Text 22
sunāsāṁ sudatīṁ bālāṁ
sukapolāṁ varānanām
sama-vinyasta-karṇābhyāṁ
bibhratīṁ kuṇḍala-śriyam
su-nāsām — very beautiful nose; su-datīm — very beautiful teeth; bālām — the young woman; su-kapolām — nice forehead; vara-ānanām — beautiful face; sama — equally; vinyasta — arranged; karṇābhyām — both ears; bibhratīm — dazzling; kuṇḍala-śriyam — having beautiful earrings.
The woman’s nose, teeth and forehead were all very beautiful. Her ears were equally very beautiful and were bedecked with dazzling earrings.
The body of intelligence enjoys the objects of sense gratification that cover it, such as smell, vision and hearing. The word sunāsām, “beautiful nose,” indicates the organ for acquiring knowledge by smell. Similarly, the mouth is the instrument for acquiring knowledge by taste, for by chewing an object and touching it with the tongue we can understand its taste. The word sukapolām, “nice forehead,” indicates a clear brain capable of understanding things as they are. By intelligence one can set things in order. The earrings set upon the two ears are placed there by the work of the intelligence. Thus the ways of acquiring knowledge are described metaphorically.