Vallabhadeva
Subhashitavali
translated from the Sanskrit Subhashitavali by A. N. D. Haksar
1.
Love’s battle over, and the maid
takes care of all her warriors:
to hips the skirt, to breasts a garland,
to her red lips a betel leaf;
a tinkling bracelet to her wrist,
for her ears a pair of rings,
and then she knots with care
her long dishevelled hair.
2.
Girls must be rare for this young priest,
his ways are rough, he has no skill:
at night, in lover’s guise, he was
like untimely death for me.
3.
Will a monk’s dress cure
the mind impure?
Why go after hair?
Tonsure care.
4.
He cannot read another’s writing
nor others his; the curious thing
is that he himself cannot decipher
that of which he is the writer.
5.
The lion will not tolerate
the roaring of a thunder cloud,
nor a well bred horse the whip,
or a proud and noble mind
the finger raised in admonition.
6.
Smelling of wine and roasted meat,
with serving maids and dancers full,
it is a whorehouse that you see,
with all your rake’s devotion, there.
The goddess of the shrine, you know,
is that madam, looking about
every day to catch some gallants
to victims be for sacrifice.
Translated by A. N. D. Haksar
Page(s) 138-139
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