Bhartrihari [Bhartr.hari]; Barbara Stoler Miller (tr.);
Bhartrihari: poems
Columbia University Press (UNESCO representative works), 1967, xxviii + 156 pages [11jul amazon-used mr-media-acceptable $10+4]
topics: | poetry | sanskrit | translation | bilingual
Since it's publication in 1967, these translations have set the standard for
Bhartrihari's corpus. While remaining rooted in the originals, the poems
read well, and comprise a better poetry than many other renderings.
To maintain such consistent quality over a comprehensive translation is no
easy task.
I excerpt about one-fourth of the verses below, since this edition is out of
print and extremely hard to find.
I also contrast many of Miller's translations with others, including a more
recent version by Greg Bailey. My personal assessment is that except for
John Brough, most others lack poetic interest.
The original text used for the translation is Bhartrihari's shatakatrayam,
critically edited by D.D. Kosambi:
Kosambi, D.D., The epigrams attributed to Bhartrihari, Singhi Jain
Series No. 23, entitled, Bombay 1948. [Acknowledgments, p. ix]
(see Combined Methods in Indology and Other Writings,
ch. 35. On the Authorship of Satakatrayi, and ch.36. Some Extant Versions
of Bhartrhari's Satakas.
The critical work by Kosambi was based on 377 manuscripts, which he
collected by laboriously visiting a large number of institutions. In this
connection, he posits in his introduction the 'Kosambi's law of
manuscripts':
the actual use-value of a MS is inversely proportional to the fuss
made in lending it. (see review by MB Emeneau)
One of the other suggestions based on this epic comparative study of
manuscripts is that the text may have originated in the north, perhaps around
Rajasthan, where the manuscripts reveal a more diffuse structure to the
verses.
Kosambi divides the manuscripts into a northern recension (he gives details
on five manuscripts, labelled A,B,E,H,J), and the southern recensions
(treated in detail for three manuscripts labelled W,X,Y). The southern
manuscripts tend to organize the verses into finer thematic clusters
(paddhatis). (p.577, ch.36).
Miller (BSM) includes verses 1-200, those "stanzas generally found in all
versions" of the Bhartrihari canon, according to Kosambi. Also includes in
the introduction and as an epigraph, translation of several "suspect" verses
- 224, 235, 311, 317, which are popular and interesting. [FN p. xv]
Later works by Miller tend to make some modifications while citing these
verses. I have in cited some of these alternate forms from the
Masterworks of Asian literature in comparative perspective (1994), a work
edited by BSM, cited here as [masterworks].
For an instant he is a child, For an instant a youth delighting in passion, For an instant he is a pauper, For an instant fat in prosperity, Then, like an actor, With withered limbs of old age His body covered with wrinkles, A man at the end of his worldly existence Falls at the curtain to death. [most likely verse 235 from Kosambi; one of the verses not in the core group of 200; possibly a late addition.]
from the introduction, p.xvi In popular Indian tradition, Bhartrihari is identified as a king who was discouraged by the inconstancy of women and driven to renounce the world. The legend, recorded in the vikramacharita, says that a brahman priest who had obtained a fruit of immortality decided to give it to king Bhartrihari. But the king relinquished it to his beloved queen, who gave it to her paramour, who in his turn gave it to one of his mistresses, and she presented it again to the king. After reflecting for a time on this chain of events, the king cursed all women and retired to the forest. A single verse, a late addition to the Bhartrihari collection, is associated with this legend: She who is the constant object of my thought Is indifferent to me, Is desirous of another man, Who in his turn adores some other woman, But this woman takes delight in me . . . Damn her! Damn him! The God of love! The other woman! And Myself! - verse 311 [Kosambi categorizes this verse among the verses that do not occur in all versions of the Bhartrihari corpus. In some sources it appears as Ni¯tis´ataka sloka 2. JM Kennedy (1913) gives it in this position, and renders it as: I believed that one woman was devoted to me, but she is now attracted by another man, and another man takes pleasure in her, while a second woman interests herself in me. Curses on them both, and on the god of love, and on the other woman, and on myself. (The Satakas: Or, Wise Sayings of Bhartrihari [niti shataka 2]) version by Arthur Ryder: The maid my true heart loves would not my true love be; She seeks another man; another maid loves he; And me another maid her own true love would see: Oh, fie on her and him and Love and HER and me! ] However, the content of the verses suggests that the author of the shatakas was not a king but a courtier-poet in the service of the king. There is frequent reference to the degradation of life in the service of a king and to the strained relation ship between king and counselor (verses 13, 35, 58, 59, 60, 86, 163, 165, 166). p.xvii
