Vol. 11 · pages 36–40

17 FROM BIRTH TO PARIVRAJA I 6. There, some of them urged by passion, pressed him with their full, firm bosoms in gentle collisions. 7. Others violently embraced him after pretending to stumble, then leaning on him with their shoulders drooping down, and with their gentle creeper-like arms. 8. Others with their mouths smelling of spirituous liquor, their lower lips red like copper, whispered in his ear, “Let my secret be heard.” 9. Others, all wet with unguents, as if giving him a command, clasped his hand eagerly and said, “Perform thy rites of, adoration here.” 10. Another with her blue garments continually slipping down in pretended intoxication, stood conspicuous with her tongue visible like the night with its lightning lashing. 11. Others with their golden ones tinkling, wandered about here and there, showing him their bodies veiled with thin cloth. 12. Others leaned, holding a mango bough in hand, displaying their bosoms like golden jars. 13. Some, coming from a lotus bed, carrying lotuses and with eyes like lotuses, stood like the lotus goddess Padma, by the side of that lotus-faced prince. 14. Another sang a sweet song easily understood and with the proper gesticulations, rousing him, selfsubdued though he was, by her glance, as saying, “O how thou art deluded !” 15. Another, having armed herself with her bright face, with its brow drawn to its full, imitated his action, as playing the hero. 16. Another, with beautiful, full bosoms, and having her earrings waving in the wind, laughed loudly at him, as if saying, “Catch me, sir, if you can !” 17. Some, as he was going away, bound him with strings of garlands, others punished him with words like an elephant-driver’s hook, gentle yet reproachful. 18. Another, wishing to argue with him, seizing a mango spray, asked, all bewildered with passion, “This flower, whose is it ?” 19. Another, assuming a gait and attitude like

18 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES I that of a man, said to him, “You who are conquered by a woman, go and conquer this earth !” 20. Then another with rolling eyes, smelling a blue lotus, thus addressed the prince with words slightly indistinct in her excitement : 21. “See, my lord, this mango covered with its honey-scented flowers, where the bird kokila sings, as if imprisoned in a golden cage. 22. “Come and see this Asoka tree, which augments lovers’ sorrows, where the bees make a noise as if they were scorched by fire. 23. “Come and see this Tilaka tree, embraced by a slender mango branch, like a man in a white garment by a woman decked with yellow ungents. 24. “Behold the kurubaka in flower, bright like fresh resin-juice, which bends down as if it felt reproached by the colour of women’s nails. 25. “Come and see this young Asoka, covered all over with new shoots, which stands as if it were ashamed at the beauty of our hands. 26. “See this lake surrounded by the Sinduvara shrubs growing on its banks, like a fair woman reclining, clad in fine white cloth. 27. “See the imperial power of females, yonder Ruddygoose in the water, goes behind, his mate following her like a slave. 28. “Come and listen to the notes of the intoxicated Cuckoo as he sings, while another cuckoo sings as if consenting wholly without care. 29. “Would that thine was the intoxication of the birds which the spring produces, and not the thought of a thinking man, ever pondering how wise he is !” 30. Thus these young women, their souls carried away by love, assailed the prince with all kinds of stratagems. 31. But although thus attacked, he, having his sense guarded by self-control; neither rejoiced nor smiled. 32. Having seen them in their real condition, the Prince pondered with an undisturbed and steadfast mind.

