50 PADUMĀWATI. [99
- The three worlds, the fourteen regions,' have all come before my vision.
But, except Love, naught else that my heart can understand, is fair.' 99. 'At hearing the tale of love be not distraught, O King. Love is hard, and unless one offer his head for it, it adorneth not. If a man fall into the noose of love, he escapeth not. Many have given up their lives, but that noose breaketh not. It hath so many pangs as the chameleon hath changes of colour; sometimes turning red and sometimes yellow and sometimes white. The peacock knoweth this, and bath become a hermit in the forest, and beareth on every hair the marks of the serpent-lasso. Again and again doth this noose fall upon his wings. He cannot fly for it, and remains bound in its entanglement. Crying night and day “mueâ mueū," "I am dead, I am dead," in his rage doth he devour snakes. The turtle dove and the parrot have the same marks of the noose upon their necks; and on whose neck it falleth, he must give up his life. The partridge hath the noose upon his neck, and ever proclaimeth his guilt. Else, why calleth he out till the hunter's noose falleth on his neck ? Vain is the hope that death will give him release. 100. The king heaved a deep sigh, and cried, "Say not so hopeless a speech. Whether love be full of happiness or sorrow, it is hard; but, still, he who hath played the sport of love, hath safely passed this world and the world to come. Within (the casket of) sorrow is placed the honey of love, and he who tasteth it must bear contempt and death. Why doth he e'er come upon this earth, who layeth not his head upon the path of love ? Now have I placed my head in love's noose. Thrust not aside my feet (from the path), but take me as thy disciple. He alone can tell of the door of love who hath seen it ; and how can he who hath not seen it, kuow its secrets ? Till the beloved is met, so long must pain be felt; and when she is met, the pain of all one's life is wiped away for ever. As thou hast seen the matchless one, so now describe to me her beauty from head to foot. Hope have I of meeting her, if the Creator but bring us together.' debt to Rāhu, and he has the right to seize them in payment of his debt. The swallowing of the Sun or the Moon causes an eclipse of that heavenly body, bat as Rāhu's head has been cut off, he only swallows it, to let it out at the back of his head where it was separate from his trank. I See Notes 5 and 6 on p. 1. $ The Nāga-papa or serpent-noose, is the name of a special kind of noose used in battle; a kind of lasso. -3 The round spots on the peacock's tail are the marks of the noose. The peacock is said ts be great devourer of snakes. The poet's fancy is that his hatred for the reptile is caused by the Nāga-pāga, the serpent-lasso' of love in which he is entangled. • Cf. lxxiv, 3. The Partridge's lamentations attract the hunter, and it is killed; but eveu then the lasso mark remains upon its neck. 6 Lit. From toe-nail to top-koot. A nakha-sikha is a technical term for a class of poetry describing a woman, limb by limb.
