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for bards, fanned by trees with their clusters of blossoms, waving like chowries. In it he and the minister's son saw a great lake, looking like a second sea, the birthplace of lotuses*[1] of various colours; and in that pool of gods there was seen by him a maiden of heavenly appearance, who had come there with her attendants to bathe. She seemed to fill the splendid tank with the flood of her beauty, and with her glances to create in it a new forest of blue lotuses. With her face, that surpassed the moon in beauty, she seemed to put to shame the white lotuses, and she at once captivated with it the heart of that prince. The youth too, in the same way, took with a glance such complete possession of her eyes, that she did not regard her own modesty or
even her ornaments. And as he was looking at her with his attendants,
and wondering who she was, she made, under pretence of pastime, a sign
to tell him her country and other particulars about her. She took a lotus from her garland of flowers, and put it in her ear, and she remained for a long time twisting it into the form of an ornament called dantapatra or tooth-leaf, and then she took another lotus and placed it on her head, and she laid her hand significantly upon her heart. The prince did not at that time understand those signs, but his sagacious friend the minister's son did understand them. The maiden soon departed, being led away from that place by her attendants, and when she had reached her own house, she flung herself down on a sofa, but her heart remained with that prince, to justify the sign she had made.
The prince, for his part, when without her, was like a Vidyádhara who has lost his magic knowledge, and, returning to his own city, he fell into a miserable condition. And one day the minister's son questioned him in private, speaking of that beauty as easy to obtain, whereupon he lost his self-command and exclaimed, " How is she to be obtained, when neither her name, nor her village, nor her origin is known? So why do you offer me false comfort?" When the prince said this to the minister's son, he answered, " What ! did you not see, what she told you by her signs? By placing the lotus in her ear, she meant to say this, ' I live in the realm of king Karnotpala.' By making it into the tooth-leaf ornament she meant to say, ' Know that I am the daughter of a dentist †[2] there.' By lifting up the lotus she let you know her name was Padmávatí; and by placing her hand on her heart she told you that it was yours. Now there is a king
- ↑ * In this there is a pun; the word translated " lotus" may also refer to Lakshmi the wife of Vishnu.
- ↑ † Pandit Śyámá Charan Mukhopádhyáya thinks that the word danlagháțaka must mean "dentist:" the Petersburg lexicographers take it to mean, "a worker in ivory." His name Sangrámavardhana has a warlike sound. Pandit Maheśa Chandra Nyáyaratna thinks that dantagháța is a proper name. If so, sangrámavardhana must mean prime minister.
