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The description of Rukminee, strange as it is, corresponds with many other fair portraits in the Hindee; witness that of "Oonmadinee," the daughter of "Rutundutt":
Rukminee has written a letter, filled with love, and sent it by the hand of a Brahmin, to the Root of Joy, Krishna: "The Brahmin having arrived at Duarika, perceives that the town is in the midst of the ocean, and on the four sides of it there are great mountains and woods and groves, which add beauty to the scene.
Clothed in a petticoat and a full loose robe of dazzling splendour, embroidered with pearls, and a sparkling boddice, and a long refulgent wrapper, and wearing a glittering veil, covered with ornaments from head to foot; with red lines drawn across the forehead, having a nose-ring of the largest pearls, ornaments for the head, earrings, ornamental line at the parting of the hair, marks between the eyebrows, ornaments for the ears and forehead, a necklace composed of circular pieces of gold, a string of gold beads and coral, a breast ornament, a necklace of five strings and of seven, a pearl necklace, double and triple bracelets of nine gems, armlets, wristlets, and other kinds of fastenings for the arm; bangles, seals; seal rings, a girdle of bells, rings for the great toe, toe ornaments, anklets, and other ornaments of all kinds studded with jewels; the moon-faced, tulip-complexioned, gazelle-eyed, bird-voiced, elephant-gaited, slim-waisted, divine Rukminee, and the cloud-coloured, lotus-eyed Krishna, ocean of beauty, splendour of the three worlds, root of joy, wearing a diadem like the crest of a peacock, and a necklace of forest flowers, a silken robe of yellow hue, and a scarf of the same, were reposing, when, all of sudden, the divine Krishna said to Rukminee, 'Listen, fair one, " &c.
The domestic life and appearance of Krishna and Rukminee is still further characteristically described in the imaginative pages of the "Ocean of Love:" "Once on a time, in a palace of gold, studded with jewels, a gem-adorned bedstead, with curtains, was spread, on which a bedding white as foam, and adorned with flowers, with pillows for the cheek and for the head, continued to exhale perfumes.
Her companions and attendants, arriving, first filled a square place in the courtyard with pearls, and spread a seat of gold set with pearls, on which they caused Rukminee to sit, and anointed her with oil by the hands of seven married women whose husbands were alive.
Afterwards, having rubbed her with fragrant paste, they adorned her with sixteen ornaments, and put on her twelve trinkets, and having arrayed her in a red boddice they seated her, fully adorned. Then the young Rukminee, accompanied by all her handmaidens, went, with the sound of music, to perform her devotions.
Krishna afterwards espouses a fair lady, of the name of Rukminee, and the marriage is thus poetically described.
"Each produced a daughter fair as Rukminee; each ten sons, brave sons were they! 161,000 and all alike, such were the sons of Krishna!" Such is part of the history of the favourite divinity of the benighted Hindoo as related in the flowery pages of the "Ocean of Love," and the history may be, more or less, read in the every-day scenes of Indian life which pass around one.
Banners and pennons and flowers, in golden tissues, were suspended, and well-fashioned vessels of gold And in every house reigned joy!" "As for Rukminee, with agitated frame, she gazed in every direction, as the moon is dimmed by the morn. Extreme anxiety showed in the heart of the fair one; she gazed, standing in a lofty balcony; her frame was agitated, her heart most sad; she drew deep sighs.
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