Regarding the identity of Bhartrihari, there is an extended discussion in kosambi, which includes many other legends. In an article On the authorship of the shatakatrayI, from the J. of Oriental Research, v. 15 (1945-6), reproduced as chapter 35 ( p.555), kosambi considers six possibilities for the original author of the shatakatrayI: A. the grammarian? [argues that bhartrihari the poet was not the author of vAkyapadiya: ] the argument is based largely on I-Tsing's comment that "he became seven times a priest only to return to the laity". This evidence is today thought to be suspect (e.g. ingalls, 1968)]. in addition, kosambi cites internal evidence: [/cvr] in all the smoothest mansuscript versions known, there occur solecisms like shikShatu which no strict grammarian could possibly tolerate. p. 557 after disposing of the possibility that the grammarian is also the poet, Kosambi mentions several legends mentioned in various sources: B. king of mAlava? a king of mAlava, named bharthAri (a name also found in a rajpasthana manuscript), is mentioned in the history of tArAnAtha, and can be dated to about the end of the 7th c. but there is nothing to relate him to the poet. NOTE: there are several traditions relating to the king-turned-ascetic bhartrihari. There are bhartrihari temples near Ujjain, and also near Alwar in Rajasthan. C. the nAtha bhartr.hari? one of the nine leaders of the nAtha sect, is mentioned in the navanAthabhaktisAra, a marathi version of the goraksha kimiyAgara. The name bhartr.hari supposedly means a begging bowl _bharatari mhaNatI bhikShApAtrAsI_. He was born when the deathless sage maitrA vAruNI ejected sperm into his almsbowl, which conceived thereby. he helped vikrama of ujjain to get his kingdom, and was given a kingdom as a token of friendship and brotherhood. He lost his consort piMgala and remained inconsolable, until he met gorakShanAtha who resored not one but 25 piMgalas. This converted the king to ascetism, and he became one of the nine leaders of the sect. (p.558-559) perhaps because the navanAthabhaktisAra text was his own discovery. kosambi seems somewhat more favourably inclined to this version. however, he finds no connections to the poet. D. author of a fourth shataka on vijn~Ana? There are references to a fourth shataka by bhartrihari, the vijn~Anashataka published by Gujerati Press Bombay 1905. The only ms version of vijn~Anashataka, from the ghule family of nagpur, is dismissed by kosambi as a "late and not particularly able forgery". 561 E. poet bhartr.hari in the literature the earliest reference to bhartrihari as a poet appears in somadeva's yashastilakachampU [AD959], where bhartr.hari is mentioned among a long list of mahAkavis. jaina AchArya merutuMga mentions bhartr.hari, whose father is a grammarian who worships ganesha. He becomes a famous grammarian at Ujjain, marries four wives from the four castes - the kshatriya wife's son becomes vikrama the king, while bhartr.hari is the son of the shudra woman. This legend ends by mentioning this bhartr.hari as the poet of vairAgyashatakAdi. 562 bhIShmAchArya, in his mahAnubhAva (old marathi grammar, 13th c.) mentions bhartr.harichAvairAgya which may refer to the shataka, or to a king's renunciation. other references mention bhartr.hari and vikrama as sons of the king chandragupta. but kosambi feels that this bhartr.hari is most likely the grammarian. 563 F. some other minor legends.
after discarding these legends, kosambi considers the texts themselves. It seems reasonable to assume that the earliest genuine stanzas pf the nItishataka date from the opening centuries of the christian era. 565 one stanza, bhavanti naMrAs taravaH occurs both in shakuntala V and also in all versions of the nItishataka, and kosambi suggests that kAlidAsa must have taken it from the proverbs current in his day, i.e. the gupta period. Such an early chronology would eliminate the vAkyapadiya bhartr.hari and also the nAtha leader. 565 was bhartr.hari a shaivite? though the man.galAcharANa to shiva is genuine, kosambi feels it is a prefunctory statement, more customary than heartfelt. he may also have been a vaiShNava, given that his name was hari, (arguments on p.556 - the name is given abs Harikavi, e.g. in marathi, and the prefix bhartr. may be an honorific). however, the phraseology and figures of speech in the text are unquestionably brahamanical. The verse na kaccic caNDakopAnAm refers to a priest being burned by the sacrificial fire, which is also mentioned as blackening the doors of the rich (puNye grAme vane vA]. 566
When darkness of passion wove a web of ignorance about me, then a woman seemed To fill the world's expanse. But now that I am favored with the salve [favoured with] of keener discernment, [keener discernment] My tranquil sight sees Brahman Ubiquitous in the world. [throughout the universe.]
