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A Hindu “Paradiso”: Sabara-Sankara Vilasa, I, 54–85

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

L. D. Barnett
Affiliation:
Lecturer in Sanskrit

Extract

In the following pages is presented a translation of a passage from Shaḍakshari Dēvar's famous Kanarese poem Śabaraśaṅkara-vilāsa. Some of the more tedious passages I have omitted; enough remains to show how the pious Śaiva conceives his Paradise. Certainly Shaḍakshari's visions of heaven are very unlike those of Dante and Milton. But they have much value as documents both of religion and of poetry.

Type
Papers Contributed
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1918

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References

page 4 note 1 This is how I understand the chronogram ratna-samudra-bāņa-bhū. The use of ratna for “seven” is unusual, but is justified by the “seven jewels” of the chakravarti. If we take it in the usual sense of “nine”, the two dates will not tally.

page 5 note 1 Namely Śiva, the destroyer of Tripura or the Three Cities of the demons.

page 5 note 2 Reading with B gottaḷaṃgaḷuṃ. ghalis’; A has gottaḷaṃgaḷ aggalis’.

page 5 note 3 Reading with B °samudraṃ; A 1 has °samruddhaṃ, A 2 “samriddhdṃ.

page 5 note 4 Read °paṛivrita° with A; parikṛita, B.

page 5 note 5 Another title of Śiva.

page 5 note 6 A kind of club, on which see Gopinatha Rao's Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. i, p. 7.

page 5 note 7 A sort of drum shaped like an hour-glass.

page 6 note 1 Apparently a pike with a head curved like a parrot's beak.

page 6 note 2 B wrongly gives Kāmāriy.

page 6 note 3 These are respectively the mace and the bow of Vishņu, whose other emblemsare also borne by Krōḍa.

page 6 note 4 Reading °puvi°: A 1 has °parivi°, A 2 °phari°, B °pari°.

page 6 note 5 Read odaliṃ with A 2 and B 2: A 1 has oḍaviliṃ, B 1 oḍaviṃ.

page 6 note 6 So B and A 1; Śachiy A 2.

page 6 note 7 See above, p. 5, n. 7.

page 7 note 1 Or “associated with might”.

page 7 note 2 Śēsha, who has a thousand tongues.

page 7 note 3 Reading °śālada with B; A 1 has °galada, A 2 °kālada.

page 8 note 1 Reading °mahā° with A; but °bhavad°, the reading of B, may be right, though it is tame.

page 8 note 2 Reading tat-sabhā° with A 1 and B; A 2 has tat-prabhā°, which is more vigorous.

page 8 note 3 These are the eight aiścaryas or siddhis; for a list see Kittel's Kannada Dictionary, s.v. siddhi.

page 8 note 4 The Śaktis or Energies of the Supreme Being, conceived as his femaleconsorts.

page 8 note 5 Beings belonging to the divine hierarchy of Śaiva theology.

page 8 note 6 Literally, the dot on the mystic syllable ōm, representing the phase of indeterminate illumination assumed by Śiva in the process of cosmic revelation, when His power of activity arises into consciousness.

page 9 note 1 The stain on the throat made by the poison swallowed by Śiva in order to save the world.

page 9 note 2 These are the troubles caused by oneself (ādhyātmika), those caused by external beings (ādhibhautika), and those due to supernatural influences(ādhidaivika).

page 9 note 3 Reading bhāsita-bhasmālēpaṃ with B; A gives bhŗita-sita°.

page 9 note 4 Rati is the bride of Kāma, the Love-god.

page 9 note 5 Mantra-dēvatā, the spirits presiding over the mystic formulæ.

page 9 note 6 The Gāyatrī or Sāvitri is the peculiarly holy verse, Ŗig-vēda, iii, 62, 10. Here two goddesses have been created out of the two names of the same verse.

page 10 note 1 Reading with B poṃḍavakeyaṃ Vāņy-ạdi-dēvī-samutkaram; A is senselessly corrupt.

page 10 note 2 2 Here begins the first of a tedious series of passages full of words conveying double meanings. Each epithet has to be translated twice in order to give the twofold sense, or nonsense.

page 10 note 3 A mythical beast with eight legs.

page 10 note 4 See above, p. 9, n. 1.

page 10 note 5 5 Reading Nara-garva-nircāpakan with B and A 1; A 2 has sarvāpahakan.

page 11 note 1 Arjuna, who by his pious austerities won the favour of Śiva, is the hero of our poem.

