Untitled

e administered to her by the hands of Gautami. [Exit.
THE SACRED BOOKS
contrive that soothing waters, hallowed in the sacrifice,
ACT THIRD
SCENE.
THE SACRED GROVE
Enter King Dushyanta, with the air of
one in love.
KING [sighing thoughtfully]. The holy sage possesses
power
In virtue of his penance ; she, his ward,
Under the shadow of his tutelage
Rests in security. I know it well ;
Yet sooner shall the rushing cataract
In foaming eddies re-ascend the steep,
Than my fond heart turn back from its pursuit.
God of Love ! God of the flowery shafts ! we are all of
us cruelly deceived by thee, and by the Moon, however
deserving of confidence you may both appear.
For not to us do these thine arrows seem
Pointed with tender flowerets ;
not to us
Doth the pale moon irradiate the earth
With beams of silver fraught with cooling dews :
But on our fevered frames the moon-beams fall
Like darts of fire,
and every flower-tipped shaft
Of Kama, as it
probes our throbbing hearts,
Seems to be barbed with hardest adamant.
Adorable god of love hast thou no ! pity for me [In a
tone of anguish.] How can thy arrows be so sharp
when they are pointed with flowers Ah! I know the
reason :
E'en now in thine unbodied essence lurks
The fire of Siva's anger, like the flame
That ever hidden in the secret depths
Of ocean, smolders there unseen. How else
Couldst thou, all immaterial as thou art,
Inflame our hearts thus fiercely
thou, whose form