An ignorant man is readily pleased, More readily yet is a sage But a man distorted by trifling knowledge, Brahma himself cannot sway. Kale's prose version (1902) [numbered as nitishataka 3]: An ignorant man can be pleased easily; a wise man can be persuaded the more easily; but even the God Brahma will not be able to win over a man puffed up with a grain of knowledge. [JM Kennedy (1913), following Kale, gives this verse as nitI-shataka 3, with this prose translation: The fundamentally ignorant man is easily led, and the wise man still more easily ; but not even the Almighty Himself can exercise any influence on the smatterer. (The Satakas: Or, Wise Sayings of Bhartrihari) Paul Elmer More's verse translation: Lightly an ignorant boor is made content. And lightlier yet a sage ; But minds by half-way knowledge warped and bent, Not Brahma's self their fury may assuage. A Century of Indian Epigrams (XXX, p.52)]
A man may tear a jewel From a sea monster's jaws, Cross a tumultuous sea Of raging tides, Or twine garlandwise A wrathful serpent on his head. But no man can alter The thoughts of an obstinate fool. Arthur Ryder's verse translation, titled "The stubborn fool": A diamond you may draw From an alligator's jaw; You may cross the raging ocean like a pool; A cobra you may wear Like a blossom in your hair; But you never can convince a stubborn fool. Women's eyesverse 6
Courage in adversity, patience in prosperity, Eloquence in assembly, heroism at arms, Thoughts inclined to renown, yearning for the Vedas All are in the nature of noble men
hartur yAti na gocaraM kim api shaM puShNAti yat sarvadA arthibhyaH pratipAdyamAnam anishaM prApnoti vr^iddhiM parAm | kalpAnteShv api na prayAti nidhanaM vidyAkhyam antardhanaM yeShAM tAn prati mAnam ujjhata nr^ipAH kas taiH saha spardhate || It eludes the pillage of thieves Promotes endless joy Bestowed on those who beg, It waxes greater yet An perishes not despite the end of time Wisdom is a treasure deep within Kings, renounce your arrogance Towards its masters! Who can rival them? Note: a similar verse, author unknown: न चोरहार्यं न च राजहार्यं न भ्रातृभाज्यं न च भारकारी । व्यये कृते वर्धत एव विद्या विद्याधनं सर्वधनप्रधानम् ॥ Thieves cannot steal it, nor a king confiscate it Siblings cannot claim shares in it, nor is it burdensome The more it is spent, the more it grows This wealth called knowledge is the foremost among all wealth.
jADyaM hrImati gaNyate vrata-rucau dambhaH shucau kaitavaM
shUre nirghr.iNatA r.jau [?munau] vimatitA dainyaM priyAlApini |
tejasviny avaliptatA mukharatA vaktary ashaktiH sthire
tat ko nAma guNo bhavet sa guNinAM yo durjanair nA~NkitaH ||
Apathy is ascribed to the modest man
Fraud to the devout
Hypocrisy to the pure
Cruelty to the hero
Hostility to the anchorite
Fawning to the courteous man
Arrogance to the majestic
Garrulity to the eloquent
Impotence to the faithful
Does there exist any virtue
Which escapes the slander of wicked men?
A mouse gnawing a hole in a basket fell Through it at night into the mouth of a serpent Whose despondent body lay cramped In the basket; hunger had weakened his senses. But nourisehed by the mouse's flesh, He escaped by the same passage. Be contented! Only chance confounds The rise and fall of men.
The deer, the fish, and the man of virtue Only care for grass or sea or peace. The hunter, the fisherman, and the cynic Are wanton enemies on earth. Arthur Ryder's verse translation, "Why?": The deer, the fish, the good man hunger For grass, for water, for content; Yet hunter, fisher, scandalmonger Pursue each harmless innocent. Women's eyesverse 35 online at http://blog.seniorennet.be/sprokkel/archief.php?ID=344
When silent the courtier is branded dumb ; When eloquent, pretentious or a prating fool; When intimate, presumptuous; When distant, diffident; When patient, pusillanimous; When impetuous, ill-bred. The rules of service are a mystery Inscrutable even to the masters of wisdom [if you keep quiet, you are dumb if you're eloquent, you are pretentious if you are distant, you are arrogant if you are intimate, you are presumptuous if you are patient, you are not manly if you are impetuous, you are ill-bred]
A bald-headed man, his pate Pained by the rays of the sun, Desiring a shady spot, Went by fate to the foot Of a wood-apple tree. Alas, there his head Was smashed by a large Falling fruit. Verily, Where goes a man deserted by fortune, There do adversities follow him. Paul Elmer More's verse translation from A Century of Indian Epigrams, 1898: An old man bald as a copper pot, Because one noon his head grew hot. Crawled to a spreading bilva-tree To seek the shade. By Fate's decree A fruit just then came tumbling down. And cracked the old man's brittle crown With loud explosion - which was worse. Ill dogs us everywhere when Fate 's averse. [XLVIII p.71] Greg Bailey's version, from Love Lyrics (Clay Sanskrit Library): A bald-headed man, his head scorched by the sun's rays, Hastening to a shady spot, Stood at the foot of a palm tree. And there, by a large falling fruit His head was split open with a crack. Geneerally, where the victim of fate goes There disasters follow him. (p.71)
