Bibliotheca Polyglotta

atha nandam adhīralocanaṃ gṛhayānotsukam utsukotuskam |
abhigamya śivena cakṣuṣā śramaṇaḥ kaś cid uvāca maitrayā ||

8.1 Then, while Nanda was looking forward, with unsteady eyes and the eagerest of expectations, to going home,
A certain striver with a benevolent air approached him and said, in a friendly way:

kim idaṃ mukham aśrudurinaṃ hṛdayasthaṃ vivṛṇoti te tamaḥ |
dhṛtim ehi niyaccha vikriyāṃ na hi bāṣpaś ca śamaś ca śobhate ||

8.2 “Why this face so clouded with tears, that reveals a darkness in your heart?
Come to constancy, restrain your emotion, for tears and tranquillity do not sit well together.

dvividhā samudeti vedanā niyataṃ cetasi deha eva ca |
śrutavidhyupacārakovidā dvividhā eva tayoś cikitsakāḥ ||

8.3 Pain invariably arises in two ways: in the mind and in the body.
And for those two kinds of pain, there are healers skilled in education and in medicine.

tad iyaṃ yadi kāyikī rujā bhiṣaje tūrṇam anūnam ucyatām |
viniguhya hi rogam āturo nacirāt tīvram anartham ṛcchati ||

8.4 So if this pain is physical be quick to tell a doctor all about it,
For when a sick man conceals his illness it turns before long into something serious.

atha duḥkham idaṃ manomayaṃ vada vakṣyāmi yad atra bheṣajam |
manaso hi rajastamasvino bhiṣajo ’dhyātmavidaḥ parīkṣakāḥ ||

8.5 But if this suffering is mental tell me, and I will tell you the cure for it;
Because, for a mind enshrouded in gloom and darkness, the healer is a seeker who knows himself.

nikhilena ca satyam ucyatāṃ yadi vācyaṃ mayi saumya manyaste |
gatayo vividhā hi cetasāṃ bahuguhyāni madākulāni ca ||

8.6 Tell the whole truth, my friend, if you think it fit to be told, to me;
For minds have many ways of working and many secrets, wherein concealment is complicated by conceit.”

iti tena sa coditas tadā vyavasāyaṃ pravivakṣur ātmanaḥ |
avalambya kare kareṇa taṃ pravivakṣur ātmanaḥ ||

8.7 Pressed in this way by [the striver], while wanting to explain his own decision,
[Nanda] clung to him, with hand in his hand, and went into another corner of the forest.

atha tatra śucau latāgṛhe kusumodgāriṇi tau niṣedatuḥ |
mṛdubhir mṛdumāruteritair upagūdhāv iva bālapallavaiḥ ||

8.8 And so there the two of them sat in a vibrant bower of flower-spewing creepers
Whose soft young shoots, stirring in a soft breeze, seemed to be hiding them away.

sa jagāda tataś cikīṣitam ghananiśvāsagṛhītam antarā |
śrutavāgviśadāya bhikṣave viduṣā pravrajitena durvacam ||

8.9 Then, in between the heavy sighs that intermittently gripped him, he expressed his intention,
Which was a hard one for a man who has knowingly gone forth to express. He told it to the beggar who was so adept at hearing and talking.

sadṛśaṃ yadi dharmacāriṇaḥ satataṃ prāṇiṣu maitracetasaḥ |
adhṛtau yad iyaṃ hitaiṣitā mayi te syāt karuṇātmanaḥ sataḥ ||

8.10 “Evidently, it befits a devotee of dharma who is always friendly towards any living being,
That the benevolence inherent in your compassionate nature might be shown to me in my inconstancy!

ata eva ca me viśeṣataḥ pravivakṣā kṣamavādini tvayi |
na hi bhāvam imaṃ calātmane kathayeyaṃ bruvate ’py asādhave ||

8.11 And that is why I would like especially to speak to you who preach propriety;
For what I am feeling now I would not tell to a man who was out of balance in himself and who, though a good talker, was not a true person.

