DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0447
NALA IN EXILE 363
proclaimed the coming of Rituparna, and King Bhima
gave permission that he should enter by the city gate.
All that region echoed the thunder of the rumbling
chariot. Nala's horses, which Varshneya had driven
from Nishadha, and were within the city, careered and
neighed aloud as if Nala were beside them once again.
Damayanti also heard the approaching chariot, and
her beating heart was like a cloud which thunders as
the rain cometh on. Her soul was thrilled by the
familiar sound, and it seemed to her that Nala was draw-
ing nigh.1 . . . On the palace roofs peacocks craned
their necks and danced,2 and elephants in their stalls,
with uplifted trunks, trumpeted aloud as if rain were
about to fall.
Damayanti said: "The sound of the chariot fills my
soul with ecstasy. Surely my lord cometh. Oh, if I
see not soon the moon-fair face of Nala I will surely
die, for, thinking of his virtues, my heart is rent with
sorrow. Unless he cometh now I will no longer live,
but will perish by fire."
1 This recalls: " He came even unto them. . . . The driving is like the driving of
Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously."—2 Kings, ix, 20.
2 The Indian peacock is sensitive to rain, and goes round "dancing" when it is
coming on.
proclaimed the coming of Rituparna, and King Bhima
gave permission that he should enter by the city gate.
All that region echoed the thunder of the rumbling
chariot. Nala's horses, which Varshneya had driven
from Nishadha, and were within the city, careered and
neighed aloud as if Nala were beside them once again.
Damayanti also heard the approaching chariot, and
her beating heart was like a cloud which thunders as
the rain cometh on. Her soul was thrilled by the
familiar sound, and it seemed to her that Nala was draw-
ing nigh.1 . . . On the palace roofs peacocks craned
their necks and danced,2 and elephants in their stalls,
with uplifted trunks, trumpeted aloud as if rain were
about to fall.
Damayanti said: "The sound of the chariot fills my
soul with ecstasy. Surely my lord cometh. Oh, if I
see not soon the moon-fair face of Nala I will surely
die, for, thinking of his virtues, my heart is rent with
sorrow. Unless he cometh now I will no longer live,
but will perish by fire."
1 This recalls: " He came even unto them. . . . The driving is like the driving of
Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously."—2 Kings, ix, 20.
2 The Indian peacock is sensitive to rain, and goes round "dancing" when it is
coming on.