Adhyaya 5

This chapter turns from divine arrival to inward longing. Śrīnिवास enters a jewel-adorned pavilion, becomes wholly absorbed in remembering Padmāvatī’s beauty, and sinks into moha—bewildering infatuation—like a trance. Bakulamālikā approaches with carefully prepared offerings and, through pointed questions, reads his condition from the visible signs of body and mind. Śrīnिवास then gives an origin-account that links Padmāvatī to earlier mythic time: the Veda-vatī/Sītā connection and a promise deferred to a later age, affirming the present love as the continuation of a dharmic vow and divine intent. The chapter next becomes sacred route-instruction: he directs Bakulamālikā to travel via Nṛsiṃha-guhā, Agastya’s hermitage and the Agastyeśa-liṅga on the Suvarṇamukharī, onward through named forests and lakes, until she reaches Nārāyaṇapurī, the city of Ākāśarāja. Rich catalogues of trees, birds, and animals form a textual map binding theology to landscape. It closes with Bakulamālikā setting out and meeting Padmāvatī’s companions, opening the next dialogue.