Haksar, AND treasury of sanskrit poetry in english translation, a

A Treasury of
Sanskrit Poetry



A Treasury of
Sanskrit Poetry
I n English Translation

Compiled by
A.N.D. Haksar

INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS
NEW DELHI


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First Published in India in 2002

A Treasury of Sanskrit Poetry

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Foreword

With a continuing tradition of at least three millennia, the vast literature of
Sanskrit forms an important part of India's cultural heritage . Translations from

Sanskrit classics like Shakuntala have figured among the earliest publi c at i ons of

the Indian Council for Cultural Relati on s.

Some years ago the Council brought out

Glimpses (!lSanskril Literalure,

a

broad informative survey of this m agn ifi cent literature by respected scholars,
attuned to general interest both in India and abroad. Included in it was a
sampling of tran s l ations from celebrated Sanskrit works which could g iv e
readers a flavour of the language ' s literary genius.
The appreci ative response to that publication, in India as well as outside ,

encouraged the Counc il to follow up with the present volume. This is a
c omprehensive anthology of Sanskrit poetry in the best English translation

available. The first ever of its kind, it br ings togethe r excerpts from a full r ange
of original works translated by a galaxy of distinguished sch olars and writers
Indian and foreign, incl udi ng famous names such as Sri Aurobindo and Swami
Vivekananda, and Nobel Prize Poets Octavio Paz and William Butler Y cats.

Drawing from sacred and secular, classic and folk literature, this collection
features a w ide variety of poetry in translation. It has been c om piled by former
Indian Ambassador A.N.D. Haksar, himself a well known translator from
Sanskrit into English, who had also edited the earlier volume for the Council.

Exp ress ing dee p grat itude for his efforts, the Counci l h as gre at ple asu re in
placing its fruit before the public whose comments are welcome as always .

M.K. Lokesh
Acting Director Genera l

Acknowledgements

The compiler and the publisher gratefully acknowledge permission from
the following to reprint excerpts from works in copyright:
Sahitya Akademi. New Delhi for excerpts from Chandra Raj an. The
Complete Works ofKalidasa. Vol. I, and V. Raghavan "Kalividambana", Indian

L it erature. June 1970; Bennet Coleman Co. Ltd., New Delhi and Prof. P. Lal,

Kolkata, for P. Lal, "The Messenger", Femina. Bombay issue, 8-12 January 1985;
Bennet Coleman & Co. Ltd., for excerpts from Pritish Nandy, "Amazing Amaru",
4 October 1990 and "Beguiling Bilhana", 14 November 1990, reproduced by
arrangement with The Illustrated Weekly

of India; Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata, for
of God and Other Poems. 1977;
Sanskrit Love Poetry. 1977, Columbia

excerpts from Swami Vivekananda, In Search
Mr. J.M. Masson for excerpts from

University Press, New York copyright © by W.S. Merwin and J.M. Masson;
Motilal Banarasidass Publishers, Delhi for excerpts of translations by Barbara
Stoler Miller and David Gitomer in Barbara Stoler Miller ed. Theatre of Memory:
The Plays ofKalidasa. 1999 reprint, first published 1984 by Columbia University

Press; Vedanta Press, Hollywood, California, for excerpts from "The Shattering of

Illusion". in ,%ankara 's Crest-Jewel qf Discrimination by Swami Prabhavananda
and Christopher Isherwood, 1947; Y.K. Publishers, Agra, for verses from The

Indian Poetic Tradition by S.H. Vatsyayan, V.N. Misra and Leonard Nathan,
1993; Cassel & Co.. London for verses from "Pushan" by Romesh Outt and
"Black Marigolds" by E. Powys Mathers in An Anthology of World Poetry. ed.
Mark Van Doren. 1929; Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series, Varanasi, for excerpts from
Nvmns of the Ri� Veda (1889) tr. R.T.H. Griffith (reprint 1963) and Hymns of the
Samaveda. tr. R.T.H. Griffith (1893); Mr. Jean Le Mee for excerpts from his
Hymnsfi'om the Rig Veda. Jonathan Cape Ltd., London, 1973; Rupa & Co., New

Delhi for excerpts from

A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India. 1959,

(Evergreen Encyclopedia, Vol. E-148), Grove Press Inc., New York; Oxford
University Press, New Delhi, for permission to reproduce excerpts from The
Thirteen Principal Upanishad�. ed. R.E. Hume, and from Vinay Dharwadkar ed.
The

