November 23, 2017: Subhaashita

To speak: how, what, when

avicārya na vaktavyaṃ vaktvyaṃ suvicāritam

kintu tatraiva vaktavyaṃ yatroktaṃ saphalaṃ bhavet ||

Re-ordered word-by-word meaning

na vaktavyaṃ avicārya  - Nothing should be spoken without  deliberation.

vaktvyaṃ suvicāritam  - What is spoken should be well thought out.

kiñca vaktavyaṃ  tatraiva - And further, it should be spoken only where,
yatroktaṃ saphalaṃ bhavet - what is spoken is fruitful (i.e. not wasted on deaf ears.)

November 9, 2017 : Literature and Music

|| bhartṛhari viracita nītiśatakam ||

sāhitya-saṅgīta-kalā-vihīnaḥ

sākṣāt paśuḥ puccha-viṣāṇa-hīnaḥ |

tṛṇanna khādannapi jīvamānaḥ

tad bhāga-dheyaṃ paramaṃ paśūnām || 1.12 ||

Re-ordered word-by-word meaning

sāhitya-saṅgīta-kalā-vihīnaḥ - one bereft of good taste in literature, music and art, 

sākṣāt paśuḥ -is exactly a beast (cattle), 

puccha-viṣāṇa-hīnaḥ - but without a tail or horns.

tṛṇaṃ na khādan api jīvamānaḥ - That he is able to live without foraging for grass, 

tad bhāga-dheyaṃ paramaṃ paśūnām - is indeed a supreme fortune of the beasts/animals (as he would be an unworthy rival for their food).

Our Samskrita teacher taught us this shloka in Sarada Vilas High School, Mysore, in the sixties. This poem was cited by my good friend Sri. K.V. Chellappa today!

Bhartrhari was a famous king-poet of Ujjain who lived before 5th century CE.