasa, after the fire at the Lavanak camp, makes
the Brahmachari narrate Udayan’s condition to Yougandharayan thus,

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n:òv: Edan:iö t:adàS:aH c:kÔv:aka n:òv:aep: Any:ð s*:iev:S:ð\:òH ev:y:ÙVt:aH
D:ny:a s:a s*:i y:aö t:T:a v:ðe¶: B:¶:aü B:t:àüsn:ðhat:Ð s:a eh dgD:aep: AdgD:a
In his inability to bear the pain of separation from Vasavadatta, Udayan has
surpassed the chakravaka bird; there is no one like him who has lost a great
wife; blessed is the woman who is loved so much by her husband. It is true,
indeed, that she did not receive burns despite being burnt in the flames of her
husband’s love! After the fire at the camp, Udayan spent several days in a
delusioned state crying out for Vasavadatta, ‘O, the princess of Avanti, O
Vasavadatta, O my love, O my dear student.’ Walking around his place in
Lavanak, Udayan kept reminiscing, “This is where we had laughed together,
this is where we had talked together, this is where we lived together, this is
where I got mad at her and this is where we had slept together.” When
Vasavadatta was staying with Padmavati under the assumed name of
Avantika, a short dialogue with a palace maid speaks a lot about
Vasavadatta’s maturity.
Palace Maid: There is a king called Udayan, the king of Vatsa. The princess
Padmavati wants to marry her.
Vasavadatta: (to herself) That lady wants to make my Aryaputra her
husband? (aloud) Why?
Palace Maid: He is a kind man. That is why she wants to marry him.
Vasavadatta: (to herself) I know about this. I fell in love with him for this
very reason.
Palace Maid: Princess, what if he turns out to be ugly?
Vasavadatta: No, no, he is a good looking man.
Palace Maid: How do you know about him?
Vasavadatta: (to herself) I am biased for the Aryaputra, that is why I broke
the rule of the disguise. I blew it. What should I do? Oh, I figured it out.
(aloud) My friend, the people of Ujjayini say so.
Upon hearing that Padmavati would like to marry her husband, Vasavadatta
did not get angry and upset. She handles it with great maturity and she also
reveals one of the reasons why she felt attracted to Udayan and why she
married him. When she hears that Padmavati has been ‘given away’ to

66
Udayan, she asks the palace maid, “Arye, did he (Udayan) ask for
Padmavati’s hand in marriage?”
Palace Maid: No, no. The king Darshak offered her hands to him.
Vasavadatta: (to herself) Then the Aryaputra is not guilty.
Another Palace Maid: Arya, let’s hurry, let’s hurry. There is an auspicious
alignment of stars today. Today is the day for the wedding, so says our
queen.
Vasavadatta: (to herself) The more she hurries up, the more she is making
my heart go blind, y:T:a y:T:a tv:rt:ð‹ t:T:a t:T:a AnD:ikr<et: m:ð Ædy:m:Ð.
Vasavadatta does not cross the limit of civility. She only goes to the extent
of saying that her heart is going blind. She knows that her husband will have
another wife, even then her emotions remain within the boundaries of a self-
imposed civility. Either she is confident of her husband’s love for her or her
nature is superbly serene and understaning or both. Vasavadatta’s love does
not take, it gives. This is what Shakuntala had to say to Dushyant when he
did not recognize her and called her a bad woman, ‘Wicked man, you seem
to be measuring everyone by your own yardstick. What other man would
behave like you, who are donning a garb of virtue like a water-well which is
well concealed with grass?’ Shakuntala had then regretted that she trusted
someone from the Puru dynasty and he had turned out to be a man with
‘honey in his mouth and poison in his heart’. Udayan was from the same
Puru-Kuru dynasty born several generations after Dushyant. Vasavadatta
could have hurled abuse at Udayan by saying things like, ‘I know you are
from the same Puru dynasty, what else can I expect from you? I am sure you
have heard about one of your ancestors, Dushyant, who fooled around with a
hermit-girl and refused to recognize her and take her and their son back?’
She could have gone on and on. But Vasavadatta’s love is confident and it
gives, it does not take. After Padmavati got married to Udayan, Vasavadatta
took a stroll in the palace garden and swallowed her pain, ‘It is not fair. Even
Aryaputra became someone else’s. Let me sit down. Blessed is the female
chakravaka bird which dies after being separated from her mate. I am not
going to kill myself, though. This unfortunate one wants to live so that she
can see the Aryaputra, Aay:üp:Ù*:ö p:Sy:aem: Eet: Ot:ðn: m:n:<rT:ðn: j:iv:aem: m:ndB:ag:a.’
How much painful it must have been when Vasavadatta asked the maid,
“My friend, have you seen the groom?”
Palace Maid: Yes, I saw him.

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Vasavadatta: How is the groom?
Palace Maid: Arye, I have never seen a man like him.
Vasavadatta: Say something more, my friend. Is he good looking?
Palace Maid: I can say that he is like Kamadeva without the bow and the
arrow.
Vasavadatta: Enough, leave it at that.
Palace Maid: Why don’t you want to know more?
Vasavadatta: It is not proper to hear about another person’s husband.
Vasavadatta’s love for Udayan appears to be sublime. She seems to have
accepted with grace that he has another wife now. She says again,
“Aryaputra has become someone else’s now. If I could sleep, I would forget
my pain, Ah<‹ Aay:üp:Ù*:H Aep: n:am: p:rkiy:H s:öv:à¶:H. Aev:da‹ S:yy:ay:aö m:m: dÙHK:ö
ev:n:<dy:aem:‹ y:ed en:dÔaö l:B:ð.” Vasavadatta does not give expression to her pain

even though it has been a painful experience. However, her pain acquires
dimensions and becomes alive whenever she has an opportunity to find out
about Udayan and how he is doing with Padmavati as the following dialogue
suggests.
Vasavadatta: My friend, is your husband a loving man?
Padmavati: Arye, I do not know about this, but I miss him when I do not see
him around.
Vasavadatta: (to herself) I have a hard life. Even this newly-wed is
suggesting this.
Palace Maid: The princess, Padmavati, has politely said that she loves her
husband.
Padmavati: I suspect something, though.
Vasavadatta: What is that?
Padmavati: He is also loved by Arya Vasavadatta the way I love him.
Vasavadatta: Much more than that.
Padmavati: How do you know?

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Vasavadatta: (to herself) Oh, I broke the rule again. Let me put it this way.
(aloud) If she had loved him less, she would not have left her near and dear
ones for him.
Padmavati: It may have been so.
Palace Maid: Princess, ask your husband to teach you how to play the veena.
Padmavati: I had asked him about that.
Vasavadatta: How did he respond to that?
Padmavati: He heaved a deep sigh and kept quiet.
Vasavadatta: What do you make out of that?
Padmavati: Thinking about Arya Vasavadatta’s qualities, he is being polite
by not shedding tears in front of me.
Vasavadatta: (to herself) If that were true, I consider myself blessed.
That is as far as Vasavadatta’s sublimated pain goes, finding happiness and
solace in little indications of love even though Udayan has been married to
another woman now. Udayan is also feeling the pain of ‘losing’ Vasavadatta
as he says to the Vidushak,
kam:ðn: ujj:ey:n:iö g:t:ð m:ey: t:da kaö Aep: Av:sT:aö g:t:ð
dàÄÐv:a sv:òrö Av:ent:raj:t:n:y:aö p:Wc: E\:v:H p:aet:t:aH
t:òH A½aep: s:S:ly:ö Ov: Ædy:ö B:Üy:H c: ev:¹a v:y:ö
p:Wc:ð\:ÙH m:dn:H y:da kT:ö Ay:ö \:ÅH S:rH p:aet:t:H
“Kamadeva had shot five arrows at me when I had gone to Ujjayini and met
Vasavadatta. I feel the pain of those five arrows until today. I have again
been shot at after getting married to Padmavati. Where did Kamadeva get his
sixth arrow from because he is said to have only five arrows?” Udayan’s
love for Vasavadatta is also sublime. He says that he was already shot at five
times by Kamadeva when he fell in love with Vasavadatta. Why did he get
shot at once again for the sixth time? This time it is not only numerically
different, five times versus once, but also qualitatively different. The first
time when he got ‘shot’ at, it had felt like sweet love. However, this time
around he feels hurt, really shot at with a real arrow. What an imagination by
the poet Bhasa? When Shakuntala had sarcastically asked Priyamvada,

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‘Why should you keep the king here when he is suffering with the pain of
separation from his queens in the palace’, Kalidas makes Dushyant respond
similarly, ‘O beautiful-eyed one, if you think that my heart, which is devoted
to you, is devoted to someone else, then I have been ‘killed’ twice, once by
the arrows of love and now by your words, m:dn: b:aN: ht:H Aesm: ht:H p:Ùn:H’ .
Only difference is that Udayan feels pain by missing Vasavadatta and
getting married to Padmavati, while Dushyant felt hurt at the sarcastic
question from Shakuntala.
Despite having a new queen, Udayan does not appear to let the painful
memory of separation from Vasavadatta go away. He tells vidushak not to
disturb the bees hovering around in the garden for the fear that the bees
might get separated from their mates in the way he has been separated from
Vasavadatta,
m:D:Ùm:dkl:a m:D:Ùkra m:dn:at:aüeB:H e)y:aeB:H up:g:ÜZaH
p:adny:as: ev:\:NN:a v:y:ö Ev: kant:a ev:y:ÙVt:aH sy:ÙH
While walking around in the garden, vidushak asked Udayan, “Tell me, who
is dearer to you- Vasavadatta or Padmavati?” Udayan asked him not to get
him into trouble by asking such questions. After persistent pestering,
Udayan replied,
p:¼av:t:i b:hÙm:t:a m:m: y:½ep: -p:S:il: m:aD:Ùy:òüH
v:as:v:d¶:a Ab:¹ö n: t:Ù t:av:t:Ð m:ð m:n:< hret:
“I like Padmavati because of her beauty, good ways and her special
affection, however, she fails to attract my mind, which is forever attracted to
Vasavadatta.” Furthermore, as he says again, it is hard to forget a deep-
rooted love and the more one thinks about it, the more painful it becomes.
This is the way the world is where the mind cleanses itself by shedding tears
for the loved ones.
dÙHK:ö ty:Vt:Ùö b:¹m:Ül:H An:Ùrag:H sm:àtv:a sm:àtv:a y:aet: dÙHK:ö n:v:tv:m:Ð
y:a*:a tv:ð\:a y:dÐ ev:m:Ùcy:ðh b:a\p:ö )apt:a An:àNy:a y:aet: b:Ùe¹H )s:adm:Ð
Udayan’s eyes were filled with tears when he said this to Vidushak. When
Padmavati went near Udayan and Vidushak in the garden, Vidushak made
up an excuse for Udayan’s tears. He told Padmavati that pollens from the
kash plants had entered the king’s eyes and that is why the tears were

70
flowing out from his eyes. A little later, Udayan repeats the same excuse to
Padmavati, thinking that ‘this newly-wed woman will be upset if I tell her
the real reason’. Unlike Shiva, Nala and Dushyant, Udayan stays away from
making a direct reference to Vasavadatta’s sensuality and bodily features
when he misses her,
Sl:aGy:am:Ð Av:ent:n:àp:t:ðH s:dàS:iö t:n:Üj:aö kal:kÔm:ðN: p:Ùn:H Aag:t: darB:arH
l:av:aN:kñ hÙt:v:hðn: Æt: A¤ y:eÄö t:aö p:e¼n:iö ehm:ht:aö Ev: ec:nt:y:aem:
Udayan remembers Vasavadatta as a lotus stalk badly damaged by a severe
frost, although he married again after her death at Lavanak’s camp. He also
remembers her as one whose tear drops fell on his chest when she left
Ujjayini, b:a\p:ö )v:à¶:ö n:y:n: Ant:l:gn:ö sn:ðhat:Ð m:m: Ov: ures: p:at:y:nty:aH . When the
goshavati veena, which was once played by Vasavadatta, is found and
brought to Udayan, his heart cries out, although the poet makes him talk
about her sensuality in a peripheral way through the veena,
Â:Ùet:s:ÙK:en:n:dð‹ kT:ö n:Ù dðvy:aH st:n:y:Ùg:l:ð j:G:n:sT:l:ð c: s:Ùpt:a
ev:hg: g:N: rj:ev:kiN:ü dNRa )et:B:y:ö ADy:Ùe\:t:a Aes: ArNy: v:as:m:Ð
Â:<N:is:m:Ù¾hn:p:aÃ:üen:p:ieRt:aen: K:ðd st:n: Ant:r s:ÙK:aen: up:g:Üeht:aen:
ue¸Sy: m:aö c: ev:rhð p:erdðev:t:aen: v:a½ Ant:rð\:Ù keT:t:aen: c: s:esm:t:aen:
Udayan is wondering how the same veena, which used to rest on
Vasavadatta’s thighs and against her breasts whenever she played it, is
covered with dust now? He goes on to ask the veena how come it did not
remember Vasavadatta’s smile during the breaks in the veena performance;
how come it did not remember their embrace? He accuses the ghoshavati
veena that it is devoid of love, Aesn:gD: Aes: G:<\:v:et: ! He admits that the
veena has aroused his long dormant desire for Vasavadatta,
ec:r)s:Ùpt:H kam:H m:ð v:iN:y:a )et:b:<eD:t:H
t:aö t:Ù dðv:iö n: p:Sy:aem: y:sy:a G:<\:v:t:i e)y:a
And he laments that he does not see Vasavadatta around who loved the
ghoshavati veena, t:aö t:Ù dðv:iö n: p:Sy:aem: y:sy:a G:<\:v:t:i e)y:a !
Looking for Padmavati, who was suffering from a headache, and thinking
that it was her who was sleeping in the bed, Vasavadatta sat beside her. She

71
hears a voice, ‘Vasavadatte!’ and realizes that it was Udayan who was
sleeping in the bed and not Padmavati. She became fearful that her true
identity might get exposed. Udayan kept talking in his sleep, ‘O the princess
of Avanti, O my good student, O my love’. Vasavadatta left the bed for the
fear of being identified by Udayan, who got up and told Vidushak that
Vasavadatta was alive because he had seen her. Vidushak told him that he
must be having a dream. Udayan told Vidushak that he had been deceived
by his ministers and commanders who had told him that Vasavadatta had
died in the fire at Lavanak. Vidushak reminded him again that it must have
been a dream.

Vasavadatta’s Ujjayini(Ujjain): The capital of Avanti

Aruni was defeated by an alliance of the king of Magadh and the king of
Avanti after which Udayan returned to Kaushambi with Padmavati.
Vasavadatta went with them, too, although still in disguise. For this
occasion, Vasavadatta’s mother, the queen Angaravati, sent a messenger
with a letter and two statues, which were made of gold. The letter read,
‘Udayan, we had invited you to Ujjayini as our son. Without agni being a
witness to and with an excuse to teach Vasavadatta the veena, we had given
away her hands into yours. The marriage ceremony was not conducted
properly because both of you had secretly eloped to Kaushambi. However,
we had gotten these golden statues made, yours and Vasavadatta’s, which

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we used to get the wedding ceremony symbolically performed properly
according to vedic rites.
When Padmavati looked at the statue of Vasavadatta, she immediately
recognized it and told Udayan that a lady who lived in the palace looked just
like the statue. A brahmin from Ujjayini had left her with Padmavati telling
her that she was his sister and that her husband had gone away to a foreign
land. The brahmin had further told her that he would come back to take her
away once her husband returned home. At the same time, when this
conversation was going on, Yougandharayan appeared in the palace to
‘reclaim’ his sister whom he had left with Padmavati. When Padmavati
brought Avantika(Vasavadatta), Udayan wonders whether it was a dream or
reality, ekm:Рn:٠s:ty:m:РEdm:Ћ sv:pn:H ? After recognizing her, Udayan asked
Yougandharayan, “What did you do this for?”
Yougandharayan said, “For Kaushambi”.
Padmavati greeted Vasavadatta with respect by touching her feet. Upon this,
Vasavadatta told her, ‘please get up, I am the one to be blamed, ue¶:Å.
AeT:üsv:ö n:am: S:rirö Ap:raDy:et:. ’ When Vasavadatta says, ‘I am the one to be

blamed’, it shows how humble and how sublimated her feelings are.
Vasavadatta never lets her painful experience sully her graceful thoughts and
behaviour. Over time, Udayan marries two other princesses, Priyadarshika
of the kingdom of Anga, modern day Munger region of Bihar, and Ratnavali
of Sinhala island, modern day Sri Lanka. Vasavadatta’s love remains largely
unrequited and her experience remains extremely painful. When the palace
maid had requested her to make a garland for the wedding of Padmavati with
Udayan, only thing Vasavadatta could say was ‘Oh, Ishvaras are definitely
without empathy, Ah<‹ Ak,N:aH K:l:Ù IÃ:raH ?’
Priyadarshika, who was now Udayan’s third wife, once acted as Vasavadatta
in a play about Udayan’s and Vasavadatta’s love, written by Vasavadatta’s
teacher, Sankrityayani. Udayan himself acted his role in the play. After
seeing Priyadarshika sitting very close to Udayan in the play, Vasavadatta
turned to her teacher and said, ‘Acharya Sankrityayani, I never sat so close
to him in life? Neither did he display such a love towards me.’
Sankrityayani responded, ‘One has to create scenes like this in a play to
make it more interesting.’
And thus remained Vasavadatta’s quest and thirst for love. Unrequited.

