Madhumalati
Page 11
We were one radiant light, one beautiful form, one soul and one body:
how can there be any doubt in giving oneself to oneself?
118. ‘You are the ocean, I am your wave.
You are the sun, I the ray that lights the world.*
Do not think that you and I are separate:
I am the body, you are my dear life.
Who can part us, a single light in two forms?
I see everything through the eye of enlightenment.
Who knows how long we have known each other?
Today, O maiden, you do not recognize me.
Think back in your memory—
we knew each other on creation’s first day.
When two lives are entwined together in the snare of love,
they recognize each other instantly when they take on bodily form.
119. ‘Till now I have lived a soulless life,
but today, on seeing you, I have found my soul.
I knew you the moment that I saw you,
for this is the beauty that had held me in thrall.
This is the beauty that before was concealed.*
This is the beauty that now pervades creation.
This is the beauty that is Śiva and Śaktī.*
This is the beauty that is the soul of the three worlds.
This is the beauty that is manifest in many guises.
This is the beauty found alike in king and beggar.
This same beauty lives in all the three worlds: earth, heaven, and the world below.
This very same beauty I now see manifested, radiant upon your face.
120. ‘This is the beauty revealed in countless forms.
This is the beauty unique in its myriad modes.
This is the beauty that is the light of every eye.
This is the beauty that is the pearl in every ocean.
This is the beauty of the fragrance of flowers.
This is the beauty of the pollen the bees enjoy.
This is the beauty of the sun and the moon.
This is the beauty that pervades the entire universe.
This is the beauty of the beginning,
this is the beauty of the end and beyond.
Contemplation of this beauty is true meditation.*
This beauty is manifest in countless states: in water, land, and on the earth’s surface,
but only he can look on it who loses himself when he sees it.’
Madhumālatī’s Reaction
121. As she listened to his words,
full of love’s savour and feeling,
the maiden’s soul was at once intoxicated.
Her heart delighted in the tale of love she heard,
and the love of a previous life
was kindled again in her memory.
Just as fragrance mingles with the breeze,
so did the two merge and become one body.
So powerful was the love that engulfed them
that the two came together as one life’s breath.
Spontaneously, their souls united and could not be told apart.
When the image of that love from a former life entered into their inmost souls,
both sighed deeply from the heart, recalling their previous acquaintance.
122. Then, moved by love, the maiden smiled and said:
‘You have made me mad with this talk of love.
I was so overcome I could not speak.
Hearing your words I tasted love’s joys.
Certainly there is no difference between us:
we are one body, reflected twice.
My soul has found its place in your body,
and, through me, your name is manifest.
Mine is the beauty and your body is its mirror.*
I am the sun, you are its light in the world.
As lustre is to precious gems and jewels, so I am your essence and you are mine.
You and I are like brilliance and jewel, who can ever separate us?
123. ‘Now, O Prince, listen to my words.
With love you have captured my life’s light.
Your love, like the fragrance of the musk-deer,
permeates my heart and cannot be hidden.
Your words of love have confused me utterly.
Casting a spell upon my mind
you have robbed me of my soul.
There was only one soul in this body,
which you stole away from me.
Just as your soul is drunk with my love,
so is mine for you—only four times as much.
Do not think that men have greater claim to true love,
know that a maiden’s true feeling is four times that of a man!’
Manohar is Roused but Madhumālatī is Prudent
124. The Prince heard her words so full of feeling.
Kāmadeva awakened and permeated his being.
Desire spread throughout his body.
Lust for worldly pleasure aroused him.
Passion engulfed him and his body trembled.
The lord of passion revealed himself,
as the Prince heard her words full of rasa.
His eyes grew red and shameless
as Kāmadeva arranged his army on two fronts.
Who in this world can win against
the conqueror who humbled Śiva?
When youth is fresh and desire intoxicates, when beauty is new and matchless,
when the loved one is near, tell me, how then can virtue be preserved?
125. The Prince turned pale and rampant was his desire.
His pulse raced and from his body came a sigh.
Pierced by the arrows of the God of Love,
he could contain himself no longer.
His hands reached out to the maiden’s breasts.
Leaving his finely adorned bed,
the Prince sat on the lovely one’s couch.
That excellent maiden stopped his hands
and rose and moved to the Prince’s bed.
‘O Prince,’ she said, ‘why should we sin?
Why should we disgrace our parents?
Who would destroy everything for one fleeting moment of pleasure?
In this world the slightest indiscretion brings disgrace upon a woman.