tad idaṃ śṛṇu me samāsato na rame dharavidhāv ṛte priyām |
girisānuṣu kāminīm ṛte kṛtaretā iva kiṃnaraś caran ||

8.12 Hear me then when I say, in short, that without my beloved I do not enjoy the practice of dharma;
I am like a kiṁnara without his lover roaming about, his semen ready, over mountain peaks.

vanavāsasukhāt parāṅmukhaḥ prayiyāsā gṛham eva yena me |
na hi śarma labhe tayā vinā nṛpatir hīna ivottamaśriyā ||

8.13 I am averse to the happiness of the forest life, and simply want to go home;
For without her I obtain no comfort, like a king without his sovereignty.”

atha tasya niśamya tadvacaḥ priyabhāryābhimukhasya śocataḥ |
śramaṇaḥ sa śiraḥ prakampayan nijagādātmagataṃ śanair idam ||

8.14 When he heard those words of Nanda who, with his mind on his beloved wife, was burning with pain,
The striver, softly, while allowing his head to shake, said to himself:

kṛpaṇaṃ bata yūthalālaso mahato vyādhabhayād viniḥsṛtaḥ |
pravivikṣati vāgurāṃ mṛgaś capalo gītaraveṇa vañcitaḥ ||

8.15 “What a pity! In its longing for the herd, a rushing stag that has escaped the mortal danger of the hunter’s arrow,
Is about to enter the hunter’s trap, deceived by a call that the hunter sang.

vihagaḥ khalu jālasaṃvṛto hitakāmena janena mokṣitaḥ |
vicaran phalapuṣpavadvanaṃ pravivikṣuḥ svayam eva pañjaram ||

8.16 Truly, a bird that was caught in a net and set free by a benevolent person,
Desires, as it flits about the fruiting and blossoming forest, to fly of its own volition into a cage.

kalabhaḥ kariṇā khalūddhṛto bahupaṅkād viṣamān nadītalāt |
jalatarṣavaśena tāṃ punaḥ saritaṃ grāhavatī titīrṣati ||

8.17 A baby elephant, truly, after an adult elephant has pulled it up out of the deep mud of a dangerous riverbed,
Is wishing, in its thirst for water, to enter again that crocodile-infested creek.

śaraṇe sabhujaṅgame svapan pratibuddhena pareña bodhitaḥ |
taruṇaḥ khalu jātavibhramaḥ svayam ugraṃ bhujagaṃ jighṛkṣati ||

8.18 In a shelter where slithers a snake, a sleeping boy, awoken by an elder who is already awake,
Has become agitated and, truly, he is about to grab the horrible reptile himself.

mahatā khalu jātavedasā jvalitād utpatito vanadrumāt |
punar icchati nīḍatṛṣṇayā patituṃ tatra gatavyatho dvijaḥ ||

8.19 Truly, having flown up and away from a tree that is blazing in a great forest fire,
A chick in its longing for the nest is wishing to fly there again, its former alarm forgotten.

avaśaḥ khalu kāmamūrchayā priyayā śyenabhayād vinākṛtaḥ |
na dhṛtiṃ samupaiti na hriyaṃ karuṇaṃ jīvati jīvajīvakaḥ ||

8.20 Truly, a pheasant separated from its mate through fear of a hawk, and so stupefied by desire as to be helpless,
Is lacking in resolve and lacking in reserve: the pathetic little beggar is living a pitiful life.

akṛtātmatayā tṛṣānvito ghṛṇayā caiva dhiyā ca varjitaḥ |
aśanaṃ khalu vāntam ātmanā kṛpañaḥ śvā punar attum icchati ||

8.21 Greedy and untrained, devoid of decency and intelligence,
Truly, a wretched dog is wishing to eat again some food that he himself has vomited.”

iti manmathaśokakarṣitaṃ tam anudhyāya muhur nirīkṣya ca |
śramaṇaḥ sa hitābhikāṅkṣayā guṇavadvākyam uvāca vipriyam ||

8.22 So saying, the striver contemplated [Nanda] for a while, beholding him tormented by the sorrows of love.
Then in his eagerness to be of benefit, the striver spoke fine words, which were unpleasant to hear.

avicārayataḥ śubhāśubhaṃ viṣayeṣv eva niviṣṭacetasaḥ |
upapannam alabdhacakusuṣo na ratiḥ śreyasi ced bhavet tava ||

8.23 “For you who draws no distinction between good and bad, whose mind is settled on objects of the senses,
And who is without the eye of attainment, naturally, no delight could there be in being better.