Generosity, luxury, and ruin All reduce a man's wealth. A miser, who neither gives nor enjoys, Lives in dread of the third. Greg Bailey's version, from Love Lyrics (Clay Sanskrit Library): Generosity, enjoyment, loss Are three ways wealth can go. Whoever neither gives nor consumes Goes the third way. [While bailey is closer to the original, e.g. in the last line: tasya tr^tIya gatir bhavati [3P(he) third path-GEN becomes] I prefer Stoler Miller's version, which also introduces the term "miser" absent in the original - as a clearer version, and one that bhartr.hari might have preferred. ]
yasyAsti vittaM sa naraH kulinaH sa paNditah sa SrutavAn guNajn~aH sa eva vaktA cadarSanIyaH sarve guNaH kAñcanam ASrayanti A man of wealth is held to be high-born Wise scholarly and discerning Eloquent and even handsome - All virtues are accessories to gold! (51) Greg Bailey's version, from Love Lyrics (Clay Sanskrit Library): Any man who is wealthy is of good family, He is wise, learned, a connoisseur. He alone is eloquent and he is handsome. All qualities depend on gold. p.43
The sun brings pools of lotuses to bloom, The moon illuminates nocturnal lilies, A cloud rains its water, And noble men struggle for other men’s good.
svAyattam ekAnta-guNaM vidhAtrA vinirmitaM chAdanam aj~natAyAH | visheShAataH sarva-vidAM samAje vibhUShaNaM maunam apaNDitAnAm Creator BrahmA wrought An extraordinary guise for ignorance, Which may be worn at will. In the company of learned men, The silence of fools Serves to adorn them
Discrimination's lucid light Continues to shine for learned men Only while it is not eclipsed By the tremulous lashes of women's eyes.
When men behold the beauty of women With exotic flashing eyes Youthful pride and voluptuous breasts, With creepers of beauty creases Twining above their slender bellies, Those few are fortunate whose minds Are still unperturbed.
With smiles, affection, modesty, and art; hostile looks and ardent glances; eloquence, jealous quarrels, and play with all her emotions women enchain us.
With the striking of their slipping bangles The jeweled sounds of their girdles, And their ringing anklets They shame the call of the royal swan. With the trembling eyes of frightened does, Girls can yoke the minds of men.
I do indeed speak without bias, This is acknowledged as truth among men: Nothing enthralls us like an ample-hipped woman, Nothing else causes such pain.
Cut off all envy, examine the matter, Tell us decisively, you noble men, Which we ought to attend upon: The sloping sides of wilderness mountains Or the buttocks of women abounding in passion?
The sky is dark in a cloak of clouds, Across the hills peacocks dance, The ground is white with fallen blossoms. Where does a pining wanderer dare to rest his eye ?
In a mundane existence, vapid and transient, Men who are wise find two refuges. They spend some time with minds Submerged in the fluid elixir of wisdom, The rest belongs to tender mistresses Whose breasts and hips embody pleasure's luxury, Mistresses aroused to lust by caresses Concealed in their laps of ample flesh. John Brough gives us this rhymed version: In this vain fleeting universe, a man Of wisdom has two courses: first, he can Direct his time to pray, to save his soul, And wallow in religion's nectar-bowl; But if he cannot, it is surely best To touch and hold a lovely woman's breast, And to caress her warm round hips, and thighs And to possess the treasure that between them lies. (Poems from the Sanskrit poem 167) [Another version, largely based on BSM, quoted unattributed in Pavan Varma's Krishna, the playful: In this vapid, mundane world, wise men take two courses: they spend some time with minds submerged in the fluid elixir of wisdom, the rest with tender woman whose breasts and hips enjoy the pleasure of hiding men's eager hands in their laps of ample flesh. ]
A face to rival the moon, Eyes that make mockery of lotuses, Complexion eclipsing gold's luster, Thick tresses that shame the black bee, Breasts like elephant's swelling bosses, Heavy hips, A voice enchanting and soft — The adornment in maidens is natural.
nAmr.taM na viShaM kiMcid
ekAM muktvA nitambinIm
saivAmRtalatA raktA
viraktA vishavallarI
There is no ambrosia or poison
Except in the love of an ample-hipped woman
Enamoured, she is an ambrosial vine
Indifferent, a poison creeper
A man may tread the righteous path, Be master of his senses, Retire in timidity Or cling to modest ways — only until The seductive arrow-glances of amorous women Fall on his heart, Glances drawn to her ear, Shot from the bow of her brow, And winged by long black lashes.