Col/ected Essays ofA.K. Ramanujan (1999); Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi.

for all of the following: excerpts from The Buddha Charita or Acts of the Buddha.
ed. E.H. Johnston (Lahore 1936), reprinted 1972, copyright © by Motilal
Banarsidass; verses from Gita�ovjnda qfJayadeva. tr. Barbara Stoler Miller, 1984
(copyright © by Columbia University Press, 1977,

Love Songs of the Dark Lord);

Acknowledgements. ix

and verses from A.K. Warder, Indian Kavya Literature, Vols. 3,4,5 and 6, 1977,

1983, 1992 ; Penguin Books, UK, for verses from Poems from the Sanskrit,
(Penguin Classics 1968), tr. John Brough, copyright © John Brough 1988;
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd .• for excerpts from The Hitopadda by Nariiyana,
and Simhasana Dvatrim,fikii: Thirtytwo Tales olthe Throne ol Vikramaditya, both
tr. A.N.D. Haksar; The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Chennai, for verse
translations from A.K. Warder, The Science qlCrilicism in India (1978); Harper
Coli ins Publishers India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. for extracts from A.N.D. Haksar,
Shuka Saptati, 2000; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry. for passages from

the following writings of Sri Aurobindo: The Translations and The Century 0/
Lile. and from Sri A urobindo, A Biogr aphy and a history, vo!. I, by K.R.S.

Iyengar; Jaico Publis hing House. Mumbai, for excerpts from Arthur W. Ryder,
Panchatantra, 1949, ( publis hed by arrangement with the University of Chicago

Press), originally published in the USA in 1925; Ms.
from Barbara

Stoler Miller, The

G we nn A. Miller for excerpts
Thief; Columbia University

Hermit and the Love

Press, New York (1978); Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chcnnai, for exce rpts from

Bhagavad Gita , tr. S wami Prabhavananda and C hris tophe r Isherwood; Ms.

Nayantara Sahgal , Dehradun, for exce rpts from R.S. Pandi t . Ritusamhara,
National Information and Publications Ltd., Mumbai (1947); and Ravi Dayal
Publishe rs ,

New Delhi, for excerpts from Arvind Kri sh na Mehrotra, The Ahsent
Excerpts from "A T ale of Two (j ardens
Col/eclcd Pocms

Traveller (1991).

",

1957-1987 by Octavio Paz, translated by Eliot Weinburger, reprinted by
permission of New Directions Publishing Corp., copyright (�') 1986 by Octavio Paz

and Eliot Weinburger ; lines from 'Taittiriya" and "Chandogya" in The Tell
Principal Upanishad� by W.B. Ycats and Shree Purohit Swami, re print ed with the

permission of A.P. Wall Ltd., London, on behalf of Michacl B. Yeats and Shri
Purohit Swami; poem reprinted by permission of the publishers frolll Sal7skrit

Poctry ./fom

Vidl'akara 's

'Trea.\·lIry·,

ed.

and tr.

by D aniel 11.11.

I n galls ,

Camb ridge , Mass.: the Belknap Press of Harvard University Pr ess . copyright ©

1965, 1968 by the President and Fellows of Harvard C()II\!g�, C ambridge, Mass.;
poems reprinted by p ermission of the pub l isher from 711c Saundaryalahri

(Harvard Oriental Series 43), ed. and tr. by W. Norman Brown, copyright © 1958
by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Excerpts of translations by Sheldoll Pollock are from Sheldon Pollock,
"Public Poetry in Sanskrit", in Glimpses a/Sanskrit Literature, Indian Council
for Cultural Relations, New Delhi © 1995 leCR; t l e . N oted w r i t er

The Translators . 1 99


on Indian culture and philosophy, and former Chief
Editor, Navbharat Times. Vice Chancel lor, Dr.
Sampurnanada University, Varanasi .
Nandy, Pritish

Poet, editor and member of the Rajya Sabha.

Nathan, Leonard

American poet, Professor of Rhetorics at the
University of California, B erk el e y .

Pandit, Ranjit Sitaram

Indian scholar (d. 1 944) whose translations include
the Ritusamhiira of Kalidasa and Kalhana 's
Riijataringini.