śravaṇe grahaṇe ’tha dhāraṇe paramārthāvagame manaḥśame |
aviṣaktamateś calātmano na hi dharme ’bhiratir vidhīyate ||

8.24 Again, to him whose thinking is not firmly fixed – in the matters of hearing, grasping, retaining and understanding the supreme truth, and in the matter of mental peace –
To him who easily changes his mind, joy in dharma is not apportioned.

viṣayeṣu tu doṣadarśinaḥ parituṣṭasya śucer amāninaḥ |
śamakarmasu yuktacetasaḥ kṛtabuddher na ratir na vidyate ||

8.25 But that joy is certainly known to one who sees the faults in objects of the senses, who is contented, pure, and unassuming,
Whose mind is versed in the religious acts that generate peace and whose understanding therein is formed.

ramate tṛṣito dhanaśriyā ramate kāmasukhen bāliśaḥ |
ramate praśamena sajjanaḥ paribhogān paribhūya vidyayā ||

8.26 A covetous man delights in opulence; a fool delights in sensual pleasure;
A true person delights in tranquillity, having transcended sensual enjoyments by virtue of his knowledge.

api ca prathitasya dhīmataḥ kulajasyārcitaliṅgadhāriṇaḥ |
sadṛśī na gṛhāya cetanā praṇatir vāyuvaśād girer iva ||

8.27 What is more, when a man of good repute, a man of intelligence and breeding, bears the honoured insignia
His consciousness inclines towards home no more than a mountain bends in the wind.

spṛhyet parasaṃśritāya yaḥ paribhūyātmavaśāṃ svatantratām |
upaśāntipathe śive sthitaḥ spṛhayed doṣavate gṛhāya saḥ ||

8.28 Only a man who aspires to dependence on another, spurning autonomy and self-reliance,
Would yearn, while he was on the auspicious path to peace, for life at home with all its faults.

vyasanābhihato yathā viśet parmuktaḥ punar eva bandhanam |
samupetya vanaṃ tathā punar gṛhasaṃjñaṃ mṛgayeta bandhanam ||

8.29 Just as a man released from prison might, when stricken by some calamity, betake himself back to prison,
So might one who has retired to the forest seek out again that bondage called home.

puruṣaś ca vihāya yaḥ kaliṃ punar icchet kalim eva sevitum |
sa vihāya bhajeta bāliṣaḥ kalibhūtām ajitendriyaḥ priyām ||

8.30 The man who has left his strife behind and yet would like nothing better than to go back again to his strife:
He is the fool who would leave behind and then return, with his senses still unconquered, to the strife that is a wife.

saviṣā iva saṃśritā latāḥ parimṛṣṭā iva soragā guhāḥ |
vivṛtā iva cāsayo dhṛtā vyasanāntā hi bhavanti yoṣitaḥ ||

8.31 Like poisonous clinging creepers, like swept-out caves still harbouring snakes,
Like uncovered blades being held in the hand, women are calamitous in the end.

pramadāḥ samadā madapradāḥ pramadā vītamadā bhayapradāḥ |
iti doṣabhayāvahāś ca tāḥ katham arhanti niṣevanaṃ nu tāḥ ||

8.32 Sexy members of the female gender engender sexual desire, whereas unsexy ones are fearsome.
Since they bring with them either a fault or fear, in what way do they merit attention?

svajanaḥ svajanena bhidyate suhṛdaś cāpi suhṛjjanena yat |
paradoṣavikṣaṇāḥ śaṭhās tadanāryāḥ pracaranti yoṣitaḥ ||

8.33 So that kinsman breaks with kinsman and friend with friend,
Women, who are good at seeing faults in others, behave deceitfully and ignobly.

