#meghaduta

[dragonwillow]

Anyone remembers that guy who was exiled because he was too distracted??

He took one look at a cloud and went like -

Do you mind delivering a msg to my wife?

I miss her so much 😭😭😭

You might see all these beautiful sights while going there, but nothing as beautiful as my wife 😭😭😭

Will you tell my wife how much I miss her and how much I love her ?? 😭😭😭😭

[moonrosey]

like the sky my beloved is everywhere but next to me

Poems of Kalidasa (2 / 2) — Meghaduta

A yaksha, requests a cloud to carry a message of love and longing to his lover who is far away. The yaksha hero of this poem serves the god of wealth, Kubera, and having failed in some responsibility, has been cursed to live for a year in Ramagiri in Vindhya mountains of Central India. The year proves too long to endure, for his lover who remains unnamed is a woman or yakshi who lives in Alaka, a city in the distant Himalayas. The yaksha is obsessed, he reminisces his past moments with his lover, and fantasizes that she too is lovesick for him. However, the Meghaduta is much more than a fanciful love-poem. The yaksha tries to motivate the cloud by describing the wonderful sights en route to Alaka, and the poem, thus, also works as a travelogue of an itinerary from the Vindhyas to the Himalayas.

[jayavant]

#Sanskrit and #coffee. Working on #meghaduta at #townsville ‘s best espresso bar. @specialty_coffee_trader (at Specialty Coffee Trader)

[sanskritpoems]

Meghadūtam 1.60 of Kālidāsa

hitvā nīlaṃ bhujaga-valayaṃ śaṃbhunā datta-hastā

krīḍā-śaile yadi ca viharet pāda-cāreṇa gaurī | 

bhaṅgī-bhaktyā viracita-vapuḥ stambhita-antaḥ-jalaḥ asyāḥ

sopānatvaṃ kuru sukha-pada-sparśam ārohaṇeṣu ||

“pārvatī, approached by śiva, 

     shrinks back from his dark, serpent-adorned hand. 

if she were to amuse herself by walking on this pleasure mountain,

become a staircase for her by arranging your body into a row of steps. 

     holding water within, it will be pleasant for the touch of her ascending feet.”     

[sanskritpoems]

Meghadūtam 1.59 of Kālidāsa

utpaśyāmi tvayi taṭa-gate snigdha-bhinna-añjana-ābhe

sadyaḥ kṛtta-dvirada-daśana-cheda-gaurasya tasya |

līlām adreḥ stimita-nayana-prekṣaṇīyāṃ bhavitrīm

asaṃnyaste sati hala-bhṛtaḥ mecake vāsasi iva ||

“o cloud, your hue resembles collyrium freshly ground and glistening black.

     when you reach the slope of the mount kailāsa,

     whose whiteness dazzles like fragments of ivory finely chopped,

i expect that your playful charm will be a sight worthy of intently staring eyes.

     like the blue-black garment of the fair-skinned balarāma.”

photo courtesy of this site. 

[sanskritpoems]

Meghadūta 1.58 of Kālidāsa

gatvā ca ūrdhvaṃ daśa-mukha-bhuja-ucchvāsita-prastha-saṃdheḥ

kailāsasya tri-daśa-vanitā-darpaṇasya atithiḥ syāḥ |

śṛṅga-ucchrāyaiḥ kumuda-viśadaiḥ yaḥ vitatya sthitaḥ khaṃ

rāśībhūtaḥ prati-niśam iva tryambakasya aṭṭahāsaḥ ||

“after going further north, you will be the guest of mount kailāsa

     the joints of its peaks were loosen by the ten-faced rāvana. 

     it serves as the mirror of the celestial beings’ wives. 

     pervading the sky, it stands tall with peaks glistening like white water lilies,

as if it were the nightly accumulation of the three-eyed śiva’s loud laughter.”

photo: rāvaṇa lifting up mount kailāsa, courtesy of this site. 

[sanskritpoems]

Meghadūta 1.57 of Kālidāsa

prāleya-adreḥ upa-taṭam ati-kramya tāṃ tāṇ viśeṣān

haṃsa-dvāraṃ bhṛgu-pati-yasho-vartma yat krauñca-randhram |

tena udīcīṃ diśam abhisareḥ tiryak-āyāma-śobhī

śyāmaḥ pādaḥ bali-niyamana-abhyudyatasya iva viṣṇoḥ ||

“after crossing the wondrous sights on the skirt of the snow-clad mountain,

     you should advance northward through a pass in the krauñca mountain. 

      it is the traveling geese’s gateway to the himālayas

      and the glorious path of fiery sage paraśurāma. 

      by stretching horizontally, you will appear beautiful 

like viṣṇu’s dark foot raised to crush the demon bali.”

Painting courtesy of Wiki commons. 

[sanskritpoems]

Meghadūta 1.56 of Kālidāsa

śabdāyante madhuram anilaiḥ kīcakāḥ pūryamāṇāḥ

saṃraktābhiḥ tri-pura-vijayaḥ gīyate kiṃnarībhiḥ |

nirhrādī te muraja iva cet kandarāsu dhvaniḥ syāt

saṃgīta-arthaḥ nanu paśupateḥ tatra bhāvī samastaḥ ||

“hollow bamboos whistling in the wind make sweet noises. 

     impassioned celestial musicians sing of the conquest of the triple city.  

     if your drum-like deep rumbling were to resound in the caves,

indeed, you will complete there the orchestra of śiva, the lord of creatures.”