Thus the king considered and could not look enough at her; and the chariot passing away did not comply with his heart's desire. He went back to his palace, like one absent-minded, thinking of nothing but her; his firmness of mind had been confounded by Manmatha. So he asked his charioteer Sunanda secretly:
11. 'Do you know, whose is the house that was surrounded by a white wall, and who is she whose beauty did shine there like lightning in a white cloud?'
The charioteer answered: 'Your Majesty has a high official named Abhipâraga. His is that house, and she is his wife, a daughter to Kirîtavatsa, of herself she is called Unmâdayantî.' After hearing this, the thought that she was the wife of another caused his heart to faint, and sorrowful meditation made his eyes rigid. Often he heaved long and deep sighs, and thinking of nothing but her, said in a low voice to himself:
12. 'Alas! She bears her soft and lovely-sounding name rightly, indeed. This sweet-smiling Unmâdayantî has made me almost mad.
13. 'I would forget her, yet I see her always in my mind. For my thoughts are with her, or rather it is she who is the ruler of my mind.
14. 'And this weakness of mind is mine concerning the wife of another! No doubt, I am mad; shame, it seems, has left me, just as sleep has.
15. 'While absorbed in representing to myself with rapture the grace of her features, her smiles, her looks, O that sudden sound of the metal plate[1], reminding me by its bold tone of the regular order of my royal business, rouses my wrath.'
In such a way the king's firmness was shaken by the power of passionate love. And although he endeavoured to compose his mind, his languishing appearance and emaciating body, his frequent absorption
- ↑ Strokes on a metal plate, sounding every half-hour, are to announce the time to the king.