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 5. Nala and Damayanti

While the simile of Kalidas is unparalleled, no other Sanskrit poet has

described a woman’s beauty, literally from head to toe, better than the poet
Harsha. In Naishadh-Charitam, Harsha has described the beauty of
Damayanti, the princess of Vidarbha, first summarily through a swan and
then through Nala himself in greater detail. Harsha has turned traditional
imagery and similies on their head more boldly than Kalidas. The swan tells
Nala, the king of Nishadh, of the beauty of Damayanti,
ec:kÙr )kra j:y:ent: t:ð ev:dÙ\:i m:ܹüen: s:a eb:B:e¶:ü y:an:Î
p:S:Ùn:a Aep: Ap:Ùrskát:ðn: t:t:Î t:Ùl:n:am:Î EcCt:Ù c:am:rðN: kH

Damayanti’s Father’s Kingdom: The Vidarbha region around Nagpur

Damayanti’s hair is the very best there is, without comparison. Who would
like to compare her hair with those of the chamari deer’s? Damayanti’s hair
is on her head, while chamari’s is on her tail. How can someone compare
that which is on a tail with that which is on someone’s head? The poet
implies that if the chamari deer were so proud of her hair, she would be
flaunting it on her head and not on her tail. Harsha picks up the traditional

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simile to compare a woman’s hair and after finding it inadequate and
inferior, he proceeds fast to dump it. Damayanti’s eyes are so beautiful that
they leave another traditional simile, the eyes of a doe, in the dust. The poet,
while describing Damayanti’s eyes, says that the doe is so ashamed of her
eyes that by pretending to scratch the itchy skin around her eyes with her
hoofs, the doe is trying, in fact, to hide her eyes from the public view! If the
doe is hiding her eyes from others and is ashamed of them, how can one use
it as a simile for describing Damayanti’s eyes? sv:dáS:H j:n:y:ent: s:antv:n:am:Î
K:ÙrkNRy:n: kót:v:an:Î m:ág:aH. Damayanti’s eyes are so large that their corners are

stretching up to her ears- Â:Ùet: g:aem:t:y:a vy:et:B:at:ð‹ that is how the poet
describes her eyes. The doe’s eyes, whether in a frightened state or not, are
not as large as Damayanti’s; her eyes are darker and deeper than a lotus
flower and when she applies mascara on her eyes, they look much better
than the black-lined eyes of the khanjarik bird. Harsha finds all the three
traditional similes for the beauty of an eye inadequate.

Nala’s Kingdom: Nishadha, around Gwalior

After seeing what Harsha had to say about her hair and eyes, let’s go down
to Damayanti’s lips. He says, AD:rö K:l:Ù eb:mb: n:am:kö Pl:ö Asm:adÎ Eet: B:vy:m:Î
Anv:y:m:΋ her lips, definitely, are superior in redness to that of the bimba fruit.

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Harsha has gone beyond Kalidas, who has described the beauty of Yaksha’s
wife in Meghadutam thus:
t:nv:i Sy:am:a eS:K:er dS:n:a p:Vv: eb:mb:aD:r<\Yi
m:Dy:ðx:am:a c:ekt: herN:i )ðx:N:a en:mn:n:aeB:H
Â:<N:i B:aradÎ Al:s:g:m:n:a st:<kn:m:Ôa st:n:aBy:aö
y:a t:*: sy:at:Î y:Ùv:et: ev:\:y:a s:áeÄH Aa½ðv: D:at:Ù
Yaksha tells the cloud messenger, “My wife has a slender body; nice, well-
formed teeth; her lower lip is as red as a ripe bimba fruit; her waist is very
thin; her eyes are large like those of a frightened doe; she has a deep navel;
she walks slowly because of the weight of her large buttocks; she leans
forward slightly and bends down a little bit due to the weight of her large
breasts. She is so beautiful as if she were Brahma’s very first effort of
making a woman!” Harsha’s Damayanti comes across much more beautiful
than the heroine of Kalidas’ Meghadutam.
As the story in Naishadh-Charitam evolves, the swan continues to speak of
Damayanti’s beauty. The swan tells Nala that her eyebrows have the
curvature of the Kamadeva’s bow; her nostrils look like as if they were
holding, like a quiver, the arrows of love to be shot at Nala. Coming down
lower, the swan says of her breasts,
y:>v:n:y:<H K:l:Ù ¾y:<H pl:v:kÙmB:> B:v:t:H kÙc:> uB:>
Harsha writes that Damayanti’s breasts are as large as a water-pot so that her
youth can use them as a floating device! And furthermore,
udrö n:t:m:Dy: p:á\Yt:a sPÙrd{Îg:Ù\Y\:dðn: m:ÙeÄn:a
c:t:Ùr{Îg:Ùel: m:Dy: en:g:üt: e*:b:el: B:Ôaej: kát:ö dm:sv:s:ÙH
The swan tells Nala that Brahma held her by her waist when he was
constructing her abdomen. That is why there is a dimple on her back due to
the pressure from his thumbs and, also, that is why there are three abdominal
muscle packs which came out of the three spaces between the four fingers of
her hands. The poet also indicates that Damayanti had a very thin waist as
Brahma could hold it in his fist. Her buttocks are large and round- p:áT:Ù v:¶:Ùül:
t:an:Î en:t:mb:. Her thighs are perfectly tapered- better than those of the apsara,

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the celestial dancer, Rambha, t:,m:Î u,y:Ùg:ðn: s:Ùndri ekm:Ù rmB:aö p:erN:aehn:a p:rm:Î .
The lotus flower, itself, became her feet! The swan concludes his description
of Damayanti by saying, “I have seen that slender beauty with my own eyes
– s:a dáS:<H s:t:Î As:t:Î s:öS:y: g:<c:r udri‹ that very beauty about whom people

are not sure whether she has a stomach or not.

Upon hearing about Damayanti, Nala, the king of Nishadh, felt a powerful
and a debilitating attraction towards Damayanti, the princess of Vidarbha
and the daughter of the king, Bhima. Nala said goodbye to the swan by
saying t:v: v:tm:üen: v:¶:üt:aö eS:v:m:΋ may your journey be safe. The swan went
back to the princess and described to her Nala’s state of being. Harsha finds
an opportunity to make the swan talk about the ten states a person, who is in
love, can be in. These ten ‘states of love’ have been listed in another
Sanskrit text by the name of Rati-Rahasya:

n:y:n:)iet:H )T:m:ö ec:nt:as:¤H t:t:H s:öklp:H

en:dÔacCðdH t:n:Ùt:a ev:\:y:en:v:áe¶:H *:p:an:aS:H
unm:adH m:ÜcCaüH m:áet:H Eet: Ot:aH sm:rdS:a dS:òv: sy:ÙH
These ten states or phases of love are: eye-contact, thinking about the eye-
contact, repeatedly thinking about it, loss of sleep, loss of body weight,
withdrawal from other distractions, loss of the sense of social
embarrassment, delusion, forgetfulness and a death-like, ‘the world is falling
apart’ feeling. The swan of Harsha, unlike the cloud of Kalidas, is a clever
and an active messenger. Focusing on the first state of love, he tells
Damayanti:
el:ep:ö dáS:a eB:e¶:ev:B:Ù\:N:ö tv:aö n:áp:ö ep:b:nn:adr en:en:üm:ð\:m:Î
c:x:ÙJ:üròrep:t:m:atm:c:x:Ü rag:ö s: D:¶:ð rec:t:ö tv:y:a n:Ù
As Nala imagines you in his eyes and keeps pondering over it without
dropping his eyelids even once, it appears that the redness in his tear is
coming from nothing but the first imagined eye contact with you. Harsha
further describes this state, with a gentler touch, by saying that there is a
fight over the ownership of these red tear-drops. Who owns them- the love

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A Painting by Raja Ravi Varma: The Swan Talking to Damayanti

78
from the imagined eye contact or the act of not blinking his eyelids, m:m: Edö
Eet: AÂ:ÙeN: n:ð*:v:á¶:ðH )it:ðH en:m:ð\:ecCdy:a ev:v:adH. Nala had fallen in love with her

so much that she was not only pictured by Nala’s eyes but also captured by
his mind. She was all over his mind as the poet notes it: t:v:ö Ædg:t:a B:òm:i
b:ehg:üt:a Aep:‹ O, Bhaimi, the daughter of Bhima, you are always inside him

even though you are outside him. Furthermore, as the swan tells her,
Damayanti climbs up the ladders of his breathing whenever he breathes in
and exhales when he becomes tired. What a poetic imagination- someone
else is making the effort of climbing up a ladder and someone else is getting
tired? This is surely a state of being in love. He is so much in love with the
princess that he talks to her when he is alone even though she is not there,
ƶ:sy: y:aö m:n*:y:t:ð rhstv:aö t:aö. Nala has lost his sleep, too, as the poet notes, s:a

en:dÔa AD:Ùn:a n: tv:dÎ ?t:ð, literally, without you, even that sleep is not there with

the king anymore. And see how weak and skinny, Nala has become:
sm:rðN: en:st:xy: v:áT:òv: b:aN:òH l:av:Ny:S:ð\:aö káS:t:am:n:aey:
An:¤t:am:py:y:m:apy:m:an:H sp:D:aüö n: s:aD:üö ev:j:haet: t:ðn:
The arrows of Kamadeva have really taken a lot of flesh away from his
body. Only thing which is left with the king, now, is his good looks. He
would not care about the world anymore even if he had to become her slave
to get near her, tv:yy:ðv: dasy:ð Aep: n: l:jj:t:ð . One is reminded of a similar
situation when Shiva appeared before Parvati and said, “I am your slave
from now t:v: Aesm: das:H” . Nala had also become forgetful- he used to wake
up, sometimes, thinking that the princess was angry with him. He laughed,
without an occasion, thinking that he had found you. Nala does not wish for
the tenth state as he wishes dS:as:Ù S:ð\:a K:l:Ù t:t:Î dS:a y:a t:y:a n:B:H p:Ù\py:t:Ù
k<rkñN:‹ may the tenth state of love, the bud of death, flower in the sky, ie

may death become as impossible as the impossibility of a flower in the sky.

The swan has thus transported the message of love and an initial description
of Damayanti’s beauty in return for the king letting him go after Nala had
caught him from the banks of the pond in the palace garden. It was indeed a

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painful plea from the swan when he was caught by the king as the swan
addressed Brahma thus:
m:dðkp:Ù*:a j:n:n:i j:rat:Ùra n:v:)s:Üet:H v:rXa t:p:sv:en:
g:et:H t:y:<H O\: j:n:H t:ö Adüy:n:Ð Ah< ev:D:ð tv:aö k,N:a ,N:e¹ n:H
‘O Brahma, my mother, who has me as her only child, is suffering from an
old age; my wife has just laid eggs and is devoted to me. I am the only one
earning a livelihood for both of them. Does Pity not restrain you when I am
ready to be killed- Ah< ev:D:ð tv:aö k,N:a ,N:e¹ n:H? And now the swan has
returned the favour by conveying the love-lorn condition of Nala to
Damayanti and by telling him how beautiful she was, thus fuelling his love
for her further. In an interesting turn of events, when, after hearing about the
beauty of Damayanti from rishi Narada, Indra, Agni, Yama and Varun were
going to the city of Kundinpur, in Vidarbha, to see Damayanti for
themselves, they saw Nala on the way. They felt jealous of his well built
body and good looks. They introduced themselves to the king. After getting
introduced to them, Nala asked them as to what he could do for them. They
asked Nala to go to Damayanti and pursuade her to ‘select’ one of them as
her husband in the swayamvara, which her father had organized to get her
married. Nala told them that he was also in love with her and that he was
also going to Kundinpur in the hope of getting her. After the devas reminded
him of his words to them that he would help them, he agreed. With a boon
from the devas, he became invisible for a perfect disguise. Upon reaching
Kundinpur, he entered the palace where Damayanti was residing. He saw
that the female messengers from the devas were already busy convincing her
to select one of the four devas. Nala, in his invisible form, heard
Damayanti’s rejection of their love for her and that made him very pleased.
For the first time, Nala had seen her. This is the way he describes her:
b:ÔÉa¾y:sy: Anv:B:v:t:Ð )m:<dö r<m:ag:Ô Ov: Ag:Ô en:rix:t:ð Asy:aH
y:T:a A>ec:t:i EtT:ö t:t:Ð AS:ð\: dàÄav:T: sm:ra¾òt: m:Ùdö t:T:a As:>
Just after a look at the tips of Damayanti’s body hair, I am having a feeling
of the bliss of ‘becoming one with Brahma’ b:ÔÉa¾y:sy: Anv:B:v:t:Ð )m:<dö, it is
only proper to conclude that I will attain the bliss of ‘becoming one with
Kamadeva’ after seeing her whole body t:t:Ð AS:ð\: dàÄav:T: sm:ra¾òt: m:Ùdö ! After
looking at her moon-like face, his eyes catch a glance of her breasts- t:Ù¤>

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kÙc:> AaÂ:y:t:H sm: dàeÄ ! His eyes got fixated on her large breasts, t:Ù¤> kÙc:>,

and lost direction for a while due to the ‘darkness’ caused by the karpur
paste applied on her chest, m:àg:n:aeB:l:ðp: t:m:H s:m:as:aedt: edgB:Ôm:ðv: ! As a lost and
a directionless person keeps coming back to the same place, his eyes kept
coming back to the same place. He gets lost again when he looks at her
buttocks. As the poet says, ev:B:Ômy: t:t:Ð c:a, en:t:mb: c:kÔð and he pauses for a
while when he looks at her thighs, which were tapered like the trunk of a
banana tree, t:t:Ð u, rmB:ast:mB:>. Nala has seen her only for a short time yet,
still, he is looking at her everywhere, at her breasts, buttocks, her thighs and
at her feet, ur< en:t:mb: u, kÙ, )s:adm:Ð Et:iv: s:a t:t:Ð p:dy:<H p:p:at: . Nala is so
much impressed with her beauty that he declares,
p:dð ev:D:at:ÙH y:ed m:nm:T:< v:a m:m: AeB:e\:cy:ðt: m:n:<rT:< v:a
t:da G:Xðt: Aep: n: v:a t:dÐ Ot:t:Ð )et:)t:ik A»Ùt: -p:eS:lp:m:Ð
Neither of the two, the Kamadeva and my own desire, m:nm:T:< v:a m:m: m:n:<rT:<
v:a, could have produced such a marvel of beauty, even if either of the two,

instead of Brahma, were deployed to sculpt her. It appears to Nala that

Kamadeva has adorned her with the very limits of beauty- l:av:Ny: s:im:a y:t:ÐÐ
Em:aö up:ast:ð. Nala has summarized his findings about Damayanti thus,

p:Ùrakàet: s*:òN:ö Em:aö ev:D:at:Ùö AB:Üt:Ð ev:D:at:ÙH K:l:Ù hst:l:ðK:H

y:a Ey:ö B:v:dÐ B:aev: p:ÙröenD:Ô s:àeÄH s:a Asy:ò y:S:H t:t:Ð j:y:j:ö )dat:Ùm:Ð
All other women previously sculpted by Brahma were Brahma’s trial runs in
the form of sketches, ev:D:at:ÙH K:l:Ù hst:l:ðK:H! After scuplting Damayanti, he did
not stop making other women, either. Brahma wanted to let the world know
that there is no one like Damayanti, there has never been anyone like her and
there will never be anyone like her in the future. She was so beautiful.
Kalidas describes Yaksha’s wife as y:a t:*: sy:at:Î y:Ùv:et: ev:\:y:a s:áeÄH Aa½ðv: D:at:Ù.
She was so beautiful as if she were the very first effort of Brahma in making
a woman. The poet Harsha, once again, goes beyond Kalidas by saying that
although there were other women sculpted by Brahma, those were mere trial
runs for making a woman! Damayanti was a result of all the learnings
Brahma did in earlier trial runs. So Harsha’s Damayanti was not the first

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woman in whom Brahma had exhausted all the ingredients for making
beautiful women, neither was she the last one. However, she was the best of
all that has been and that ever will be.
Nala, still in the invisible form granted to him by the four devas, now
focuses on Damayanti more closely- from her hair down to her toes. He says
of her hair,
Asy:a y:t:Ð Aasy:ðn: p:ÙrH et:rH c: et:rskàt:ö S:it:,c:a AnD:karm:Ð
sPÙX sPÙrdÐ B:e¤kc:H Cl:ðn: t:dÐ Ov: p:Á:adÐ Edm:ö Aest: b:¹m:Ð
After being vanquished by her moon-like face, the darkness itself has taken
shelter in the form of her hair right behind her face. Her hair is as dark as the
darkness itself and is curly.
Asy:aH kc:an:aö eS:eK:n:H c: ekö n:Ù ev:eD:ö kl:ap:> ev:m:t:ðH Ag:at:am:Ð
t:ðn: Ay:ö OeB:H ekö Ap:Üej: p:Ù\p:òH AB:ets:ü dttv:a s: ekö AD:üc:ndÔm:Ð
Brahma himself had already settled the dispute about whose hair was more
beautiful- Damaynati’s or a male peacock’s. Her hair is adorned with
flowers, while the peacock’s feather is splattered with half and partial moon-
shapes, implying that the peacock’s feather is so ugly that it does not deserve
the beauty of a full moon! Damayanti’s forehead appears like the moon of
the eighth night during the dark fortnight kñS:anD:karat:Ð AT: dàSy:B:al:sT:l:
AD:üc:ndÔ sPÙXm:Ð AÄm:iy:m:Ð. Nala looks at her eyebrows, which are dark and

curved and, in their darkness, they compare well with the bow of Kamadeva
after it was burnt by Shiva. Not only that, even the separation between her
two eyebrows looks like as if the bow was broken into two pieces by angry
Shiva. Her eyebrows are well separated and have no bridging hair in
between. They have acquired the strength of the bow, which is not as soft as
a flower anymore after getting burnt. It also appears that her eyebrows have
been placed on her face after the moon shed its dark spots. However, her
eyebrows are not a symbol of disrepute like the spots of the moon. The poet,
Harsha, has beautifully and subtly alluded to the mythological story about
how the moon acquired the dark spots. According to the myth, the moon was
beat up by a rishi when he was guarding the rendezvous of Indra with the
rishi’s wife. The dark spots were a result of that beating.