... what is tart now like unripe fruit on vines of gourd when time has run its course will be an acrid poison.
Women bathed in sandalwood scents, Flashing antelope-eyes, Arbors of fountains, flowers, And moonlight, A terrace swept with breezes Of flowering jasmine — These are summer's fan For passion's flame and kAma's [alternate from Masterworks p. 56-7:) Lovers scented with sandalwood flashing antelope eyes, arbors of fountains, flowers, and moonlight, a terrace swept with breezes of flowering jasmine — in summertime they fan the flames of passion and arouse the god of love from Paul Elmer More, from A Century of Indian Epigrams (1898): Girls with the startled eyes of forest deer, And fluttering hands that drip With sandal-water; bathing-halls with clear Deep pools to float and dip ; The light moon blown across the shadowy hours, Cool winds, and odorous flowers. And the high terraced roof - all things enhance In Summer love's sweet trance. (verse III, p.25)
A melodious song, A graceful form, A sweet draught, A heady fragrance, Then the touch of her breasts [...]
The path which leads beyond [O wordly existence, the path]
Your bounds, saMsAra, [that leads beyond your bounds]
Would be less treacherous
Were it not for intoxicating glances
Waylaying us at every turn
[alternates are from Masterworks, p.57]
What is supreme among visions? The face of a fawn-eyed maid delighted by love AMong fragrances? the breath of her mouth AMong sounds? her speech. Among tastes? the nectar of her budlike lips. Among textures? her soft body. What is most worthy a lover's attention ? Her distraction with love in youth's early bloom. kennedy's 1913 prose translation: What can be more beautiful for the lover to look at than the face of his antelope-eyed mistress smiling at him with unchecked l^assion ? What can be more lovely for him to breathe than the breath of her mouth? What more beautiful for him to hear than her voice ? What more beautiful for him to eat than the delicate ambrosia of her lips? What can be more lovel}: for him to touch than her soft body, and what more beautiful for him to think about than the image and grace of his adored one ? (The Satakas: Or, Wise Sayings of Bhartrihari [shringAra shataka 7])
Surely the moon does not rise in her face, or a pair of lotuses rest in her eyes, or gold compose her body's flesh. Yet, duped by poets' hyperbole, even a sage, a pondering man worships the body of woman -- a mere concoction of skin and flesh and bones. John Brough gives this verse translation: Her face is not the moon, nor are her eyes Twin lotuses, nor are her arms pure gold She's flesh and bone. What lies the poets told! Ah, but we love her, we believe the lies. (Poems from the Sanskrit poem 13)
Woman is kAma's victorious seal [love's victorious seal] Imprinting his triumph on all things. Deluded men who forsake her Are fools pursuing illusory fruits, Fools condemned by kAma without mercy [condemned without pity by the god of love] To become naked mendicants, wearing shorn Or tufted or shaggy hair And bearing begging bowls of skull bone. [alternates are from Masterworks, p.57]
White jasmine in her hair, The drowsy look of her face, Saffron mixed with sandal paste On her lovely body — A mistress with the languor Of seduction in her bosom Is heaven In its highest sphere.
When saffron paste stains her body Necklaces dangle on her pale yellow breasts, And anklets sound like swan calls on her lotus feet, What man escapes the enchantress' sway?
full unruly breasts, flashing eyes, enticing brows, And budlike lips full of passion disquiet me. Well they may, but why does a supple line of hair Drawn on her belly by kAma's flower weapon Become an indelible mark of beauty To torment me so excessively? in kennedy's 1913 prose translation: It is but natural that the voluptuousness of thy rounded breasts, thy trembling eyes, thy ever-moving brows, and thy rosy lips, should arouse amorous emotions in a man ; but why is it that that thin line of hair which we can just see peeping forth ex venire tuo should cause us so much more emotional discomfort?—that little line of hair that looks like a special mark of favour bestowed by the God of Love himself. (The Satakas: Or, Wise Sayings of Bhartrihari [shringAra shataka 15])
viShramya viShramya vanadrumAnAm [wandering wandering of trees] chAyAsu tanvI vicacAra kAcit [in shadows slender woman roamed once] stanottarIvena karoddhretena [with a breast-cloth held in hand] nivarayanti SaSino mayUkhAn [warding off moon's rays.] (gloss from Masterworks, p. 56) A certain slender woman was wandering seeking solace in shadows of forest trees warding off moon's scorching rays with the silken shawl held by her hand. Paul Elmer More, from A Century of Indian Epigrams My love within a forest walked alone, All in a moonlit dale ; And here awhile she rested, weary grown. And from her shoulders threw the wimpled veil To court the little gale. I peering through the thicket saw it all. The yellow moonbeams fall, I saw them mirrored from her bosom fly Back to the moon on high. (X, p.33)
When she lies on your breast Amidst the disarray of her own scented hair With eyes like slightly opened buds. And cheeks flushed pink from love's fatigue, The lips of a woman are honey Which favored men may drink
At first she rebuffs me. then in a mood born of dalliance, passion is roused; slowly her body falls languid, and composure is shed, leaving her bold enough to indulge in games of love played by her limb's abandoned gesture -- a gentlewoman's pleasure is my delight.
