Bibliotheca Polyglotta

munau bruvāñe ’pi tu tatra dharmaṃ dharmaṃ prati jñātiṣu cādṛteṣu |
prāsādasaṃstho madanaikakāryaḥ priyāsahāyo vijahāra nandaḥ ||

4.1 But even when the Sage was there speaking the dharma, and even though other family members heeded the dharma,
Nanda passed the time in the company of his wife, staying in the palace penthouse, solely occupied with love.

sa cakravākyeva hi cakravākas tayā sametaḥ priyayā priyārhaḥ |
nācintayad vaiśrmaṇaṃ na śakraṃ tasthānahetoḥ kuta eva dharmam ||

4.2 For joined with his wife like a greylag gander with a greylag goose, and fitted for love,
He turned his thoughts neither to Vaiśravaṇa nor to Śakra: how much less, in that state, did he think about dharma?

lakṣmyā ca rūpeṇa ca sundarīti stambhena garveṇa ca māninīti |
dīptyā ca mānena ca bhāminīti yato babhāṣe trividhena nāmnā ||

4.3 For her grace and beauty, she was called Lovely Sundarī; for her headstrong pride, Sulky Māninī;
And for her sparkle and spirit, Beautiful Bhāminī. So that she was called by three names.

sā hāsahaṃsā nayandvirephā pīnastanātyunnatapadmakośā |
bhūyo babhāse svakuloditena strīpadminī nandadivākareṇa ||

4.4 She of smiles like the bars of a bar-headed-goose, of eyes like black bees, and swelling breasts like the upward jutting buds of a lotus,
Shimmered all the more, a lotus-pool in female form, with the rising of a kindred luminary, the sun-like Nanda.

rūpeṇa cātyantamanohareṇa rūpānurūpeṇa ca ceṣṭitena |
manuṣyaloke hi tadā babhūva sā sundarī strīṣu nareṣu nandaḥ ||

4.5 For, with inordinately good looks, and moves to match those heart-stealing looks,
There was in the human world at that time, among women, [only] Sundarī, and among men, Nanda.

sā devatā nandanacāriṇīva kulasya nandījananaś ca nandaḥ |
atītya martyān anupetya devān sṛṣṭāv abhūtām iva bhūtadhātrā ||

4.6 She, like a goddess wandering in Indra’s Gardens of Gladness, and Nanda, the bringer of joy to his kin,
Seemed, having gone beyond mortals, and yet not become gods, to be a Creator’s creation in progress.

tāṃ sundarīṃ cen na labheta nandaḥ sā vā niṣeveta na taṃ natabhrūḥ |
dvandaṃ dhruvaṃ tad vikalaṃ na śobhetānyonyahīnāv iva rātricandrau ||

4.7 If Nanda had not won Sundarī, or if she of the arched eyebrows had not gone to him,
Then, deprived of each other, the two would surely have seemed impaired, like the night and the moon.

kandarparatyor iva lakṣyabhūtaṃ pramodanāndyor iva nīḍabhūtam |
praharṣatuṣṭyor iva pātrabhūtaṃ dvandaṃ sahāraṃsta madāndhabhūtam ||

4.8 As though a target of the god of Love and his mistress Pleasure; as though a nest of Ecstasy and Joy;
As though a bowl of Excitement and Contentment; blindly the couple took their pleasure together.

parasparodvīkṣaṇatatparākṣaṃ parasparavyāhṛtasaktacittam |
parasparāśleṣahṛtāṇgarāgaṃ parasparaṃ tan mithunaṃ jahāra ||

4.9 Having eyes only for each other’s eyes, minds hanging on each other’s words,
Mutual embraces rubbing away the pigments that scented their bodies, the couple carried each other away.

bhāvānuraktau girinirjharasthau tau kiṃnarīkiṃpuruṣāv ivobhau |
cikrīḍatuś cābhivirejatuś ca rūpaśriyānyonyam ivākṣipantau ||

4.10 Like a kiṁnara meeting a kiṁnarī by a cascading mountain torrent, in love with love,
The two of them flirted and shone, as if vying to outdo one another in alluring radiance.

anyonyasaṃrāgavivardhanena tad dvandvam anyonyam arīramac ca |
klamāntare ’nyonyavinodanena salīlam anyonyam amīmadac ca ||

4.11 By building up each other’s passion, the pair gave each other sexual satisfaction;
And by playfully teasing each other during languid intervals, they gladdened each other again.

vibhūṣayām āsa tataḥ priyāṃ sa siṣeviṣus tāṃ na mṛjāvahārtham |
svenaiva rūpeṇa vibhūṣitā hi vibhūṣaṇānām api bhuṣaṇaṃ sā ||