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p:>\p:ö D:n:ÙH ekö m:dn:sy: dahð Sy:am:i B:v:t:Ð kñs:rS:ð\:ö Aas:it:Ð
vy:D:at:Ð e¾D:a IS:H t:dep: kÙÔD:a ekö B:òm:i B:ÔÙv:> y:ðn: ev:eD:H vy:D:¶:
B:ÔÜmy:aö e)y:ay:a B:v:t:a m:n:<B:Ü c:ap:ðn: c: Aap:ð G:n:s:ar B:av:H
en:j:aö y:t:Ð Apl:<\: dS:aö Ap:ðxy: s:ö)et: An:ðn: AeD:k v:iy:üt:a Aej:ü
sm:arö D:n:ÙH y:t:Ð ev:D:Ùn:a uejJ:t:a Asy:a y:a Aasy:ðn: B:Üt:ðn: c: l:xm:l:ðK:a
Ot:dÐ B:ÔÜv:> j:nm: t:dÐ Aap: y:Ùgm:ö l:il:ac:l:tv: uec:t: b:al:B:av:m:Ð
Damayanti’s eyes were also very beautiful as Nala finds out. After winning
over the three worlds with his three of the five love-arrows, Kamadeva used
the remaining two arrows to ‘water’ her lotus-like eyes. It was not a big deal
when he won over the three worlds with three arrows. What is a big deal,
though, is that Damayanti’s eyes so beautiful that they will win over the
world with the help of only two arrows, S:ð\:a e¾v:aN:i s:Pl:i kàt:a Ey:ö e)y:a dàg:Ð
AmB:<j:p:dð AeB:e\:cy:! While Kamadeva rains arrows to make people fall in

love, however, Damayanti has to just cast a side glance, t:n:<et: n:H Â:im:dÐ
Ap:a¤ m:ÙVt:aö m:<hay: y:a dàeÄ S:r>G: v:àeÄm:Ð ! Her left eye was like her right eye

and the right eye was like her left eye. Her eyes could be compared only
with each other and not with a lotus flower, Asy:a Ev: Asy:a. The lotus flower
was worthless as a simile for her eyes for one more reason. Even though her
eyes were black like a black bee, they did not have the nagging sound of a
bee hovering over a lotus flower. The way Harsha puts it,
AaG:ÜeN:üt:ö p:xm:l:ö Aex:p:¼ö )ant:½Ùet: Ã:òty:ej:t: Am:àt:aöS:Ù
Asy:a Ev: Asy:a c:l:dÐ EndÔ n:il: g:<l: Am:l: Sy:am:l:t:a Aart:arm:Ð
It is worth noting that this poem has been beautifully constructed. When the
words get combined following the sandhi and samas rules of the Sanskrit
grammar, the poem reads like this, AaG:ÜeN:üt:ö p:xm:l:m:ex:p:¼ö

)ant:½Ùet:Ã:òty:ej:t:am:àt:aöS:Ù‹ Asy:a Ev:asy:aÁ:l:edndÔn:il:g:<l:am:l:Sy:am:l:t:art:arm:Ð. As

one can see, all the words of the second line, except one, have been
combined into a long word. The poet is using a beautiful construction to
describe her beautiful eyes. He creates another poem to describe her eyes
where there is one long word in the second line,

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s:aròg:àühit:òev:üeD:,tp:l:>G:adsy:am:B:Üdix:N:-p:eS:lp:i. When broken down into
individual words, it reads like this: s:aròH g:àhit:òH ev:eD:H utp:l:>G:adÐ Asy:aö AB:Üt:Ð
Ix:N: -p:eS:lp:i. Beautiful poetic construction to talk about beautiful eyes,

indeed! Her eyeballs were always moving as if for the fear of falling into the
ear-holes - Â:v:H kÝp: en:p:at: B:ity:a . Harsha has poetically implied that her eyes
were so large that they extended up to the ears and, therefore, they were
afraid of falling into the ear-holes! That’s why her eyeballs keep moving
around. The swan had already given a heads up to Nala about Damayanti’s
eyes, ‘their corners are stretching up to her ears- Â:Ùet: g:aem:t:y:a vy:et:B:at:ð. Even
the doe seem to be indebted to her because they seem to have ontained the
beauty of their eyes from Damayanti’s eyes, ?N:ikàt:a ekö herN:ieB:H Aas:it:Ð
Asy:aH. Her eyes are as beautiful as the flowers of the tila, the linseed, plant

and her nostrils, which appear to be filled with the sweet smelling pollen of
the tila flower, appear as if they were the quiver for placing the two leftover
arrows of Kamadeva after he used the other three to win over the world,
n:as:a Ads:iy:a et:l: p:Ù\p:t:ÜN:ö j:g:t:Ð *:y: vy:st: S:r *:y:sy:
Ã:as: Aen:l: Aam:<dB:r An:Ùm:ðy:aö dD:t:Ð e¾b:aN:iö kÙs:Ùm: Aay:ÙD:sy:
Nala looks at the lips of Damayanti now. Her lips are as red as the bandhuk,
dupaharia, the noon-time flower and they appear as if they were the meeting
line for her adolescence and her burgeoning youth, b:nD:Ük b:nD:Ü B:v:t:Ð Ot:dÐ
Asy:a m:ÙK: EndÙ An:ðn: s:h uejj:han:a‹ rag:eÂ:y:a S:òS:v: y:>v:n:iy:aö sv:m:Ð Aah s:öDy:aö

AD:r A<Å l:ðK:a. Although her red lips look like a reflection of the redness of

the bimba fruit, however, the similarity stops here. While her lips are located
on her moon-like face, the bimba fruits are borne on a rough tree, eb:mb:sy:
y:ÙVt:H )et:eb:mb: O\:H &&&& s:öB:avy:m:an: Asy: t:Ù ev:dÔÙm:ð s:a. Nala is imagining that the

slight swelling in the middle of her upper and lower lips is due to the mark
left by his teeth when he kissed her hard in his dreams.
m:Dy: up:kNY> AD:r A:ðÅ B:ag:> B:at:H ekö Aep: ucCÐv:es:t:> y:t:Ð Asy:aH
t:t:Ð sv:pn: s:öB:<g: ev:t:iN:ü dnt: döS:ðn: ekö v:a n: m:y:a Ap:ra¹m:Ð

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He wonders if it was a result of a crime he committed in his dream, ekö v:a n:
m:y:a Ap:ra¹m:Ð! It appears that the playful Brahma effortlessly drew a fine line

between her lower and upper lips to practise a manual, mathematical

division in which a line is drawn to separate the dividend, Eet: Ev: rðK:aeB:H
Ap:Â:m:H t:aH s:öKy:at:v:an:Ð k>t:Ùkv:an: ev:D:at:a ! And therefore, it appears that the

knowledge, itself, were dancing on her lips, ev:½a ev:dB:ü EndÔ s:Ùt:a AD:r A:ðÅð
n:àty:ent:. What a poetic way to say that her upper and lower lips were

touching so tightly that it could be compared only with a mathematical line!

The way Nala had imagined, in his dreams, kissing her on her lips, they are
as beautiful in real life, too,
s:öB:Ùjy:m:an: A½ m:y:a en:S:ant:ð sv:pn:ð An:ÙB:Ùt:a m:D:ÙraD:ra Ey:m:Ð
As:im: l:av:Ny: rd cCd EtT:ö kT:ö m:y:a Ev: )et:p:½t:ð v:a
He finds a limitless beauty in her lips, As:im: l:av:Ny: rd cCd EtT:ö kT:ö m:y:a Ev:
)et:p:½t:ð v:a. And the smile on her lips? The moonlight has only less than one

thousandth of the beauty of her smile. Were the moonlight more beautiful
than one thousandth of the beauty of her smile, then, the lily’s life would
have been far more successful, t:t:Ð k>m:Ùdin:aö kÙ,t:ð t:m: Ov: en:em:cCÐy: dðv:H s:Pl:ö
s: j:nm:. Nala, still in his invisible form, says of her teeth, ‘the two rows of

her teeth are like the first and the second rows of the moonlight drops
emanating from her moon-like face after it has been pierced by the rays,
c:ndÔ AeD:k Ot:t:Ð m:ÙK: c:endÔkaN:aö dray:t:ö t:t:Ð ekrN:at:Ð G:n:an:am:Ð
p:ÙrH s:r +st: p:à\:t:Ð e¾t:iy:ö rdav:el: ¾n¾et: eb:ndÙ v:àndm:Ð
It appears to Nala as if the light of the dawn, through the whiteness of her
teeth, were an expression by the night, which seems to have fainted ‘white’,
of the sadness caused by his separation from Damayanti, s:a Ey:ö m:m: Ot:t:Ð
ev:rh Aaet:ü m:ÜcCaü t:m:i ev:B:at:sy: ev:B:aet: s:öDy:a. Her teeth are so white that they

look like two rows of pearls as if they have been brushed with a mixture of
materials like khadir and others, u¾ðg: rag: Aaed m:àj: Av:dat:aH c:tv:ar Ot:ð t:t:Ð
Av:òem: m:ÙVt:aH . Her voice is softer than the shirish flowers, as if Brahma had

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placed more softness in her voice after placing it everywhere else on her
body to show the pinnacle of softness.

eS:ri\: k<\:at:ÐÐ Aep: k<m:l:ay:a v:ðD:a ev:D:ay: A¤m:Ð AS:ð\:m:ö Asy:aH

)apt: )k\:üH s:ÙkÙm:ar s:g:ðü s:m:ap:y:t:Ð v:aec: m:àdÙtv: m:ÙdÔam:Ð
Nala thinks that Kamadeva has learnt the secrets from Damayanti’s moon-
like face before he did from the koel bird, Asy:aH ekö Aasy:e¾j:raj:t:< v:a n:
AD:iy:t:ð B:òx:B:Ùj:a t:,By:H . He feels that the veena-playing goddess, Saraswati

has made her residence in the voice of the doe-eyed Damayanti,

kNYð v:s:et: c:t:Ùra y:t:Ð Asy:aH s:rsv:t:i v:ady:t:ð ev:p:Wc:im:Ð
t:t:Ð Ov: v:akÐ B:Üy: m:ÙK:ð m:àg: Axy:aH Â:<t:ÙH Â:Ùt:> y:aet: s:ÙD:a rs:tv:m:Ð
To complete making of her face, Brahma constructed her chin, which was
very soft and which dropped down and that is a sign of a beautiful chin as
noted elsewhere, u¶:m: s*:iN:aö sv:B:av:at:Ð Ev: ec:b:Ùkö en:mn:ö B:v:et: Eet:. The poet
summarizes the overall beauty of her face by saying,
ev:D:<H ev:eD:H eb:mb:S:t:aen: l:<p:ö l:<p:ö kÙhÜ rae*:\:Ù m:aes: m:aes:
AB:¤ÙrÂ:i kö Am:Ùö ekö Asy:a m:ÙK: EndÙö AsT:ap:y:t:Ð Ok S:ð\:m:Ð
Brahma tried to make the moon look better during the dark fortnight by
taking a piece at a time from the waning moon. Even then he could not make
the moon look like her face! He further notes that just by looking at her face,
a person becomes full of desire because Kamadeva with his wife Rati dwells
on her face, Eh Av:l:mby: Aest: ret:ö m:n:<B:ÜH rjy:t:Ð v:y:sy: m:D:Ùn:a AD:rðN:.
Nala, in his invisible, disguised form keeps looking at Damayanti’s ears, her
neck and her arms as he continues to scan her physical features. He feels that
being close to her lotus-like eyes, her ears were made by Brahma for both
Kamadeva and Rati to offer oblations of flower and water from her tear-
drops, kN:>ü ekö Asy:a ret: t:t:Ð p:et:By:aö en:v:ð½ p:Üp:> ev:eD: eS:lp:ö Idàk.Ð Her neck is
definitely worth an embrace, Aael:¤Ðy:t:aö Aep: Av:l:mb:m:an:a s:Ù-p:t:aB:ag:eK:l:H
uDv:ükay:a. The front part of her neck has been divided by Brahma into four

parts using three lines, rðK:a *:y: ny:as: em:\:at:Ð Am:i\:aö v:as:ay: s:H Ay:ö ev:b:B:aj:

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s:im:aH and thus Damayanti has the features of a kambugriva, the front part of

the neck with three soft lines, rðK:a*:y:ae¢t:a g:Ôiv:a kmb:Ù g:Ôiv:a Eet: kTy:t:ð . Her
slender arms are more delicate than the stalks of the lotus flower, b:ahÜ e)y:ay:a
j:y:t:aö m:àN:al:ö ¾n¾ð j:y:H n:am: n: ev:sm:y:H Aesm:n:Ð, which is a sign of victory in a

battle. Her hands are bestowed with the five arrows of Kamadeva in the
forms of her long and slender fingers, e)y:akrð p:Wc: S:ri sm:rsy: and after
making her hands, did Brahma admit to her, ‘O Damayanti, I made the lotus
flower as a trial-run before I made your hands?
Asy:òv: s:g:aüy: B:v:t:Ð krsy: s:r<j: s:àeÄH m:m: hst:l:ðK:H
Eet: Aah D:at:a herN: Ix:N:ay:aö ekö hst:l:ðK:i kàt:y:a t:y:a Asy:am:Ð
With her two beautiful, lotus-stalk like delicate arms on both sides,
Kamadeva, after having dried up the waters of her childhood, made the two
islands in the form of her breasts, kÙc:> ekö u¶:sT:t:ÙH Ant:rip:ð sm:rH u\m: S:Ù\y:¶:r
b:aly: v:arH . Although they are as large as the fruits of the Indian palm tree,

there is actually no comparison because the fruit of the palm tree is held up
high with the help of the tree whereas in Damayanti’s case her breasts are
held high by themselves, kÙc:> kàS:a¤Ðy:aH sv:t: Ov: t:Ù¤>!
t:al:ö )B:Ù sy:at:Ð An:Ùkt:Ùöü Ot:> utT:an: s:ÙsT:> p:et:t:ö n: t:av:t:Ð
p:rö c: n: A:eÂ:ty: t:,ö m:hant:ö kÙc:> kàS:a¤Ðy:aH sv:t: Ov: t:Ù¤>
Where is the similarity between that which is held high with the help from
others and that which is held high by itself? Because of a competition
between her breasts and the waterpot, ghat, the later is used by the logicians
in their logic. And so is the potmaker known because of the same
competition and not because he makes good pots, Ot:t:Ð kÙc: sp:eD:üt:y:a G:Xsy:
Ky:at:sy: S:as*:ð\:Ù en:dS:ün:tv:m:Ð. As has been noted by the poet Bharavi in

Kiratarjuniyam, v:rö ev:r<D:H Aep: s:m:ö m:hatm:eB:H, competing with one’s superior
is better. The watewrpot has chosen to compete with something which is
superior to it. The poet, Harsha, again displays his command of the Sanskrit
poetry when he weaves a complete line by combining several words to
describe Damayanti’s beauty,

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 g:ÙcCal:y:sv:cCt:m:<deb:ndÙv:àndaB:m:ÙVt:aPl:Pðen:l:a¢ð
m:aeN:Vy: harsy: ev:dB:ü s:ÙB:ÜÔ p:y:<D:rð r<het: r<eht: Â:iH
The first line when broken into individual words looks like this, g:ÙcC Aal:y:
sv:cCt:m: ud eb:ndÙ v:ànd AaB: m:ÙVt:a Pl: Pðen:l: A¢ðH, a total of eleven words

conjugated into one! Nala observes that the redness of the pearls of her
necklace is falling on her breasts, m:aeN:Vy: harsy: ev:dB:ü s:ÙB:ÜÔ p:y:<D:rð r<het:
r<eht: Â:iH. Why? Because the stringed pearls were resting like a collection of

clear water bubbles on a white,froth-filled bed of water,

g:ÙcCal:y:sv:cCt:m:<deb:ndÙv:àndaB:m:ÙVt:aPl:Pðen:l:a¢ð! Even though her moon-like

face is right there, her breasts are so tightly touching each other that Nala
sees no sign of them separating like the chakravaka birds do during the
night, ec:*:ö t:T:a Aep: st:n: k<ky:Ùgm:ö n: st:<kö Aep: AWc:et: ev:)y:<g:m:Ð. Nala’s
admiration of Damayanti’s beauty makes him to say, ‘even if Indra were to
caress all the ripe shriphala fruits, which are large in size and round in shape,
they will feel like the tiny fruits of the Indian fig tree compared to her
breasts’,
krag:Ô j:ag:Ôt:Ð S:t: k<eXH AT:iüH y:y:<H Em:> t:> t:Ùl:y:ðt:Ð kÙc:> c:ðt:Ð
s:v:üö t:da Â:iPl:ö unm:ed\N:Ù j:at:ö v:Xiö Aep: AD:Ùn:a n: l:bD:Ùm:Ð
What an imagination noting that Indra had all the beautiful apsaras in his
court! Despite the youthful muscle packs of her abdomen, Damayanti’s
stomach was still flat, x:iN:ðn: m:Dy:ð Aep: s:t:a udrðN: y:t:Ð )apy:t:ð n: AakÔm:N:ö
v:el:By:H. The poet says that if Brahma had not made her body like a slender

stick, how could he have made her breasts, which needs a larger supply of
muscles?
m:Dy:ö t:n:Ükàty: y:ed Edö Ey:ö v:ðD:a n: dDy:at:Ð km:n:iy:ö AöS:m:Ð
kñn: st:n:> s:ö)et: y:>v:n:ð Asy:aH s:àj:ðt:Ð An:ny: )et:m:a A¤y:ÄðH
What about her navel and the line of soft hair on the lower part of her
stomach? The poet says that the soft hair is like a rope to pull water from her
deep, well-like navel using her breasts as waterpots, r<m: Av:el: rjj:Ùö ur<j:
kÙmB:> g:mB:irö Aas:a½ c: n:aeB: kÝp:m:Ð. He further compares the line of soft hair,

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which he calls the ornament in the middle of her body, with the bow-string
of Kamadeva, r<m: Av:l:i m:Dy: ev:B:Ü\:N:ö jy:a.
Damayanti’s back was also very attractive as Nala observes, ‘Her braided
hair, which looks like a reflection of a bunch of malli-kadamb flowers, is
flowing down her back as if words in the praise of Kamadeva were written
in silver on a golden slab of her fair skin’, Asy:aH K:l:Ù g:ÔenT: en:b:¹ kñS: m:ll:i
kdmb: )et:eb:mb: v:ð\:at:Ћ sm:r )S:st:i rj:t: Ax:r Ey:ö p:àÅ sT:l:i haXk p:eXÐXkay:am:Ð.