Spells cannot cure it, nor drugs confound it, nor ritual magic deal it destruction -- passion, like an epileptic fit, attacks man's limbs to inflict the torment of frenzied derangement.
It is unbefitting and perverse for men Who are aged to have erotic passions. Nor is it meet for ample-hipped women Whose bosoms are flaccid to cling to life or love.
I prefer being bitten by a terrible serpent, Long, wanton, tortuous, gleaming like a black lotus To being smitten by her eye. Healers are everywhere to cure one of a serpent bite, But there is no spell or remedy for me; I was struck by the glance of a beautiful woman!
If her breasts are full, Her hips voluptuous, Her face exquisite, Why, my heart, do you waste in despair? Earn merit if you covet them! The longed-for luxuries elude a man who has no merit.
When clouds shade the sky And plantain lilies mask the earth, When winds bear lingering scents Of fresh verbena and kadamba, And forest retreats rejoice With cries of peacock flocks, Then ardent yearning overpowers Loved and wretched men alike. Clouds shade the sky plantain lilies mask the earth, winds bear lingering scents of fresh verbena and kadamba, forest retreats rejoice with cries of peacock flocks, and love's yearning overpowers us -- with happiness or sorrow. [Masterworks p.57]
Heavy rains keep lovers Trapped in their mansions -- In the shivering cold a lord Is embraced by his long-eyed maid And winds bearing cool mists Allay their fatigue after loveplay Even a dreary day is fair For favoured men who nestle in love's arms.
Having passed half the night in exhausting embraces Of passionate sport, Now, on an isolated porch, his insatiable thirst indulges In intoxicating draughts Poured from a water jug by the languid creeper arm Of his love-wearied mistress. He is a cursed man who never drinks this autumnal water, A crystal flow shattered by moonlight.
Unloosing their hair, Pressing closed their eyes, Pulling at their garments,, Exciting chills on their flesh, Destroying their demeanor, Biting their lips Until great sighs confess their love; The wind in winter is a lusty lover Of beautiful women. Paul Elmer More, from A Century of Indian Epigrams: This Winter gale will play the gallant lover, And meeting careless girls Will pluck their gowns, and with rude fingers hover Among their tangled curls. He '11 kiss their eyelids too, their cheeks caress Till they are all a-tremble ; He '11 tease their lips till murmurs soft confess The love they would dissemble. (V, p.27)
All desire for pleasure has waned, The esteem of men has ebbed; Beloved friends and peers of life Now are lost to heaven; The simplest movement requires a cane; These eyes are veiled in darkness. How bold this body is to fear The final blow of death!
My face is graven with wrinkles
My head is marked with grey,
My limbs are withered and feeble -
My craving alone keeps its youth.
(Adv Ashrama vairAgya Shataka sloka 8)
References to the Vairāgya-S´ataka are to the sloka numbering in the
Advaita Ashrama edition, Calcutta, 1963. The translations are by
B. S. Miller unless otherwise noted.
_trShNaikA taruNAyate : only thirst (desire) remains young
[NOTE: Gandhi's statement on desire in old age]
Vivekananda's translation:
We become decrepit with age, but not so Desire.
Infirmity assails us, the skin wrinkles,
The hair whitens, the body becomes crooked,
Old age comes on.
Desire alone grows younger every day.
from Sister Nivedita's notes from a himalayan journey with
Vivekananda in 1898.
see http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_9/writings_prose_and_poems/bhartriharis_verses.htm
Her breasts, those fleshy protuberances, are compared to golden bowls; her face, a vile receptacle of phlegm, is likened to the moon; her thighs, dank with urine, are said to rival the elephant's trunk -- mark how this despicable form is flourished by the poets. [is made venerable by the ornaments of poets.]
Should I sojourn in austerity On a sacred river's bank Or should I, in worldly fashion, Court women of high grace? Or ddrink at streams of scripture THe nectar of rich verse? In life as transient as a flashing glance, I can choose no single course.
Our parents, who begot and bore us To the world are long since dead. Our friends of youth are banished To the realm of remembrances. Now, from day to day, we ourselves await Death’s imminent call, Like trees on the frail sandbanks Of rivers, we await the flood.
Hope is a river
Whose water is desire,
Whose waves are craving.
