Canto 19 - Description of the rising sun and the morning scenery

1. As the night declined, bards, wishing to awaken Nala, Cupid of the land of Niṣadha, lying by the side of his beloved, chanted forth strains lavishly drenched with distinct poetic sentiments, and accompanied by a variety of emotions, and expressed with the art that is in melodious wreaths of words.

2. “Victory, victory to thee! Mighty king! Richly reward the beauty of the morn, glancing with thy slightly weary lashes.^[1] Quickly rising from bed, let Damayantī be the first sight of good omen to thee. Yea, no benign agency is there more potent than a dear one’s lotus face!

3. “The Region that is Indra’s queen^[2] shows now a smiling face, her clear aspect, as if she were looking at the moon while he visits the Region that is Varuṇa’s wife;^[3] (the moon) grown nude by the gradual loss of his raiment of rays.

4. “Such stars as are not very large are no longer visible to the eyes. Gradually the rays of the sun pervade the sky, proceeding in an endless chain. Yonder moon, too, decaying in life, speaks of the weariness of his rays that fight with the gloom of the night.

5. “In contact with the rays of the sun surpassing the lustre of red lac, the mass of darkness is glistening bright like an expanse of clay, clearly pecked by the quick beaks of numerous whitewinged birds. The bee, though it thinks it is black, flashes as if it had a purple hue.

6. “The limpid water drops lying on the tips of young Kuśa blades, accumulated by a succession of drops of dew, which look like sprays emitted by the Night, have surpassed pearls in beauty, marvellously fitted by a pearl-smith into the sproutlike tips of iron pins.^[4]

7. “The stars in the sky are being carried away to serve as neat and clear Anusvāras^[5] in the Om syllables preceding those Ṛgveda verses, the rays of the sun. Doubtless for the formation of the accents of these verses, the rays have been taken away from yonder orb of the moon on account of their being placed high aloft in the sky.^[6]

8. “The sun is speedily killing the night, catching it by its lock of hair, the darkness. Seeing this, the night lotus falls into a swoon. Thou, Nala, art covering thy eyes (with thy hands); and, the moon is completely bereft of its strength: just as Indrajit killed the magic Sītā, while the monkey Kumud, seeing this, fell into a swoon; the monkey Nala closed his eyes; and Sugrīva’s spirits were greatly quenched.^[7]

9. “In the sky, the pleasure bed of divine couples, the galaxy of planets doth assume the rich beauty^[8] of a part of the flower wreaths cast off during amorous dalliance. And the full moon, filled inside with masses of cotton wool, its tender rays, bears^[9] the semblance of a pillow.

10. “Verily the rays of the sun now adorn the neighbouring region, assuming forms that are apparent manifestations of the thousand ramifications of the four Vedas. It is their echo, consisting of the words of the Vedas, that goes up on the highway from the mouths of those who recite the Vedas.^[10]

11. “Lord Sun, the natural friend of the day lotus to some extent makes the terrace of Indra’s palace his foothold. His tireless revolution round the Mountain of Gold is crowned with success, because he hems in Darkness, his receding foe, in the region of the western sky.

12. “Concluding from the hoverings in yonder sky of those hawks, the rays of the sun, killing the crows of darkness, that the sun is going ahunting; the moon betook himself to the west for fear of his hare^[11] being killed; while those pigeons, the stars, flew away on receiving the news.

13. “The stars had densely filled the sky, the courtyard of the gods, as if they were pearls dropped from the pearl-strings torn asunder during the amorous sports of the gods. Now, at morn, owing to the cleansing by the sun,^[12] the sky doth look different with the beauty of its natural state.

14. “The sky first welcomes the rays of the sun with unbroken grains of rice, the stars; variegated with joints of Dūrvā blades, the surrounding expanse of gloom. It then offers a hospitable entertainment with barley flour mixed with water, to wit, the flakes of powdery snow hovering in the sky.^[13]

15. “If Śukrācārya, the preceptor of the demons, were not afraid of breaking the vow of silence during early morning prayers, would he not utter the charm that brings back the dead to life and plays in his throat, in order to restore Darkness to life as he did Kaca; (Darkness) friendly to the demons, who hath met with death at the hands of the sun?

16. “At this moment, during the night’s battle with the day, the peaks of the Mount of Sunrise, where the sun now roves, bear streams of red chalk melting with heat. Garuḍa, the younger brother of Aruṇa, having come there out of his eagerness to salute the rising Aruṇa, the charioteer of the sun; should there be assumed, on account of the meeting of the two, the presence of a rampart of newly baked brick.^[14]

17. “Now surely do the mares of Indra’s army have an amorous desire for the horses of the sun’s chariot, seeing them near.^[15] Now does the female Cakravāka bird, deep in her love, have an amorous passion for her mate,^[16] her heart yielding to Cupid’s arrows.

18. “Swishing their tails, colts neigh gently in hunger, desiring to have milk, having been without any food during the night. A troop of horses, hastily rising from their places (in the stable), and making a low sound, desire to have salt; for they are known to be fond of licking the rocky salt found in the Maṇimantha mountain.

19. “Is it not right for the assembly of stars, nor proper for the night that they now refrain from looking at their consort, the Moon, whose rays now wane? But, the Moon’s heart is clearly made of stone, its dark petrified look coming into view. For, alas, the heart was not quickly rent asunder even when they were separated from him.

20. “The Sun, I ween, is wedding yonder Dawn, who offers the stars as grains of parched rice as an oblation in the fire, the glow of the sun. Like her, the Sun too will go round the wedding fire. Who is not eager to look at his hand with the nuptial thread attached?^[17]

21. “You two who have the beauty of Cupid and Rati^[18]! Since we master bards are fully responsible for imparting friendly advice,^[19] we boldly speak unto you. Even though our harsh words are a hindrance to your pleasure, which is contrary to religious virtue, will they not (in the end) lead to your good humour, even to joy?

22. “Let thy beloved quickly part from thee. Thou who art pure with austerities, say thy morning prayers. How is it that this morning twilight, sister to the night, prompts thee not? Only a few moments will the sun remain mature ṃ the womb of the east. Then must he initiate the day.

23. “O Damayantī, strange it is that an utter neglect of religious observance appears even in Nala to-day, his heart being distraught^[20] by thee, the abode of arts! For, though he makes the morning twilight barren,^[21] he counts it not as an offence, nor would he now salute the sun.

24. “Thou who art high-minded, no woman is there wiser than thou! Be not the cause of thy husband’s sin of deviation from the established rites. By reason of his not leaving thee for a moment, reckless slanderers of a truth will call him happy in a woman of passion.

25. “Sire, leave thy consort for a moment, best of woman though she be. The sky paints itself with the rays of the sun which slowly unfold. The deities of beauty, going in joy from the night lotus to the day lotus, cherish a desire to see yonder pitcher of gold, the sun emerging from the sea.^[22]

26. “The rays of the sun, after they have had an unclouded vision of Indra owing to their being travellers of the east,^[23] will soon after see thee here. Ah, let them then skilfully judge the prosperity of Indra and thyself; for they can elucidate and eliminate, by virtue of their possession of effective power.^[24]

27. “At the approach of the dawn, the bees, mature in strength, because they are male, forced their entry into the tip of the lotus, not too soft, and went out with something in their mouths. They fed their wives with fresh food, giving them the honey of the lotus which they had brought.

28. “At daybreak, with a single petal unfolded first, the lily gives the onlooker to think, ‘About to feed on the expanse of the rays of the sun, is the lily first hollowing its palm to take the water hallowed by the Āpośāna formula?’^[25]

29. “Now, in pools of water, the sleep of the lily, the shrinkage of its flowers, hath come to an end, as if at the combined chirpings of bevies of birds on the trees on the bank. The bee drinks the honey of the lotus, sweetening it ever and anon with the nectar of the lips of its bride.

30. “Now come bees with their fellows to full-blown lotus blossoms, from inside the lotus buds which had closed up from pity at the decay of the day agone. The bees were confined in the nestlike buds (during the night). Now are they seen to break their fast with honey.^[26]

31. “The thin-starred regions of the sky are whitening at the disappearance of gloom. What pool is there that appears not white with the laugh of the lotus? Only the zenith turns blue with deep disgrace, because it welcomed the light which destroyed the darkness that had taken refuge in the sky.

32. “Should not the beds of the day lotus laugh, the sun, their ally, being up? Should not the night lotus slumber, the moon, its friend, having lost its radiance? Perhaps the day lotus blossoms have exchanged their sleep for yonder smile of the night lotus bed;^[27] (the smile) that resembles the Himalayan rocks^[28] in beauty.

33. “It matters not whether the new come swarm of bees drinks the day lotus honey. They are satiated with the honey of night lotus blossoms. But the Cakravāka birds, having passed the night in thirst,^[29] suck now the honey, namely, the nether lip of the lotus mouths of their brides.

34. “The Cakravāka couple alone in the world is well versed in the art of love. Parting and parting with each other,^[30] mutually do they enjoy as new the pleasures of love. Likewise the mighty Śiva, the lord of the gods, swallowed poison, because he was satiated with nectar, the selfsame food from day to day.

35. “The Cakravāka birds now repeatedly call their ever-distraught consorts by name, their tongues glib from separation. The heat of their grief is about to leave their hearts for the solar gem.^[31] Separation from a young wife hath now become the lot of the moon, forsaking the night.

36. “Doth any one blame the night lily for choosing to remain blind, who looketh not at the sun with her bud-shaped eyes? But, hear ye. Hear. In the works produced by the genius of poets, wives of kings are written and read of as ‘not being in the habit of looking at the sun.’^[32] Will she not then be so, too, being the wife of the moon?

37. “The bees shine forth in the sky, as if they were drops of water slipping from the hands of the sun through the space between his fingers, for he hath drunk up the ocean of darkness from the hollow of his palm. Then by clinging to both sides of the streams of honey dripping from the lotus blossoms, the bees give me the idea of their being the ooze of the ocean of gloom.

38. “Rejecting the beauty of the rows of saffron blossoms; the perfectly young rays of the sun, ranging over the surface of pools of water, adopted the beauty of the clumps of (red and black) Guñjā blossoms; because the rays were dappled by the bees, flying up with the joy of lotus scent.

39. “Yonder pool, with its expanse whitened by masses of white lotus buds bursting into bloom, verily hath become diverse of hue; for the perfectly young sunbeams redden it; while a swarm of bees, about to settle on it, strives to turn it blue.

40. “Behold! in doing good to the day lotus, the Sun fulfils a magnanimous mission. He benefits the eyes of men, which are compared to the lotus by poets, desirous of expressing the presence of beauty. He lets alone the eyes of owls, because they are not like the lotus.^[33]

41. “Thou traveller on the path of sacrificial rites, if a profound devotion to the sun be thine, worship him quickly, as he emerges. At this moment, the palmfuls of water, thrown up in worship, towards the sun, act like watery thunderbolts on the Mandeha demons.^[34]

42. “Verily, I know not who brought into view yonder orb of the sun, an inexhaustible mine of rubies, its own newborn rays, situate on the peak of the Mount of Sunrise, removing the covering rock of night, black with gloom.

43. “Once did Indra take as a gift from Karṇa a pair of earrings. Truly he gave them then with pleasure to the East; for he is her lord. One of them was seen there, the rising moon. The other, streaming with the gold of ever new rays, is now seen, the gem of the day.^[35]

44. “The devoted Light had entered the fire, when the Sun, her husband, went down, having reached the hour of decline of the byegone day. Now she appears as the image of the vow of a devoted woman; for she hath brought about the ascent of the sun to heaven, forcibly raising him from the world below.^[36]

45. “It is but true, the saying of the wise that the blackness of the complexion of a child is due to his father’s food, black, green or the like. For from the Sun’s darkness-absorbing body, though it has a spotless lustre, Yama, Yamunā and Śani came forth black.

46. “Bringing into being Kāla consisting of the day, over and again, on the decay of each night, the time-producing divine Sun acquired such a lasting practice that, in times or yore, on account of it, he could not certainly give up this habit, even while generating Yamunā and Yama.^[37]

47. “What wicked person will not laugh at us (for praising the sun)? For the Sun himself is ridiculed by the wicked thus. ‘He has fine feet! His chariot is furnished with the beauty of his charioteer’s thighs! He produced, indeed, two sons Yama and Śani to protect the world! He is an ocean of kindness to Cakravāka birds, and a friend even to human eyes!’^[38]

48. “There rises the sun. He has a round of benevolent activities. He giveth warmth, for the happiness of creatures suffering from cold, and water for the relief of those whose mouths are dried by his scorching rays. He giveth heat to those who are afraid of water, and moisture to those who are subjected to heat.

49. “Who is not astonished that the rays of the sun, which drank up in a moment the expanses of darkness abiding in the bosom of all the four regions, were powerless to destroy the shaded darkness, which managed to live, taking shelter under the trees?

50. “The two Aśvins seem to practise the art of healing, having studied the science of medicine under their own father, the Sun, he who cures darkness in the world, and the swoon of the day lotus beds. But the Sun is also the father of Yama, the god of death. So is it not natural that he should rise cruel to bring about the untimely end of the night lotus blossoms?

51. “The moon had oppressed the sun’s wife, the day lily, left behind by her consort; and the night lily haḍ laughed at her. So both of them crouch in fear, I surmise. For the new risen sun, gleaming red like a plum, doth now advance forward.

52. “Every night I know, Ananta, the king of serpents, with his two thousand eyes, hears separately and sees simultaneously at close quarters the thousand accented and shining ramifications of the rays of the sun, journeying by the underground passage of the earth; (the sun) whose body is composed of the Vedas.^[39]

53. “Coral-hued are the rays of the sun, the friend of the lotus. Verily they appear to have numerous finger-nails at their tips. It is proper that parts of them, long as they are, will assume the beauty of fingers, entering through the windows.

54. “From the window of the top chamber, quickly look at the fingers of the sun’s hands, like stalks of the lotus that have come inside. Laden with moving atoms, they seem to whirl with speed. Are they not perhaps once more placed on the lathe by the carpenter of heaven?^[40]

55. “The day, like a barber, banished the Night, lopping off her braid of darkness, with sharp razors, the rays of the sun. Verily the surface of the earth doth glisten black with masses of hair falling in consequence all around in the guise of diverse shadows.

56. “Nala, the conch blown for luck we call thy fame. The moon, brother of the conch, is in the sky clearly engraved. Behold the decay of its rays, which doubtless makes one believe in their kinship. Behold also the moon’s dense area of gloom, its deershaped stain.

57. “The moon is heavily pressed by the rays of the sun, advancing with might and main; (the sun) that is overshadowing the Viśākhā star and opening the lotus. The moon hath already half set, resembling at this moment a conch-cutting saw turning white with the paste of conch-dust, produced by the water applied to the conch for cutting it through.

58. “The sun frees the eyes of men from sleep at the same time as he bursts open the lotus; and Viṣṇu completed with his eye^[41] the (required) number of a thousand lotuses (while worshipping Śiva). So there is a real kinship between lotus blooms and eyes. Based on this, the comparison of the eyes to the lotus is esteemed highly by poets.

59. “I know the night lotus kept a nightlong watch over the day lotus bed, opening its petal eyes. At the advent of the day, it now enjoys the pleasure of sleep deep with snores, the hum of the bees moving inside its petals.^[42]

60. ‘Say, what are the two original forms, for which Tātang is substituted in the Mahābhāṣya?’ Thus asked by the crow whose voice is characterised by a form of the interrogative pronoun Kim, the cuckoo at dawn gave reply in the form of its sound Tuhī.^[43]