Unlike Yaksha’s wife in Meghadutam who walked slowly due to her heavy
buttocks, Â:<N:i B:aradÎ Al:s:g:m:n:a, the poet Harsha describes Damayanti’s
buttocks this way,
c:kÔðN: ev:Ã:ö y:ÙeD: m:tsy:kñt:ÙH ep:t:ÙH ej:t:ö s:ÙdS:ün:ðn:
j:g:t:Ð ej:g:\:et: Am:Ùn:a en:t:mb:m:y:ðn: ekö dÙl:üB: dS:ün:ðn:
r<m: Av:l:i dNR en:t:mb: c:kÔð g:ÙN:ö c: l:av:Ny: j:l:ö c: b:al:a
t:a,Ny: m:ܶ:ðüH kÙc: kÙmB: kt:ÙüH eb:B:et:ü S:¢ð s:hkaer c:kÔm:Ð
‘Even though it was hard for Nala to see her buttocks because of her
clothing, they seem to be as round as the sudarshan chakra used by Krishna
in the Mahabharat war. It appears as if Kamadeva were trying to win over
the world with the roundness of her buttocks. After making her round breasts
like a water-pot, as if to give company to them, Brahma made the buttocks
round, too, like the potter’s wheel, for this beautiful woman, who is a split
image of youth itself.’ Describing Damayanti’s beauty from head to toe, the
poet Harsha’s attention has reached the part of her body which he feels
should not be left out. However, that description is being given below in the
original Sanskrit without a translation into English,
A¤ðn: kñn: Aep: ev:j:ðt:Ùö Asy:a g:v:ð\y:t:ðð ekö c:l:p:*:p:*:m:Ð
n: c:ðt:Ð ev:S:ð\:at:Ð Et:rcCdðBy:H t:sy:aH t:Ù kmp:st:Ù kÙt:H B:y:ðn:
The way her nose was made like the flower of the tila plant and the way her
eyebrows were like a line in a painting, her thighs had the tapering of the
banana tree. As the poet says,
B:ÔÜH ec:*:l:ðK:a c: et:l:<¶:m:a Asy:a n:as:a c: rmB:a c: y:t:Ð u, s:àeÄH
dàÄa t:t:H p:Üry:et: Ey:ö Okan:ðka Aps:rH )ðx:N: k>t:Ùkaen:

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There is another meaning in this poem. Brahma playfully made the three
apsaras- Chitralekha, Tilottama and Rambha in one Damayanti so that he
can see all the three apsaras in one place. He further says that even rishi-
munis get attracted to her, Asy:aö m:Ùen:n:am:Ð Aep: m:<hö Uhð. Going down from the
thighs to her calves and her feet, the poet says of her toes, Em:ð p:d Abj:ð
ev:eD:n:a Aep: s:àÄa t:av:ty: Ov: A¤Ùl:y:< A*: l:ðK:aH, her toes are slender like a line.

Nala summarizes Damayanti’s beauty this way,

s:àÄa Aet:ev:Ã:a ev:eD:n:a Ov: t:av:t: t:sy: Aep: n:it:a up:er y:>v:n:ðn:
v:òdgDy:ö ADy:apy: m:n:<B:Ùv:a Ey:ö Av:aep:t:a v:akÐ p:T: p:arö Ov:
Firstly, Brahma made her beauty to win over the three worlds, then her
youth enhanced her beauty more and then, again, she wass trained by
Kamadeva himself. Her beauty is, indeed, beyond description, Av:aep:t:a v:akÐ
p:T: p:arö Ov:.

Nala was on a mission to Kundinpur from the four devas- Indra, Agni, Yama
and Varun- to pursuade her to select one of them as her husband in the
swayamvara, which her father had organized to get her married. He acquired
his visible form so that he could pursuade Damayanti to marry one of the
devas. He told her one by one how much each of them was good and great
and he also told her how much each of them was ‘dying’ for her. However,
when Damayanti saw Nala, not realizing that it was him, she felt a powerful
attraction towards him and she imagined that it was Nala in the form of that
messenger, t:esm:n:Ð n:l:H As:> Eet: s:a Anv:rjy:t:Ð. However, she also felt
sadness realizing that Nala could not be there in the palace, x:N:ö x:N:ö Vv: Eh s:
Eet: udast:. She became full of happiness just by seeing that handsome

messenger the way a river flows with full speed in the rainy season, m:hary:ö
en:J:üerN:i Ev: v:araö Aas:a½. As soon as she saw him, she was filled with love.

While she was looking at all over him, she did not forget the parts of his
body she had looked at before. She felt a kind of happiness which was out of
this world as the poet describes it,
t:tkal:ö Aan:nd m:y:i B:v:nt:i B:v:¶:r Aen:v:üc:en:y: m:<ha
s:a m:ÙVt: s:ös:aerdS:a rs:aBy:aö e¾sv:adö ull:as:ö AB:Ù¢Ðt: em:Äm:Ð

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Even though she was not sure whether it was Nala or another handsome
man, she was filled with love and attraction for him. The poet says, people in
love cannot figure out what is true and what is not, m:ÙgD:ð\:Ù kH s:ty: m:à\:a ev:v:ðkH.
She notes how handsome he is when she says,
B:v:t:Ð p:d A¤ÙÅö Aep: eÂ:t:a Â:iH D:ÔÙv:ö n: l:bD:a kÙs:Ùm: Aay:ÙD:ðn:
rt:iS: j:ðt:ÙH K:l:Ù ec:öÈö Aesm:n:Ð AD:ü EndÙH Ast:ð n:K: v:ð\: D:ari
kàtv:a dàS:> t:ð b:hÙ v:N:ü ec:*:ð ekö kà\N:s:arsy: t:y:<H m:àg:sy:
AdÜrj:ag:Ôe¾drp:ÔN:al:irðK:am:y:cCe¾eD:rD:üc:ndÔm:Ð
Nala’s toe-nails, which are a small component of his feet, are as beautiful as
a partial moon. It appears as if Shiva placed the partial moon from his
forehead in the form of his toe-nails to remind everyone of his victory over
Kamadeva. What a poetic way of saying that Nala’s toe-nails are extremely
good looking? Brahma made his eyes so beautiful that even the beautiful-
eyed deer hangs around with his eyes looking down out of shame!
Furthermore, how foolish Kamadeva could be who gave Brahma his own
bow so that Brahma could make Nala’s eyebrows curved like a bow? Who
can be more foolish than Kamadeva who can arm his own enemy with his
own weapon, m:ÙgD:H s: m:<hat:Ð s:ÙB:g:at:Ð n: dðhat:Ð ddt:Ð B:v:t:Ð B:ÜÔH rc:n:ay: c:ap:m:Ð?
Certianly, it appears to Damayanti that Brahma made Nala after the world
had become poorer due to a lack of stories about handsome men when
Kamadeva was burnt by Shiva,
Aadðh dahö kÙs:Ùm: Aay:ÙD:sy: ev:D:ay: s:>ndy:ü kT:a derdÔm:Ð
tv:t:Ð A¤ eS:lp:at:Ð p:Ùn:H IÃ:rðN: ec:rðN: j:an:ð j:g:t:Ð Anv:kemp:
Damaynti says, ‘If you are a human being, the whole world should feel
obligated to you, m:hi kàt:aT:aü y:ed m:an:v:H Aes: , if you are a god among the
gods, then heavens deserve you, ej:t:ö edv:a y:ed Am:rð\:Ù kH Aep:.’ Damayanti is
not sure whether it was Nala or someone else as she says, ‘b:Ôv:iet: m:ð ekö ekö Ey:ö
n: j:an:ð‹ s:öndðh d<l:aö Av:l:mby: s:öev:t:Ð, I am sitting on a ‘swing of doubt’,

because I do not know whether you are Nala or someone else.’

Nala had not forgotten that he was a messenger from the four devas. As soon
as he gets an opportunity, he tells Damayanti, ‘Without delay, please listen

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to me, O large-eyed one, Al:ö ev:l:mb:ðn: eg:rö m:diy:aö AakN:üy: AakN:üt:X Aay:t:
Aex:’. He described the qualities of all the four devas- Indra, Agni, Yama

and Varun- in great detail to her. He also told her how much each of them
was attracted to her and loved her. Nala made this final plea and presented
these four choices before her,
Aan:ndy: EndÔö AT: m:nm:T:m:gn:ö Aegn:ö kñl:ieB:H u¹r t:n:Üder! n:Üt:n:aeB:H
Aas:ad uedt: dy:ö S:m:n:ð m:n:H v:a n:< v:a y:t:Ï EtT:ö AT: t:t:Ï v:,N:ö v:ÔN:iT:aH
“O slender bodied, Indra will be happy if you select him. If you do not select
him then choose Agni. Or show kindness to Yama. If you do not select any
of the three, then go for Varun. By choosing any of them to marry, you will
make my job of a messenger successful”. Damayanti had not forgotten that
she had asked Nala about who he was. However, ignoring her question, he
had gone on describing the qualities of the four devas. “Do not you feel
shame by not answering my question, n: m:Êm:Ï A*: u¶:rD:ary:sy: ekö Æyað Aep:
s:a Ey:ö B:v:t:H AD:m:üN:t:a”, she asked him. Nala told her that it was not a noble

behaviour to taut one’s one name, sv:n:am: n:am: Aaddt:ð n: s:aD:v:H. “I will not
respond to your plea, either”, Damayanti told him, “because you did not tell
me your name, m:y:a Aep: dðy:ö )et:v:aec:kö n:, t:ð sv:n:am: m:t:Ï kN:ü s:ÙD:aö AkÙv:üt:ð”. He
pleaded with her that she should respond so that he could quickly complete
his task given to him by the devas. She told him that those guys were devas
and she was a human being. How could there be a reason for marrying any
of them? She told me bluntly,
y:T:a t:T:a n:am: eg:rH ekrnt:Ù t:ðð Â:Ùt:i p:Ùn:H m:ð b:eD:rð t:t:Ï Ax:rð
p:à\:t:Ï ekS:<ri kÙ,t:aö As:ög:t:aö kT:ö m:n:<v:àe¶:m:Ï Aep: e¾p: AeD:p:ð
“I did not hear the sound of even a letter from the words from you about the
devas. How can a doe have a desire for a male elephant”, she asked, p:à\:t:Ï
ekS:<ri kÙ,t:aö As:ög:t:aö kT:ö m:n:<v:àe¶:m:Ï Aep: e¾p: AeD:p:ð. “Please tell me, are

human females better than the devas’ wives, p:ÙrH s:ÙriN:aö B:N: ka Ev: m:an:v:i ”,
she asked Nala. Damayanti told him that she was devoted to Nala for a long
time, ec:ray: ec:¶: Aep:üt: n:ò\:D:ðÃ:ra. Even in her dreams she did not think of

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anyone else, m:m: AaS:y:H sv:pn: dS:a Awy:a Aep: v:a n:l:ö ev:l:¥Ïy: Et:rö Asp:àS:t:Ï
y:ed. She said that her heart was attached to a human being and not to devas

and if they were really kind to her, they should give Nala in alms to me, m:ð
)s:½ eB:x:aö ev:t:rit:Ùö IS:t:am:Ï.

An:Ùg:ÔhH kñv:l:ö O\: m:adàS:ð m:n:Ù\y: j:nm:en: Aep: y:t:Ï m:n:H j:n:ð
s: c:ðt:Ï ev:D:ðy:H t:t:Ï Am:i t:ö Ov: m:ð )s:½ eB:x:aö ev:t:rit:Ùö IS:t:am:Ï
She made her resolve clear when she declared that she would take her own
life were Nala not to marry her, s: p:iRy:ðt:Ï p:aeN:ö Em:ö n: c:ðt:Ï n:àp:H &&&ö en:j: Aay:Ù\:H
t:t:Ï krv:ò sv:v:òert:am:Ï, literally, she would become her own enemy by hanging

herself and setting herself aflame. What a dire warning?

Nala tried again, more aggressively this time, to pursuade her in devas’
favour,
herö p:erty:jy: n:l: AeB:l:a\:Ùka n: l:jj:s:ð v:a ev:dÙe\: b:ÔÙv:a kT:m:Ï
up:ðex:t: Ex:<H krB:at:Ï S:m:irt:at:Ï u,ö v:dð tv:aö krB:<, ! B:<H Eet:
“Don’t you feel embarrassed by choosing Nala over the devas although you
certainly sound like a wise lady! Even the camels know how not to go after
bitter tasting plants, O beautiful-thighed lady”. He then went on to scare her
away by telling her that a lot of misfortune would visit her were she not to
select one of the devas. He asked her to leave her ignorance behind and think
hard about the choices facing her, Edm:Ï m:h¶: AeB:eht:ö eht:ö m:y:a, ev:hay: m:<hö
dm:y:ent:! ec:nt:y:.

Although Damayanti had been showing her resolve, her sankalp, to choose
Nala over the four devas, the scare tactics of Nala seemed to have an impact
on her. She broke down and cried heavily, en:v:aert:H Av:g:Ôh n:ir en:J:ürð n:B:H
n:B:sy:tv:ö Al:mB:y: ¸àS:>. She cried heavily as if the months of Shravan and

Bhadrapad had arrived in her eyes! After getting mixed with the kajal from
her eyes, her tear-drops looked like beads of gem as they fell from her lower
eye-lashes down to her breasts, en:p:ty: eb:ndÜ Æed kjj:l:aev:l:> m:N:i Ev: n:il:>
t:rl:> ev:rðj:t:ÙH. She was torn. She cried and cried. She could not tolerate

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anyhing anymore. She had no interest in love anymore. She did not know
what to do and what not to do. As the poet Harsha described her condition,
AT: u»Ôm:nt:i ,dt:i g:t:x:m:a s:s:öB:Ôm:a l:Ùpt:ret:H sK:l:n:m:et:H
vy:D:at:Ï e)y: )aept: ev:G:at: en:Á:y:at:Ï m:àdÜen: dÜn:a p:erdðev:t:aen: s:a
She agonized over the thought that she would not get Nala, vy:D:at:Ï e)y: )aept:
ev:G:at: en:Á:y:at:Ï m:àdÜen: dÜn:a p:erdðev:t:aen: s:a. She said, “O fire of love, after

having burnt me in your flames and thus having acquired fame, go away. O
Brahma, after having satisfied your hunger by eating the fruits of my desire,
yeah, the same fruits I cannot eat, go to narak now”.
tv:rsv: p:Wc: E\:Ù hÙt:aS:n: Aatm:n:H t:n:Ù\v: m:t:Ï B:sm:ö Ay:ö y:S:H c:y:m:Ï
ev:D:ð ! p:r Iha Pl: B:x:N: v:Ôt:i p:t: A½ t:àpy:n:Ï As:ÙeB:H m:m: APl:òH
“O life, why are you still lingering in me? You, too, go away, because your
dwelling place, this heart, has been set on fire. O heart, if you are made of
steel, why don’t you melt away in this white-hot heat? Since you get pierced
by delicate flowers of love, you are not a hard vajra. Why don’t you, then,
get torn asunder”?
B:àS:ö ev:y:<g: An:l: t:py:m:an: ! ekö ev:l:iy:s:ð n: tv:ö Ay:<m:y:ö y:ed
sm:rð\:ÙeB:H B:ð½ ! n: v:j:Ôö Aep: Aes: b:Ôv:ie\: n: sv:ant: ! kT:ö n: diy:üs:ð
ev:l:mb:s:ð j:iev:t: ! ekö dÔv: dÔÙt:ö jv:l:et: AdH t:ð Ædy:ö en:kñt:n:ö
j:haes: n: A½ Aep: m:à\:a s:ÙK:aes:kaö Ap:Üv:üö A:l:sy:ö Edö t:v: EdàS:m:Ï
“O eyes, you will remain awash in tears and will keep cleansing yourself
with your own tears a hundred times because you have committed the sin of
not finding my love, e)y: eÂ:y:H )ðx:N: G:aet: p:at:q sv:ö AÂ:ÙeB:H x:al:y:t:ö S:t:ö s:m:aH”.
Damayanti continues, “O mind, whatever you think of does not happen. I
cannot get my love and I cannot die, either. Maybe, think of separation from
my love and I might get him”.
e)y:ö n: m:àty:Ùö n: l:B:ð tv:t:Ï Ieps:t:ö t:t:Ï Ev: sy:at:Ï m:m: y:t:Ï tv:ö EcCes:
ev:y:<g:ö Ev: EcC m:n: ! e)y:ðN: m:ð t:v: )s:adat:Ï n: B:v:et: As:> m:m:
For Damayanti, every moment seemed like an era, a yuga, however, it had

