32 PADUMĀWATI. [64-66 64. The damsels laid their bodices and veils npon the bank, and entered into the lake. Like jasmines, they reached the water, sporting and playing the play of love. Their black hair floated on the water like poisonous snakes, which bore lotuses in their mouths, and met the waves. Up rose they like tender shoots on pomegranates or vines. Yea, it was as if the very branches of love aplifted themselves. They were, as it were, tendrils pre- pared by the new spring, and become manifest, full of nectar. The lake could not contain the whole universe, for the moon had entered it with all the stars to bathe. Blessed was the lake in which Luna and the stars had risen; now, who will look at mere lotuses and lilies? The very Ruddy gooseb in solitude crieth out, Where can I find my love ? By night there is a moon in the sky, and, by day, another in the water.' 65. They began to sport in the flood; the very swans in shame sat vanquished in grace upon the banks. Then, for their game, set they Padmā- vati to one side, and cried, 'Be thou, O moon, the umpire between the stars.'6 They agreed upon a bet, and commenced their sport. Whoever lost should give her necklace as the stake.? Dark with dark, and fair with fair, each of the maidens took her fellow. Understand ye the game and play together, that thy necklace may not go into another's hand. When shall we play to-day's sport again ? When the sport is over, where will any of us sport ?'
- Happy' (saith Muhammad) is that game which is played with love. (As
the proverb saith) " Mastery and happiness (are rare companions)." ."! 8 Muhammad saith, 'If the ocean of love please thee, sport thou in it, (but so sport thou that), even as when flowers and oil are mixed, there may become a scented unguent.' 66. One of the damsels knew not the game and became distraught because her jewelled necklacelo was lost. She helplessly grasped a lotus stalk crying, To wl shall I lament my condition? Why I came here with 1 i.e., the sportive actions by which Love conqners the world. 2 Karila may mean either black, or may be equivalent to karila, the shoot of a bamboo. Either meaning will suit. The snakes are poisonous, because they carry death to the heart of man, not by biting, but by their mere look. 8 The lotus are, of course, the maidens' faces. 4 The Pomegranates and Vines are the maidens, the Shoots are their ornaments. 6 Which is separated from its mate at night. See note 8, p. 18. 6 Tarāyana, here, is a pun. It means both 'stars,' and 'divers.' 1 The game they played is still common. Two women agree to play it, and one throws some small object into the water. They then both dive for it. If the original owner gets it, the match is a drawn one; if the other gets it, she keeps it. Then the other throws, and so on. Sometimes a third person throws an article into the water, and two dive for it. If neither gets it, the article is of course lost. 8 Le., in playing a game, unless love is an ingredient, the winner alone is happy and the loser is unbappy. 9 She forgot to warn her partner that she was about to throw the necklace, so the latter could not find it. 10 The stanza is full of pang on the double meaning of hāra, a necklace, and hāra = hal, condition.