page 11 note 2 Śiva is often worshipped as Pañcha-mukha, an image with five faces, andthis cult first appears in the Taittirīya Aranyaka, x, 43–7Google Scholar, whence the present punning antithesis to the Sāma Vēda. Compare, further, Gopinatha Rao's Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. ii, pt. i, pp. 64, 97 f., 366 f., 375–9, 384, 388, 404.Google Scholar

page 11 note 3 The lion is the natural enemy of the elephant.

page 11 note 4 This is the name of one of the five phases of Śiva mentioned above. Itmeans “born on the same day”, whence the punning antithesis to the two epithets that follow.

page 11 note 5 The Love-god, Kāma.

page 11 note 6 The demons.

page 11 note 7 As probably the reader has already had enough of this tedious wordjugglery, I omit the rest of the paragraph and verse 79.

page 11 note 8 See above, p. 9, n. 6.

page 11 note 9 The moon's spots are supposed to represent a hare, a proper prey for a snake.

page 11 note 10 The favourite wife of the Moon-god.

page 11 note 11 Two celestial minstrels.

page 11 note 12 Saṃjñā, the daughter of Viśvakarman.

page 12 note 1 The wife of Brahman and goddess of literature and poetry.

page 12 note 2 The fifth note of the gamut.

page 12 note 3 Kālikā.

page 12 note 4 Śachī, the wife of Indra.

page 12 note 5 The wife of the Love-god, Kāma.

page 12 note 6 B here reads tanigaḷta; A 1 has taḷla, A 2 taḷtu.

page 12 note 7 Namely, Brāhmī, Māhēśvarī, Kaumārī, Vaishņavī, Vārāhī, Indrāņī, and Chāmuņḍī.

page 12 note 8 The wife of the saint Atri.

page 12 note 9 I have translated here rather loosely, and perhaps incorrectly; actually B 1 gives sahaja-saṃdaņiya gaņamaṃ, while A 1 has sahaja-saṃdaņam āda gaņamaṃ, and A 2 sahaja-sad-guņamaṃ, so that it would seem as if the true reading were sahaja-saṃaņiya guņa-gaņamaṃ, as I have rendered.

page 12 note 10 A beautiful Apsaras and favourite dancer in the court of Indra.

page 12 note 11 B states that these four kinds of dance are hāva, vibhrama, bhāva, and vilāsa (see Daśa-rūpaka, 48–51, 61, 63); Kittel's Dictionary divides nartana into music, song, gesture, and dance.

page 12 note 12 Vishņu.

page 13 note 1 Brahman.

page 13 note 2 This also means “holding a crane”; the swan or crane is the vehicle of Brahman.

page 13 note 3 Another title of Brahman; here, however, the two titles are made into two distinct deities.

page 13 note 4 Goblins attached to the service of Śiva.

page 13 note 5 A class of demigods represented with the heads of horses.

page 13 note 6 Celestial dancing-women and courtesans.

page 13 note 7 A class of familiar spirits attendant on Śiva.

page 13 note 8 I have omitted another long passage of prose and verse 81, which are full of tiresome and uninstructive word-jugglery.

page 14 note 1 The burnt cow-dung with which Śiva and His votaries are smeared.

page 14 note 2 Saffron paste.

page 14 note 3 Reading mereyeyuṃ with A 1; A 2 has moreyuṃ, B moreyeyum.

page 14 note 4 The three Guņas or principles of material Nature.

page 14 note 5 The empirical universe arises from the Supreme Śiva by the agency of His Powers or Śaktis.

page 14 note 6 Parama-haṃsa, besides meaning this, is also the title of a class of saint. The syllable ōm, or the praņava, as the primal revelation of the Supreme, is the essence of all mystic knowledge, and of the universe itself.

page 15 note 1 A title of Umā or Pārvati; see Kumāra-sambhara, v. 28.

page 15 note 2 See above, p. 12, n. 10.

page 15 note 3 The malignant goddess presiding over the south-western quarter.

page 15 note 4 Brahman, who is conceived as always reciting the Vēda.

page 15 note 5 Indra.

page 15 note 6 Vishnu.

page 15 note 7 The Sun.

page 15 note 8 The Moon.

page 15 note 9 Mahākāla, a demon attendant on Śiva.

page 15 note 10 The god Kubera.

page 15 note 11 Brahman.

page 15 note 12 Indra.

page 15 note 13 Vishņu.

page 15 note 14 Brahman.

page 15 note 15 Indra.