126. ‘If a woman seeks to commit a sin,
in vain she destroys herself completely.
Womankind is the abode of sin.
But if a woman has a family,
then they will keep her from sinning.
Otherwise, who can contain her?
The clan is the only obstacle to sin.
Why become a sinner for a moment’s pleasure?
Why sin and lose everything forever?
By sinning, who would himself wipe out
the gathered merits of former lives?
By doing acts of virtue everywhere one keeps one’s good name clear.
Who would blacken his face pointlessly by entering the house of sin?
127. ‘Listen, O Prince! I have one thing to say.
The right path is radiant in both worlds.
How can one whose heart is righteous
fall into the raging fire of sin?
Family and righteousness are both custodians,
I cannot disgrace my mother or father.
He who succumbs to a moment’s temptation
has already reserved his place in hell.
But the man who stands by the truth,
even if he is on the path of sin,
will taste the heavenly fruit of immortality.*
Those who love truth above all else give up this world and its worldly life.
They abandon everything but never leave truth. Listen, Prince, to the essence of truth!*
128. ‘The Lord, who brought you to this place
and ordained that our glances should meet,*
will steer us through our lives.
God will free us of sin, and give us
the treasure of right action.
; Why commit sin and destroy our virtue?
Truth abandoned will only cause us regret.
Improper conduct brings disgrace;
to one’s family, shame, to one’s parents, abuse.
You and I must swear a true oath,
calling on Rudra, Brahma, and Hari as witnesses.
Swear to me that you will be eternally true in love and I will swear the same.
Then will the Lord protect our love constantly, in every birth, in every life.’
An Oath is Sworn
129. ‘O royal Princess, hear my words.
I give you my word, I will be true.
Without you I have no life in this world,
for you are the body and I am its shadow.
You are the life and I am your body.
You are the moon and I am your radiance.
As life sustains the body, and as always
the moon sheds light, sustain me.
I lost myself the very day
my heart conceived its love for you.
If you are the ocean, I am your wave. If I am a tree, you are my root.
How can a promise come between us, when I am the scent and you the flower?’
130. The lotus bud then opened her mouth
and spoke in sweet and gentle tones.
‘The sin of giving pain to one’s parents,
the sin of causing a forest fire,
and all the other sins I cannot now recount,
of all these will I bear the consequences
if I do not keep faith with your love to its limit.’
They swore the oath before the Creator,
with Rudra, Brahma and Hari bearing witness.*
One should love with a love that will endure, from its beginning to its end;
that it will survive both now and hereafter, who can have any doubt?
Lovers’ Play*
131. When the oath was sworn their souls united.
They spoke together of passionate love,
the love in whose colour the universe is saturated.
They were steeped in love from a former birth
so readily did they reach love’s full intoxication.
As a sign the Prince gave the Princess
a ring, studded with jewels and diamonds.
He placed on his own finger, tender as a leaf,
the ring the Princess wore on her hand.
Their hearts were full of love as they enjoyed the delights and sports of passion.
Sometimes their souls exulted in their love, sometimes they lost all consciousness.
132. As one they followed the path of love;
fear of being two their hearts would not allow.
Sometimes she gave delight with an embrace,
then stole his heart with sidelong glances.
Now arrows from her eyes wounded his soul,
now she murmured words sweet as nectar.
Sometimes she laid her head upon his feet,
sometimes she gave herself completely in abandon.
When her eyes robbed him of his life,
she gave him precious nectar from her lips.
There was poison in the blessed maiden’s eyes, but fragrant nectar on her lips.
She’d slay him with her sidelong glance, then smile and bring him back to life.
133. Sometimes her flowing locks spread waves of poison,
sometimes her eyes cast spells to kill.
Now they would lose themselves in love’s essence,
now they embraced in each other’s arms.
Sometimes she loved with ever-growing passion,
at times her love was quite spontaneous.
Sometimes their glances met and rasa was born,
sometimes they raised love to ecstasy.
Sometimes the ocean of their love flowed over,
at other times each entreated the other.
At times, although drunk with love, she was too proud to look at him.
And sometimes so deeply did she feel her love she called herself her darling’s slave.
134. She made him fall and faint with love,
then sprinkled nectar to revive him.
Sometimes they exulted in love’s ecstasies,
sometimes they feared the pain of separation.
At times, their eyes became gardens of beauty,
and sometimes they gave up their youth, their lives.
Now they tasted the supreme bliss of love,
now they dedicated their souls to one another.
