Krumikulacitam Laalaalkinnam Vigandhi Jugupsitam|
Nirupamarasam Preetyaa Khaadannaraasthi Niraamisham||
Surapatimai Shvaa Paarshvastham Vilokya Na Shankate|
Nahi Ganayati Kshudro Jantuh Parigrahaphalgutaam||
Engrossed in joy the
Cur chews incessantly on
The putrid, worm-ridden, spit-drooling, fleshless piece of human bone oblivious in
Even the presence of Indra just as
The Knave knows no shame in
Cringing before another for worthless
Altruism, charity or largesse.
(Ed: This verse like several others uses some strong language if only to put the message more forcefully. The bottomline: no pursuit or means is considered dishonest or derogatory by mean-minded people. It is a near-accurate picture of the character of our current political class.)
Shirah Shaarvam Svargaatpatati Shirasastatkshitidharam|
Maheedhraaduttungaadavanimavaneshcaapi Jaladhim||
Adhodho! Gangeyam Padamupagataa Stokamathavaa|
Vivekabhrastaanaam Bhavati Vinipaatah Shatamukhah||
From Her first fall from the lofty Heavens
Upon the head of Shiva thence
Upon the skyward summits of the Himalaya thence
Again over the plains below thence
Into the Saline Sea O Ganges
What a Fall! Not unlike
Those that lack perception of Right and Wrong
Hence suffer a thousand Falls.
(Ed: It is perhaps Bhartruhari’s genius that enables him to take the divine Ganga herself to depict human folly. Ganga is believed to originate in Vishnu’s toenail. In Bhartruhari’s hands, each successive stage of Ganga’s fall evokes a range of emotions in the reader. From one revered as a Goddess she transmogrifies into water that is unfit even to quench thirst, Ganga’s Fall is utter and complete. I recall these lines from Milton: And so from Heav’n to deepest Hell; O fall From what high state of bliss into what woe!)
