Poets ill advised
Indeed poets, ye seem inscrutable,
Should ye call a woman vulnerable,
By just one sharp look if she dares, defies,
Casts lethal arrows enticing with eyes,
If conquer can she e’en gods heavenly,
How helpless, one wonders, can she e’er be.
_____________________________
Translation (sestet) | 21.08.2025 | poets, women
Note: Here is a verse from Bhatrihari’s Shringaara Shatakam (hundred verses on love and romance). This one is in Vasanta-tilaka meter. Here he questions the wisdom of some great poets who call a woman abalaa, helpless one. She possesses immense power to command over men with the beauty she enjoys. Even gods of heaven are no exception. How can she helpless ever be? Here is the transliteration:
Noonam hi te kavi-varaa vipareeta-bodhaa
Ye nityam aahuh abalaa iti kaamineeh taah |
Yaabhih vilolatara taaraka drshti paataih
Shakra aadaya api vijitaah tu abalaa katham taah ||
Copyright © Aniruddha Pathak | Year Posted 2025
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