54 PADUMAWATI. [106 Like are they to horses that obey not the bridle, but rise and rear until they touch the skies. The tempest bloweth, the waves arise and dash up to heaven and again fall to earth. When this eye-ocean moveth, the whole world is moved, and it threateneth to overwhelm all creation in an instant. Beneath those eye-brows are a pair of whirlpools, which, when they are set in motion, seize the very skies and drown them. When they turn from side to side, the sea moveth its waves, khañjana-birds quarrel among themselves, and deer wander lost through the forest. Each eye is an ocean of milk, filled with gems and waves. In each is a deep-black whirlpool which carrieth away all who approach its bank. 106. "Item.-Eyelashes passing description. (Over each orb) they are as it were two opposed armies with their arrows drawn. The troops of Rāma on the one side and of Rāvaņa on the other are in array, and between them lie the two eyes,-the Ocean.? On each shore is the line of arrows ready drawn; and at whomsoe'er they are aimed, to him they give the tortures of a poisoned wound. Who is there who hath not been smitten by these shafts, for the whole universe hath been pierced by them? The bright stars in the sky, which are beyond all count, have all been wounded by those arrows (and lie there cold and still). Everything upon the earth have they pierced ; the very branches standing out upon the trees (are not branches) but are the arrows of her eyelashes. So is every hair of the down on men's bodies, which they have pierced and in which on every space' they are firmly buried. 1 It must be remembered that the simile of the ocean is preserved throughout. The lotus (i.e., the eyeballs) over which the bees (the pupils) hover are growing in this ocean, and, if we take mānasamüda, in the sense of the sea of milk which was churned by the gods, then the greatest of all horses, Uccaih-cravas, issued from it on that occasion, 2 A simile to the rapid rise and fall of the eyes. When they rise the hopes of the beholder are raised to heaven, when they fall his hopes are dashed to earth. 3 That is to say, the whole world will be drowned in the flood of the ocean. 4 A mālõpama or 'garland' of similes. The glancing eyes are first compared to the waves of the sea. Next they are compared to khanjana-birds (motacilla alba). (This bird is a favourite subject of comparison when describing a lady's eyes. It has a jet black neck, and a very swift and darting manner of flying. When a number of them quarrel amongst themselves these peculiarities are of course heightened). Next they are com- pared to deer wandering lost in the forest. The large and liquid eyes of a deer are never at rest. This peculiarity is heightened when it is lost and anxious. 6 The celebrated ocean of milk which was churned by the gods. 6 The upper and lower lashes are each an army. Each hair represents an arrow. 7 In stanza cv. the eyes have been compared to the ocean. Rāma had to cross the ocean in order to attack Rāvaņa. The upper eyelash represents Rāma's army, and the lower one Rāvana's. The commentary points out that on the lower (i.e., Rāvana's) side are Padmavati's lovely neck (su-grīva), jaw (hanu), and armlets (angada), although, according to legend Hanumān, and Angada were allies of Rāma. 8 The mere aiming is sufficient to wound the unhappy wight upon whom Padmavati's glances fall. 9 Literally on every sūt or thread. The süt is a unit of measurement, about the 16th of an inch. Four süt=1 pain: 4 pain = 1 tasü: 24 tasii =1' imārati gaz or mason's yard. A tasu is about an inch.
