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THE CANDIŚATAKA OF BĀŅA
 
arcirmokṣeņa mūrchan davadahanarucām locanānām trayasya
yasyā nirmajjamajjaccaraṇabharanato gām vibhidya pra-
viṣṭaḥ
 
pātālam pańkapātonmukha iva mahiṣaḥ stād umā sā śriye vaḥ
 
Mahisa, plunging into the very impenetrable forest [composed]
 
of [Uma's (Candi's)]¹ arms whose extremities reached to
the sky,³
 
Became dazed at the emission of flame from the triad of her
eyes that gleamed like a fire in a burning forest;
 
[Then], bowed by the weight of her foot which sank into his
lifeless [body], he clove the earth,
 
And entered Pātāla," as if expecting to wallow in its mud.
May that Umā (Candi) bring you prosperity!
 
304
 
Notes. 1. The commentary says: 'Of the arms, that is to say, [the
arms] of Devi (Candi).' 2. I have changed the division of the words
in the reading of the Kävyamālā text, from a vyomavyāpi sīmnām into a
vyoma vyapisimnām, which is the reading of the commentary. This is, I
confess, open to the objection that vyapin appears not to be used at the
beginning of compounds (cf. pwb, s.v.). As another alternative, one might
read avyomavyapisimnam as a compound word. For the forest of arms
of Candi, cf. stanza 64, and Moor, Hindu Pantheon, pl. 19. 3. In the
Devi Upanişad, Candi is addressed as 'thou represented with three eyes';
cf. Kennedy, Hindu Mythology, p. 492; her three eyes are also mentioned
in the account of her birth given in the Vamana Purana; cf. Kennedy,
ibid., p. 335. See also Candiśataka, stanzas 40 and 51. It may likewise be
noted that since Siva had three eyes, Candi, who is Siva's sakti-i.e. the
female personification of his 'energy'-is also entitled to the possession
of a like number. 4. Lit. 'marrowless,' meaning deprived of the life or
the blood; for a similar conception, cf. stanza 3, note 4 5. The words
gam... patalam occur in the same order, and in the same position in the
padas, in stanza 18. 6. The commentary notes an implied simile in this
stanza. It reads: 'Just as any other buffalo (mahişa), when wandering
in a forest, and heated by a forest-fire, enters a hollow, expecting to wallow
in the mud, even so also this [buffalo-i.e. Mahişa], completely scorched
by the flame of the eyes of Devi (Candi), enters Pätäla.' For the fire in
Candi's eyes, cf. stanza 51.
 
V.L. (a) The Kävyamālā text reads a vyomavyapi simnām; following
the commentary, I have emended to a vyoma vyapisimnam. (b) loca-
nānām trayena. (d) sa fiva 'stu śriye vah.