drive mad. Protector art thou; save thou us. False is thy compassion; could there be any man more pitiless than thou?" May he, whom Māra's beauties thus addressed, the Buddha, the conqueror, protect you.'
But Harṣa's chief merit is undoubtedly shown in erotic verses as in the description of the shyness of the new-made bride in the Nāgānanda:[1]
dṛṣṭā dṛṣṭim adho dadhāti kurute nālāpam ābhāṣitā
çayyāyām parivṛtya tiṣṭhati balād ālin̄gitā vepate
niryāntīṣu sakhīṣu vāsabhavanān nirgantum evehate
jātā vāmatayaiva me 'dya sutarām prītyai navoḍhā priyā.
'Looked at, she casts down her face; addressed, she gives no reply; with head averted she lies on the couch; forcibly embraced, she trembles; when her maidens leave her chamber, she seeks also to depart; perverse though she be, my new-wed love delights me more and more.' The accuracy of the aim of love as an archer is described in the Ratnāvalī:[2]
manaḥ prakṛtyaiva calaṁ durlakṣyaṁ ca tathāpi me
anan̄gena kathaṁ viddhaṁ samaṁ sarvaçilīmukhāiḥ.
'Mind is naturally mobile and hard to find; nevertheless mine has been pierced by love at once with all his darts.' In entire harmony with Indian taste Harṣa dwells on the points of physical perfection in the adored one in the Nāgānanda:[3]
khedāya stanabhāra eṣa kim u te madhyasya hāro 'paras
tāmyaty ūruyugaṁ nitambabharataḥ kañcyānayā kim punaḥ
çaktiḥ padayugasya noruyugalaṁ vodhuṁ kuto nūpurau
svān̄gair eva vibhūṣitāsi vahasi kleçāya kiṁ maṇḍanam?
'The burden of thy bosom serves to weary thy waist; why then add the weight of thy necklace? Thy thighs are wearied by the bearing of thy hips; why then thy girdle of bells? Thy feet can barely carry the load of thy thighs; why add thine anklets? When in every limb thou dost possess such grace, why dost thou wear ornaments to thy weariness?' Harṣa is also capable of expressing a deeper side of love, as when the king in the Ratnāvalī[4] fancies that Vāsavadattā has been driven to suicide by his faithlessness:
