शृङ्गारशतकम्

Śṛṅgāraśatakam is the most lyrical of the three, a hundred verses devoted to desire and its many moods. Bhartṛhari praises beauty and the charm of women, savours the bliss of union, and then turns a sharper eye on the deceptions and sorrows that love can bring. The sequence ends with the seasons, where nature’s changing colours mirror the lover’s longing. Its imagery is sensuous and its craft exacting, yet beneath the romance runs a thoughtful ambivalence: pleasure is real and beautiful, but fragile. That tension prepares the ground for the verses of renunciation that follow, and it is why this book is as reflective as it is passionate.