Saturday, June 12, 2010

तां हंसमालाः शरदीव गङ्गाम्



तां हंसमालाः शरदीव गङ्गाम्
महौषधीम् नक्तमिवात्मभासः।
स्त्थिरोपदेशां उपदेशकाले
प्रपेदिरे प्राक्तनजन्मविद्याः॥

tāṁ haṁsamālāḥ śaradīva gaṅgām
mahauṣadhīm naktamivātmabhāsaḥ|
stthiropadeśāṁ upadeśakāele
prapedire prāktanajanmavidyāḥ ||

महाकविकालिदासकृते कुमारसंभवे महाकाव्ये 
from the mahakavyam Kumarasambhavam written by Kalidasa.

തം ഹംസമാലാ ശരദീവ ഗംഗാം
മഹൌഷധീം നക്തമിവാത്മഭാസ
സ്ഥിരോപദേശാം ഉപദേശകാലേ
പ്രപെദിരെ പ്രാക്തനജന്മവിദ്യാ
On conclusion of the yajna by Daksha the Divine Mother Daakshayani, unable to bear the insults hurled at her husband Lord Shiva, committed supreme sacrifice by immolating herself in the fire generated by herself through Her yogic powers. 

The Rudra, unable to bear the separation from Her, carries the body through the whole of India and to assuage His sorrow and dangerous wrath Bhagavan Vishnu followed him with His discus Sudarsana and cuts the body of the Sati, the Daakshaayani, so that it fell away in various places of this Holy land and the places where such parts fell became the Supreme shrines of the Mother in India. 

Finally Shiva went into the deepest meditation . 

The Mother was entreated to take a second life for the protection of the universe and in time She manifested herself in a lotus flower in the precincts of Himalaya. 

The lord of Himalaya discovered her and adopted Her as his child and called her Parvathi and Uma. 
The child Uma grew, and was being initiated into the various arts and sciences by erudite scholars. 

Kalidasa in the Sloka above is describing the scene of getting Uma educated.

“It was indeed wonderful that the child was seen receiving a spontaneous flow of all Vidhyaas already acquired by her in her previous births, even as the scholars were trying to impart the basics of knowledge to Her... 

It was like the spontaneous flow of swans to Ganga in the autumn season, 

like the self luminosity spontaneously taking over the medicinal herbs at night.”

The simile of Kalidasa(उपमा कालिदासस्य) is at its supreme sublimity here. 

The Divine Mother herself is the Vidya, all knowledge emanates from Her. 

Who will venture to educate Her?

Taam… her.. 

Hamsamaalaa…… row of group of swans arrayed together like garland.. 

sharadi gangaam iva.. like (reaching) Ganga in the Autumn season… 

Mahaushadeem…. Holy herbal plants…. 

Naktam… during night.. 

Aatmabhaasah.. (iva) (getting) luminescence spontaneiously.. Sthiropadesaam… Being well taught 

Upadeshakaale… at the time of limparting education.. Praaktanajana vidhyaaH… lessons learned in the previous life

Prapedire .. reached her without any impediment..

No comments:

Post a Comment