4.12 Wishing to cherish his beloved, he bedecked her there in finery, but not with the aim of making her beautiful –
For she was so graced already by her own loveliness that she was rather the adorner of her adornments.

dattvātha sā darpaṇam asya haste mamāgrato dhāraya tāvad enam |
viśeṣakaṃ yāvad ahaṃ karomīty uvāca kāntaṃ sa ca taṃ babhāra ||

4.13 She put a mirror in his hand; “Just hold this in front of me
While I do my face,” she said to her lover, and up he held it.

bhartus tataḥ śmaśru nirīkṣamāṇā viśeṣakaṅ sāpi cakāra tādṛk |
niśvāsavātena ca darpañasya cikitsayitvā nijaghāna nandaḥ ||

4.14 Then, beholding her husband’s stubble she began to paint her face just like it,
But, with a breath on the mirror, Nanda soon took care of that.

sā tena ceṣṭālalitena bhartuḥ śāṭhyena cāntarmanasā jahāsa |
bhavec ca ruṣṭā kila nāma tasmai lalāṭajihmāṃ bhṛkuṭiṃ cakāra ||

4.15 At this wanton gesture of her husband, and at his wickedness, she inwardly laughed;
But, pretending to be furious with him, she cocked her eyebrows and frowned.

cikṣepa karṇotpalam asya cāṃse kareña savyena madālasena |
pattrāṅguliṃ cārdhanimīlitākṣe vaktre ’sya tām eva vinirdudhāva ||

4.16 With a left hand made languid by love, she took a flower from behind her ear and threw it at his shoulder;
Again, as he kept his eyes half-shut, she sprinkled over his face the scented make-up she had been using to powder herself.

tataś calannūpurayoktritābhyāṃ nakhaprabhodhāsitarāṅgulibhyām |
padhyāṃ priyāyā nalinopamābhyāṃ mūrdhnā bhayān nāma nanāma nadaḥ ||

4.17 Then, at his wife’s lotus like feet, which were girt in trembling ankle bracelets,
Their toes sparkling with nail gloss, Nanda bowed his head, in mock terror

sa muktapuṣponmiṣitena mūrdhnā tataḥ priyāyāḥ priyakṛd babhāse |
suvarṇavedyām anilāvabhagnaḥ puṣpātibhārād iva nāgavṛkṣaḥ ||

4.18 As his head emerged from beneath the discarded flower, he made as if to regain his lover’s affections;
He looked like an ornamental nāga tree, overburdened with blossoms, that had toppled in the wind onto its golden pedestal.

sā taṃ stanodvartitahāraṣṭir utthāpayām āsa nipīḍya dorbhyām |
kathaṃ kṛto ’sīti jahāsa coccair mukhena sācīkṛtakuṇḍalena ||

4.19 Pressing him so close in her arms that her pearls lifted off from her swelling breasts, she raised him up;
“What are you doing!?” she cried laughingly, as her earrings dangled across her face.

patyus tato darpaṇasaktapāṇer muhurmuhur vaktram avekṣamāṇā |
tamālapattrārdratale kapole samāpayāmāsa viśeṣakaṃ tat ||

4.20 Then, looking repeatedly at the face of her husband, whose hand had clung to the mirror,
She completed her face-painting, so that the surface of her cheeks was wet with tamāla juice.

tasyā mukhaṅ tat satamālapattraṅ tāmrādharauṣṭhaṃ cikurāyatākṣam |
raktādhikāgraṃ patitadvirephaṅ saśaivalaṅ padmam ivābabhāse ||

4.21 Framed by the tamāla smudges, her face with its cherry red lips, and wide eyes extending to her hair,
Seemed like a lotus framed by duck-weed, with crimson tips, and two big bees settled on it.

nandas tato darpaṇam ādareṇa bibhrat tadāmaṇḍanasākṣibhūtam |
viśeṣakāvekṣaṇakekarākṣo laḍat priyāyā vadanaṃ dadarśa ||

4.22 Attentively now, Nanda held the mirror, which was bearing witness to a work of beauty.
Squinting to see the flecks she had painted, he beheld the face of his impish lover.

tat kuṇḍalādaṣṭaviśeṣakāntaṃ kāraṇḍavakliṣṭam ivāravindam |
nandaḥ priyāyā mukham īkṣamāṇo bhūyaḥ priyānandakaro babhūva ||

4.23 The make-up was nibbled away at its edges by her earrings so that her face was like a lotus that had suffered the attentions of a kāraṇḍava duck.
Nanda, by gazing upon that face, became all the more the cause of his wife’s happiness.

vimānakalpe sa vimānagarbhe tatas tathā caiva nandana nandaḥ |
tathāgataś cāgatabhaikṣakālo bhaikṣāya tasya praviveṣa veśma ||

