𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭

 

को खादते भूमिगतान् मनुष्यान्

कं हन्ति सिंहः प्रकटप्रभावः।

किं करोति पूर्णगतश्च गर्भः

पिपीलिका दन्तिवरं प्रसूते॥

𝐤𝐨 𝐤𝐡𝐚̄𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐡𝐮̄𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐚̄𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬̣𝐲𝐚̄𝐧

𝐤𝐚𝐦̇ 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢 𝐬𝐢𝐦̇𝐡𝐚𝐡̣ 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐭̣𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐚̄𝐯𝐚𝐡̣|

𝐤𝐢𝐦̇ 𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐢 𝐩𝐮̄𝐫𝐧̣𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬́𝐜𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐡̣

𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐢̄𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐚̄ 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦̇ 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐮̄𝐭𝐞||

𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬.. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.. 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐲𝐚, 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐳 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐤𝐫𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐚 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬

𝐤𝐨 𝐤𝐡𝐚̄𝐝𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐡𝐮̄𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐚̄𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬̣𝐲𝐚̄𝐧.. 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡..? 𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐚 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐭

𝐤𝐚𝐦̇ 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢 𝐬𝐢𝐦̇𝐡𝐚𝐡̣ 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐭̣𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐡𝐚̄𝐯𝐚𝐡̣| 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 ..? . 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦... 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭

𝐤𝐢𝐦̇ 𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐢 𝐩𝐮̄𝐫𝐧̣𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬́𝐜𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐡𝐚𝐡̣.. 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞.?. 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞... 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

𝐩𝐢𝐩𝐢̄𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐚̄ 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦̇ 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐮̄𝐭𝐞|| പിപീലികാ ദന്തിവരം പ്രസൂതെ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬,, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬..

𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫..

𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧...

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭.

a riddle

भोजनान्ते च किं पेयम्

जयन्तः कस्य वै सुतः।

कथं विष्णुपदं प्रोक्तम्

तक्रं शक्रस्य दुर्लभम्॥

bhojanānte ca kiṁ peyam

jayantaḥ kasya vai sutaḥ|

kathaṁ viṣṇupadaṁ proktam

takraṁ śakrasya durlabham||

( A riddle)

The scholars and poets in Sanskrit enjoyed creating and somewhat unclear and partial portions of a verse often having funny meanings,, often conveying unitended meanins when read in isolation..

These were often called samasyas.. or even prahelikas..

There were even contests having huge prize money.. where kings often circulated such samsyas... and the greatness of the participant writer or poet was measured often on the basis of the popular impact created by answering such riddles..

तक्रं शक्रस्य दुर्लभं takram shakrasya durlabhma is such a riddle..

The apparent meaning of the sentence is that

' buttermilk is scarce even for the king of gods.. indra."

That would look funny..

Indra is the lord of heaven and all the resources anywhere in the universe is under the control..

How can one think of some sort of ration for buttermil for such a great personage?

but the story of the riddle is entirely different..

Three questions are asked..

three questions unconncected with one another ..

in the three legs of a sloka in anustutp metre..

and the answers are given in a string is the fourth line..

भोजनान्ते च किं पेयं bhojanaante cha kim peryam...

what is it that one should drink at the end of a sumptuos meal?

जयन्तः कस्य वै सुतः। jayantaH kasya vai sutaH..

whose son is Jayanta?

कथं विष्णुपदं प्रोक्तम् katham vishnupadam proktham..

how easy it is to obatin the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu ?

तक्रं शक्रस्य दुर्लभम्॥ takram shakraya durlabham.. buttermilk, Indra or shakra is difficult to obtain..

when read together the last sentence would apparently convey that "buttermilk is a sacarce commodity ever for Indra..'

That is not meant to be so.

This last sentence is just the answer for the three questions.. that one should drink buttermilk (takram) at the conclusion of a gourmet meal,

that Jayantha is the son of Indra or Shakrasya,

and

that the proximity to Lord Vishnu is very difficult to attain or durlabham ..

Indeed a riddle..

Of course it has an explanation .. a way out of the apparent maze of absurdity..

That is quite unlike many posts and forwards found in social media ..

Mysterious absurdities just get unmystified absurdities here..

what else can an outcaste do?

Once the great poet Kalidasa who adorned the court of the equally illustrious King Bhoja, had a tiff with the king and was excommunicated from the Kingdom.

Without knowing where to go, the poet was wandering in the outskirts of Dhaaraa city in the disguise of a beggar mendicant.

King Bhoja, even though he had taken the rude action in a fit of rage was very downcast having lost the company of his dearest friend and the immortal poet.

He was confident that if he spread a half completed poem भ्रष्टस्य कान्या गतिः॥
 through his emissaries who would circulate it everywhere, the poet could be identified because of the genius in the poet would be exposed in his urge to fill up the missing parts.

The following sloka was the result.

भिक्षो मांसनिषेवणम् किमुचितं? किं तेन मद्यं विना

मद्यम् चापि तव प्रियं? प्रियमहो वाराङ्गनाभिः सह।

वेश्या द्रव्यरुचिः कुतस्तव धनं? चौर्येण द्यूतेन वा

चौर्यद्यूतमपि प्रियं न भवतो? भ्रष्टस्य कान्य गतिः॥

bhikṣo māṁsaniṣevaṇam kimucitaṁ kiṁ tena madyaṁ vinā 

madyam cāpi tava priyaṁ priyamaho vārāṅganābhiḥsaha| 

veśyā dravyaruciḥ kutastava dhanaṁ cauryeṇa dyūtena vā 

cauryadyūtamapi priyaṁ na bhavato bhraṣṭasya kānya gatiḥ|| 

the question: you the mendicant, does it please you to eat meat? 

The answer: Indeed it is, but how can the pleasure be complete without hooch? 

the question: Do you relish drinking toddy too? 

the answer: Yes, I love to drink, and more so in the company of prostitutes

the question : The prostitute is avaricious for money, 

from where can you get such big money? 

the answer : I have to earn wealth through robbery or play of dice. 

the question : So robbery and gambling are your favourite occupations, is it? 

the answer : What other way of life is left for the one who is excommunicated? 

The great poet was identified and welcomed back 

personally by the King Bhoja with Royal Honours.