Love's Labour

Following the leaf-print of spring, your columnist journeyed to a ‘roots-of-the-soil’ nursery in Pune. His ‘object of desire’ was Madhavi Lata, the magnificent forest creeper celebrated in Indian myth and medicine.

Also called Damanaka, the creeper’s said to be born from the tears of Rati and Priti when their consort, Love God Kama, was burnt to ashes by a flash from Shiva’s wrathful third eye!

Another legend links it to King Yayati. This echoes what Dylan Thomas wrote in his celebrated poem: that though lovers die, love survives. The fifth king of the Moon Dynasty that goes back to the God Indra, Yayati started two royal lines through his two wives.

Once he had an inspiring têteà-tête with Indra in heaven and came back to earth all fired with moral zeal. He commanded his subjects to lead virtuous lives unsullied by passion as this would make them immortal.

Death almost goes out of business as a result. This worries Indra who sends Kama’s daughter Asurvindumati to visit the King to make him falter from his virtue. Yayati takes the bait but since he is too old for the girl, he exchanges his years with his devoted son Puru to marry the love maiden.

Their daughter is named Madhavi, or Spring Herald. Love God’s daughter returns to heaven and Yayati too becomes jaded with pleasure and gives back his youth to his son and goes to Indra’s abode.

Thereafter, Madhavi hears a mango whispering to her, “Come to me!” When she touches the trunk, a prince pops out of the tree and when he hugs her, she turns into a vine. This continues to thrive on earth! Long live Love!