4.24 While Nanda, inside the palace, in what almost amounted to a dishonour, was thus enjoying himself,
The Tathāgata, the One Thus Come, come begging time, had entered the palace, for the purpose of begging.

avāṅmukho niṣpraṇayaś ca tasthau bhrātu gṛhe ’nyasya gṛhe yathaiva |
tasmād atho preṣyajanapramādād bhikṣām alabdhaiva punar jagāma ||

4.25 With face turned down, he stood, in his brother’s house as in any other house, not expecting anything;
And then, since due to the servants’ oversight, he received no alms, he went again on his way.

kā cit pipeṣāṅgavilepanaṃ hi vāso ’ṅganā kā cid avāsayac ca |
ayojayat snānavidhiṃ tathānyā jagranthur anyāḥ surabhīḥ srajaś ca ||

4.26 For one woman was grinding fragrant body oils; another was perfuming clothes;
Another, likewise, was preparing a bath; while other women strung together sweet-smelling garlands

tasmin gṛhe bhartur ataś carantyaḥ krīḍānurūpaṃ lalitaṃ niyogam |
kāś cin na buddhaṃ dadṛśur yuvatyo buddhasya vaiṣā niyataṅ manīṣā ||

4.27 The girls in that house were thus so busy doing work to promote their master’s romantic play
That none of them had seen the Buddha – or so the Buddha inevitably concluded.

kā cit sthitā tatra tu harmyapṛṣṭhe gavākṣapakṣe praṇidhāya cakṣuḥ |
viniṣpatantaṃ sugataṃ dadarśa payodagarbhād iva dīptam arkam ||

4.28 One woman there, however, on glancing through a round side-window on the upper storey of the palace,
Had seen the Sugata, the One Gone Well, going away – like the blazing sun emerging from a cloud.

sā gauravaṃ tatra vicārya bhartuḥ svayā ca bhaktyārhatayārhataś ca |
nandasya tasthau purato vivakṣus tadājñayā ceti tadācacakṣe ||

4.29 Thinking in that moment of the importance of the Worthy One to the master of the house, and through her own devotion to the Worthy One,
She stood before Nanda, intending to speak. And then, with his permission, up she spoke:

anugrahāyāsya janasya śaṅke gurur gṛhaṃ no bhagavān praviṣṭaḥ |
bhikṣām alabdhvā giram āsanaṃ vā sūnyād araṇyād iva yāti bhūyaḥ ||

4.30 “To show favour to us, I suppose, the Glorious One, the Guru, came into our house;
Having received neither alms, nor welcoming words, nor a place to sit, he is going away, as if from an empty forest.”

śrutvā maharṣeḥ sa gṛhapraveśaṃ satkārahīnaṃ ca punaḥprayāṇam |
cacāla citrābharaṇāmbarasrak kalpadrumo dhūta ivānilena ||

4.31 When he heard that the great Seer had entered his house and departed again without receiving a welcome,
[Nanda] in his brightly-coloured gems and garments and garlands, flinched, like a tree in Indra’s paradise shaken by a gust of wind.

kṛtvāñjaliṃ mūrdhani padmakalpaṃ tataḥ sa kāntāṃ gamanaṃ yayāce |
kartuṃ gamiṣyāmi gurau praṇāmaṃ mām abhyanujñātum ihārhasīti ||

4.32 He brought to his forehead hands joined in the shape of a lotus bud, and then he begged 13 his beloved to be allowed to go:
“I would like to go and pay my respects to the Guru. Please permit me, this once.”

sā vepamānā parisasvaje taṃ śālaṃ latā vātasamīriteva |
dadarśa cāśuplutalolanetrā dīrghaṃ ca niśvasya vaco ’bhyuvāca ||

4.33 Shivering, she twined herself around him, like a wind-stirred creeper around a teak tree;
She looked at him through unsteady tear-filled eyes, took a deep breath, and told him:

nāhaṃ yiyāsor gurudarśanārtham arhāmi kartuṃ tava dharmapīḍām |
gacchāryaputraihi ca śīghram eva viśeṣako yāvad ayaṅ na śuṣkaḥ ||

4.34 “Since you wish to go and see the Guru, I shall not stand in the way of your dharma-duty.
Go, noble husband! But come quickly back, before this paint on my face is dry.

saced bhaves tvaṃ khalu dīrghasūtro daṇdaṃ mahāntaṃ tvayi pātayeyam |
muhurmuhus tvāṃ śayitaṃ kucābhyāṃ vibodhayeyaṃ ca na cālapeyam ||

4.35 If you dawdle, I will punish you severely:
As you sleep I shall with my breasts, repeatedly wake you, and then not respond.

