A scene depicting the hero Manohar in a boat from the Gulshan-I-‘ishq [ “The Rose Garden of Love”, a mathnawī in Deccani verse by Nuṣratī written in 1672 ]

[ illustration Indian 1815 ]

” The palace of the princess, Madmalati, and her shabistān ( chamber ) where the fairies carry Manohar are equally enchanting, while the  beauty of the princess merits a detailed description, an exercise in sarāpā nigārī and nakh sikh. Thus her nose is a champā bud, her tongue a gulnār petal; her teeth are pomegranate seeds; her mouth a wine-cup; her cheeks gold-sprinkled pages; her chin rounded like a Samarqand apple; while, above the dawn-bright forehead, the gleam of pearls lining the hair parting is an unfathomed mystery. The princess’s arms are likened to lotus stems, her fingers to a cluster of sovan bananas, and her fingernails to the end of the lady-bird, while, rounding off this sarāpā, her plaited hair is compared to the Ganges river; her rumāulī ( the line of down on the stomach ) to the Godavari; her thighs are said to be banana stems; her stature like the sugarcane; her walk as graceful as an elephant’s. ”

from : Scent in the Islamic Garden : A Study of Literary Sources in Persian and Urdu [ Ali Akbar Husain ]