Paz, Octavio

Mexican poet, scholar and diplomat ( 1 9 1 4- 1 995).
Winner of t h e N obel Prize for Literature, 1 9 9 0 .

Pollock, Sheldon

George V. Bobri n skoy Professor of Sanskrit and 1ndic
Studies, University of C h icago . H i s books include
Aspects of Versification in Sanskrit Lyric Poetry

( 1 977).
Prabhavananda, Swam i

Monk of the Ramakrishna Mission w h o w o rke d l o n g
years in California and tran s lated several Sanskrit
texts.

Raghavan, V.

Was Professor of Sanskrit,

an em inent S a ns k rit i st

U niv e rs ity of Madras, and

.

Rajan, Chandra

Taught Engl ish Literature at Lady Shri Ram College,
Delh i University and at the U n i versity of Western
On ta ri o, Canada. Her translations include the
Complete Wurks uf Kalidasa, volume I, and the
Panchatantra.

Ramanujan, A.K.

Poet, s ch o l ar and translator, ch iefly of classical Tamil
and Kannada poetry ( 1 929- 1 993). A u t ho r of The
Interior Landscapes ( 1 967).

Ryder, Arthur W .

American Sanskritist ( 1 877- 1 938). H i s
include Shak u ntala and other writingl
( 1 9 1 2) and Panchatantra ( 1 925)

tran s l ations
(l Kalidasu

Swam i, Shree Purohit

Indian scholar who collaborated with W.B. Yeats in
translating The Ten Princ ipal Upan ishads ( 1 937).

Vatsyayan, Sacchidanand

Distinguished Hindi poet, novelist and critic ( 1 9 1 1 1 987).

V ivekananda,

Swam i

Famous saint, scholar and Indian n ationalist ( 1 8631 902).

200 . A Treasury ofSanskrit Poetry


Warder, Anthony K .

Professor

Emeritus

of

Sanskrit,

Uni versity

of

Toronto. Author of the multi-volume Indian Kiivya

Literature.
W i l l i ams. S i r M. Mon ier

Indologist ( 1 9 1 8 - 1 899). Was Boden Professor of
Sanskrit, Oxford Uni versity.

His Sanskri t- Engl ish

Dicti onary (I 89Q) i s sti l l current.
Yeats, W i l l iam Butler

Irish poet ( 1 865 - 1 939). W i nner of the Nobel Pri ze for
Literature, 1 92 3 .

The Translators .

20 1


Endnotes
I n trod uction

I.

,

A . B . K e i t h A H i sto ry of Sanskrit Literature, Oxford U n iv ersity Press,

London, 1 94 1 .

..,

Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, Sri A urobindo B i rth Centenary

,

,

L i brary Pon d i ch erry 1 972
3.

,

A . W . Ryder, Kalidasa: Shakuntala and Other Wr i t i ngs Dutton & Co, New

York, I 9 1 2

4.

,

Octav io Paz, I n Light o f A s i a The Harville Press, London, 1 997, tr. E l iot

,

We i nb erg e r 1 997
5.

A . L . Basham, The Wonder that was India, Random House, New York,
1 954

,

) ,

6.

Lin Yut ang The Wisdom of n d ia Random House, New York, 1 942

7.

Quoted i n Barbara Stoler M i l ler, The P lays of Kalidasa : Theatre of

e

Memory, Columbia Un i v rs i ty Press, New York, 1 984
8.

.

SlIbhiishila Ralnakosha of Vid y ak ara Translated by D . H . H . In galls as A n
A n th olo gy of Sanskrit Court Poetry. H arvard Oriental Series. Vol . 44

9.

Catha Sal/asai (Cathasapta.sati) of H iil a , c .

1 st-2nd century C E ;

SlIbhashita Ratnakosha of V i dy ak ara, c . 1 1 t h century C E , Bengal;

Sadllktikarnamrita of Sridh aradasa, c . 1 205 CE, Bengal; Paddhati o f

;

Sarngadhara, c . 1 3 63 CE, R aj as than Subhashitavali o f Val labha Deva,

r

c. 1 5th ce n tu y CE, Kashm ir.

Verse Excerpts
7.