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become very difficult to live through even a moment, Am:Üen: g:cCent: y:Ùg:aen: n:
x:N:H eky:t:Ï s:eh\y:ð n: eh m:àty:ÙH Aest: m:ð”. “O gods, has your ocean of kindness

turn into a drop due to the heat of my yearning for Nala, m:t:Ï ug:Ô t:ap: vy:y:
S:Vt: S:ikrH s:ÙraH ! s: v:H kñn: p:p:ð kàp:a AN:üv:H”, she asked the devatas, “Why

aren’t the gods listening to me, kT:ö n:Ù S:àNv:nt:Ù s:Ù\:Ùpy: dðv:t:a”. After taking her
her heart, her eyes, her mind and the gods to task, Damayanti now turns to
Nala. She addressed Nala thus,
Ey:ö n: t:ð n:ò\:D: ! dàkÏ p:T:aet:eT:H tv:t:Ï Okt:a An:sy: j:n:sy: y:at:n:a
hÔdð hÔdð ha n: eky:t:Ï g:v:ðe\:t:H s: v:ðD:s:a Ag:<ep: K:g:H Aep: v:eVt: y:H
m:m: Aep: ekö n:< dy:s:ð dy:aG:n: ! tv:t:Ï Ae¥Ôm:gn:ö y:ed v:ðtT: m:ð m:n:H
en:m:jj:y:n:Ï s:öt:m:s:ð p:raS:y:ö ev:eD:H t:Ù v:acy:H Vv: t:v: Aag:s:H kT:a
kT:a Av:S:ð\:ö t:v: s:a kàt:ð g:t:a Eet: up:ò\y:et: Â:<*: p:T:ö n: t:ð ?
dy:a AN:Ùn:a m:aö s:m:Ï An:Ùg:Ôhi\y:s:ð t:t:Ï Aep: t:av:t:Ï y:ed n:aT: ! n: AD:Ùn:a
m:m: Aadr Edö ev:dert:Ùm:Ï Ant:rö t:t:Ï AeT:ü klp:dÔÙm: ! eköec:t:Ï AT:üy:ð
eB:daö Æed ¾arö Av:apy: m:a s: m:ð ht: As:ÙeB:H )aN:s:m:H s:m:ö g:m:H
“O Nala, don’t you feel the unbearable pain of this person who is devoted to
you? O kind one, why don’t you show kindness to me knowing that I am
committed to you? Maybe, it is not your fault, it is all mine. O love, if you
cannot make me yours now, when the news of my death reaches you, shower
an atom of love for me. O Kalpadruma, I am asking for only one thing from
you- you should enter from the same door to my heart through which my last
breath would have left, eB:daö Æed ¾arö Av:apy: m:a s: m:ð ht: As:ÙeB:H )aN:s:m:H s:m:ö
g:m:H”.

Nala could not take it anymore and found himself moved to such an extent
that he forgot that he was on a mission from the devas. As if he were taking
part in a play, he said this to Damayanti,
Aey: e)y:ð! ksy: kàt:ð ev:l:py:t:ð ev:el:py:t:ð ha m:ÙK:ö AÂ:Ù eb:ndÙeB:H
p:ÙrH tv:y:a Al:<ek n:m:n:Ï Ay:ö n: ekö et:rH c:l:t:Ï l:<c:n: l:il:y:a n:l:H
“O dear, why are you crying so much? There is tear on all over your face.

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How sad! Don’t you see this Nala, who has come to your shelter”? He
continued, “I will, first, wipe out this inauspicious tear from your eyes and,
then, take some dust particles from your feet and apply them on my forehead
as a penance for the pain I have caused to you.” He continues, “If you lower
your anger at me, just a little bit, I will worship you all the way to your feet”.
dàS:<H Am:¤ly:ö Edö em:l:t:Ï j:l:ö krðN: t:av:t:Ï p:erm:aj:üy:aem: t:ð
AT: Ap:raD:ö B:v:t:Ï Ae¥Ô p:¢j: ¾y:i rj:<eB:H s:m:ö Aatm: m:>el:n:a
t:n:<e\: m:an:ö m:ey: c:ðt:Ï m:n:ag:ep: tv:ey: Â:y:ð t:t:Ï b:hÙm:an:ö A:n:t:H
ev:n:my: v:kÔö y:ed v:t:üs:ð eky:t:Ï n:m:aem: t:ð c:eNR ! t:da p:d Av:eD:
He pleaded with her to say some sweet words to him, s:ÙD:a rs: u¾ðl:n: kñel:ö
Ax:r s:Ôj:a s:àj:ant:H m:m: kN:ü kÝp:y:<H, smile a little bit, esm:t:sy: s:öB:av:y: s:àVv:N:a

kN:an:Ï, roll her eyebrows in an amorous way, ev:D:ðeh l:il:ac:l:m:Ï AWc:l:ö B:ÔÙv:H

and stop crying s:m:ap:y: )av:à\:ö AÂ:Ù ev:)Ù\:aö. “O the lady with eyes as intoxicating
as wine, smile for my eyes, dàS:> m:diy:ð m:edraex: ! kary: esm:t:eÂ:y:a ”, he says.

Nala does not stop there. He invites her to share the throne with her or lie
down in his lap or rest her head on his chest,
m:m: Aas:n: AD:ðü B:v: m:NRn:ö n: n: e)y:ð ! m:t:Ï uts:¤ ev:B:Ü\:N:ö B:v:
Ahö B:Ôm:at:Ï Al:ap:m:Ï A¤ ! m:à\y:t:aö ev:n:a m:m: urH kt:m:¶: v:as:n:m:Ï
As he says, “O dear, share half of the throne with me. No, no, I made a
mistake. Lie down in my lap. Forgive me, again, I am blabbering. Is there a
better place than my chest”? “Once we embrace each other tightly, there
will be no room left for the arrows of Kamadeva to pass through and the
sides of my chest will be ‘serving’ your hard breasts like a maid”, Nala
asserts, p:er\v:j:sv: An:v:kaS: b:aN:t:a sm:rsy: l:gn:ð Ædy:ð ¾y:ð Ast:Ù n:>, dàZa m:m: tv:t:Ï
kÙc:y:<H kY<ry:<H urH t:Xiy:ö p:erc:aerka uec:t:a. Nala tells her romantically, “I

am longing for your lips, my ears want to hear your sweet words and make
your breasts swell so that my nails can draw a line like the one drawn on the
horizon just before the moon rises”.

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t:v: AD:ray: sp:àhy:aem: y:t:Ï m:D:Ù s:Ôv:òH Â:v:H s:aex:k m:aex:ka eg:rH
AeD:ty:kas:Ù st:n:y:<H t:n:<t:Ù t:ð m:m: EndÙ l:ðK:a ABy:Ùdy: A»Üt:ö n:K:H
Nala’s mind seems to have gone mad with romance when he said, ‘make
your breasts swell so that my nails can draw a line like the one drawn on the
horizon just before the moon rises, AeD:ty:kas:Ù st:n:y:<H t:n:<t:Ù t:ð m:m: EndÙ l:ðK:a
ABy:Ùdy: A»Üt:ö n:K:H’. In fact, he had become so excited that, by mistake, he

gave away his name,

eg:ra An:Ùkmp:sv: dy:sv: c:Ùmb:n:òH )s:id S:ÙÂ:Ü\:ey:t:Ùö m:y:a kÙc:>
en:S:a Ev: c:andÔsy: kr<tkrsy: y:t:Ï m:m: tv:ö Oka Aes: n:l:sy: j:iev:t:m:Ï
“Oblige me with your loving words, oblige me with your kiss and let your
breasts be served by me. The way there is only one moon for the night, you
are the only one for Nala’s life, y:t:Ï m:m: tv:ö Oka Aes: n:l:sy: j:iev:t:m:Ï ”. After
disclosing his name inadvertently, Nala went into a depressed state of mind.
He thought to himself that he should not have been carried away, because,
by doing so, he did not maintain the rules of behaviour as a messenger for
the devas. To get him out of this depressing predicament, the swan appeared
in the sky and spoke to the king thus, “O cruel one, do not cause more
disappointment to Damayanti. She might die, n:y: Ady: On:aö Aet: m:a en:raS:t:aö
As:Ün:Ï ev:hat:a Ey:ö At:H p:rö p:rm:Ï”. The swan implied that Nala would possibly

face a greater ethical issue than the one he currently had on his hand. On one
hand, the issue was the inadvertent revelation of his name and on the other
was the issue of her life and death. The swan warned Nala against causing
more pain to Damayanti and left.
The swan’s words had an impact on Nala, who told Damayanti that out of
respect for the devas, he caused her pain and, therefore, he would not talk
about it anymore. He also added that it was up to her to forgive or to punish
him, AdmB: dÜty:ðn: B:j:nt:Ù v:a dy:aö edS:nt:Ù v:a dNRö Am:i m:m: Aag:s:a. Nala is
convinced that although the devas felt attracted to her, she was not attracted
to any of them and, instead, she felt attraction for him, sv:ekökrö m:am: Aep: kt:Ùüö
IeS:\:ð, she wanted to make him her slave as the poet notes. He also told her

that if it would do her good, he would give up his life, too, eht:ö y:ed sy:at:Ï m:t:Ï

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As:Ù vy:y:ðn: t:ðð t:da t:v: )ðm:eN: S:Ùe¹ l:bD:y:ð. Upon hearing these truthful words

from Nala, Damayanti became very happy, Eet: Iert:òH n:ò\:D: s:Ün:àt: Am:àt:òH ev:dB:ü
j:nm:a B:àS:m:Ï ull:as: s:a. He promised her that he would attend the swayamvara

alongwith the devas and left, j:g:t:ip:et:H y:y:>.

AT: B:im: B:Ùv:a Ev: rhH AeB:eht:aö n:t:m:>el:H Ap:*:p:y:a s: en:j:am:Ï
Am:ròH s:h raj: s:m:aj: g:et:ö j:g:t:ip:et:H ABy:Ùp:g:ty: y:y:>
The swayamvara had been organized with great care. Several kings from
faraway lands had come in the hope that Damayanti would choose them and
they would receive her hand in marriage. Indra, Agni, Yama and Varuna
also came to attend the swayamvara. However, they had come there with
one big difference- as look-alikes of Nala to confound Damayanti and to
increase the odds of one of them getting chosen by her. There were thus five
‘Nalas’ in the swayamvara. When Damayanti entered the swayamvara,
everyone admired her unparalleled beauty. As the poet noted, “There was
not even one king who did not feel great after looking at her, A:s:it:Ï As:> t:*:
n: k<|ep: B:Üp:H t:t:Ï m:Üet:ü-p: udÏB:v:t:Ï A»Ùt:sy:. All of them instantly felt attracted

to her”.
A:s:it:Ï As:> t:*: n: k<|ep: B:Üp:H t:t:Ï m:Üet:ü-p: udÏB:v:t:Ï A»Ùt:sy:
ull:ðs:Ùr¤aen: m:Ùda n: y:sy: ev:en:dÔ r<m:a¢Ùr dnt:ÙraN:i
However, Damayanti was angry at finding the four devas attending the
swayamvara as Nala’s look-alikes. She thought that, maybe, all this had
organized out of playfulness as a practical joke.
ekö v:a t:n:<et: m:ey: n:ò\:D: Ov: kay:Œ
vy:Ühö ev:D:ay: p:erhas:ö As:> ev:l:as:i
ev:wan: v:òB:v: B:àt:H ekm:Ù t:sy: ev:½a
s:a ev:½t:ð n: t:Ùrg: AaS:y: v:ðedt: Ov:
She compared her situation now with that when she had not seen Nala,
however, she imagined him everywhere and in every direction she looked,
p:Üv:üö m:y:a ev:rh en:Hs:hy:a Aep: dàÄH‹ s:H Ay:ö e)y:ö t:t:H Et:H en:\:D: AeD:raj:H. That

was when she was in the unmad (delusion) state of love. She had never seen

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Nala until he came to her palace as a messneger of the devas. Instead of
nayan-priti, love through eye-contact, this was an example of ‘love at
hearing’, shravan-priti, Â:v:N:Œ)iet:. Nala and Damayanti had heard about each
other before their first eye-contact, however, they already had fallen in love
with each other. After finding five ‘Nalas’, she wondered, “Have I become
delusioned again that I am seeing so many real Nalas, B:Üy:H ekö Aag:t:v:t:i m:m:
s:a dS:a Ey:m:Ï‹ p:Sy:aem: y:t:Ï ev:l:es:t:ðn: n:l:an:Ï Al:ikan:Ï ?” She painfully asked

herself, “How come I have become so ingnorant, m:ÙgD:a dD:aem: kT:m:Ï ?” Her
desperation shows up more when she could not distinguish the real Nala
from his look-alikes when she could not find the physical signs found in
human beings. Initially, Nala did not sweat nor did he blink his eyelids, so
she could not single him out from the fake ones,
Ot:t:Ï m:diy:ö Aet: v:Wc:k p:Wc:ksT:ð
n:aT:ð kT:ö n:Ù m:n:Ùj:sy: c:kast:Ù ec:Èm:Ï
l:xm:aeN: t:aen: ekö Aep: n: v:hent: hnt:
b:ehüH m:ÙK:a D:Ùt: rj:H t:n:Ùt:a m:ÙK:aen:
Even prayers would not help her now as the arrows of Kamadeva had dried
up the ‘ocean of sympathy’ around her. She displays her anger at the devas
when she addressed them like this,
IS:a ! edS:aö n:l:B:Ùv:ö )et:p:½ l:ðK:a
v:N:üeÂ:y:ö g:ÙN:v:t:aö Aep: v:H kT:ö v:a
m:ÜK:ü AnD: kÝp: p:t:n:at:Ï Ev: p:Ùst:kan:am:Ï
Ast:¤t:ö b:t: p:r<p:kàet: v:Ôt:tv:m:Ï
She asked them quietly, “O devas, having adopted the form and some of the
qualities of Nala, where has the quality of helping others disappeared? Did
Nala not help you by being your messenger? Why did you not take that
quality from him”? In a state of confusion, anger and anxiety, Damayanti
walked down the ‘aisle’ with the garland of swayamvara in her hands but
could not come to a conclusion, Vv:ec:t:Ï Aep: dm:y:nt:i en:N:üy:ö n: As:s:ad.
Earlier Damayanti was uncertain about the efficacy of a prayer, however,
finding no other way she started an elaborate prayer ceremony with sixteen

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methods of pleasing the gods. Seeing her dedication and commitment to
Nala, the gods became pleased with her and gave her wisdom to differentiate
Nala from the devas, B:Vty:a t:y:a Ov: )s:s:ad t:sy:aH. After that, she did not find
the devas blinking their eyes; she did not see any dust particles sticking to
their feet and she did not find them sweating. She found them all in the real
Nala, s:Ùrð\:Ù n: Ap:Sy:t:Ï AxN:<H en:m:ð\:m:Ï– n:ab:Ù¹ b:al:a ev:b:ÙD:ð\:Ù t:ð\:Ù x:<dö ex:t:ðH Oðx:t:
n:ò\:D:ð t:Ù– sv:ðdH sv:dðhsy: ev:y:<g:t:ap:ö en:v:aüp:ey:\y:n:Ï Ev: s:öes:s:àx:<H‹ hira¢ÙrH c: A,eN:

hðm:n:iv: n:l:ð t:y:a Aal:<ek n: dòv:t:ð\:Ù. These were the sure signs that those four

look-alikes of Nala were not Nala. As soon as she understood this, leaving
aside her bashful hesitation, her lajja, she quickly moved to put the
swaymavara garland around Nala’s neck,
n:l:ð en:D:at:Ùö v:rN:s:Ôj:ö t:aö sm:rH sm: ram:aö tv:ry:et: AT: On:am:Ï
Ap:*:p:a t:aö en:e\:\:ðD: t:ðn: ¾y:an:Ùr<D:ö t:Ùel:t:ö dD:> s:a
However, she was overtaken with lajja when she saw Nala face-to-face from
a close distance. As the poet Harsha notes in so many different ways, t:y:a
AexN: l:jj:a Eet: j:n:)v:adH; *:p:av:t:i s:a kàt: s:aem:dàÄm:Ï; B:av:H *:p:a Uem:ü )et:s:iry:a

t:ðð; g:àhit: Ov: *:p:y:a en:p:it:a. After she choose Nala as her husband, she had

goose-bumps all over her body, r<m:aeN: s:v:aüeN: Aep: b:al:B:av:at:Ï v:reÂ:y:ö v:iex:t:m:ö
uts:Ùkaen:, which is a strong sign of someone overtaken by a romantic desire.

r<m:A¢ÙròH dnt:Ùert: AeK:l:a¤i rmy:aD:ra s:a s:Ùt:raö ev:rðj:ð

S:rvy: dNRòH eÂ:t:m:NRn:Â:iH sm:ari S:r<p:as:n: v:ðedka Ev:
Nala and Damayanti were now husband and wife. Nala loved her a lot so
that he could cross the river of kama, the third varga, successfully t:aö t:àt:iy:
p:Ù,\:aT:ü v:aerD:ðH p:arl:mB:n:t:riö Arirm:t:Ï.

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A Batik Painting: Nala and Damayanti

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 6. Malavika

Like the stories of Dushyant and Shakuntala and Udayan and Vasavadatta,
the story of Agnimitra and Malavika is also connected with a kingly dynasty
of India, although much later than the previous two stories. While Dushyant
founded the Kuru-Puru dynasty, which saw the Mahabharat war later on, and
while Udayan was a twenty seventh generation Kuru-Puru king after Arjuna
in the same dynasty, Agnimitra was the son of Pushyamitra who ended the
Maurya dynasty around two thousand one hundred and ten years ago, after
defeating and killing Brihadratha. Brihadratha was the seventh generation
Maurya king after Ashoka, who was the grandson of Chandragupta and the
great grandson of the maid, Mura, in the palace of the king Nanda.
Pushyamitra founded the Sunga dynasty with his capital at Pataliputra, the

Pushyamitra’s Capital: Patna on the bank of the river Ganga

modern day city of Patna in Bihar. His son, Agnimitra, ruled parts of central
India with his capital at Vidisha, which is in the modern day Madhya
Pradesh state. Malavika was the princess and younger sister of Madhava
Sen, the ruler of Vidarbha. The poet and playwright Kalidas has captured the
story of Agnimitra and Malavika in his play, Malavikagnimitram, which is
the basis for the content here.

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Madhava Sen wanted to get Malavika married to Agnimitra. Yagya Sen,
cousin of Madhava Sen, dethroned Madhava Sen and made him a captive.
Madhava Sen’s chief minister, Sumati, wanted to take Malavika to
Agnimitra to fulfill the wishes of his king. On the way to Vidisha, robbers
attacked the crowd going to Vidisha and Sumati was killed. Malavaika had
been handed over to Vir Sen, a brother of the queen Dharini, one of the two
queens of Agnimitra. Vir Sen, after discovering that Malavika was interested
in music and dance, sent her to his sister, the queen Dharini for getting
Malavika trained in music and dance. Iravati was the other queen of
Agnimitra.

Agnimitra’s Capital: Vidisha & Malavika’s Vidarbha around Nagpur

Agnimitra had his first ‘eye-contact’ with Malavika through a palace portrait
in which she was standing beside the queen Dharini. He felt instant
attraction to her and asked Dharini who was that woman in the picture.
Dharini did not respond to the king’s question, however, the little princess,
Vasulaksmi told the king that the woman was Malavika. Since then

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Agnimitra was eager to see Malavika in person. His Vidushak arranged for a
dance competition in which the students of the two teachers, Ganadas and
Haradatt performed. Malavika was being taught music and dance by
Ganadas. Just before the performance started, this is what Agnimitra tells
Vidushak,
n:ðp:Ty: g:àhg:t:ay:aH c:x:ÙH dS:ün: s:m:Ùts:Ùkö t:sy:aH
s:öht:Ùüm:Ð AD:irt:y:a vy:v:es:t:m:Ð Ev: m:ð et:rskerN:im:Ð
He shares his thoughts with Vidushak that his eyes are so impatient to see
Malavika on the stage that he feels like tearing the curtain apart, s:öht:Ùüm:Ð
AD:irt:y:a vy:v:es:t:m:Ð Ev: m:ð et:rskerN:im:Ð! Fortunately, Malavika appears on the

stage, dressed like a classical dancer, and Agnimitra did not have to tear the
curtain away. Upon seeing her, Agnimitra says,
ec:*:g:t:ay:aö Asy:aö kaent: ev:s:öv:ad S:e¢ m:ð Ædy:m:Ð
s:ö)et: eS:eT:l: s:m:aeD:ö m:ny:ð y:ðn: Ey:m:Ð Aael:eK:t:a
‘When I saw her face in the portrait, I was concerned that she may not be as
beautiful as in the portrait. However, after seeing her in real life, I feel that
the artist did not make that protrait with care.’ Agnimitra feels that she was
much more beautiful than the artist’s rendition in the portrait. He feels that
her whole body had been sculpted under the guidance and supervision of her
teacher, Ganadas, the same way he creates the compositions for the
performance. Her large eyes, her moon-like face, her arms gently dropping
off from her shoulders, her chest flaunting her hard and convex breasts, the
sides of her stomach looks like as if it were hand-sculpted, ‘fistful’ of her
waist, her well built buttocks and thighs and her beautiful toes, which are
bent downwards.
diG:aüx:ö S:rd EndÙ kaent: v:dn:ö b:ahÜ n:t:> Aös:y:<H
s:öex:pt:ö en:eb:R unn:t: st:n:ö urH p:aÃ:ðü )m:àÄð Ev:
m:Dy:H p:aeN:em:t:<H en:t:emb: j:G:n:ö p:ad> Aral:a¤Ùl:i
Cnd< n:t:üey:t:ÙH y:T:a Ov: m:n:es: eSl:Äö t:T:a Asy:a v:p:ÙH
Malavika started her performance with a beautiful song, which went like
this, ‘My love is difficult to get, O my heart, do not harbour any hope. The
area around my left eye is twitching, which is a bad omen! How shall I get

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my well-acquainted love? O my love, count me as your slave with a strong
desire, n:aT: m:aö p:raD:in:aö tv:ey: p:erg:N:y: s:t:à\N:am:Ð!’ The full song in the Prakrit
language, in which she sang the song, went like this:
dÙll:h< ep:A< m:ð t:esös: B:v: ehAA eN:N:s:ö
Amh< Ap:¤v:< m:ð p:erpPÙrE ekö ev: v:am:A<
s:< s:< ec:redXÐY< khö uN: uv:N:Edvv:<
N:ah m:ö p:rahiN:ö t:ÙE p:erg:N:A s:et:Nhm:Ð
And in Sanskrit,
dÙl:üB:H e)y:< m:ð t:esm:n:Ð B:v: Ædy: en:raS:m:Ð
Ah< Ap:a¤< m:ð p:ersPÙret: ekö Aep: v:am:H
O\: s:H ec:rdàÄðH kT:ö p:Ùn:H up:n:ðt:vy:<
n:aT: m:aö p:raD:in:aö tv:ey: p:erg:N:y: s:t:à\N:am:Ð
After hearing this, Vidushak pulls Agnimitra’s legs by saying, ‘My friend,
this lady has dedicated herself to you through this amorous song.’ Although
Malavika has been unaware of Agnimitra’s feelings towards her and she
sang this lovely song as a part of the show, he projects his own feelings in
this song. He thinks that Malavika was singing this love song, although
directed to someone else, for him but she could not be so open about it as the
queen Dharini was also sitting in the audience, )N:y: g:et:m:Ð AdàÄÐv:a D:aerN:i
s:öen:k\:üat:Ð Ahm:Ð Ev: s:ÙkÙm:ar )aT:ün:a vy:aj:m:ÙVt:H . At the end of her performance,

when Malavika is ready to go behind the curtain, Vidushak asks her to stop
for a moment so that Agnimitra can look at her for some more time. And he
does not miss the opportunity as he notes,
v:am:ö s:öeD: esm:em:t: v:l:y:ö ny:sy: hst:ö en:t:mb:ð
kàtv:a Sy:am:a ev:Xp: s:dàS:ö s:Ôst: m:ÙVt:ö e¾t:iy:m:Ð
p:ad A¤ÙÅ Al:Ùel:t: kÙs:Ùm:ð kÙeXÐXm:ð p:aet:t:a Ax:m:Ð
n:à¶:at:Ð Asy:aH esT:et:ö Aet:t:raö kant:ö ?jv:ay:t:aD:üm:Ð
‘Her amulet is not sliding down along her arm because she has placed her
left hand on her buttock; the right arm is loosely hanging down like a bough

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of the priyangu plant; she is looking down and is rubbing her toes against the
flowers strewn on the ground and she is standing tall and straight. She did
not look as beautiful when she danced as she looks now!’ When Vidushak
comments that Malavika was endowed with not only beauty but also arts and
music, Agnimitra confirms with his own emphatic words, ‘O my friend,
Brahma has turned her into poisonous arrows of Kamadeva by endowing her
with such a natural beauty, Avy:aj: s:Ùndri t:aö ev:D:an:ðn: l:el:t:ðn: y:<j:y:t:a‹
p:erkelp:t:< ev:D:a*:a b:aN:H kam:sy: ev:\:dgD:H !’ Agnimitra’s heart, as he

acknowledges, has turned away from all the beautiful women in the palace
and Malavika alone is the only one who has ‘rights’ over his love, ‘s:a v:am:
l:<c:n:a m:ð sn:ðhsy: Oka Ay:n:iB:Üt:a!’

As the rumour about Agnimitra’s affection for Malavika spreads in the

palace, two of the palace maids have their own views on this sprouting love
story as the following conversation between them shows:
Madhukarika: What kind of stuff is being talked about Malavika these days?
Samahitika: Oh, yes. The king has become very much affected by
Malavika’s beauty. However, he refrains from showing his love for her for
the fear of angering the queen, Dharini. Malavika, too, looks sorrowful like a
malati garland which has been taken off after being worn, ‘m:al:ev:ka Aep: O\:Ù
edv:s:ð\:Ù An:ÙB:Üt:m:ÙVt:a Ev: m:al:t:i m:al:a ml:an: l:xy:t:ð.’ The rumour about

Agnimitra’s love for Malavika keeps getting stronger as he finds harder to

hide his condition and his feelings for her,
S:rirö x:am:ö sy:at:Ð As:et: dey:t:a Aael:¤n: s:ÙK:ð
B:v:ðt:Ð s:as:Ôm:Ð c:x:ÙH x:N:ö Aep: n: s:a dàSy:t: Eet:
t:y:a s:ar¤ Axy:a tv:ö Aes: n: kdaec:t:Ð ev:reht:m:Ð
)s:Vt:ð en:v:aüN:ðð Ædy: p:ert:ap:ö v:Ôj:es: ekm:Ð
‘It is possible for the body to lose weight after living without an embrace; it
is also quite possible for the eyes to become filled with tears after not seeing
her even for a moment. However, O my heart, you never got separated from
that doe-eyed love. Why are you suffering even though she has always been
with you and within you, and thus you have obtained a sort of nirvana, )s:Vt:ð

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en:v:aüN:ðð Ædy: p:ert:ap:ö v:Ôj:es: ekm:Ð?’ What Kalidas has called ‘nirvana for the

eyes’, n:ð*: en:v:aüN:, in Abhigyan Shakuntalam, when he makes Dushyant say,

‘Oh, I have found ‘nirvana for the eyes’ Ah< l:bD:ö n:ð*: en:v:aüN:m:Ð, here he calls it
‘nirvana for the heart’, Ædy: en:v:aüN:.
As Agnimitra’s love for Malavika grows, it becomes much more difficult for
him to see her in and around the palace, which is virtually ruled by the
queen, Dharini. He sought the support of Vidushak again. Vidushak
contacted Bakulavalika, a close confidante and friend of Malavika to convey
the king’s love to her. Meanwhile Agnimitra suffered with the pangs of love
for and attraction to Malavika. He accuses Kamadeva of being cruel and
harsh even though Kamadeva is talked of as being soft and kind. He does not
want to spend time with his queens as he does not feel love for them
anymore. He does not like a ‘loveless’ interaction with others even though it
were full of wisdom, up:c:ar ev:eD:H m:n:esv:nain:aö n: t:Ù p:Üv:aüBy:eD:kH Aep: B:av: S:Üny:H.
Agnimitra is being sarcastic at Kamadeva when he says, ‘Where is this heart
crushing pain and where is your trustworthy arrows of flowers, Vv: ,j:a Ædy:
)m:aeT:n:i Vv: c: t:ð ev:Ã:s:n:iy:m:Ð Aay:ÙD:m:Ð ?’ Even the Spring season seems to be

kindly asking Agnimitra, ‘Is the suffering in love worth it, s:an:ÙkÔ<S:ö m:n:es:j:
,j:H s:Êt:aö p:àcCt:a Ev:?’ It becomes clearer that the pangs of love are worth

suffering when Vidushak takes Agnimitra to have a view of Malavika when

she was getting ready to literally ‘kickstart’ the flowering of the red Ashok
tree. Agnimitra is all excited when he is about to see her as he says, ‘my
troubled heart is on a ‘high’ , tv:t:Ð up:l:By: s:m:ip:g:t:aö e)y:aö Ædy:m:Ð ucCÐv:es:t:m:Ð
m:m: ev:Vl:v:m:Ð’ . He further says as if his very life were about to appear,

ev:p:Ùl:ö en:t:mb: dðS:ð m:Dy:ð x:am:ö s:m:Ùnn:t:ö kÙc:y:<H

Aet: Aay:t:ö n:y:n:y:<H m:m: j:iev:t:m:Ð Ot:t:Ð Aay:aet:
‘This Malavika seems to be endowed with large buttocks, a thin waist,
elevated breasts and big eyes. It seems as if my very life were arriving!’
Malavika sat on a slab of rock in the garden, a little bit away from Vidushak
and Agnimitra. As Malavika waited for the king, Vidushak informed him
that he saw someone like the queen, Iravati, coming their way. Agnimitra is
not afraid as he says, ‘an elephant is not afraid of crocodiles when it is after

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beautiful lotus flowers, n: eh km:el:n:iö dàÄÐv:a g:Ôahm:Ð Av:ðx:t:ð m:t:¤j:H.’ Malavika,
meanwhile, is getting more anxious, ‘O my heart, your desire has increased
in vain. Drop that desire. Why do you make me suffer?’ Malavika’s
desperation in her statement, ‘ekm:Ð m:am: Aay:asy:, why do you make me
suffer?’ reached the ears of Agnimitra. He assumed that Malavika’s
statement was directed at no one else but at him, kr<em: l:xy:m:Ð Aatm:an:m:Ð O\:aö
p:erdðv:t:an:am:Ð.

Bakulavalika came to the garden with the anklets and alaktaka dye for her
feet before Malavika ‘kickstarted’ the flowering of the Ashok tree. Malavika
appears to be happy at receiving the honour of ‘kickstarting’ the flowering
of the Ashok tree in the palace garden, however, she also feels apprehensive
when she says, ‘O my heart, do not feel overwhelmed with happiness even
though I might see the king today. I wish I could get out of all this,
otherwise, all this honour might become a harbinger of my death, Ædy:‹ Al:ö
s:ÙeK:t:y:a‹ up:esT:t:H Ay:ö ev:B:v:H. kT:ö v:a Edan:iö Aatm:an:ö m:<c:y:ðy:m:Ð. AT:v:a Ot:t:Ð Ov:

m:àty:Ù m:NRn:m:Ð B:ev:\y:et:. Malavika’s apprehension stems from a fear of the

queen, Iravati, who was also coming to attend the ritual of ‘kickstarting’ the
flowering of the Ashok tree. She was afraid that the queen might find out
about the sprouting love between her and the king. After seeing the red
alaktak dye applied on Malavika’s feet, Agnimitra says,
c:rN:ant: en:v:ðeS:t:aö e)y:ay:aH s:rs:aö p:Sy: v:y:sy: rag: l:ðK:am:Ð
)T:m:aö Ev: p:ll:v: )s:Üet:ö hr dgD:sy: m:n:<B:v: dÔÙm:sy:
The wet lines of the alaktak dye appear to be like new leaves in the ‘tree’ of
Kamadeva after he was burnt by Shiva, this is how Agnimitra tells his friend
Vidushak about the alaktak dye. He also says that Malavika’s feet, which
have beautiful toe-nails, will either fall on the yet-unflowering Ashok tree to
make it flower or they will fall on the head of her beloved as a punishment
for his ‘love-crime’, AkÙs:Ùem:t: AS:<kö d<hd Ap:ðx:y:a v:a )N:em:t: eS:rs:ö v:a kant:ö
AadÔü Ap:raD:m:Ð. For the occasion, Iravati also came to the garden, in a drunken

state, looking for the king. After telling the palace maid that ‘people say that
an alcoholic drink is a special ornament for women, b:hÙS:H m:dH ekl: s*:ij:n:sy:
ev:S:ð\: m:NRn:m:Ð Eet:’, she asked Nipunika whether the king had already arrived

