Dear all,
I am back after a great tour of Sri Lanka, in the company of some very good musicians and a historian. You can see some of my photos here: http://bit.ly/SachiInHarmony1
Now for the resumption of my Samskrita lessons. I have been requested by a very good scholar-friend to take this up. I will take up the Ardhanarisvarastotram composed by the 12th century Kashmiri poet Kalhana, whose work Rajatarangini is a great resource for historians to study Kashmir's cultural history.
This is a tough set of shlokas, I will take up one or two stanzas per day.
|| kāśmīrakamahākaviśrīkahlaṇakṛtam
ardhanārīśvarastōtram ||
bhālaṃ vahniśikhāṅkitaṃ dadhadadhiśrotraṃ vahansaṃbhṛtakrīḍatkuṇḍalijṛṃbhitaṃ jaladhijacchāyācchakaṇṭhacchaviḥ |
vakṣo bibhradahīnakañcukacitaṃ baddhāṅganārdhasya vo bhāgaḥ puṅgavalakṣmaṇostu
yaśase vāmō'thavā dakṣiṇaḥ || 1||
Re-ordered word-by-word meaning
(Oh Shiva, the personification of glory!)
vahan - as You carry the following
vahniśikhāṅkitaṃ bhālaṃ - With Your forehead adorned with a flaming torch (Third Eye),
dadhadadhiśrotraṃ - with the oceanic cascade of Ganga,
saṃbhṛtakrīḍatkuṇḍalijṛṃbhitaṃ - with Your ear ornaments resplendent as they oscillate,
jaladhijacchāyācchakaṇṭhacchaviḥ -with Your neck shadowed by the light from the crescent moon on Your crest (born of the ocean during the churning)
bibhradahīnakañcukacitaṃ vakṣaḥ - Your chest covered in sacred ash,
baddhāṅganārdhasya - bound with Parvati, your other half;
vāmō'thavā dakṣiṇaḥ bhāgaḥ - on either Your left half or right,
vaḥ puṅgavalakṣmaṇostu yaśase - may each of those emblems and descriptions of Shiva be auspicious for us!
Phew. Tough one.
Next shloka tomorrow.
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