They felt ashamed when thinking of their families,
but turned again to pleasure and delight.
When she held back the love within her soul, the Prince could scarcely bear it,
but when they united without restraint, their lives left their bodies for love.
The Nymphs Return
135. As they exchanged tender words of love,
sleep came to their enraptured eyes.
The whole night they had been awake,
hungry for each other’s love,
but, as dawn broke, their eyes closed in sleep.
The celestial beings then returned
to where they had left the Prince asleep.
When they came in they were astonished to see
that both their brows shone with love’s radiance.
When they saw them, they knew the signs of love-making:
beds in disarray, flowers crushed and withered.
The Prince lay sleeping on the maiden’s couch and the maiden lay on his bed.
Exhausted they seemed from passion spent, sleeping with beds exchanged.
136. They had exchanged their rings
and wore each other’s on their hands.
Some of the maiden’s bangles lay broken on the bed.
Her bodice’s fastening was ripped open at the bosom.
Her clothes had been torn from her limbs.
On her breasts, nail-scratches showed clearly.
The necklace and garlands at her breast were broken,
her parting was gone, her plaits undone.
The bed was in total disarray,
the beauty spot on her forehead wiped off.
Marks of collyrium could be seen, manifest on the Prince’s lips,
and the red betel* juice looked lovely against the black in her kohl-lined eyes.
137. When the nymphs saw these signs
they thought the two had tasted passion’s delight.
‘Why should we part these two,’ they said,
‘and sin by causing them separation’s agony?
The pain of death lasts only for a moment,
but to be separated in love is to die
a hundred deaths in every moment.’
They thought some more, and then resolved
that this was against their rightful duty.
‘They’ve had their hour of sweet love here.
Without him, his father and mother, his retainers, his subjects and his family,
all would break their hearts and die; we would be responsible for their deaths.’
138. When they finally agreed amongst themselves,
they lifted the Prince up with her bed.
They carried him and set him down
in the place from where they had taken him.
Then they went off happily to play,
while grief was born in the lovers’ hearts.
The Princess, half-asleep, stretched out lazily
as if she had thrilled to a lover’s passion.
Her handmaidens saw she had been making love,
for all the signs of passion were visible.
They were terrified by what they saw. ‘What awful thing has happened?
If the king were to hear of this, he would burn us alive in a furnace!’
Madhumālatī is Awakened
139. The maidservants awakened the Princess and said:
‘Who has come here and destroyed you?
Wake up and look at the
state you’re in!
You did not arise last night, and yet
you have set fire to your own head.
Why did you knowingly swallow poison?
For what did you squander your precious capital?
Why did you harm yourself, swayed by lust?
Why did you bind burning coals in your waist-band?
Why have you disgraced yourself,
why did you shame your family?
You have destroyed yourself, Princess, for the pleasures of a moment.
In piling sins upon your head you have exposed your family to abuse.’
140. The Princess was now wide awake and said:
‘My friends, why do you abuse me thus?
Only a fool could act this way,
one who had no regard for family or virtue.
Do not deprive me of my good name unjustly.
Think well—you can make me touch hot iron,
an ordeal to prove my chastity,
but first judge the gravity of the sin,
then give me whatever punishment you like.
Dear friends, you have accused me of many things.
It does not befit me to keep secrets from you.
There are no differences between us. Sit down, and I’ll tell you carefully about it.
I do not know if it was reality or a dream, nor do I know who dealt me this blow.
141. ‘In a dream I saw a Prince,
but, though a dream, he seemed real enough.
The Creator had fashioned him
to be the image of the God of Love.
He was not Yama,* yet he took my life.
When Yama deals death it hurts only for an instant,
but the pain of love-in-separation
is a death that is died at every moment.
Dear friend, how can I escape this pain?
Without my soul, how can I live in this world?
I cannot stay an hour away from him.
Without any warning, lightning has struck me.
I doubt, sweet friend, whether my body can survive an instant without my soul,
though doubtless this cruel and heartless soul can manage without my body.
142. ‘Everyone in this world loves life, O friend,
but for me it is better to die in separation.
Everyone has to die, but only once,
whereas I, dear friend, die every day.
He brought me love and then deserted me.
He cast a spell and stole my soul.
I had never in my life heard of sorrow
and suddenly I meet it face to face in battle.
Love’s burning pain and my family’s honour,
both have come to entangle my heart.
The pain of love is hard, dear friends, harder than I can ever describe.
Help me, if you can, by giving me poison so that I may die.’
143. Her handmaidens then replied: