Baja-Govindham

[Guest guest]

BajaGovindam is rather an unusual piece of picturesque

poetry by Snankara. Most of the puritanical translations

by devoted Hindus are rather poor and the the beauty of

poems remain untouched. I was introduced to it in my school

days in my Sanskrit class. A home-less man sleeping crouched

in the city streets on a cold day, will bring the poem to

your mind. Sankara must have well travelled in the cold

North to describe a man sleeping bundled up his knees

buckled under his chin. Or for that matter a "dirty" old

man ogling a woman in a swim suit. Very few dare to

translate "nari-sthana bara moha vesha-ha"!

In some ways, Sankara was not knowlegable in the ways

of Indian women. Many of them were ready to jump into

the funeral bier of their husbands, especially in those

times and many of the widows rarely remarry even now.

And who will like to be stuck with a dead corpse, once

the soul has flown away?

Dr. Rangachar, a close friend and Sanskrit scholar, points

out that it is a male chauvinistic piece.

It is a very beautiful poem, just as William Blake's

"Tiger" and one can never forget the rhythmic compostion

or its scorn at human nature.

A similar piece on

the wandering human thought is also in the Rig Veda:

" Nanaam va wu noh dhiyo; vi vrathani jananam;

Thakshaam rishtam rutham bhishagh:

brahma sunvartam-ichati: indriyamdho pari-shrava"

--

"Shepow(?) romanvanmthow bhedow:

varin-mandukam ichathi;

indriyamdho pari-shrava"

 

Krishna Praba