[[Mohan K.V 2012-12-19, 03:35:50 Source]]
सदास्वादरोमन्थः
Dear reader,
We’ve chugged along to our third review! A warm welcome to all of you who joined in the last month. All past postings are available in the archive here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/sadaswada
Please feel free to invite your friends to join as well.
As usual, we’ve received a lot of feedback and are very grateful for it.Śatāvadhāni Dr. R. Ganesh wrote in with a alternate interpretation for the verse in edition #7. We had translated “avidita-gata-yāmā rātrireva vyaraṃsīt” as “the night itself went by before we knew it”. However, the word ’eva’ also means ‘only’. The phrase can also be translated as “Only the night went by [all the good things about it remained with us]”, giving it a permanence and connection to the moment it is spoken in the play. Many thanks for this interpretation!
In edition #9, we had translated Yashoda’s wail, ““नष्टाऽस्मि! दृष्टः कया! धू धू वत्सक! जीव! जीव चिरम्!” as “Oh no! Whose evil eye was this! Spit it out, quickly, quickly! Oh my dear, my dear!”. There is another element to this that is hard to capture in a translation: a common way to ward off an evil eye is to spit on the ground while uttering some auspicious words. If only we had a picture of Yashodha in this moment!
Dr. R. Ganesh mentioned that one element we’d missed pointing out was that the same verse had the very scholarly use of pratyayas like ’navanītat’ as well as meaningless sounds like ‘dhū dhū’. Again, the priorities of a mother are highlighted!
In edition #10, we had translated ‘yātaraḥ’ as ‘guests’. The word literally means “husband’s brothers’ wives”, and in a joint family they were very likely all living under the same roof. The poor gopi now also has to contend with a whole world of domestic politics arising from this. Don’t blame us, we tried :-)
In edition #11, in the thought for the day we had discussed a verse connected with Bāṇabhattathat had a stiff, plain upper half and a melodious, intricate lower half. We have received intelligence, as if from the angry descendants of Bhushanabhatta’s estranged elder brother, that there’s more to the story :-) An alternative version of the same verse is below:
शुष्को वृक्षस्तिष्ठत्यग्रे | तस्मिंस्तिष्ठति कृष्णस्सर्पः ||
नीरसतरुरिह विलसति पुरतः | तस्मिन्निवसति कालभुजङ्गः ||
Here, the two halves mean exactlythe same: “There’s a dry tree in front. On it sits a black snake”. The two halves differ only in style, not in content.
In edition #12, even though the thought of the day (“mā yāhīty-apamaṅgalaṃ”) is known to have been written by a Krishna-bhakta poet, the version we’ve included is actually generic – there is nothing indicating that it’s Radha speaking to Krishna, except that it fits the context like a hand in a glove.
As always, we welcome any thoughts, feedback and suggestion from you all. Please email us atkvm….@gmail.comandshree…@gmail.com
Thought for today
विद्या विवादाय धनं मदाय शक्तिः परेशां परिपीडनाय ।
खलस्य साधोर्विपरीतमेतत् ज्ञानाय दानय च रक्षणाय ॥
vidyā vivādāya dhanaṃ madāya śaktiḥ pareśāṃ paripīḍanāya |
khalasya sādhor viparītam etat jñānāya dānaya ca rakṣaṇāya ||
The greatest contrasts in the world today are between societies where knowledge, money and power are used correctly and not. A poet chimes in:
“Knowledge is for petty argumentation, money to further pride and power to torment – when they are possessed by bad men. The good, in contrast, use the same three for wisdom, charity and protection.”