Passions are crocodiles,
Conjectures are birds
Destroying the tree of resolve.
Anxiety carves a deep ravine
And makes the whirlpool of delusion
Makes it difficult to ford.
Let ascetics who cross
To the opposite shore
Exult in their purified minds.
(Adv Ashrama VS sloka 10)
[Within the constant circle of sam.sāra, both Patañjali and Bhartr.hari
describe consciousness by analogy to the flow of a river. In the Yoga
Sūtras, the changing movement of mental states (citta-vr.ttis) is said to be
like a river whose flow is in two directions: toward good and toward
evil. Within itself, pure citta has an inherent tendency to flow in the
direction of good, and this can never be totally lost. But citta is polluted
by the karmic seeds of past thoughts and actions, and these make
consciousness flow in the opposite direction, creating the whirlpool of
existence called sam.sāra. When one has dammed up the flow of citta toward
objects seen (women, food, drink, power, etc.) by vairāgya, and opened the
flood gates toward moks.a, or release from sam.sāra by practice in
discriminative knowledge, then citta will flow toward good. ]
---
In sūtras II: 33 and 34, Patañjali states a most important psychological
insight (today called “behavior therapy”) which seems to be a basic
assumption for the practice of Yoga in all Indian systems. When a yogin while
performing his yogāMgas finds himself beset by doubts or desires, he
should counteract such perverse thoughts (vitarkas) by the cultivation of
their opposites (pratipaksa bhāvanā ). Bhartr.hari not only captures this
insight but at the same time seems to identify this difficulty as being a
particular weakness of the poet.
Her breasts, those fleshy protuberances,
Are compared to golden bowls;
Her face, a vile receptacle of phlegm,
Is likened to the moon;
Her thighs, dank with urine, are said
To rival the elephant’s trunk.
Mark how this despicable form
Is flourished by the poets, (sloka 16)
O Earth, my mother! O Wind, my father! O Fire, my friend! O Water, my good relative!
O Sky, my brother! here is my last salutation to you with clasped hands! Having
cast away Infatuation with its wonderful power, by means of an amplitude of
pure knowledge resplendent with merits developed through my association with you
all, I now merge in the Supreme Brahman. (sloka 100)
Earth his soft couch arms of creepers his pillow the sky his canopy, tender winds his fan, the moon his brilliant lamp, indifference his mistress, detachment his joy-- tranquil, the ash-smeared hermit sleeps in pleasure like a prince.
Moonlight beams, a forest glade, The fellowship of friends, The legends told in poetry, All are enchanting. Enchanting too is her lovely face Gleaming with tears of anger; Enchanting if only your thought can forget Their ephemeral nature.
While his body's vigor is whole And old age is remote; While his sensuous powers are unimpaired And life not yet exhausted; Only then would a wise man Strive to perfect his soul. Why attempt to dig a well When the house is already burning?
nAbhyastA prativAdi-vr^inda-damanI vidyA vinItocitA khaDgAgraiH kari-kumbha-pITha-dalanair nAkaM na nItaM yashaH | kAntAkomala-pallavAdhara-rasaH pIto na candrodaye tAruNyaM gatam eva niShphalam aho shUnyAlaye dIpavat ||46|| I failed to master the knowledge Needed to conquer the host of polemists Abroad in the world. I did nothing to spread my fame Across the sky on the rapier Made to pierce martial elephant's heads. I never sipped the moonrise nectar From women's beautiful, Tender, blossom lips. Alas, I passed a futile youth Like a flaming lamp In an empty house
_AghratAtM maraNena janma jarayA yAty ujjvalaM yauvanaM _saMtoSho dhana-lipsayA shama-sukhaM [?mukham] prauDhAN~ganA-vibhramaiH | lokair matsaribhir guNA vana-bhuvo vyAlair nr^pA durjanair asthairyeNa vibhUtayo’py apahatA grastaM na kiM kena vA Birth is scented with death, Youth's brilliance is shadowed by old age. Contentment is menaced by ambition, Calm, by impudent women's amorous glances; Virtues, by human malice, Woodlands, by serpents, and kings, by villains. Rich treasure Is plundered by transience. Is anything spared the threat of eclipse? from Indian Way by John M Koller 1982 (appears to be slightly edited from BSM): Birth is scented by death, Youth's brilliance shadowed by old age. Contentment is menaced by ambition; Calm, by bold women's amorous glances; Virtues, by human malice; Woodlands, by serpents; Kings, by criminals. Rich treasure Is plundered by transience. Is anything spared the threat of destruction?
