2023-02-23 18:49:03 by ambuda-bot
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THE SŪRYASATAKA OF MAYŪRA
173
V.L. (a) B muñcannaśmin; V samharaś ca; VJ svatantraḥ stotra-, HB
svatandrastotra-. (b) K vitataharipad-. (d) VJHBK paşna svasama iva.
54
śātaḥ śyāmālatāyāḥ paraśur iva tamo'raṇyavahner ivā 'rciḥ
präcyevā 'gre grahitum grahakumudavanam prāg udasto
'grahastaḥ
äikyam bhindan dyubhūmyor avadhir iva vidhāteva viśvapra-
bodham
vāhānām vo vinetā vyapanayatu vipan nāma dhāmādhipasya
The driver of the horses of (Sürya), Lord of Splendor, is like a
sharp ax, [ready to cut] the vine of night, or like the gleam
of a fire in the forest of darkness,¹
Or like the fingers of a hand, raised at dawn to grasp, [as if
they were] a bunch of lotuses, the planets [that lie] in front
of the eastern quarter,³
Or like a boundary line, breaking the unity of earth and sky, or
like <Brahma>, <causing> the awakening of the universe.
May this driver of the horses of (Sürya), Lord of Splendor,
verily remove your misfortunes'!
Notes. 1. Bernheimer (see Introd., p. 105) renders: 'che abbrucia
l'oscurità come il fuoco la foresta.' 2. The commentary glosses 'grahastaḥ,
'fore-hand,' by hastagraḥ, 'tip of a hand'; I have rendered as 'fingers
of a hand.' 3. The commentary has pracya parvaya disa 'gre purastat,
which seems to mean 'in front of the eastern quarter.' 4. Owing to
the darkness of night, the place on the horizon where earth ends and sky
begins cannot be distinguished; earth and sky are therefore seemingly
unified; but when the light of Dawn (Aruna) approaches, the horizon
becomes visible, and the ap ent unity of earth and sky is broken. The
horizon-line, being on the boundary, ordinarily breaks this unity, but since
it is also broken by Dawn (Aruņa), this Aruna, the driver of Surya's
steeds, may be compared, as he is here, to the horizon-line. 5. Brahma,
at every creation, quickens the void slumbering mass of matter into life;
cf. Vişnu Purana, 1.5 (Wilson, vol. 1, p. 68-88); Manu, 1I. 1-13. Dawn,
since he rouses the sleeping world to life, is comparable to Brahma, who
puts life into dormant matter. 6. The imagining of Dawn (Aruna)
under the guise of an ax, fire-light, a hand, a boundary-line, or Brahmă,
exemplifies the rhetorical figure utprekşd, or 'Poetic Fancy'; cf. stanza 1,
note 6. 7. Note that vipad, which is regularly feminine, is here appar-
ently neuter.
V.L. (a) J fata śyāmalatāyāḥ. (b) HB pracy agre prag grahitum.
173
V.L. (a) B muñcannaśmin; V samharaś ca; VJ svatantraḥ stotra-, HB
svatandrastotra-. (b) K vitataharipad-. (d) VJHBK paşna svasama iva.
54
śātaḥ śyāmālatāyāḥ paraśur iva tamo'raṇyavahner ivā 'rciḥ
präcyevā 'gre grahitum grahakumudavanam prāg udasto
'grahastaḥ
äikyam bhindan dyubhūmyor avadhir iva vidhāteva viśvapra-
bodham
vāhānām vo vinetā vyapanayatu vipan nāma dhāmādhipasya
The driver of the horses of (Sürya), Lord of Splendor, is like a
sharp ax, [ready to cut] the vine of night, or like the gleam
of a fire in the forest of darkness,¹
Or like the fingers of a hand, raised at dawn to grasp, [as if
they were] a bunch of lotuses, the planets [that lie] in front
of the eastern quarter,³
Or like a boundary line, breaking the unity of earth and sky, or
like <Brahma>, <causing> the awakening of the universe.
May this driver of the horses of (Sürya), Lord of Splendor,
verily remove your misfortunes'!
Notes. 1. Bernheimer (see Introd., p. 105) renders: 'che abbrucia
l'oscurità come il fuoco la foresta.' 2. The commentary glosses 'grahastaḥ,
'fore-hand,' by hastagraḥ, 'tip of a hand'; I have rendered as 'fingers
of a hand.' 3. The commentary has pracya parvaya disa 'gre purastat,
which seems to mean 'in front of the eastern quarter.' 4. Owing to
the darkness of night, the place on the horizon where earth ends and sky
begins cannot be distinguished; earth and sky are therefore seemingly
unified; but when the light of Dawn (Aruna) approaches, the horizon
becomes visible, and the ap ent unity of earth and sky is broken. The
horizon-line, being on the boundary, ordinarily breaks this unity, but since
it is also broken by Dawn (Aruņa), this Aruna, the driver of Surya's
steeds, may be compared, as he is here, to the horizon-line. 5. Brahma,
at every creation, quickens the void slumbering mass of matter into life;
cf. Vişnu Purana, 1.5 (Wilson, vol. 1, p. 68-88); Manu, 1I. 1-13. Dawn,
since he rouses the sleeping world to life, is comparable to Brahma, who
puts life into dormant matter. 6. The imagining of Dawn (Aruna)
under the guise of an ax, fire-light, a hand, a boundary-line, or Brahmă,
exemplifies the rhetorical figure utprekşd, or 'Poetic Fancy'; cf. stanza 1,
note 6. 7. Note that vipad, which is regularly feminine, is here appar-
ently neuter.
V.L. (a) J fata śyāmalatāyāḥ. (b) HB pracy agre prag grahitum.