Banabhatta: My Name is Red!...बाण, दुर्गा भागवत आणि राजा रवी वर्मा

दुर्गा भागवत:

 

"... 'थोडी चित्रमयता आणि लाल रंगाची अनावर ओढ यामुळे बाण वाचावा' असं मात्र गुरुदेव टागोरांनी म्हटलं आहे..."

 

('बाणाची कादंबरी आणि मी', 'अबकडइ', दिवाळी १९८४, पृष्ठ १८१, 'भावसंचित', २०१५)

 

[ ओरहान पामुक यांच्या "My Name is Red", १९९८ ह्या त्यांच्या नोबेल पुरस्काराला हातभार लावणाऱ्या कादंबरी प्रमाणे असे वाटते बाण (इ स. सातवे शतक) सुद्धा म्हणतायत "My Name is Red"!]

 

"She was young, and dark like Mohini who beguiled the asuras into parting with the nectar. Indeed she was like a walking sapphire doll. Her body was covered down to her ankles in a dark-coloured robe. Over her head she wore a red silk veil. It was like the red rays of the morning sun falling on a field of blue lilies. On one of her ears there hung a dantapatra, an ivory ear ornament whose radiance seemed to render her cheek a little pale, even like the rays of the rising moon lightening the darkness of the night. Her brownish tilaka done in gorochana was like a third eye. Her slender waist could have been grasped by one hand, like the floral bow of Manmatha.

She was like autumn with her wide eyes like white lily blooms.

She was like the rainy season with her cloud mass of dark tresses.

She was like Shri with the lotus lustre of her palms...."

 

('Kadambari' by Bana , translated by Padmini Rajappa)

 

picture: 'Kadambari' by Raja Ravi Varma