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there or not. She also finds Malavika there getting ready for the occasion and
asked Nipunika, ‘what was Malavika doing there?’ Nipunika told her that
the queen Dharini could not perform the ritual of ‘kickstarting’ the flowering
of the Ashok tree, that is why, Malavika was tasked to do the same. Iravati
suspected something fishy about it, although, she was feeling a little bit
dizzy due to the wine as she herself admits, m:dH m:aö ev:kary:et:. On the other
hand, the king is enjoying looking at Malavika and how she was getting
readied by Bakulavalika. He is so pleased to see Malavika’s make-up that he
says,
AadÔü Al:Vt:kö Asy:aH c:rN:ö m:ÙK: m:a,t:ðn: S:<\:ey:t:Ùm:Ð
)et:p:nn:H )T:m:t:rH s:ö)et: s:ðv:a Av:kaS:H m:ð
‘O, I wish I could blow-dry the wet alaktak dye applied on her feet with the
air from my own mouth!’ Upon hearing this, Vidushak, sarcastically, tells
Agnimitra, ‘do not wish for too much, you may suffer this fate for all of your
life’. Bakulavalika, on the other hand, after having done the make-up on
Malavika, wishes her good luck, ‘May you always lie in the lap of your
love’, s:v:üT:a B:t:ÙüH A¢ p:erv:et:ün:i B:v:. Bakulavalika also told Malavaika that
Agnimitra loved her, which pleases him a lot as he says, ‘the love go-
betweens hold a greater sway over the lives of the lovers’, )aN:aH kaem:n:aö dÜt:i
AD:in:aH. As Malavika is about to kick the Ashok tree with her left foot,

Agnimitra is filled with frustration as he says, ‘a rendezvous is no

rendezvous, when one wants to meet and another does not. However, when
both are anxious to meet but cannot meet for some reason, even giving one’s
life is better than this condition’, p:rsp:r )aept: en:raS:y:<H v:r‹ö S:rir n:aS:H Aep:
s:m: An:Ùrag:y:<H. Agnimitra felt the pain of Malavika’s foot when she kicked

the Ashok tree as he says,

eks:l:y: m:àd<H ev:l:aes:n:i keYn:ð en:ht:sy: p:adp:sknD:ð
c:rN:sy: n: t:ð b:aD:a s:ö)et: v:am:<, v:am:sy:
‘O Vilasini, O Vamoru, did you feel a lot of pain when you kicked the
Ashok tree hard?’ This is another example of ‘some one getting hurt,
however, someone else is feeling the pain’. All this ‘love-lorn-ness’ of
Agnimitra is rudely interrupted when the queen, Iravati, in anger and
desperation accuses men of being unfaithful, Aev:Ã:s:n:iy:aH p:Ù,\:aH. Agnimitra

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had been caught red-handed by the queen as he pleaded with her that he was
just entertaining while he was waiting for her to come. Iravati told him, ‘O
wicked man, I do not trust you at all’, S:Y‹ Aev:Ã:s:n:iy: Ædy:H Aes:. Even after
the king apologized by putting his head on her feet, Iravati was not in a
mood to forgive him and she went and reported the whole incident to the
senior queen, Dharini. Agnimitra, on the other hand, was so much in love
with Malavika that he saw an opportunity for ignoring Iravati even more
because she was angry at him anyway. He says,
m:ny:ð e)y:a Æt:m:n:aH t:sy:aH )eN:p:at: l:¥n:ö s:ðv:am:Ð
Ov:ö eh )N:y:v:t:i s:a S:Vy:ö up:ðex:t:Ùö kÙep:t:a
‘My love, Malavika, has stolen my heart, therefore, Iravati’s displeasure is,
in a way, a blessing in disguise. I can live for a while ignoring Iravati,
because she is angry at me anyway’. Events take a different turn from here,
though.
Under the orders of the queen, Dharini, Malavika and Bakulavalika, both,
were made captives and kept in an underground room in the palace. Instead
of being able to ignore Iravati and spend time with Malavika, Agnimitra is a
desparate and a lonely man as he opines, ‘the sweet-voiced koel bird,
Malavika, and the bee, Bakulavalika, have both been buffeted by the eastern
monsoon and have been imprisoned in the hole of the trunk of the mango
tree’. He spends rest of his time, now, planning and plotting with Vidushak
how to get Malavika and her friend out of the imprisonment. After an initial
doubt about the success of their plan, eventually they succeeded in getting
them both out. Vidushak and Agnimitra are once again looking at Malavika
and Bakulavalika in the garden after they were freed. Agnimitra compares
her condition of happiness for getting freed and her sadness for not finding
him around with that of the lotus flower at the dawn and at the dusk as he
says, v:dn:ðn: s:Ùv:dn:ay:aH t:ð s:m:v:sT:ð x:N:at:Ð uZð, that beautiful face of Malavika
expressed both these feelings at the same time. He further observes, ‘when
they fall in love, women usually want to see their love to their heart’s
content, however, because of their bashful hesitation they hardly make an
eye contact’,
katsy:ðün: en:v:üN:üey:t:Ùö c: -p:ö EcCent: t:t:Ð p:Üv:ü s:m:ag:m:an:am:Ð
n: c: e)y:ð\:Ù Aay:t: l:<c:n:an:aö s:m:g:Ô v:à¶:ien: ev:l:<c:n:aen:

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The poet, Kalidas, has made similar observation in Kumarasambhavam
when Shiva looked at Paravti, her eyes, out of bashful hesitation, looked
down to the ground as she was standing, even though her whole body
seemed to blossom like the flowers of the kadamba tree,
ev:v:àNv:t:i S:òl:s:Ùt:aö Aep: B:av:ö A¤òH sPÙrdÐ b:al: kdmb: klp:òH
s:ac:ikàt:a c:a,t:rðN: t:sT:> m:ÙK:ðn: p:y:üst: ev:l:<c:n:ðn:
In Abhigyan Shakuntalam, Dushyant observes, ‘although she is not standing
with her face turned towards to mine, her eyes are not turned towards any
other object,
kam:ö n: et:\Yet: m:t:Ð Aan:n: s:öm:ÙK:iy:ö
B:Üey:Åö Any: ev:\:y:a n: t:Ù dàeÄH Asy:aH
And again, Dushyant reminisces, ‘even though her eyes were looking
elsewhere, she cast a tender look, esn:gD:ö v:iex:t:ö Any:t:H Ap:Ù n:y:n:ð y:t:Ð )ðry:nty:a
t:y:a, as she walked away gracefully and slowly due to her heavy buttocks,

y:at:ö y:t:Ð c: en:t:mb:y:<H g:Ù,t:y:a m:ndö ev:l:as:adÐ Ev:. When Vidushak asked him

what kind of feelings Shakuntala had expressed through her eyes towards
him, Dushyant replies, ‘she looked elsewhere when I looked at her, AeB:m:ÙK:ð
m:ey: s:öÆt:ö Eex:t:m:Ð.

Malavika’s eye contact with Agnimitra was not less evasive than that of
Shakuntala with Dushyant. She admits to Bakulavalika, ‘I did not see the
king that day to my heart’s content. I feel the same way today. The thirst of
seeing the king is hard to quench, t:T:a A½ Aep: m:y:a B:aev:t:H Aev:t:à\N: dS:ün:H
B:t:aü. Despite her strong desire to see the king, jealousy overtakes her and she

gets temporarily upset after looking at the portrait where Agnimitra was
painted as casting a romantic glance at Iravati. Agnimitra goes near her and
declares, ‘O lotus-eyed, why did you get upset after looking at the portrait?
Your slave, like no one else, is standing right in front of you’,
kÙpy:es: kÙv:l:y: n:y:n:ð ec:*:aep:üt: c:ðÄy:a ekö Ot:t:Ð m:ð
n:n:Ù t:v: s:ax:adÐ Ay:m:Ð Ahm:Ð An:ny: s:aD:arN:H das:H

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One is reminded of Shiva when he pleaded with Parvati saying, A½ )B:áet:
Av:n:t:ae¤! t:v: Aesm: das:H, O Parvati, from now on, I am your slave.

Agnimitra says, ‘your slave, like no one else, is standing right in front of
you’, n:n:Ù t:v: s:ax:adÐ Ay:m:Ð Ahm:Ð An:ny: s:aD:arN:H das:H. Nala, also, would not
have cared about the world even if he had to become her slave to get near
her, tv:yy:ðv: dasy:ð Aep: n: l:jj:t:ð, as the poet, Harsha, noted in Naishadh-
Charitam. Agnimitra pleads with Malavika after Vidushak and Bakulavalika
leave them alone,
ev:s:àj: s:Ùnder s:ög:m: s:aDv:s:ö t:v: ec:rat:Ð )B:àet: )N:y:H unm:ÙK:ð
p:erg:àhaN: g:t:ð s:hkart:aö tv:ö Aet:m:ÙVt:l:t:a c:ert:ö m:ey:
‘O the beautiful, please do not be afraid. I have been waiting for you for a
long time, embrace me the way the madhavi lata embraces a tree.’ Malavika
quickly and sarcastically reminds Agnimitra of Iravati’s ire when she had
caught him with Malavika last time and when she had called him a wicked
man and how Agnimitra had literally fallen flat at her feet asking for
forgiveness. She tells him, ‘you are fearless? I have seen your fearlessness
when Iravati was angry at you.’ Upon hearing this from Malavika,
Agnimitra calls her bimboshtthi, one whose lips are as red as the bimba fruit.
He expresses his desperation by saying that his breathing had become
dependent upon her love, t:t:Ð m:ð diG:aüex: y:ð )aN:aH t:ð tv:t:Ð AaS:a en:b:nD:n:aH. When
Agnimitra tried to hold her in a tight embrace, Malavika gently moved away
from him, which makes him say, ‘love-play of inexperienced lovers is
indeed attractive, rm:N:iy:H K:l:Ù n:v: A¤n:an:aö m:dn: ev:\:y:av:t:arH.’ He comments
on her behaviour thus,
hst:ö kmp:y:t:ð ,N:e¹ rS:n:a vy:ap:ar l:<l: A¤Ùl:iH
sv:hst:> n:y:et: st:n: Aav:rN:ö Aael:¤Ðy:m:an:a b:l:at:Ð
p:at:Ùö p:xm:l: n:ð*:ö unn:m:y:t:H s:ac:i kr<et: Aan:n:m:Ð
vy:aj:ðn: Aep: AeB:l:a\: p:ÜrN: s:ÙK:ö en:v:üt:üy:et: Ov: m:ð
When he tried to hold her in a tight embrace, Malavika covered her breasts
with both of her hands; her arms were trembling; she stopped him from
taking her waist-band off; she moved her face, which had large eyes with
dense eyebrows, away from him whenever he tried to kiss her.

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‘Unwittingly’, he says, ‘she was fulfilling his desire, vy:aj:ðn: Aep: AeB:l:a\:
p:ÜrN: s:ÙK:ö en:v:üt:üy:et: Ov: m:ð!’

The Ashok tree in the palace garden did bloom when the Spring arrived.
Agnimitra and the queen, Dharini, were admiring the flowering of the Ashok
tree. However, Agnimitra’s mind was somewhere else as he says, ‘I am like
the male chakravaka bird while my love is like the female chakravaka bird.
Dharini is like the night which prevents us from meeting’,
Ahm:Ð rT:a¤n:am:Ð Ov: e)y:a s:hc:ri m:ð
An:n:Ùwat: s:öp:kaü D:aerN:i rj:n:i Ev: n:>
The male and female chakravaka birds are together during the day and away
from each other during the night. Agnimitra is saying that the queen Dharini
is like the night which keeps them apart, D:aerN:i rj:n:i Ev: n:> !
Events turned for the better, though. As they looked at the flowering Ashok
tree, Agnimitra and Dharini were told by two visiting artistes from Vidarbha
that Malavika was the sister of Madhava Sen, who had been restored to his
throne and Yagya Sen, Madhava’s cousin, had been defeated. The minister
Sumati’s sister narrated the whole story of how she and Malavika happened
to arrive at the palace. Agnimitra also received the news that his son,
Vasumitra, had defeated the Greeks in the battle in the Sindh region.
Upon coming to know that Malavika was a princess, Dharini offered the
hands of Malavika, in marriage, to Agnimitra. By doing this, Dharini
became a ‘day’ for the two chakravaka birds- Agnimitra and Malavika.

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 7. Atma’s Quest

Whether it was Shiva and Parvati or Nala and Damayanti or Dushyant and
Shakuntala or Udayan and Vasavadatta or Agnimitra and Malavika or
Pururava and Urvashi, all of them had two things in common. They all had
forms and feelings. Where there is a form, it is easier to talk about beauty.
Where there is a feeling, it is easier to talk about love. Where there is a form
and feeling, both, it is easier to talk about beauty and love together. Atma is
formless. Brahma is formless. They have been separated for a long time.
Atma has been imprisoned in several forms. For countless centuries, Atma is
opining for meeting Brahma. Atma cries. Atma sheds tears. Like Malavika,
she is looking for her love, her dullaho. She has been singing the same
painful song, which Malavika sang, ‘My love is hard to get, O my heart, do
not harbour any hope. The area around my left eye is twitching, which is a
bad omen. How shall I get my well-acquainted love? O my love, count me
as your slave with a strong desire,’
dÙll:h< ep:A< m:ð t:esös: B:v: ehAA eN:N:s:ö
Amh< Ap:¤v:< m:ð p:erpPÙrE ekö ev: v:am:A<
s:< s:< ec:redXÐY< khö uN: uv:N:Edvv:<
N:ah m:ö p:rahiN:ö t:ÙE p:erg:N:A s:et:Nhm:Ð
And in Sanskrit,
dÙl:üB:H e)y:< m:ð t:esm:n:Ð B:v: Ædy: en:raS:m:Ð
Ah< Ap:a¤< m:ð p:ersPÙret: ekö Aep: v:am:H
O\: s:H ec:rdàÄðH kT:ö p:Ùn:H up:n:ðt:vy:<
n:aT: m:aö p:raD:in:aö tv:ey: p:erg:N:y: s:t:à\N:am:Ð
Atma seems to be separated forever from her love, Brahma. Nirguna singers
have given voice to Atma’s pain of separation. The sufi singers have given
words to her desire to meet Brahma. The qawwali singers have rendered
qawwalis to paint her pain. The bhakti poets have penned poems to portray
the happiness of her meeting with her love. The meditating yogis have sat
under the pipal trees to arrange for her rendezvous with Brahma. The
kaivalya seekers have sought to tie her in a tight embrace with Brahma. Yet,

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Atma cries and cries a lot to seek and meet her love. Krishna had succeeded.
Buddha had succeeded. They had both arranged a successful rendezvous
between her and Brahma.
Atma keeps crying for an eternal embrace, forever.
Brahma is also eager to meet her. He has made himself available at every
place in the universe. He has transcended time. He is akal. He is kutastha.
He is available all the time. He was never born and he will never die. He is
just there, everywhere, waiting for Atma to see him, to feel him, to touch
him and to give him a tight embrace. Forever.

Brahma’s Home: The Universe

Atma is formless, yet she is beautiful. She has the beauty of Parvati,
Damayanti, Shakuntala, Vasavadatta, Malavika and Urvashi, all put
together, because she is beauty itself. She is attractive. She is beyond the
senses, yet she is sensuous. She walks slowly, not because of her voluptuous
buttocks as Kalidas or Harsha or Bhasa would have put it. She has no
buttocks. She is not a nitambini. She is everywhere in all of us, in all of
living beings, in all of dead beings and also in non-beings. She is in me. She
is in you. She is in amoeba and she is in the elephant. Atma is in the
mountains and in the oceans. She is in the grass and she is in the trees. Atma
is in all the leaves of all the trees. She is in the priest and she is in the

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homeless pedestrian. Once this is understood; once her beauty is understood;
once her beauty is perceived, one will find love everywhere and in
everything. One will find beauty everywhere and in everything. She misses
her love as if she were playing an eternal hide and seek with Brahma. This is
how Yama talks of Atma in the Katha-Upanishad,
n: j:ay:t:ð em:Ôy:t:ð v:a ev:p:eÁ:t:Î n: Ay:m:Î kÙt:eÁ:t:Î n: Ay:m:Î b:B:Üv: keÁ:t:Î
Aj:Hen:ty:H S:aÃ:t:H Ay:m:Î p:ÙraN:H n: hny:t:ð hny:m:an:ð S:rirð
hnt:a c:ðt:Î m:ny:t:ð hnt:Ùm:Î ht:H c:ðt:Î m:ny:t:ð ht:m:Î
uB:> t:> n: ev:j:an:it:< n: Ay:m:Î hent: n: hny:t:ð
This Atma neither gets born nor it dies; it is neither born of anything or
anyone nor does it beget anything or anyone. It is unborn, eternal and
indestructible. Those who think they killed someone and those who consider
themselves dead after getting killed, they, both, do not know the true nature
of Atma. This Atma neither kills anyone nor gets killed by anyone. Yama
continues to describe her further,
AN:<H AN:iy:an:Î m:ht:H m:hiy:an:Î Aatm:a Asy: j:nt:<H en:eht:H g:Ùhay:am:Î
t:ö AkÔt:ÙH p:Sy:et: v:it:S:<kH D:at:Ù)s:adat:Î m:ehm:an:m:Î Aatm:n:H
Somewhere, inside this ‘body cave’(Asy: j:nt:<H en:eht:H g:Ùhay:am:Î), that Atma
resides. It is smaller than the smallest and larger than the largest.
Exceptional people, who are endowed with at least two qualities of
nishkam(en:\kam:) and vitashok(v:it:S:<k) are able to experience the beauty of
this Atma. Yama adds further,
Aas:in:H dÜrm:Î v:Ôj:et: S:y:an:H y:aet: s:v:üt:H
kH t:m:Î m:dam:dm:Î dðv:ö m:t:Î Any:H wat:Ùö Ahüet:
Atma does not move, however, she goes afar; she stays asleep, however, she
goes everywhere. That Atma does not have a gross body, however, it resides
in the gross body, which is prone to change, ‘AS:rirm:Î S:rirð\:Ù An:v:sT:ð\:Ù
Av:esT:t:m:Î’. A question arises as to how one should go about ‘seeing’ this

Atma? Yama says, ‘t:sy: O\:H Aatm:a ev:v:àN:Ùt:ð t:n:Üm:Î sv:am:Î’, a perseverant seeker
gets enlightened on his own by the nature of Atma. However, following the

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open-ended Vedic tradition, Yama tags his previous statement by noting,
‘who can know where Atma is and what form does she have, kH EtT:a v:ðd y:*:
s:H?’ The relationship between Atma and Brahma is similar to the one

between a shadow and the light. Atma does not have an existence
independent of Brahma, ‘Cay:a t:p:> b:ÔÉev:dH v:dent:’. No light, no shadow. No
Brahma, no Atma. This is the pain of Atma. She is with her love and she is
not with her love.
Atma is pure; she is steadfast; she does not move; she is unattached to the
world; she is free from worldly desire and she lives in herself, as Prajapati
says in Maitri-Upanishad, s:H v:a O\:H Aatm:a&&&&&& )et:S:rirð\:Ù c:ret: Avy:Vt:tv:at:Î
s:Üxm:tv:at:Î AdàSy:tv:at:Î Ag:ÔaÊtv:at:Î en:m:üm:tv:at:Î c: An:v:sT:H Ak¶:aü k¶:aü Ev:

Av:seT:t:H). However, Atma is ‘veiled’ by the three gunas- satvik, rajasik and

tamasik (c:ert: B:ÙkÎ g:ÙN:m:y:ðn: p:Xðn: Aatm:an:m:Î Ant:D:iüy: Av:esT:t:H).