kulajāḥ kṛpaṇībhavanti yad yad ayuktaṃ pracaranti sāhasam |
praviśanti ca yac camūmukhaṃ rabhasās tatra nimittam aṅganāḥ ||

8.34 When men of good families fall on hard times, when they rashly do unfitting deeds,
When they recklessly enter the vanguard of an army, women in those instances are the cause.

vacanena haranati valgunā niśitena praharanti cetasā |
madhu tiṣṭhati vāci yoṣitāṃ hṛdaye hālahalaṃ mahadviṣam ||

8.35 They beguile with lovely voices, and attack with sharpened minds:
There is honey in women’s speech, and lethal venom in their hearts.

pradahan dahano ’pi gṛhyate viśarīraḥ pavano ’pi gṛhyate |
kupito bhujago ’pi gṛhyate pradānāṃ tu mano na gṛhyate ||

8.36 A burning fire can be held, the bodiless wind can be caught,
An angry snake can be captured, but the mind of women cannot be grasped.

na vapur vimṛśanti na śriyaṃ na matiṃ nāpi kulaṃ na vikramam |
praharanty aviśeṣataḥ striyaḥ sarito grāhakulākulā iva ||

8.37 Without pausing to consider looks or wealth, or intelligence or breeding or valour,
Women attack no matter what, like a ragged assortment of crocodiles in a river.

na vaco madhuraṃ na lālanaṃ smarati strī na ca suahṛdaṃ kva cit |
kalitā vanitaiva cañcalā tad ihāriṣv iva nāvalambyate ||

8.38 No charming speech, nor soothing caresses, nor any affection do women ever remember.
The female, even when cajoled, is flighty: so rely on one no more than you would your enemies in this world.

adadatsu bhavanti narmadāḥ pradadatsu praviśanti vibhramam |
praṇateṣu bhavanti garvitāḥ pramadās tṛptatarāś ca māniṣu ||

8.39 Women flirt with men who give them nothing; with generous men, they get restless.
They look down with disdain on the humble, but towards the arrogant show simpering contentment.

guṇavatsu caranti bhartṛvad guṇahīneṣu caranti putravat |
dhanavatsu caranti tṛṣṇayā dhanahīneṣu caranty avajñayā ||

8.40 They lord it over men of merit, and submit like children to men who are devoid of merit.
When men with money are around, they act rapaciously; men who are short of money they treat with contempt.

viṣayād viṣayāntaraṃ gatā pracaraty eva yathā hṛtāpi gauḥ |
anavekṣitapūrvasauhṛdā ramate ’nyatra gatā tathāṅganā ||

8.41 Just as a cow, having gone from one pasture to another pasture, keeps right on grazing, however she’s restrained,
So a woman, without regard for any affection she felt before, moves on and takes her pleasure elsewhere.

praviśanty api hi striyaś citām anubhadhnanty api muktajīvtāḥ |
api bibhrati naiva yantraṇā na tu bhāvena vahanti sāhṛdam ||

8.42 For though women ascend their husband’s funeral pyre, though they follow at the cost of their own life,
Though the restraints placed upon them they can indeed bear, they are not truly capable of genuine friendship.

ramayanti patīn kathaṃ cana pramadā yāḥ patidevatāḥ kva cit |
calacittatayā sahasraśo ramayante hṛdayaṃ svan eva tāḥ ||

8.43 Women who sometimes, in some small way please their husband, by treating him like a god,
A thousand times more, in their fickle-mindedness, please their own heart.