I n d ra is a pro mi nent Vedic god, often identi fied with thunder and the onset
of rain . In one legend he slays the c l oud-dragon Vritra to release the

,

w aters . Tvashtri, another Vedic d e i ty is associated wi th bu i l d i n g and

e

n.

construction . Dasa and Pan i r fer probab ly to groups of demo s
1 0.

Split nuts of the v ibhitaka tree were used as dice for gambl ing. Here th e y

are called ' the brown ones ' . The tree has been identi fied as

Bellerica.

202 . A

Treasury o/Sanskrit Poetry

Terminalia


12.
22.

Soma was the potent j uice of an as yet unidentified plant u sed in Vedic
ritua l s .
In a game of dice with his cousin and adversary the Kuru prince
Du ry odhan the Pandava king Yudhishthir staked and lost his brothers,
h imse l f and finally his queen Draupadi, who was then summoned to the
Kaurava assembly. Duhsasan is the brother and Karna the friend of
Duryo d han . B h ima and Arj un are Yudhishthir's brothers. Bhishma, Drona
and Vidura are Kuru elders.
Abhimanyu the young son of the Pandava prince Arjun and his wife
Subhadra, was surrounded and slain during the Mahabharata war. Salya,
S ak un i and J ayadrat ha were among the w arr iors opposin g him along with
Duhsasan, cf. 22.
Pritha better known as Kunti, was t he mother of the Pandava princes, cf.
22. U nknown to them, their enemy, the Kuru warrior Karna, was also her

son born of the sun god Surya.
The moth e r is the queen V idura exhorting her son, disheartened by defeat,
to tight again . The acc o unt is relat ed by K u n ti to Arjun.
Savitri, the wife of Satyavan was with him when he was overtaken by
death whi le ga t hering wood in the forest .
As re counted in 3 I to 3 3 , Rama considered it his duty to go into exile and
leavc the kingdom of Ayodhya to his broth er Bharat in ful fi llment of a
pledge made by his father. His wi fe Sita, and another brother Lakshman,
insisted on going with him. Unsuccessfu l in persuading him to relent,
Bharat beggcd Rama for his sandals, so that the k ingdom may be governed
in h is name t i l l he returned.
During their forest cxile, Sita was abducted by the Rakshas king Ravana
and taken to his island kingdom of Lanka. Rama's dcvotcd friend, the ape
Hanuman, located her there in a grove of Asoka trees.
Yasodhara is the wi fe of t he S akya prince Siddhar1 ha. Ch andaka is the
loya l charioteer who drove h im to the forest when he re noun c ed th e world.
Mara is the Tempter and embodiment of Desire who tried in vain to
d i stract S i dd ha rt ha from his p e nan c e and m e di tation wh ich led even t ually
to his Enlightenment descri bed i n 43 .
Living i n exile, the Yaksha, a kind of demigod asks a cloud to go to his
celestial home and deliver to his beloved wife a message g iven in 5 9 .
The ma rri a ge of the goddess Uma with the great god S iva is described in
th is epic poem.
King Dushyanta recalls his m c eting with the herm i t maid Shakuntala,
when they fel l in love
Pururava se arche s in the forest for his beloved wife, the nymph U rvasi
who has disappeared.
,

,

,

24 .

25.

26.

28 .

34.

37.

40.
42.

,

,

,

,

58.
60.
65.

,

.

66.

,

Endnotes

•

203


81
94.

J 1 0.
1 1 7.

1 1 8.
1 30 .
140.

1 5 8.
1 65 .

Valmiki and Vyasa are celebrated as the authors respectively o f the epics
Ramayana and Mahabharala.

Draupad i was a Panchala princess. She was humiliated by Duhsasan, as
recounted in 23. Bhima, who swore vengeance at the time, captured the
Kaurava prince during the Mahabharata war.
Rahu is a legendary planet which causes eclipses of the sun and the moon .
The sons of Dasaratha are Rama and Lakshman. They m arched on Lanka
to rescue Sita, earlier abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka, as
mentioned in 37. Ravana has twenty arms, equally adept in the martial and
the fine arts.
cf. 8 ! .
cf. 37.
The god of love traditionally wields five floral arrows to sm ite the heart.
Hari and Keshava are other names of the divine cowherd Krishna, also
described in 1 56 and 1 57.
cf. 1 5 8. The cowherd is Krishna.

204 . A

Treasury o/Sanskrit Poetry