61. “Yonder dove was certainly a student of Pāṇini’s system of grammar. It has^[44] on its neck an ornamental sign, the remains of numerous chalks worn out in the course of forming heaps of words.^[45] Having forgotten everything it had learnt, it now shakes its head, shouting forth the grammatical term Ghu, which it has by chance remembered at dawn, owing to the previous impression left on its mind by its reading from wooden slates.^[46]

62. “In the east the sun, a golden pitcher over Indra’s palace, charms one’s heart with the amassed newborn beams of the palace-banner possessing the smooth beauty of saffron. Proper it is that the rays born of this pitcher should drink up the ocean of gloom.^[47]

63. “Even two or three of its rays, acting like a conflagration in consuming the Tamāla forest of darkness, gave to the assembly of lotus blossoms the festival of day. So in vain the sun now hastily expands a flood of rays that is merely crushing the already crushed evil of darkness lingering on the surface of the earth, and in the directions and the sky.

64. “The sun, the submarine fire of the ocean of darkness, hath ascended far, an entertaining jester for the languid day lotus bed. How is it that the sun still assumes not its refulgent whiteness, and the expanses of solar rays still redden the sky?”

65. The minstrels then put on a set of ornaments, which the maids of the inner apartments placed before them, saying, “Pleased with this description of the morning, the queen has given you these presents, ornaments from her own person.” The set of ornaments was chasing poverty away with the glare of its eyes, red with an impulse of wrath; (the glare) consisting of the lustre of its rubies.

66. Then the king, after he had performed his morning ablutions in the waters of the celestial Gaṅgā, his exit from the palace being unknown to the bards who came later, came in joy, occupying his chariot, superior to Kubera’s Puṣpaka car, which he had obtained as part of his consort’s dowry; and obtained in a moment the hospitality of the eyes of the bards describing the dawn.

67. Epilogue.

Śrīhīra etc. In the epic, The Story of Nala, composed by him who is engaged solely in creating new things, the nineteenth canto is at an end.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Lit. by giving the eyes which have..... lashes.

[2]:

The East.

[3]:

The West. The East smiles at the setting moon visiting the West like a paramour.

[4]:

The water drops are compared to pearls and the Kuśa blades to iron pins.

[5]:

It will be remembered that the Nāgari Anusvāra is represented by a dot.

[6]:

“uccairudāttatayā” is explained by Nārāyaṇa as: “uccairnitarām udūrdhvamāt[t?]atayā gṛhītatayā, atha ca......... uparisthitatayā vā”. The sentence means also: The rays have been taken away......... doubtless for the formation of the high-pitched acute accents (uccairudāttatayā svaraviracanāya). It is fancied that the lunar rays are suitable for serving as the straight lines indicating the Udātta or acute accent in Vedic verses.

[7]:

See Notes for the puns.

[8]:

i.e., looks like.

[9]:

Lit. does not forsake.

[10]:

The so-called thousand rays of the sun are pictured as the texts of the thousand schools of the Vedas, while the voice of the people reciting the Vedas is imagined to be the “echo” of these rays representing Vedic texts.

[11]:

Hawks are called “hare-eaters” (śaśādana).

[12]:

See Vocab. under “bahukara”.

[13]:

The imagery is that of receiving a guest with offerings of rice, Dūrvā blades and barley flour.

[14]:

The golden body of the bird-king Garuḍa glistening with the rays of the rising sun is fancied as producing a flaming wall round the top of the Sunrise mountain.

[15]:

Indra’s position being in the east, his mares come across the horses of the rising sun.

[16]:

Lit. master.

[17]:

Also: Who is not eager to look at his rays with pleasure?

[18]:

Lit. the couple Cupid and Rati.

[19]:

Lit. pleasant words.

[20]:

Lit. stolen.

[21]:

i.e., by failing to say the morning prayers.

[22]:

The night lotus shrinks at sunrise and Beauty leaves it for the day lotus. It is auspicious for travellers to see a pitcher full of water before starting.

[23]:

Indra’s home is in the east.