śvapacaṃ kila senajitsutā cakame mīnaripuṃ kumudvatī |
mṛgarājam atho bṛhadrathā pramadānām agatir na vidyate ||

8.44 The daughter of Sena-jit the Conqueror, so they say, coupled with a cooker of dogs; Kumud-vatī, ‘the Lilly Pool,’ paired up with Mīna-ripu, ‘the Foe of Fishes’;
And Bṛhad-rathā, ‘the Burly Heroine,’ loved a lion: there is nothing women will not do.

kuruhaihayavṛṣṇivaṃśajā bahumāyākavaco ’tha śambaraḥ |
munir ugratapāś ca gautamaḥ samavāpur vanitoddhataṃ rajaḥ ||

8.45 Scions of the Kurus, Haihayas and Vṛṣṇis, along with Śambara whose armour was mighty magic,
And the sage Ugra-tapas Gautama – ‘the Gautama of Grim Austerities’ – all incurred the dust of passion which a woman raises.

akṛtajñam anāryam asthiraṃ vanitānām ida īdṛśaṃ manaḥ |
katham arhati tāsu paṇḍito hṛdayaṃ sañjayituṃ calātmasu ||

8.46 Ungrateful, ignoble, unsteady: such is the mind of women.
What man of wisdom could allow his heart to be fastened onto such fickle creatures?

atha sūkṣmamati dvayāśivaṃ laghu tāsāṃ hṛdayaṃ na paśyasi |
kimu kāyam asadgṛhaṃ sravad vaintānām aśuciṃ na paśyasi ||

8.47 So you fail to see how pernicious, in their intense duplicity, are their little lightweight hearts?
Do you not see, at least, that the bodies of women are impure, oozing houses of foulness?

anulepanam añjanaṃ srajo maṇimuktātapanīyam aṃśukam |
yad ahany ahani pradhāvanair vasanaiś cābharaṇaiś ca saṃskṛtam |
aśubhaṃ tamasāvṛtekṣaṇaḥ śubhato gacchasi nāvagacchasi ||

8.48 Day after day, by means of ablutions, garments, and jewels, they prettify an ugliness
Which you, with eyes veiled by ignorance do not see as ugliness: you see it as beauty.

atha vā samavaiṣi tattanūm aśubhāṃ tvaṃ na tu saṃvid asti te |
surabhiṃ vidadhāsi hi kriyām aśuces tatprabhavasya śāntaye ||

8.49 Or else you do see that their bodies are foul but intelligence is lacking in you:
For the fragrant task in which you are engaged is extinction of the impurity that originates in them.

malapañkadharā digambarā prakṛtisthair nakhadantaromabhiḥ |
yadi sādhu kim atra yoṣitāṃ sahajaṃ tāsu vicīyatāṃ śuci ||

8.50 Cosmetic paste and powder, garlands, gems and pearls, gold and fine fabric:
What have these fine things, if fine they are, got to do with women? Let us examine what inherently in women is so immaculate.

malapaṅkadharā digambarā prakṛtisthair nakhadantaromabhiḥ |
yadi sā tava sundarī bhaven niyataṃ te ’dya na sundarī bhavet ||

8.51 Dirty and unclothed, with her nails and teeth and body-hair in their natural state:
If she were like that, your Sundarī, whose name means ‘Beautiful Woman,’ surely wouldn’t be such a beautiful woman to you now.

sravatīm aśuciṃ spṛśec ca kaḥ saghuṇo jarjarabhāṇḍavat striyam |
yadi kevalayā tvacāvṛtā na bhaven makṣikapattramātrayā ||

8.52 What man who was capable of disgust would touch a woman, leaking and unclean like an old bucket,
If she were not scantily clad in skin as thin as a flying insect’s wing?

tvacaveṣṭhitam astipañjaraṃ yadi kāyaṃ samavaiṣi yoṣitām |
madanena ca kṛṣyase balād aghṛṇaḥ kāyaṃ samvaiṣi yoṣitām ||

8.53 If you see that women’s bodies are bony skeletons wrapped around with skin
And yet you are forcibly drawn by passion, truly then, Love is immune to disgust and lacking in all restraint.

śubhatām aśubheṣu kalpayan nakhadantatvacakeśaromasu |
avicakṣaṇa kiṃ na paśyasi prakṛtiṃ ca prabhavaṃ ca yoṣitām ||

8.54 In nails and in teeth, in skin, and in hair, both long and short, which are not beautiful, you are inventing beauty.
Dullard! Don’t you see what women originally are made of and what they originally are?

tad avetya manaḥśarīrayor vanitā doṣavatīr viśeṣataḥ |
capalaṃ bhavanotsukaṃ manaḥ pratisaṃkhyānabalena vāryatām ||

8.55 So then, reckon women, in mind and in body, to be singularly implicated with faults;
And hold back, by the power of this reckoning, the mind which strains so impulsively for home.