The span of a man's life is a measured hundred years; Yet half is lost to night And of his waking time, A portion each claim callow youth and hoary age; His prime is spent in servitude, suffering The anguish of estrangement and disease. Where do men find happiness In life less certain and more transient than the waves? John Brough: A man lives long who lives a hundred years: Yet half is sleep, and half the rest again Old age and childhood. For the rest, a man Lives close companion to disease and tears, Losing his love, working for other men Where can joy find a space in this short span? (Poems from the Sanskrit poem 4)
Bhartrihari's work is possibly the first ancient Indian writing to be translated into an European language.
In AD 1651 Abraham Roger published a Portuguese translation of Bhartrihari's poems. Abraham Rogerius (c.1600-d.1649), also known as Rogers and Roger, was a Dutch protestant missionary who went to Pulicat (near present day Sriharikota), the capital of the Dutch Coromandel. Pulicat was a trading post and fort originally built by the Portuguese in 1502, and taken over by the Dutch Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie in 1609/1611 when the local ruler Venkatapati revoked the trading charter of the Portuguese. Arriving in the region in 1630 on a Dutch East India Company ship, Rogerius spent ten years on the Tamil coast, preaching both in Dutch and in Portuguese. The historian William Robertson (1791) mentions that Rogerius had gained the confidence of a Brahman, who was his primary informant on Indian religious practice and texts. After spending five more years at Jakarta (then Batavia), he returned to Gouda in Holland in 1647, where he died in 1649. His widow published the De Open-Deure tot het Verborgen Heydendum (the Open Door to Secret Pagan practice) in 1651, which contained details of Hindu practices in S. India, and ended with an appendix that rendered more than a hundred of the couplets from Bhartriharis, mostly from his nitishataka. Roger's informant is said to have been a brahman named padmanAbha. This was the first exposure to sanskrit literature in Europe. [Ezour Vedam, a 17th c. fogery proposing to be work from India, by a Jesuit missionary. The scepticism justified by this fabrication, and indulged in when the discovery of the genuine Sanskrit literature was announced, survived far into the present century. Thus, Dugald Stewart, the philosopher, wrote an essay in which he endeavoured to prove that not only Sanskrit literature, but also the Sanskrit language, was a forgery made by the crafty Brahmans on the model of Greek after Alexander's conquest. Indeed, this view was elaborately defended by a professor at Dublin as late as the year 1838. - A A Macdonell, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_History_of_Sanskrit_Literature/Chapter_1 Note: Abraham Roger's translations were the basis for some early re-translations into French and other languages. His prose translations, published posthumously in 1647, were the basis for the german text ''Offene Thar zum verborgenen Heiden-thume'' (Nuremberg, 1653). It was also re-translated into French under the title Theatre de I'ldolatrie ou la porte ouverte pour parvenir a la connaissance du paganisme from Amsterdam in 1670. Meanwhile, a printed sanskrit text came out from Serampore in 1804. Peter von Bohlen translated Bhartriharis Sentential et Carmen Eroticum (Berlin, 1833), and in 1835 a free German metrical translation. M. Hippolyte Fauche published a French translation, Bhartrihari et Tchaura (Paris, 1852); another French translation by M. Regnaud came out in 1875. Meanwhile, the original text was also undergoing modification. An 1874 edition with the 2nd and 3d shatakas was published in the Bombay Sanskrit series under the editorship of Buehler and Kielhorn. A number of other versions by Telang, Kale and others looked at the different versions of the Bhartrihari corpus. Eventually, Kosambi's critical edition was published in 1948. Other translations consulted: 1. Tawney, Charles Henry (1877), Two centuries of Bhartrihari, Thacker, Spink and Co. [3],[4]. Rhyming translation of the Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas. 2. More, Paul Elmer (1898), A Century of Indian Epigrams:chiefly from the Sanskrit of Bhartrihari, Houghton Mifflin. Rhyming translations. 3. Ryder, Arthur William (1910), Women's eyes, A.M. Robertson. Rhyming translation; 85 verses of Bhartrihari. 4. Kāle, Moreshvar Ramchandra (1902), The Nîtiśataka and Vairâgyaśataka. Reprinted as Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas of Bhartṛhari, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0642-5. Notes in Sanskrit with English Translations. 5. J M Kennedy, (1913). The Satakas: Or, Wise Sayings of Bhartrihari London 1913. (prose translation based on kAle edition). 6. Greg Bailey and Richard F. Gombrich, 2005, Love Lyrics. (Bhartṛhari part translated by Greg Bailey) Clay Sanskrit Library, New York: NYU Press.
Bhratrihari: nItisataka, shriMgArasataka, vairAgyasataka (satakatrayam), with TikA by Ramarsi. AnandAsrama Skt series, Pune 1945 See also Gopinath, Purohit, "The Nitishataka..." Bombay 1896, Telang, K.T., M.R. Kale and Gujrar, S.K. De, Ancient Indian Erotica, Calcutta 1959. wikipedia: Satakatraya Bhartrihari