[[Mohan K.V 2012-11-12, 19:50:02 Source]]
सदास्वाद
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चरणार्धरुद्धवसुधः
(caraṇa-ardha-ruddha-vasudhaḥ)
Meaning
Literally, “foot-half-pressed down-earth” , meaning “(He who is) pressing down on the earth with half his foot” or more simply, “standing tip-toed”.
Context
This phrase is from a verse in the Amaruśatakaṃ, one of the finest collections of love poetry in Sanskrit. The origin of this work (anthology?) is steeped in legend and the mists of time; attributions range from a unknown King Amaru of Kashmir, toŚaṃkarācārya in a daredevil body-swapping adventure. A wide variety of themes are seen – longing to lovers’ quarrels to separation; devious schemes designed at lightning speed to stop the house parrot from squeaking out the night’s secrets in front of parents, to a new vision of Advaita, where only She appears wherever the poor Mumukṣu looks; the lady’s anger expressed at one time with excess courtesy, and in another by kicking away her beloved grovelling at her feet, with a subtle hint that the former was more hurtful. In all, a thoroughly enjoyable and revisitable masterpiece.
In what is in our opinion the most beautifully meditative verse of the collection, a traveler’s tiny gesture is captured in a picture-in-words:
देशैरन्तरिता शतैश्च सरितामुर्वीभृतां काननैः
यत्नेनापि न याति लोचनपथं कान्तेति जानन्नपि ।
उद्ग्रीवश्चरणार्धरुद्धवसुधःकृत्वाश्रुपूर्णां दृशं
तामाशां पथिकस्तथापि किमपि ध्यायंश्चिरं वीक्षते ॥
deśair-antaritā śataiś-ca saritām urvībhṛtāṃ kānanaiḥ
yatnenāpi na yāti locana-pathaṃ kānteti jānann-api |
udgrīvaścaraṇārdha-ruddha-vasudhaḥkṛtvāśrupūrṇāṃ dṛśaṃ
tāmāśāṃ pathikastathāpi kimapi dhyāyaṃściraṃ vīkṣate ||
(śārdūlavikrīḍita, 19 syllables per line)
“Hundreds of kingdoms and forests and rivers and mighty mountains separate them,
there’s no way he can possibly see her – even though he knows this,
Neck upturned, tip-toed, with teary eyes,
the traveler thoughtfully gazes homeward.”
In some of the best writtenśārdūlavikrīḍitas, the first two lines set the context, and the third line (and sometimes the fourth) contain the soul of the poem. Here, the first two lines are nice and do their job, but the third one, especially today’s phrase, is what pushes this into the realm of genius. Consider just that phrase.Thesamāsa, of course, transmits several more hints than can be captured in one paragraph, let alone by the bald phrase “tip-toed” – the incongruity (intrepid or foolish or timorous?) of pressing down on the mighty earth with not even the whole of his foot; of pressing downwith his footonvasudhā, “the bearer of riches” and not earth by some other denotation like bhūmi or pṛthvī – perhaps signifying a conflict in himself for having left his beloved for the sake of mere money (the main purpose of travel in these poems was to earn money); ‘ruddha’ – he didn’t raise himself up, hepushed the earth down, an act which we guess was easier than supporting up the weight he bears in his heart. Need we say more? :-)
The image sets our mind racing in multiple directions. In just that tiny detail of a tip-toe, that conscious, incremental, quivering tip-toe, is contained the audacity of hope, the irrationality that is the very essence of the human condition, the vulnerability that is the soul of love and longing, and a gentle reminder of our stark loneliness in a pitilessly indifferent universe.
Thought for today
नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलं
तद्वज्जीवितमतिशयचपलम् ।
विद्धि व्याध्यभिमानग्रस्तं
लोकं शोकहतं च समस्तम् ॥
nalinī-dala-gata-jalam atitaralaṃ
tadvaj-jīvitam atiśaya-capalam |
viddhi vyādhyabhimāna-grastaṃ
lokaṃ śoka-hataṃ ca samastam ||
Surely one of the most distinctive features of love, one that is celebrated, despised or at least hinted at in every discourse about it, is its ability to give life a sense of purpose and meaning. Alas, that doesn’t appear to last. Here is the ever reliableŚaṃkara, keepin’ it real in his celebrated Bhaja Govindaṃ:
“Life is as fickle as a drop of water on a lotus leaf; know that this entire world is suffering from the disease of conceit.”
The most perceptive audience for this wisdom has to be the multitude ofinvisible counterparties in the Amaru verses involving rejection!