The Wave Of Beauty Poem by Varanasi Ramabrahmam

I have seen a woman of beauty infinite
The delightful handiwork of nature

Of body delicate, of limb expansive
Alight with beauty, the divine Rati [1]

A golden sculpture she, a pretty verse
Learned in the languages, a second Saraswati [2]

Her smile, languid and endearingly bright
Like the joy-giving light on a full moon night

Her full-moon face with its sweet lips,
Broad hip, generous buttock,
Her breasts are a pair of golden pitchers,
She is indeed the divine embodiment of the Sringara Rasa [3], goddess of youth

Loving she has bound me
With her delightful words, her affection and her passion

She attracts my heart with love for her incomparable beauty
As a needle to a magnet,
Divine thief of hearts, she has stolen my senses
And on them has inscribed her passion in lines by her glances

Beauty personified, a girl divine,
Full of youth she is aesthetic sensuousness incarnate
The fruit of intense love-penance
She is the harmonious note of the lovingly tuned veena [4]

With supreme bliss do I recollect her beauty
And under her sway think about her love inspiring form

She is Radha enacting the rasaleela [5] in my inner Brindavana,
Together with my love-filled heart play the role of Krishna

Every tiny portion of her sensuous figure
Is as a flower-dart from Ananga’s [1] sugar cane bow

When sating ourselves subservient with amorous sport
Vatsayana’s [6] love-game instructions bear fruit

To enjoy the pleasurable act of love with her soft creeper body
And to soothe my fiery heart,
I will beg my pretty friend,
“Grant me the alms of love-making with you, my dear Rasaannapoorneswari! ” [7]

She is a wave of beauty, a stream of love,
My beloved who bestows immortal happiness


[1]. Rati: wife of Ananga [- Formless God (Cupid) ]
[2]. Saraswati: Goddess of learning, knowledge, literature and fine-arts
[3]. Sringaararasa: Aesthetic-amorous mood full of desire for the beloved
[4]. The veena is a stringed instrument associated with southern Indian carnatic music.
[5]. Rasaleela: Amorous, frolic dance of Lord Krishna with Gopikas (Cowherd-damsels) in Brindiavana (On the banks of river Yamuna)
[6]. Vatsaayana: Author of famous treatise on Love-Making (Kaama Sutras)
[7]. Rasaannapoorneswari: Beloved beautiful youthful girl who gives the alms of love-making


(The Sanskrit Original “Soundaryalahari” can be viewed at Sanskrit Literature at the website; www.venetiaansell.wordpress.com by clicking on “contributed pieces” or “original compositions”)

Poem and Translation by Varanasi Ramabrahmam