Guest guest Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Discussions on various aspects of advaita vedAnta have been going on in this forum. For a change I thought I would write something relating to Sanskrit literature. Kalidasa is accepted by all scholars to be the greatest of Sanskrit poets. He was a devotee of Shiva and a great vedAntin. He is believed to have lived in the first century B. C. His play, 'abhijnAnaSAkuntalam' (popularly known as Sakuntala) is considered to be the best among Sanskrit plays. It is well known that the great German poet Goethe went into ecstasy when he read Sakuntala and composed a poem in praise of it. I am giving below the original poem in German and its English translation. Poem by the great German poet J. W. Goethe in praise of Kalidasa's Sanskrit play abhijnAnaSAkuntalam. Will ich die Blumen des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres, Will ich, was reizt und entzückt, will ich, was sättigt und nährt, Will ich den Himmel, die Erde mit einem Namen begreifen, Nenn' ich, Sakontala, dich, und so ist alles gesagt. English translation:-- Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and the fruits of its decline, And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed, Wouldst thou the Earth and Heaven itself in one sole name combine, I name thee, O Sakontala, and all at once is said. (Translation by E. B. Eastwick) S.N.Sastri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Namaste Sastri-ji. Of all things attributed to him, Shyamala Dandakam is my all time favourite. Will you kindly tell where exactly can I have the correct text of the dandakam with correct meaning? With whatever I have seen on the web, there seem to be many mistakes in both text and translation. Always, the last portion of it looks messed up. Hence, this request. PraNAms. Madathil Nair _______________ - particularly advaitin , " S.N. Sastri " <sn.sastri wrote: ......... For a change I thought I would write something relating to > Sanskrit literature. > > Kalidasa is accepted by all scholars to be the greatest of Sanskrit > poets. .............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Shrimaan Shastriji ! You are truly amazing . It is so wonderful to see you post the German poet/philosopher Goethe's neat translation of 'shakuntala' ... Shastriji , i am told that German and sanskrit have a lot of similarities - A word that comes readily to mind is 'Gow' ( Sanskrit ) , Ko ( German) and Cow ( English) ! One German Philosopher who was very much influenced by our Hindu philosophy was none other than Arthur Schopenhauer( 1788 - 1860)! and not to speak of Friedrich Max Müller ( 1823 – 1900), the German German philologist who translated the Upanishads ( not great but still O.K) ! Shastriji , Kalidasa was a favorite playwright of mine right from my School days . in fact i have taken part in many of kalidasa's dance - dramas - my personal favorite of Kalidasa's works is of course Rithu Samharam - for its poetic excellance . On another note ., may i take this opportunity to offer belated birthday greetings to my shakta bhakta friend of many years Shri Nairji ! Nairji -do you want to know what the German poet /philosopher John wolfgang Goethe said in his wonderful work entitled 'Faust ' ? Goethe said " The eternal feminine ever leads us upward " ! Yes ! i wonder if Goethe was euphemistically talking about the 'kundalini' shakti - the divine serpant power ! in fact , Kalidasa himself describes the rise and fall of Kundalini shakti in one of his famous plays in the folowing verse - Parvati meditating on her Lord and Master Shiva stithaaH xa.Nam paxmasu taaDita-adharaaH payodhara-utsedhanipaata- chur.Nitaa valeeshu tasyaaH skhalitaaH prapedire chire.N naabhim prathama-oda- bindavaH free translation The first drop of rain stayed momentarily on her eyelids, dropped on her lips, shattered on her hard breasts and trickled down her triple fold and after a long time disapperaed in her navel. ( nairji , here the great poet is describing the fall of 'kundalini' shakti ! ) If a dumb woodcutter like Kalidasa can become a great poet due to Devi Kataksham , who can deny Lady Maya's infinite prowess ? She can create something out of 'nothing' and reduce everything to 'nothing' - such is her Leela ! SHE IS THE 'ONE' BEFORE AND AFTER THE 'SHUNYAM' ( ZERO) - yes - after pralaya , even survives only because of hHER 'mangalya' bhagyam! She is 'tandava Saxini' ! tvayâ & #8255;etad dhâryate viswam tvayâ & #8255;etat srjyate jagat, tvayâ & #8255;etat pâlyate devi tvam atsy ante ca sarvadâ. By you this universe is born, By you this universe is created, By you it is protected oh Devi And you always consume it at the end She is thus 'purnam ' and 'poojyam ' and 'shreyam' and shrestham' ! Nairji , i love the Shyamala dandakam just like you do - in fact , my favorite rendering of this composition is by D.K PATTAMMAL - she sings this verse with the greatest of devotion. nairji , there are many sites where the text and translation of Shymala dandakam is available - you are right , the transliteration is not ideal nor the translation perfect at times ! but , our beloved member P.R. Ramachanderji has posted the SHYAMALA DANDAKAM at the following link http://www.celextel.org/stotrasdevi/shyamaladandakam.html there is one at the sanskrit documents site as well ! maybe our linguistic expert Sunderji can provide the correct tranliteration! he always does! have you been to group lately ? there is a thread on Shyamala dandakam and i saw some wonderful translation attempts there ! please look in the archives ! Once more , nairji , wishing you a very happy 61! Love and blessings adi shakthi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 Namaste Bhagini-ji. Yours 38530. Immense thanks for your best wishes and the web references to Shyamala Dandakam. I have already seen some of them. I will certainly visit the rest. Besides, I have a copy of the Dandakam in Malayalam print and have been chanting it every morning for the last several years. However, I have doubts about the last portion of it - the phalashruti part. Off-list, Shri Sastri-ji has very kindly offered to send me the original text in Sanskrit. That I am sure is going to solve the problem. PraNAms. Madathil Nair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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