19 FROM BIRTH TO PARIVRAJA I 33. “What is it that these women lack that they perceive not that youth is fickle ? For old age will destroy whatever beauty has.” 34. This round of blandishment went on for months and years with no results. § 11. The Prime Minister’s Admonition to the Prince 1. Udayin realized that the girls had failed and that the Prince had shown no interest in them. 2. Udayin, well skilled in the rules of policy, thought of talking to the prince. 3. Meeting the prince all alone, Udayin said : “Since I was appointed by the king as a fitting friend for thee, therefore, I wish to speak to thee in the friendliness of my heart.” So began Udayin. 4. “To hinder from what is disadvantageous, to urge to do what is advantageous and not to forsake in misfortune, these are the three marks of a friend. 5. “If I, after having promised my friendship, were not to heed when thou turnest away from the great end of man, there would be no friendship in me. 6. “It is right to woo a woman even by guile, this is useful both for getting rid of shame and for one’s own enjoyment. 7. “Reverential behaviour and compliance with her wishes are what bind a woman’s heart; good qualities truly are a cause of love, and women love respect. 8. “Wilt thou not then, O large-eyed prince, even if thy heart is unwilling, seek to please them with a courtesy worthy of this beauty of thine? 9. “Courtesy is the balm of women, courtesy is the best ornament; beauty without courtesy is like a grove without flowers. 10. “But of what use is courtesy by itself ? Let it be assisted by the heart’s feelings ; surely, when worldly objects so hard to attain are in the grasp, thou wilt not despise them. 11. “Knowing that pleasure was the best of

20 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES I objects, even the god Purandara (Indra) wooed in olden times Ahalya, the wife of the saint Gautama. 12. “So too Agastya wooed Rohini, the wife of Soma ; and therefore, as Sruti saith, a like thing befell Lopamudra. 13. “The great ascetic Brihaspati begot Bharadvaja on Mamata the daughter of the Maruta, the wife of Autathya. 14. “The Moon, the best of offerers, begat Buda of divine nature on the spouse of Vrihaspati as she was offering a libation. 15. “So too in old times Parasara, overpowered by passion on the banks of the Yamuna, lay with the maiden Kali who was the daughter of the son of Varuna. 16. “The sage Vasishtha through lust begot a son Kapinglada on Akshmala, a despised low-caste woman. 17. “And the seer-king Yayat, even when the vigour of his prime was gone, sported in the Kaitrartha forest with the Apsara Visvaki. 18. “And the Kaurava king Pandu, though he knew that intercourse with his wife would end in death, yet overcome by the beauty and good qualities of Madri, yielded to the pleasures of love. 19. “Great heroes such as these, pursued even contemptible desires for the sake of pleasure, how much more so when they are praiseworthy of their kind? 20. “And yet thou, a young man, possessed of strength and beauty, despisest enjoyments which rightly belong to thee and to which the whole world is devoted.” § 12. The Prince’s Reply to the Prime Minister 1. Having heard these specious words of his, wellsupported by sacred tradition, the prince made reply, in a voice like the thundering of a cloud : 2. “This speech manifesting affection is wellbefitting in thee ; but I will convince thee as to where

21 FROM BIRTH TO PARIVRAJA I thou wrongly judgest me. 3. “I do not despise worldly objects, I know that all mankind is bound up therein. But remembering that the world is transitory, my mind cannot find pleasure in them. 4. “Yet even though this beauty of women were to remain perpetual, still delight in the pleasures of desires would not be worthy of the wise man. 5. “And as for what thou sayest as to even those great men having become victims to desire, do not be led away by them ; for destruction was also their lot. 6. “Real greatness is not to be found there, where there is destruction, or where there is attachment to earthly objects, or a want of self-control. 7. “And when thou sayest, ‘Let one deal with women by guile,’ I know about guile, even if it be accompanied with courtesy. 8. “That compliance too with a woman’s wishes pleases me not, if truthfulness be not there ; if there be not a union with one’s whole soul and nature, then ‘out upon it’ say I. 9. “A soul overpowered by passion, believing in falsehood, carried away by attachment and blind to the faults of its objects, what is there in it worth being deceived ? 10. “And if the victims of passion do deceive one another, are not men unfit for women to look at and women for men ? 11. “Since then these things are so, thou surely wouldst not lead me astray into ignoble pleasures.” 12. Udayin felt silenced by the firm and strong resolve of the prince and reported the matter to his father. 13. Suddhodana, when he heard how his son’s mind turned away from all objects of sense, could not sleep all that night. Like an elephant with an arrow in his heart, he was full of pain. 14. He and his ministers spent much of their time in consultation hoping to find some means to draw Siddharth to the pleasures of carnal life and thus