And this is the veil which needs to be lifted so that Atma can meet her love,
Brahma. So that this bride can meet her groom.
There is a veil put on the Atma’s face and she also has a cohabitor called
Bhutatma, who is not quite unlike Dharini’s Iravati or Vasavadatta’s
Padmavati. Bhutatma’s approach is, though, different from Dharini’s or
Vasavadatta’s. Bhutatma does not compete with Atma for Brahma’s love.
Her approach is to prevent passively and, perhaps, unknowingly, Atma from
becoming one with her love by keeping the veil of the three gunas around
Atma. Even though Atma and Brahma are everywhere, so is this veil spread,
stretched and maintained infinitely by Bhutatma who cohabits with Atma on
the same ‘tree’ as described in the Rigved.
¾a s:Ùp:N:aü s:y:Ùj:a s:K:ay:a s:m:an:ö v:àx:ö p:er\:sv:j:at:ð
t:y:<HAny:H ep:pp:l:ö sv:a¾¶y:n:Sn:n:Î Any:H AeB:c:akS:iet:
Rigved says, ‘the two beautiful birds are good friends and they reside on the
same tree. One of them enjoys the sweet fruits of the tree, while the other
dispassionately looks on and is enlightened by itself.’ Bhutatma and Atma
have been described by Rigved as cohabitant friends and not as competitors.
Bhutatma is the one who enjoys the fruits of the tree, while Atma looks on
dispassionately. So while the veil by Bhutatma is stretched and maintained
everywhere, the good news is that the veil is not time transcendent and,

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therefore, can be removed so that Atma can see her love and can become one
with Brahma. She will be locked, then, in a tight embrace with her love in a
state of perfect brahmananda, which will be different from the kamananda of
Shakuntala, Damayanti and Parvati.
Bhutatma is the one who thinks, ‘I am this, I am that, this is mine.... that is
mine.....’ . She binds herself deeper and deeper with the perceptory
enjoyment of the sound, the touch, the form, the taste and the smell. She,
unwittingly and progressively, under the influence of the three gunas, gets
entangled like a bird in a bird-snare. She is the one who also gets affected by
and bound to the good or bad evolutes of her actions, her karma. The painful
news is that Atma is also sitting on the same ‘tree’ as Bhutatma and she
cannot meet her love, Brahma, as long as Bhutatma does not make efforts to
lift the veil off Atma’s face. Bhutatma also derives a symbiotic happiness
from Atma being in the same tree, as is noted in the Shwetashwatar-
Upanishad,
s:m:an:ð v:àx:ð p:Ù,\:H en:m:gn:H An:iS:y:a S:<c:et: m:ÙÊm:an:H
j:ÙÄö y:da p:Sy:et: Any:ö IS:ö Asy: m:ehm:an:ö Eet: v:it:S:<kH
‘In the same tree, a person, Bhutatma, who is immersed in the sorrows of the
world, is beset with attachment, moh (m:ÙÊm:an:), and grieves(S:<c:et:) on
account of her helplessness(An:iS:y:a). When she looks at the other, the Atma,
her sorrow goes away’. This symbiotic relationship between Atma and
Bhutatma is, perhaps, a potential path to help Atma unite with Brahma who
were both separated from each other as noted in the Shwetashwatar-
Upanishad:
Aj:am:Î Okaö l:<eht: S:ÙVl: kà\N:aö b:ÍiH )j:aH s:àj:m:an:aö s:-p:aH
Aj:H eh OkH j:Ù\:m:aN:H An:ÙS:ðt:ð j:haet: On:öa B:ÙVt:B:<g:aö Aj:H Any:H
Purush and Prakriti are both unborn(Aj:). One unborn(Aj:), the Purush,
unites with the other unborn(Aj:a), the Prakriti, which has three attributes,
the three gunas(e*:g:ÙN:)- satvik, rajasik and tamasik, portrayed as red, white
and black colours, respectively. Bhutatma inherited the three gunas from the
Prakriti, while Atma’s love is for the Purush. After the world emanates from
the union of the Purush and Prakriti, Purush ‘pulls back’ dispassionately,

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j:haet: On:öa B:ÙVt:B:<g:aö Aj:H Any:H. Atma is the bird, who emanated from the

Purush and who dispassionately observes the other bird, Bhutatma, which
enjoys the sweet fruits of its actions, its karma.
As they sat together on the same tree, Bhutatma turned to Atma and asked,
Bhutatma: Sister Atma, why don’t you enjoy life as I do?
Atma: Sister, what do you mean by enjoyment?
Bhutatma: Well, the way I am doing it. I am eating the fruits of this tree
while you seem to be completely disinterested. You have not eaten for as
long as I have known you.
Atma: I have been separated from my love for a long time. I have no interest
in this world. I never had.
Bhutatma: What is his name?

Atma: Brahma.
Bhutatma: How old is he?
Atma: Older than everyone and everything. And so am I.
Bhutatma: Is he handsome?
Atma: He is formless just as I am. I love him a lot- an old and formless
person loving another old and formless person. It may seem odd to many.
Bhutatma: (to herself) How can a formless person love another formless
person? (to Atma) It is not really odd. Is he wealthy, though?
Atma: We have only each other for ourselves but we are separated for the
time being.
Bhutatma: What can I do to help you meet with him?
Atma: It is hard for a sibling to teach one another. Maybe, you should ask
the rishi, Shankaracharya, in India.
Bhutatma took a break from eating the sweet fruits and went to see
Shankaracharya in southern part of India. After a long and arduous journey,
she arrived at the rishi’s ashram. She told the rishi why she had come to visit
him. She also told him about Atma and her love-lorn condition and asked
him how she could help her friend. While Bhutatma sat in front of the rishi,

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Shankaracharya closed his eyes and recited the first few lines of a poem he
had written recently,
S:rirö s:Ù-p:ö t:T:a v:a kl:*:ö
y:S:H c:a, ec:*:ö D:n:ö m:ð, t:Ùly:m:Ð
m:n:H c:ðt:Ð n: l:gn:ö g:Ùr<H AöeG:Ô p:¼ð
t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð
kl:*:ö D:n:ö p:Ù*: p:>*: Aaed s:v:üm:Ð
g:àhö b:anD:v:aH s:v:üö Ot:dÐ eh j:at:m:Ð
m:n:H c:ðt:Ð n: l:gn:ö g:Ùr<H AöeG:Ô p:¼ð
t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð
\:R¤ Aaed v:ðdH m:ÙK:ð S:as*: ev:½a
kev:tv:aed g:½ö s:Ùp:½ö kr<et:
m:n:H c:ðt:Ð n: l:gn:ö g:Ùr<H AöeG:Ô p:¼ð
t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð
ev:dðS:ð\:Ù m:any:H sv:dðS:ð\:Ù D:ny:H
s:dac:ar v:à¶:ð\:Ù m:¶:< n: c: Any:H
m:n:H c:ðt:Ð n: l:gn:ö g:Ùr<H AöeG:Ô p:¼ð
t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð
After making a statement, Shankaracharya raised the same question four
times, ‘t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð’ what after that, what after that,
what after that and what after that.
First he said, ‘one who has been endowed with a good and healthy body and
has a good looking spouse, has obtained fame as good as a beautiful painting
and has gathered wealth as high as the Meru mountain. To such a person,
one can ask, ‘t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð’ what after that, what after
that, what after that and what after that?

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The poem further says, ‘one who has earned money, has children and grand
children, has a house, has good siblings and friends, to him one can ask, ‘t:t:H
ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð’ what after that, what after that, what after that

and what after that?

Shankaracharya said further, ‘one who has studied all the knowledge books,
has become well known at home and in abroad and is busy in a good work,
to him it can be asked, ‘t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekö t:t:H ekm:Ð’ what after that,
what after that, what after that and what after that?
Bhutatma listened to the rishi with rapt attention and before she left the
ashram, she folded her hands and said to the rishi, “Acharya, very good
question: what after that or after that, what?” After a few stops at other
ashrams, she came back to the tree where Atma was waiting for her return.

Atma: Sister, you took such a long time to return. I was anxious to hear from
you.
Bhutatma: Yeah, on my way back, I stopped at the ashrams of other rishis.
Atma: What did Shankaracharya say?
Bhutatma: Well, he raised a very good question- after that, what?
Atma: After what, what?
Bhutatma: After a person has enjoyed life to the hilt, has earned a lot of
money, has built wealth, has a good spouse, has a home, has good children
and grand children and is well known throughout the world. After all these
have been done and achieved, he raised the question: after this, what else?
Atma: Certainly, he raised a great question. What did the other rishis say?
Bhutatma: There was this wife of a rishi, Yagyavalkya. Her name was
Maitreyi. Before he went to the forests to take sanyas, he wanted to divide
his belongings between her and another wife he had. I heard the initial part
of their conversation. Maitreyi asked him this question, “If all the wealth on
this earth were mine, will I become immortal by having that?”( s:a h uv:ac:
m:ò*:ðy:i y:t:Î n:Ù m: Ey:m:Î B:g:<H s:v:aü p:àeT:v:i ev:¶:ðn: p:ÜN:üa sy:at:Î kT:ö t:ðn: Am:àt:a sy:am:Î Eet:)

“No, you will be leading a wealthy life like other wealthy people. However,
you will not attain immortality only by possessing wealth”. ( n: Eet: h uv:ac:

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y:awv:lVy:H y:T:a Ov: up:krN:v:t:aö j:iev:t:m:Î t:T:a Ov: t:ð j:iev:t:m:Î . sy:at:Î Am:àt:tv:sy: t:Ù
n:aS:aest: ev:¶:ðn: Eet:ˆ

After hearing this, Maitreyi asked, “Then, what will I do with that through
which I will not become immortal? Tell me the way, instead, to become
immortal”. (s:a h uv:ac: m:ò*:ðy:i y:ðn: Ahm:Î n: Am:àt:a sy:am:Î ekm:Î Ahm:Î t:ðn: kÙy:aüm:Î y:d
Ov: B:g:v:an:Î v:ðd t:d Ov: m:ð b:ÔÜhiet:ˆ

They talked for a while. I heard Yagyavalkya summarize like this, “this
great being, the infinite and limitless, consists of nothing but knowledge
(Edm:Î m:ht:Î B:Üt:m:Î An:nt:m:Î Ap:arm:ÎÎ ev:wan:G:n: Ov:ˆ.” Yagyavalkya further added,

“Arising from out of these elements, one vanishes into them. When one has
departed, there is no more knowledge, this is what I say, my dear(Ot:ðBy:H
B:Üt:ðBy:H s:m:ÙtT:ay: t:aen: Ov: An:Ùev:n:Sy:et:‹ n: )ðty: s:öwa Aest: Eet: Arð).”

Atma: Must have been an interesting conversation between a husband and

his wife? Did you find a way to help me see my love?
Ignoring her question, Bhutatma continued: There was another student,
Nachiketa, at another ashram who said, “n: ev:¶:ðn: t:p:üN:iy:H m:n:Ù\y:H‹ l:psy:am:hð
ev:¶:m:Î AdÔaxm: c:ðt:Î tv:a. When Yama offered him lots of wealth, he said, “Man

can never be satisfied with wealth.”

Atma: So how do I meet Brahma and become one with him?
Bhutatma: It is all up to me. What the rishi, Patanjali, told me when I had
stopped at his ashram was that I could help you through two things. He said,
“The mind is always moving around and it is, indeed, very difficult to
control it. However, with abhyas (ABy:as:) and vairagya (v:òragy:ˆ, it is possible
to manage the mind, ABy:as:ðn: t:Ù k>nt:ðy: v:òragy:ðN: c: g:àÊt:ð.” The rishi, Patanjali,
also quoted Krishna who had offered the same two major tools to Arjun-
abhyas and vairagya. He gave me a copy of his book, Yoga Sutra, where he
had noted, ‘ABy:as: v:òragy:aBy:aö t:t:Î en:r<D:H, mind is managed through abhyas
(ABy:as:) and vairagya (v:òragy:ˆ.’
Atma: I am getting very anxious to meet Brahma.

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Bhutatma: Well, I need to go to the ashram of the rishi, Patanjali. He seems
to know a way to help me to help you. He calls this process Yoga.
Bhutatma left her friend, Atma, alone again and headed for Patanjali’s
ashram. While Bhutatma performed Yoga at his ashram, Atma waited for
her for several years still looking at the fruits of the tree dispassionately.
When Bhutatma reached the stage of kaivalya, Atma remotely felt a sense of
relief from her pain and exclaimed, “I have found him. I am with him. I am
him, Ahm:Î b:ÔÉaesm: .”
When Bhutatma returned, she found Atma without her veil while she danced
and sang a song whose first few lines went like this,
khÜö kós:ð s:K:i m:<hð l:aj: l:g:ð
m:<hð p:i ki n:j:ery:a m:ar g:y:i
m:òön:ð l:aj: ka G:ÜûG:X K:<l: edy:<
ep:y:a j:it: g:y:ðð m:òö har g:y:i
‘O my friend, I fell in love with him the moment he glanced at me. I do not
know how to describe my bashful hesitation when I took my veil off. He
became the victor and I became the vanquished.’ After the dance was over,
she went closer. She found Brahma waiting for her like an ocean waiting for
a river. And just like an ocean, he looked more attractive as she went closer
and closer to him.

Atma became one of the wavelets on Brahma’s chest. Infinite and timeless.

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 8. Epilogue
When I was working on this book, February 14th arrived almost half way
through the writing. We all know how the Valentine’s Day has hijacked love
and the love-stories all over the world as if there were no other love-stories
anywhere else on this earth and at any other time. While I worked on the
seven love stories from ancient India, I digressed a little bit to do some
research on Mr. Valentine, more appropriately, the priest Valentine. My
research showed that the priest Valentine was helping Roman couples to get
married secretly as the emperor Claudius had banned all marriages and all
engagements during a war his country was going through at the time. In a
way, the priest Valentine was helping the military “draft-dodgers” of those
days. The emperor got mad at him and destined him to the dungeon for his
disobedience. Valentine died on February 14th during the year 270 AD. The
saddest thing and the most unfortunate thing about the story, which pained
me a lot, was that Valentine was dragged by the emperor’s soldiers at the
very moment when he was about to officiate the wedding ceremony of a
young couple waiting in front of him in his temple.

Further research showed that the priest Valentine never married anyone, nor
did he fall in love with anyone. He did not himself had a taste of either a
heterosexual love or marriage or a homosexual love. He is not publicly
known to have an affair with anyone. No one knows whether he had a well
kept secret love or not. I find it ironical that St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated
as a “love day” globally in the market culture of our modern times in the
honour of a priest who himself is not known to have loved anyone or to have
been loved by anyone. Love is known globally today through someone who
is not known to have loved anyone!

When I completed the seven stories, I asked myself as to why can’t love be
celebrated everyday? Why one has to wait for February 14th to arrive once a
year and put a grand and perhaps a superficial display of love with flowers
and candies and chocolates in the honour of a man who knew nothing about
love? Why not honour those, the real lovers and the real love-makers-
Pururava’s love in the city of Prayag at the confluence of the rivers Ganga
and Yamuna, Udayan walking hand-in-hand with Vasavadatta in their
garden in Kaushambi and Dushyant’s drawing of the portrait of Shakuntala
while she bathed in the river Malini near Kotdwara in India. These were

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some of the people who had tasted real love several centuries before
Valentine. To honour these men and women and their love, a weekly
calendar to celebrate love may look like this:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Shiva-Parvati Day Pururava-Urvashi Day Shakuntala Day

Thursday Friday Saturday

Udayan Day Damayanti Day Malavika Day

Sunday
Atma-Brahma Day

So, let’s start celebrating love everyday- every day of every week!

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