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Shringara-manjari Katha (translation and notes)

by Kumari Kalpalata K. Munshi | 1959 | 99,373 words

An English translation of the Shringara-manjari Katha by Bhojadeva. This detailed study includes four sections. The Introduction outlines the manuscript's unique features and provides a content analysis. The second section contains the Sanskrit text complemented by an index of proper names. The third section offers an English translation excluding ...

Section 4 - Description of the Heroine of the Katha

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And of that king there is (a courtesan called SRNGARAMANJARI). She is the presiding deity of the wealth of beauty that bewitches all people; the one abode of Love, who vanquishes the treasure of beauty of the heavenly damsels by her own beauty; who has a braid of hair quietly hidden behind her like a mass of darkness whose advance in the front has been checked by the refulgence of the ever-shining moon in the form of her face; who holds as it were the white umbrella of facial beauty won by the loveliness of its broad forehead which looks like the digit of the moon on its eighth day, and which conquers the three worlds with its staff in the form on the forehead; who bears two creepers in the form of eyebrows as dark as oily collyrium, slightly bent at the corners due to the (weight) of the fruits in the form of deep love, with the bunch of flowers in the form of glances, and which are continuously resorted to by bees in the form of the eyes of youngmen; (11) who is adorned

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with eyes looking like a pair of lotuses with unsteady bees within it; who looks bright with two cheeks resembling the disc of the moon cut into two in order to remove the dark spot; who is charming with a pair of shapely ears as delicate as the Sirisa flowers and looking like the ropes of the snare of the hunter Madana skillful in catching the deer in the form of the young men; who is beauteous with the bridge of the nose, with its tip a little raised, resembling the staff of the lute of the fish-bannered God; who looks splendid with lips as red as the ripe bimba fruit or coral of the sea of love, or a leaf of the creeper of Love; who is charming with the sprout-like neck with three lines, as delicate as the spring of the trees of Love, as sweet in sound as a conch; who has creeper-like arms which by its tenderness mock the lotus plant, on which due to the illusion of its being a lotus-stalk rests (two) hands like (two) open red lotuses with filaments in the form of the rays of the glowing, tender nails and which (arms) are attractive because of their well-formed curves and fleshiness; who has a pair of breasts, plump and well formed with the tips a little lowered, looking as though they were a couple of pots to store sensual pleasures; who is adorned with a waist which is as difficult to be reached as the knotty thoughts of Mimamsa «which are difficult to understand», which (waist) was not visible though desired to be seen by all being concealed by the plump breasts, which though thin had accepted the three folds, which though delicate had the capacity to bear the weight of the stout breasts, and which though in the middle yet stood foremost among all the charming things; whose waist was decorated by a navel as deep as a lake fit enough for the scented elephants of Madana to enter for merriment; whose abdomen was divided into two by a line of hair affording comparison with the string of the bow of Smara and the line of rut oozing from the elephant of youth, possessing the temples in the form of breasts; who had hips as wide as the jewel slabs of the pleasure mountain, looking like a moving place for the elephant in the form of Madana; whose lower portion (of the body) had two thighs resembling two tying posts of the intoxicated elephants of Madana and which resembled the trunks of the golden plantain placed opposite each other; who looked shapely with thighs. which were wellformed and symmetrical, not very straight, graceful and which surpassed the plantain stump in its softness; whose loveliness was augmented by the feet which were like two lotuses, offered as gifts by the lake of lotuses, being itself vanquished by the splendour of the moon in the form of her face; whose pair of feet were adorned with a row of well-grown glowing nails as if they were a row of mirriors of Kandarpa to see all the limbs; who was enveloped in lovliness which over-flowed after completely filling in all the limbs, just as she was always surrounded with servants; who was wearing

