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(The Cloud Messenger) by In the second section of Meghaduta, called the Uttaramegha, the Yaksha describes to the cloud, his beloved city of Alaka. (Alati bhushayati iti alaka; The city is called Alaka because of its grandeur. It is also called Vasundhara, vasusthali, Prabha a ) He pictures a city where normally no sorrow is known and where tears flow only for joy, where grief comes only because of separation from a beloved one and where separation is caused only because of love-quarrels. He talks of a city whose mansions are rinsed by the moonlight shed by the brows of Shiva, whose home is a grove lying outside Alaka -"Bahyodyana Sthithaharashirachandrikabhowtaharmya". The verse 64 in which the Yaksha talks of a city where the man-sions are comparable to the majesty of the cloud itself is a tribute to Kalidasa's power of finding similes. It says: sangitaya prahatamurajaha snigdhagambhiraghosham antastoyam manimayabhuvastangamabhramlihagraha prasadastvam tulayitumalam yatra staistairvisheshaihi "Where (in Alaka) the mansions are your equals (because) you have your flashing lightning and they have their women who shine with their personal charm, you have your rainbows and they have their paintings, you have your deep and soothing thunder and they have drums beating for dance and music, you are made up of water and they with floors inlaid with gems, you tower high in the sky and they raise their roofs to touch the sky." The Yaksha directs the cloud the way to his house in this city of wealth, where jewels studded with precious stones are so shining that they illuminate the houses. The verses 72 to 77 in which the Yaksha describes his mansion, and talks fondly about the land-marks - like the pool with emerald steps full of golden lotus flowers, the red ashoka tree which longs, like the Yaksha himself, for a little nudge by the left foot of the lovely lady, "Ekaha sakhyastava saha maya vamapadabhilashi", (the asoka tree is supposed to burst into flowers when it is kicked by beautiful ladies), the golden perch on which alights the peacock, the dear friend of his beloved wife, the peacock which dances to the music of the bangles worn by her as she claps her hand - by which it can recognise the proper house are some of the beautiful ones in Meghaduta. The most heart rending verses are ofcourse those in which the Yaksha de-scribes his beloved wife and the state in which she is, on be-ing separated from him. He talks of how the cloud may find her (# 83) sitting down with a Veena in her lap trying to sing a song which she herself composed weaving the name of her beloved into the words of the composition, how eventhough, she somehow gets the Veena tuned though its strings get damp with tears flowing unchecked from her eyes, she cannot really sing the song because in her sorrow she has forgotten the tune which she herself had composed. madgotranka virachitapadam geyamudgatakama tantrimadram nayanasalilaihi sarayitva kathanchi dubhuyo bhuyaha svayamapi krutam murchanam vismaranti The Yaksha says ( # 87) that the cloud may also find that the night is being punctuated by the sighs of his beloved girl while she longs for sleep so that they could hold each other atleast in dreams, but even which will be denied to her be-cause the flood of tears pouring on her cheeks clog the pas-sage of sleep. If the cloud does indeed find her sleeping, im-plores the Yaksha of the cloud, it should not wake her up be-cause its thunder may scare her, but should rather wait a while and wake her up with a soft breeze cooled by its dew, (Shietalenaanilena). The cloud should gently deliver the mes-sage sent by the Yaksha which describes his longing for her and which swears of his eternal love for her. |