1893.] G. A. Grierson — A specimen of the Padumawati. 159 
CANTO II. 
SlMHALA. 
25. Now sing T the tale of Simhala-dvipa, 1 and tell of the perfect 
woman. 2 My description is like an excellent mirror, in which each form 
is seen as it really is. Happy is that land where the women are lights, 3 
and where God created that (famous) Padminl (Padmiivatl). All 
people tell of seven lands, but none is fit to compare with Simhala. 
The Diya-land* (or land of lamps) is not so bright as it. The land of 
Saran 6 cannot bear comparison with it. I say that Jambu-land s is 
nowhere like it, and that Lapka-land cannot even fill (the excellence 
of) its reflection. The land of Kumbhasthala 7 fled to the forest (before 
it), and the land of Mahusthala 8 lost its inhabitants. 
In the whole universe, in the world are seven lands, but none of 
them is excellent beside the land of Simhala. 
wft ii 'gjpr i 
giwn afr tiwst-ktw^ i 
wftfa giWTT I 
tfrc? g^g dK dK^TTi i 
gTrf g^J fgW^ ' 
iff KT3JT m wpc ii 
gif% W® <TT WiT ^TSTII 
^IW?: ^rfVRfrf JIW-TTWTT II 
53TW-WK*f Wm WTWT jp31TT II 
wifwwng TPrwfd 11 
1 Ceylon. Tlie word dvipa means both island and continent. 
2 A Padmini is one of the four classes of women and is supremely the best, see 
504 and ii. The Singalese women are all supposed to be Padminis, omne ignotum pro 
mirifico. 
8 Hero there is a pun on the word ( dtpa = dvipa,) a continent or island, and 
dlpaka a light. 
A The poet now proceeds to compare Simhala, not with the seven continents of 
tradition, referred to in line 4, and catalogued in the note to stanza I, 5, but with half- 
a-dozen imaginary continents named after parts of the human body. Diyd-dipa, the 
land of lights, means the land of eyes. Sarana-dipa ( sravana-dlpa ) means the land of 
ears. Jambfi-dlpa, Rose-apple-land, is the land of bosoms, to the nipples of which the 
rose-apple is often compared. Laylea-dipa, is the land of hips. Kumbha-sthala,, jar- 
land, is the land of rounded breasts ; a. v. 1. is gdbha-sthala ( garbha-sthala ) the land of 
wombs; and finally mahu-sthala ( madhya-sthala ), is the land of waists. Under this 
highly figurative language the poet signifies that the women of Simhala surpassed 
all these imaginary lands, each in its own peculiar excellence. I am indebted to 
Pandit Sudhakara Dvivedi for the explanation of this very difficult stanza. 
E The poet does not seem to be aware that Sarana-dipa ( Saran-dip , Serendib) is 
actually Ceylon itself. Here, as pointed out above, the words also mean ‘ ear-land.’ 
6 Hindustan or bosom-land. 
7 Or perhaps Gabhastala, one of the nine divisions of Bharata-varsa (India) ; 
here used as equivalent to garbha-sthala, the land of wombs. 
8 Or Mewasthila. 
