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दृग्भ्यां मुकुन्द मृगलोचनकोमलाभ्यां
जाताधिकद्युति विलोक्य तवाननाब्जम् ।
मन्ये स्वमण्डलमितोऽप्यधिकं विधित्सुः
तस्मिन् बिभर्ति मृगमेव जडः सितांशुः ॥८९॥
T: Oh Lord Śrī Varadarāja, also called Mukunda, with eyes as lovely as a deer's, Your lotus-like face is even more luminous and is the envy of the dull-witted moon, who, striving to increase his own luminosity, has enshrined the deer in his orb, I surmise!
Explanation: The dark portions seen on the moon make one imagine, by their formation, that it is a deer. This is the basis of the poet's expression here. Since the deer has beautiful eyes that resemble the eyes of Lord Śrī Varadarāja, the Lord's moon-like face glows even more beautifully. So the moon thinks that to compete with the Lord's face, he should get a whole deer and place it in his own face! Thus we see the deer therein. But given the end result, the poet says the dull-witted moon does not understand that he cannot compete with the Lord's face in glow, deer or no deer!
