to one of the king's wise men, a certain Subhakara, and used to correspond with him frequently. Besides this she was always making assignations with him and going to his house. One night in the rainy
season the queen started to visit Subhakara. " The king of the rains was come; the noise of thunder the drums that heralded his approach; the roaring of the clouds the chorus of singers that went before him; the flashes of lightning his victorious banners. The dark days, the floods of rain, the oceans of mud, the flashing of the lightning. These things stand in the way and prevent women meeting their lovers."
The king discovered that Chandralekhâ had started for Subhakara's house, so he put on dark clothes, took a sword in his hand, and followed her without her knowing it.
Subhakara met the queen at the door of the house, and repeated these verses —
" When the sky is all in confusion; when blinding darkness is over the whole earth; when the night watches are stunned with the noise; in such a condition of things as this, why do you come from the innermost apartments of the sovereign who burns up his enemies as the fire which lies within the ocean? Surely it is a mere pretence that women cannot endure even the eye of the lotus."
