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THE SŪRYASATAKA OF MAYŪRA
 
113
 
May these rays of the Hot-rayed (Sürya) bestow upon you
abundant prosperity!
 
Notes. 1. The picture presented in this stanza is as follows: The sun
beholds the nakedness of the world, whose garment, night, has been
removed by his arrival, and, like a weaver, he spreads out his thread-like
rays, and fashions the sky for its garment-a garment whose fringe is
composed of the ten quarters of the sky, or directions of the compass.
2. The commentary glosses by amśukanibhe timire, 'darkness like an upper
garment.' 3. The 'ten quarters [of the sky]' doubtless mean the eight
points of the compass, together with the zenith and nadir. The Mahabha-
rata (3. 134. 17) allows the existence of 'ten quarters' (difo daśoktāḥ),
and likewise the Vetālapañcavimśati, 1, in the prose between stanzas 25
and 26 (cf. the edition by Heinrich Uhle, Leipzig, 1881). In Süryaśataka,
stanzas 13 and 58, the 'quarters' are specified as being eight in number,
but in stanzas 7, 17, 85, and 94, they are again referred to as being ten.
4. Lit. 'broad by [reason of] the row of fringe [which is] the ten quarters
manifested in due order.' The idea to be conveyed by the phrase 'mani-
fested in due order' is that the quarters become visible one after the
other, as fast as the rays of the rising sun fall upon them and the earth.
 
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nyakkurvann oşadhīśe mușitaruci śucevāuṣadhiḥ proṣitābhā
bhāsvadgrāvodgatena prathamam iva kṛtābhyudgatiḥ pāva-
kena
 
pakṣacchedavraṇāsṛksruta iva dṛṣado darśayan prātaradrer
ātämras tivrabhānor anabhimatanude stad gabhastyudgamo
vaḥ
 
The ruddy rising of the rays of the Hot-rayed (Sürya) humbles
the [splendor¹ of the] plants, whose beauty is effaced as if
through their grief at the Moon's being robbed of his
splendor,³
 
And offers at first a greeting of welcome <as it were>, with a fire
<like> that which proceeds from the sun-stone,5³
 
And causes the rocks of the Dawn Mountain (Meru) to appear
as if streaming with blood from the wounds [caused by] the
cutting off of its wings.'
 
May the rising of these rays of the Hot-rayed (Sürya) exist
for removing whatever is not to your liking!
 
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