every kind of plenty, besides elephants and horses
and cars in myriads. And having consulted with
Sudeshna thus, Kichaka went to princess Draupadi, and
like a jackal in the forest accosting a lioness, spoke
unto Krishna these words in a winning voice, ’Who
and whose art thou, O beautiful one? And O thou
of beautiful face, whence hast thou come to the city
of Virata? Tell me all this, O fair lady.
Thy beauty and gracefulness are of the very first
order and the comeliness of thy features is unparalleled.
With its loveliness thy face shineth ever like the
resplendent moon. O thou of fair eye-brows, thy
eyes are beautiful and large like lotus-petals.
Thy speech also, O thou of beautiful limbs, resembles
the notes of the cuckoo. O thou of fair hips,
never before in this world have I beheld a woman possessed
of beauty like thine, O thou of faultless features.
Art thou Lakshmi herself having her abode in the midst
of lotuses or, art thou, O slender-waisted one, she
who is called Bhuti[13]. Or, which amongst these—Hri,
Sri, Kirti and Kanti,—art thou, O thou of
beautiful face? Or possessed of beauty like Rati’s,
art thou, she who sporteth in the embraces of the
God of love? O thou that possessest the fairest
of eye-brows, thou shinest beautifully even like the
lovely light of the moon. Who is there in the
whole world that will not succumb to the influence
of desire beholding thy face? Endued with unrivalled
beauty and celestial grace of the most attractive
kind, that face of thine is even like the full moon,
its celestial effulgence resembling his radiant face,
its smile resembling his soft-light, and its eye-lashes
looking like the spokes on his disc? Both thy
bosoms, so beautiful and well-developed and endued
with unrivalled gracefulness and deep and well-rounded
and without any space between them, are certainly
worthy of being decked with garlands of gold.
Resembling in shape the beautiful buds of the lotus,
these thy breast, O thou of fair eye-brows, are even
as the whips of Kama that are urging me forward, O
thou of sweet smiles, O damsel of slender waist, beholding
that waist of thine marked with four wrinkles and
measuring but a span, and slightly stooping forward
because of the weight of thy breasts, and also looking
on those graceful hips of thine broad as the banks
of a river, the incurable fever of desire, O beauteous
lady, afflicteth me sore. The flaming fire of
desire, fierce as a forest conflagration, and fanned
by the hope my heart cherisheth of a union with thee
is consuming me intensely. O thou of exceeding
beauty quench thou that flaming fire kindled by Manmatha.
Union with thee is a rain-charged cloud, and the surrender
of thy person is the shower that the cloud may drop.
O thou of face resembling the moon, the fierce and
maddening shafts of Manmatha whetted and sharpened
by the desire of a union with thee, piercing this
heart of mine in their impetuous course, have penetrated
into its core. O black-eyed lady, those impetuous