śrutavān matimān kulodgataḥ paramasya praśamasya bhājanam |
upagamya yathā tathā punar na hi behttuṃ niyamaṃ tvam arhasi ||

8.56 You are educated, intelligent, and well-bred – a fitting vessel for supreme tranquillity;
As such, you ought not in any way to break the contract into which you have entered.

abhijanamahato manasvinaḥ priyayaśaso bahumānam icchataḥ |
nidhanam api varaṃ sthirātmanaś cyutavinayasya na caiva jīvitam ||

8.57 For the man of spirit and noble birth; for the man who cherishes honour and strives to earn respect;
For the man of grit – better death for him than life as a backslider.

baddhvā yathā hi kavacaṃ pragṛhītacāpo nindyo bhavaty apasṛtaḥ samarād rathasthaḥ |
bhaikṣākam abhyupagataḥ parigṛhya liṅgaṃ nindyas tathā bhavati kāmarhṛtendriyāśvaḥ ||

8.58 For just as he is blameworthy who, having girded his armour on and taken up a bow, then flees in his warrior’s chariot away from the battle;
So he too is blameworthy who, having accepted the insignia and taken to begging, then allows the stallion of his senses to be carted away by desire.

hāsyo yathā ca paramābharaṇāmbarasrag bhaikṣaṃ caran dhṛtadhanuś calacitramauliḥ |
vairūpyam abhyupagataḥ paraiṇḍabhojī hāsyas tathā gṛhasukhābhimukhaḥ satṛṣṇaḥ ||

8.59 And just as it would be ridiculous to go begging, while bedecked in the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands, while holding an archer’s bow, and with a head full of passing fancies,
So too is it ridiculous to subsist on offerings, having consented to shapelessness, while longing thirstily for the comforts of home.

yathā svannaṃ bhuktvā paramaśyanīye ’pi śayito varāho nirmuktaḥ punar aśuci dhāvet paricitam |
tathā śreyaḥ śṛṇvan praśamasukham āsvādya guṇavad vanaṃ śāntaṃ hitvā gṛham abhilaṣet kāmatṛṣitaḥ ||

8.60 Just as a hog, though fed on the best of food and lain on the finest bedding, would, when set free, run back to his familiar filth;
So, having tasted the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning the better way, would a man of thirsting libido abandon the tranquil forest and yearn for home.

yatholkā hastasthā dahati pavanapreritaśikhā yathā pādākrānto daśati bhujagaḥ krodharabhasaḥ |
yathā hanti vyāghraḥ śiśur api gṛhīto gṛhagataḥ tathā strīsaṃsargo bhuvidham anarthāya bhavati ||

8.61 Just as a flaming torch, when fanned by the wind, burns the hand that holds it,
Just as a snake, being swift to anger, bites the foot that steps on it,
Just as a tiger, though caught as a cub, mauls the one who took it in,
So too does association with women, in many ways, make for disaster.

tad vijñāya manaḥśarīraniyatān nāriṣu doṣān imān matvā kāmasukhaṃ nadījalacalaṃ kleśāya śokāya ca |
dṛṣṭvā durbalam āmapatrasadṛśaṃ mṛtyūpasṛṣṭaṃ jagan nirmokṣāya kuruṣva buddhim atulām utkaṇṭhituṃ nārhasi ||

8.62 Therefore, know these faults to be mentally and physically bound up with women;
Understand how sensual pleasure, as it flows away like river water, makes for affliction and for sorrow;
See the world, in the shadow of Death, to be fragile as an unbaked pot;
And make the peerless decision that leads to release – instead of causing the neck to stiffen up through sorrowful yearning.”

saundaranande mahākāvye strīvighāto nāmāṣṭamaḥ sargaḥ ||

The 8th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled “A Tirade against Women.”

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