131 Certain ioncessions mast be made to enable even the most enthusiastic English reader to use some of the tools at the disposal of the Sanskntist Grammatical clues of gender, number, and case must be supplied^ though an unambiguous rearrangement of the word order may sometimes provide the necessary links. The omission of the articles, though more true to the compact cadence of the Sanskrit, results in ver^e disconcertingly close to Pidgin English, and so 1 have supplied them where necessary. Possessive compounds (bahuWth^ ) are always awkward^ some have been introduced with possessive affixes such as '^of1' or "with"; others have been placed directly before the words they modify; in some cases 1 have changed the final noun to an adjective (i.e., formed a tatpuvusa); others have been made intelligible by changing the word order v/ithin the compound or making passive verbal adjectives active. £n order to present both the details of content and the maximum preservation ol compactness, 1 offer t^o translations. The first contains only the essential words, omitting all but the most necessary hyphens in compounds and eliminating double meanings and doubJe readings The second includes manv double entendres, puns, and natural multiple meanings which are significant in the context of the verse. These are indicated with square brackets. This second version also offers notes to give the English reader as much as possible of the literary background of the Sanskntist; after reading the notes, the English reader should be able to unfold the elements of the SansKnt in an undiluted form. Each verse should contain the reward of a pleasant surprise won by the sympathetic guesses of the informed reader rcuher than the spoon-feeding of the translator 1 have chosen the description of the sunset and evening from the eighth canto of Kalidasa^ Kumarasamb'hava. I have u^cd two editions, those of M R, Kale (Delhi, 1967), and Narayana r ima A(arya (Bombay, 1955); where the readings differ significantly 5 I hd\e included both interpretations I have omitted the vers^ dea-Ling with the conversation and activity of ^iva and Parvati as well as those of a non-descriptive, philosophical character ^ arthantamn^asas ^ etc : 8,38,43,57,65566;. In 8.30-46, Siva describe^ the sunset to his wife, Parvati, on the first night of their honeymoon; in 8.52-74 he describes the evening. After this, rhey innk a bowl of wine together and tetire to bed. I am greatly indebted to the late Dudley Fitts, who inspired and encouraged an early draft of this translation