[24]:

“ūhā” means ‘supplying an ellipsis’; in the case of the rays of the sun, ‘bringing to light things not visible before’. “apoha” means ‘the refutation of an argument by means of a counter-argument’; here, the repelling of darkness by the sun. By means of puns, the rays of the sun are described as being expert in reasoning, hence able to evaluate the relative prosperity of Nala and Indra.

[25]:

It is the custom before meals to drink some water from the hollow of the palm by stretching out the little finger, while the other fingers are kept closed. Here the lotus plant is described as being about to feed on the rays of the sun; and the first petal to unfold itself is fancied as an outstretched little finger. See also Vocab. under “āpośāna”.

[26]:

Lit. Now is seen the breaking of their fast with honey by bees, coming...... from the lap of lotus buds...... to full-blown lotuses, (bees) that had entered a nest (during the night).

[27]:

Lit. the day lotus blossoms have acquired yonder smile of the night lotus bed in return for their own sleep.

[28]:

i.e., the smile is “white” as snow.

[29]:

i.e., being separated from their mates at night.

[30]:

Cakravāka birds are believed to be separated from their mates at nightfall.

[31]:

i.e., the sun-stone heated by the sun.

[32]:

This is the literal meaning of “asūryampaśyā” ‘a woman keeping indoors to avoid the look of men’. The expression “rājño dārāḥ”: ‘the wife of a king’ means also ‘the wife of the moon’, the word “rājan” having both meanings.

[33]:

Lit. for not being so.

[34]:

These are supposed to attack the sun when it rises.

[35]:

This is the literal meaning of “dinamaṇi”: ‘the sun’.

[36]:

The sun is believed to set in the evening, leaving its light in the fire. The light is here fancied as the sun’s devoted wife who, on the death of her husband, commits suicide by entering the fire and brings about his resurrection next morning by virtue of her religious merit.

[37]:

Kāla means both ‘time’ and ‘black’, and the colour of Yamunā and Yama is black.

[38]:

The whole of this is sarcastic. The sun’s feet are abnormal, being a thousand in number; while the contemplation of his feet in prayers is believed to cause leprosy. As regards his charioteer Aruṇa, he has no thighs at all; while Yama and Śani, sons to the sun, are the most dreaded of the gods. Then it is a bird that the sun has chosen for his special favour, for he reunites the Cakravāka couple after their separation during the night; while his friends are inanimate objects, namely, the eyes of men, which he. enables to see.

[39]:

As the sun journeys through the nether world, the serpent Ananta who upholds the earth on his thousand hoods looks at the sun, whose “thousand” rays represent the texts of the thousand schools of the Vedas. As the serpent has two thousand eyes, two on each hood, he surveys with one set of eyes the thousand Vedic texts in the shape of the solar rays; while with the other, he “listens” to each of the texts, serpents being believed to hear with their eyes.

[40]:

i.e., Viśvakarman. the father-in-law of the sun, who once did this to make the sun’s heat more tolerable. Cf. 21.18.

[41]:

i.e., by uprooting it. See Notes for the story.

[42]:

The day lotus closes at night, while the night lotus opens at night and closes in the morning.

[43]:

The crow is fancied as crying Kau, Kau (kau) which in grammar is the dual of “kim” and means ‘which two?’. It is imagined that the crow wants to know the two original forms for which the verbal suffix “tātaṅ” is substituted; whereupon the cuckoo, crying Tuhī, Tuhī (tuhī) replies that the forms in question are Tu and Hi (tuśca hiśca tuhī). The grammatical rule referred to is that “tātaṅ (tāt)” may be substituted for the imperative suffixes “tu” and “hi” to denote benediction, e.g., “bhavatāt”.

[44]:

Lit. is accompanied by an adornment, etc.

[45]:

The streak of white on the neck of a dove is fancied as caused by the dust from the writing chalk used by it in the course of its grammatical lessons.

[46]:

‘Ghu’ is the natural sound of the dove (cf. Bengali “ghugh”). It is here imagined to be the grammatical term Ghu which the bird repeats as the last remnant of its knowledge of grammar. See Vocab. under “ghusaṃjñā”.

[47]:

The sage Agastya, also born of a pitcher, had drunk up the natural ocean.