athāpy anāśyānaviśeṣakāyāṃ mayy eṣyasi tvaṃ tvaritaṃ tatas tvām |
nipīḍayiṣyāmi bhujadvayena nirbhūṣañenārdravilepanena ||

4.36 But if you hurry back to me before my face-paint is dry,
Then I will hold you close in my arms with nothing on except fragrant oils.”

ity evam uktaś ca nipīḍitaś ca tayāsavarṇasvanayā jagāda |
evaṃ kariṣyāmi vimuñca caṇḍi yāvad gurur dūragato na me saḥ ||

4.37 Thus implored, and squeezed, by a dissonant-sounding [Sundarī], [Nanda] said:
“I will, my little vixen. Now let me go, before the Guru has gone too far.”

tataḥ stanodvartitacandanābhyāṃ mukto bhujābhyāṃ na tu mānasena |
vihāya veṣaṃ madanānurūpaṃ satkārayogyaṃ sa vapur babhāra ||

4.38 And so, with arms made fragrant by her swollen sandal-scented breasts, she let him go – but not with her heart.
He took off clothes that were suited to love and took on a form that befitted his task.

sā taṃ prayāntaṃ ramaṇaṃ pradadhyau pradhyānaśūnyasthitaniścalākṣī |
sthitoccakarṇā vyapaviddhaśaṣpā bhrāntasṃ mṛgaṃ bhrāntaṃ mṛgaṅ bhrāntaṃ mukhī mṛgīva ||

4.39 She contemplated her lover leaving with brooding, empty, unmoving eyes,
Like a doe standing with ears pricked up as she lets grass drop down; and as, with a perplexed expression, she contemplates the stag wandering away.

didṛkṣayākṣiptamanā munes tu nandaḥ prayāṇaṃ prati tatvare ca |
vivṛttadṛṣṭiś ca śanair yayau tāṃ karīva paśyan sa laḍatkareñum ||

4.40 With his mind gripped by desire to set eyes upon the Sage, Nanda hurried his exit;
But then he went ponderously, and with backward glances – like an elephant looking back at a playful she-elephant.

chātodariṃ pīnapayodharoruṃ sa sundarīṃ rukmadarīm ivādreḥ |
kākṣeṇa paśyan na tatarpa nandaḥ pibann ivaikena jalaṃ kareṇa ||

4.41 Between her swelling cloud-like breasts and [the buttresses] of her full thighs, Sundarī’s lean abdomen was like a golden fissure in a rock formation:
Looking at her could satisfy Nanda no better than drinking water out of one hand.

taṅ gauravaṃ buddhagataṃ cakarṣa bhāryānurāgaḥ punar ācakarṣa |
sa ’niścayān nāpi yayau na tasthau turaṃs taraṅgeṣv iva rājahaṃsaḥ ||

4.42 Reverence for the Buddha drew him on; love for his wife drew him back:
Irresolute, he neither stayed nor went, like a king-goose pushing forwards against the waves.

adarśanaṃ tūpagataś ca tasyā harmyāt tataś cāvatatāra tūrṇam |
śrutvā tato nūpuranisvanaṃ sa punar lalambe hṛdaye gṛhītaḥ ||

4.43 Once she was out of sight, he descended from the palace quickly –
Then he heard the sound of ankle bracelets, and back he hung, gripped in his heart again.

sa kāmarāgeña nigṛhyamāṇo dharmānurāgeña ca kṛṣyamāṇaḥ |
jagāma duḥkhena vivartyamānaḥ plavaḥ pratisrota ivāpagāyāḥ ||

4.44 Held back by his love of love, and drawn forward by his love for dharma,
He struggled on, being turned about 15 like a boat on a river going against the stream.

tataḥ kramair dīrghatamaiḥ pracakrame kataṃ nu yāto na gurur bhaved iti |
svajeya tāṃ caiva viśeṣakapriyāṃ kathaṃ priyām ārdraviśeṣakām iti ||

4.45 Then his strides became longer, as he thought to himself, “Maybe the Guru is no longer there!”
“Might I after all embrace my love, who is so especially loveable, while her face-paint is still wet?”

atha sa pathi dadarśa muktamānaṃ pitṛnagare ’pi tathāgatābhimānam |
daśabalam abhito vilambamānaṃ dhvajam anuyāna ivaindram arcyamānam ||

4.46 And so on the road [Nanda] saw the One in Whom Absence Was Thus, the Tathāgata, devoid of pride and – even in his father’s city – haughtiness thus absent;
Seeing the Possessor of Ten Powers stopping and being honoured on all sides, [Nanda] felt as if he were following Indra’s flag.

saundaranande mahākāvye bhāryāyācitako nāma caturthaḥ sargaḥ ||

The 4th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled “A Wife’s Appeal.”

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