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a pair of emerald earings looking like a pair of wheels of the chariot of Love in the form of her moon-like face; who every day increased the shade of the patra-lata painted on the cheeks as if for affording rest to the eyes of the lovers pained by the anguish of the fever of love caused by the flow of excessive beauty; wearing on her bosom a necklace looking like a clear stream of nectar flowing from the pot-like breasts for the coronation of king Madana, looking like the banner of victory of her own good fortune and bearing resemblance to a slough of the snake in the form of Madana, protecting the pots of the treasure of love in the form of the breasts;. (12) She vanquishes Rati; even the uncensured meet her; she speaks sweetly and nobly, smiles even when laughed at, gives up vulgarity, and is not given to too much sexual pleasures; she pleases others though not in love herself, and comes in contact with the lovelorn, though not attached herself; (on seeing her) even Goddess Sri. who considered herself to have surpassed the Glory of Beauty by her own beauty, betook to the lotus grove; she seemed to be created by the Lord Creator, a lake of loveliness, full of the sentiment of love, for the.... elephants of Love to wander about, pleasing due to the blue-lotuses in the form of eyes and blooming day-lotuses in the form of the face, adorned with the lotus plant in the form of the delicate creeper of hands, with a pair of Cakravaka birds in the form of high and plump breasts, possessing a whirl pool in the form of a deep navel and glittering waves in the form of the three folds (on her stomach); she was as if another conquering weapon created by Madana for gaining victory over the three worlds after seeing the uselessness of his own weapons in the strife with Siva. She is unrepulsive in dress, faultless in local dialects, civilized in talks, distinguished in both kinds of sixtyfour arts, clever in grasping the ideas of KAMASUTRA and the like; bold in questioning and answering different kinds of puzzling riddles; alert in eloquence; in lasya dance, she has attained her mark; she is unrivalled in completing stanzas; well-enlightened in essays and treatises; excellent in composing poetry; foremost in composing gathas; extremely interested in sports; moderate in drinking; turned away from vices; introspective while considering the purport of poetry; undeceived by clever speech; beyond censure in music; foremost in playing instruments like the drum; great in sacrifice; not very greedy and knowing different ways of playing lute and dancing. It seemed the royal swans adopted graceful movements from her lotus feet; the plantains drew shapeliness, softness and delicacy etc. from her thighs; the mountains drew the expanse from her buttocks; the lakes acquired depth from her navel; the rivers took the beauty of the waves from her abdomen with three folds; Smara

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fashioned his bow-string from her beautiful line of hair; the Cakravaka birds learnt keeping close company from her pair of breasts; the lotus plants drew out tenderness from her creeper-like hands; the Asoka sprouts took loveliness from her lotus-like hands; the conchshells adopted the beauty of three lines from her neck; the clusters of corals drew from her lips the natural excellence of redness; the Kanakaketaki acquired pure brilliance from her cheeks; the doe took unsteadiness from her eyes; the Pundarika took whiteness from her, the Ketaka leaves took sharpness; the good adopted straight-forwardness; the bees blackness; the moon its curvature from her pair of creeper-like eyebrows; the knots of the string of Smara's bow the beauty of form; the strung bow of Love acquired the beauty of form from her forehead; the plumages of peacocks got the charm to allure mens' mind from her braid of hair; the fullmoon drew constant splendour and the charm of bewitching mens' eyes from her face; the cuckoo drew sweetness from her speech; and the beds of salt took salinity «loveliness» from all her limbs. (13) In not using the following bevy of helps the Lord Creator must have procured some other implements for the creation of her beauty. Thus he did not take the mass of hair of the camari; not the plumages of peacocks, not swarms of bees, not the crescent moon, not slabs of gold,. not blooming Indivaras, not Ketaki leaves covered by bees at a corner, not the graces of doe's eyes, not Patala flowers, not the beauty of the staff of Madana's lute, not the Bimbi fruits, not the Bandhujiva flowers, not the clusters of corals, not the sparkle of the seeds of the ripe promegranates, not the cooing of the cuckoos, not the notes of the lute, not the beauty of Bandhuka flowers, not the white splendour of blooming Kanaka campakas, not the knots of the bow-strings of Smara, not sprouts, not conchshells, not lotus plants, not the Syama creeper, not fresh leaves, not red lotuses, not pairs of Cakravaka birds, not the temples of elephants, not the waves of the river, not the loveliness of Smara's bow-string, not naves of the wheels of Madana's chariot, not slabs of precious stones, not slabs of gold, not trunks of plaintain, not the teeth of the Lord of elephants, not Kokanadas, not pearls, not the stars in autumn, not the gait of the Lord of elephants and not the movements of the royal swans. And yet the wonderful Creator created her, a storehouse of wonder. Oh! the skill of the Creator in fashioning this supernatural beauty! She possesses 'lavanya' «loveliness» yet is not saline <caustic>; though common <harlot» is uncommon <unique>; she becomes attached to any one near at hand like a crystal doll <which takes the colour of any adjunct placed near it»; she loves no family like Draupadi who loved Nakula»; she exhibits fleeting fancy like the rainy season «in which lightning is seen»; with whom all desire to sleep

