Malavika And Agnimitra Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

King Agnimitra of Vidisha
Was the Shunga Dynasty
To have ruled Magadha Kingdom
Around 152 BCE.
He was in love with Malavika,
A maid to the chief Queen Dharini.
His childhood friend Gautam
Was his partner in crime.

Malavika was a student of Guru Ganadas.
And one of his best proteges.
His rival was Hardatt, in the field of dance
Both wanted to know who was the good mentor.
King Agnimitra was besotted
By the portrait of pretty Malavika,
A chambermaid, who stood next to the queen
Dharini in a royal painting.

Gautam was Agnimitra's childhood friend
And, aware of his king's infatuation,
Set up a contest between the two gurus
With the hope that Ganadas sponsor
Malavika to dance in front of the king.
Guru Ganadas had chosen Malavika
To perform as his chief disciple.
Malavika danced to the king's delight.

‘My heart suspected in her portrait
Some forgery of beauty but now I think
The painter dozed and failed in his duty.'
This was king's first impression of her beauty.
‘Her long eyes, moon glow face, arms curving
Gently from her shoulders, a delicate chest
With firm high breasts, her hips ample yet hands
Could encompass her waist.' The king observed.

Her voice was sweet and innocent like her looks.
She sang the part of a beloved yearning
For her lover. The King felt as if she was
Calling out to him. The feat came to an end.
Malavika smiled at the king when she left
A glimpse of her teeth and shy eyes did the trick.
He saw Malavika for real. No more
Contest was he interested in and left.

It became evident that the king had an eye
For Malavika and the queen took note of it.
As her feet hurt after a fall from the swing,
The chief queen deputed Malavika to perform
Dohada dance underneath the Ashoka tree,
Which act can induce the buds flower soon.
If the tree blossom with in the short time,
The queen promised to grant a wish of her.

The queen's maid adorned Malavika's feet
Gautam conveyed king's love message to her.
The younger queen Iravati invited
King Agnimitra to the royal garden
To welcome the spring by sharing a ride
With her on the swing. She waited for him.
The king was reluctant to meet Iravati
Lest she should find out his shifted passion.

‘From a weapon made of hope comes a pain
That crushes hearts! Is your flowered arrow,
Love, both cruel and tender, sweet and harsh? '
The king was desperate to secure Malavika.
‘Broad hipped, slender-waisted, bosom full and bold.'
The king seeing her behind exclaimed.
Malavika was pleased in knowing the king's love
But was worried how the queen would take it.

The king said to himself, 'How charming
The amorous vexation of a young woman!
When he tried to embrace Malavika,
She avoiding the king with a gesture.
Her arms became a shield for her breasts,
Pressed in his hot embrace; to his wishes
Her turning away and such moves would form
In passion's charming game to her lover.

The king's feelings for maid Malavika
Was conveyed by Iravati to Dharini.
Malivika with her friend maid was kept
In the dungeon with an order to set free
Them on production of the queen snake ring.
Gautam helped the King to set free Malavika
He feigned a snake-bite. To invalidate the bite
The physician wanted a snake mark talisman.

Dharini gave her ring with an image of a snake
Innocently, to be misused to get
Malavika released from the dungeon.
The Ashoka tree was in bloom in five days.
Malavika to get her wish from the queen.
The King of Vidarbha had surrendered.
The two dance maids brought from Vidarbh desh
Recognized Malavika as their princess.

Malavika was not a maid as presumed.
The queen was happy to know that the love
Her husband had was that of royal blood.
The queen fulfilled the wish of Malavika
By getting her married to Agnimitra.
‘A great river conveys to the mighty ocean
The waters of lesser streams.; the faithful wife
Doesn't refuse her lord the rival he esteems.'
26.08.2020
(The passages within quotation marks are based on
The text of Sanskrit scholar Kalidas in 4th century)