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THE SŪRYAŚATAKA OF MAYŪRA
 
149
 
Who, like a maiden, takes an interest in [the welfare of] her
garden, the freshened world.
 
May the splendor of Arka (Sürya) bring you joy" !
 
Notes. 1. This stanza presents a rather elaborate simile. The circle
of the summits of Mt. Udaya (Meru) forms a trench, such as is ordinarily
dug around the roots of a tree to hold water. From this trench grows
up the tree Day, and the first sprout on this tree is the splendor of the
rising Sun. Into the trench, which is situated in the universe as in a
garden, Night, like a maiden, pours the water of the ambrosial dew from
her pitcher, the Ambrosia-making (Moon). For other similes in the
Saryafataka, see stanza 14, note I. 2. Udaya is Meru, the Dawn Moun-
tain; cf. stanza I, note 4. 3. Lit. amṛta means 'nectar,' 'ambrosia,' but
the commentary says that 'dew' (tuşara) is meant here. 4. Lit. 'from
the trench, whose bottom is continually soaked by Night, as by a maiden,
with the dew, etc.' 5. This stanza is quoted in the Kavindravacanasam-
uccaya (stanza 53), an anthology by an unknown compiler, and of date
not later than 1200 A.D.; cf. the edition of this work by F. W. Thomas,
in the Bibliotheca Indica Series, introd., p. 1-5, Calcutta, 1912.
 
V.L. (c) B arkamokaḥ kriyad. (d) The Kävyamālā text, together with
J and H, read ahaḥ as separate from the following compound; but VB
and the commentary, which I have followed, read ahaḥpadapa-; VJHB
and the Kavindravacanasamuccaya (see note 5) read -prākpravālaḥ.
 
35
 
bhinnam bhāsā 'ruṇasya kvacid abhinavayā vidrumāṇām
tvişeva
 
tvangannakṣatraratnadyutinikarakarālāntarālam kvacic ca
 
nā 'ntarnihśeşakṛṣṇaśriyam udadhim iva dhväntarāśim piban
 
stād
 
äurvaḥ pūrvo 'py apūrvo 'gnir iva bhavadaghapluṣṭaye 'rkāva-
bhāsaḥ
 
The splendor of Arka (Sürya) swallows¹ up the mass of darkness
[which is] like the ocean,
 
For [darkness] <is penetrated here and there by the new light of
dawn, as if by beautiful twigs>,²
 
And [the ocean] <is, as it were, pierced here and there by beau-
tiful [branches of] coral, with the fresh luster of their red
hue> ;
 
Here and there <the yawning depths [of darkness are filled] with
the mass of splendor of the sparkling jewel-like stars>,