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like night when all wish to sleep»; she produces love like the nonfighting Krsna «who generates love; she smells sweet by the musk of deer like the land of Nepala «which is fragrant with the musk of deer»; she has a pleasing and sweet voice like the grounds of Udyana which have sweet-voiced cuckoos; she is adorned with patrabhanga of Kalaguru like Pragjyotisa which has leaves of Kalaguru; and her eyes are intoxicated due to much sleeplessness like a female snake whose eyes are intoxicated with poison and many young ones». wm << She looks beautiful with knots of curly hair like the army of Gods which has rounded snares of Varuna; she has beautiful hair like the slopes of Kailasa which has the city of Alaka; she has a beautiful nose like the favourite folk lore of people which has descriptions of the regions of Nasik; she speaks charmingly like the forest regions which abound in lovely Tamala, Panasa and Ara frees; she has a charming lower-lip like the earth which has a fine Sona mountain; she who shows her cotton string round the loins like the stage where trunks of plaintain are used as decorations; she has long beautiful eyes like the story of Hariscandra in which the one with beautiful eyes was sent away; she has a well shaped neck. like the Kiskindha cave where Sugriva lived; her well-formed and long hands are well-known like the story of Ramayana in which the demons Subahu and Prahasta are famous; she is fascinating with a navel and plump breasts like the rainy season which is pleasant due to the rumbling of clouds; she has a slender and beautiful waist like the metre Ujjavala where the middle syllable is short; she has uniform thighs like the country which has multitudes of beasts; she is familiar with the gait of the royal swans like the cavities of Kraunca mountain where the footsteps of royal swans are common; she has well-formed pair of thighs like the dice-playing of the Kurus and the Pandavas in which the fight of thighs had started, and who utters amorous words like the prose composition 'SRNGARAMANJARI' which has elegant words. She, being in the midst of the refulgence of her body spreading everywhere, seems to laugh at Lakshmi standing in the middle of the waters churned by the Mandara mountain; she turns the steady looking mortals into immortals with unblinking eyelids while gazing at the beauty of her limbs; . . . ; who causes the paramours to experience a terrible, strange and poignant feat of unconsciousness, (14) and who vanquishes the unbent groves of lotuses by her pair of eyes, straight and constantly moving. Her moon-face is singular for it is always fully formed, its lustre shines forth even during the day, it has abandoned the spot, it has friendship with day-lotuses and enmity with night lotuses, and it possesses a lustre which produces passion in all; she decks her hair with sprays of flowers as if they were the arrows of the flower-arrowed-one for piercing the hearts

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of lovers; from her naturally fragrant lotus-like face, beautiful with the leaves in the form of the red lips, and shining bright with the pollen in the form of the lustre of the teeth, the rows of bees in the form of the eyes of the young men with steady lotus-like eyelashes did not move even a step as if intoxicated with drinking the honey of her beauty; she has two bowls in the form of breasts, big and plump, and filled with the water of loveliness for extinguishing the fire of passion burning in the hearts of the lovers. It seems, for a study in creating her beauty, the Creator first created young-damsels like Laksmi, Rati and other apsarases, other wise, how would it have been possible to create such loveliness which needs distinguished skill in production, and which conquers by its feminine beauty all the three worlds? Who are the persons who love her not? What are they? Who are not deceived? Who are not cheated? Who have not given their all to her? Where are the brahmanas, kings, princes, merchants, kayasthas and familymen who have not become her slaves? He who knows her thinks that he alone is dear to her, and that she loves him only. She sometimes receives herds of elephants, sometimes teams of horses, sometimes heaps of gold, and sometimes curious and gorgeous jewels and clothes. Thus her riches which daily augment become plenteous. Even then she does not give up harlotry. She gives a promise only for five-hundred gold pieces, and because of the splendour of her unrivalled beauty, she never sleeps alone.

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