Saundarya Lahari  Variants

SAUNDARYA LAHARI
VARIANT VERSE TRANSLATIONS

This  file  is intended to reproduce as closely as  possible  the
finalized text of the translation of the verses of the  Saundarya
Lahari (SL) of Shankara by Nataraja Guru.

A NOTE ON "FINALIZED" VERSIONS
The  Guru's  work  on  the Saundarya Lahari was  interrupted  in 
1972  by  his hospitalisation and subsequent death.
At that time he had written the film treatment, reproduced in the
SL NOTES series of files, and  was about  to leave for the USA with
a putative director and a  group of student assistants to begin work
on the actual film.
After  his death, the project collapsed, although study of  the 
Saundarya Lahari was continued by his students.
There  are  several  tentative and  incomplete  versions  of  the
translation of the verses in the SL series of files.

In 1972,the Guru dictated a final version, contained in files SLP6
(up  to verse 51, inclusive), SLP7 (up to verse  71, inclusive)  and
SLP8  (verse 71 to 100), all from notes by ED. There is a  further
source  R, which is a mimeographed text probably originating  from
Curran  de Bruler's notes, which are believed to be lost.  We  are
attempting to ascertain its exact date and source,but it diverges
only  slightly from the other two, and has to be considered as  an
authentic variant of the finalized version.
It is probable that the Guru intended yet a further polishing and
finalisation, but  the divergences in these "finalized" texts  are
minimal,and  we can be fairly certain that he intended  something
very close to the text we present here.
The translation is from SLP7 and SLP8, which also contain  various
comments, short  titles  etc., not  reproduced  here, with  variants
indicated  with "R" for the mimeographed text, "P6"  for  SLP6.
Obvious errors and omissions on the part of the copyist have been
corrected by Ed: the interested student can refer to the SL files
to verify the accuracy of this correction.                                    
 
                          
VERSE 1                       
                          
*Shiva, united with Shakti, becomes able to manifest,         
R(IF)                         
If otherwise, this god *knows not even how to pulsate,
                                       * R(does not know)
How  then could one of ungained merit be able to bow  to, or  even praise,

One, such as You, adored even by Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.

VERSE 2

The fine dust arising *from Your lotus feet,
                                      *R(out of)
Brahma *gathers up         * the world* creates,
                *R(gathering up)*P6(and)  * P5(worlds)
Vishnu incessantly bears them up somehow with *his thousand heads,
                                              *R(omitted)
And  Shiva, having  shaken  it up, accomplishes with  it  his  ash-wearing rite.                     
                          
                          
VERSE 3                       
                          
To the  uninstructed You  are  the  light-city,inner darkness banishing , mid-ocean placed

To inert ones the *ooze of sweetness  *within blossoms
                                                                     *R(mind-expanding ooze)*R(from within
celestial,*having mind-expanding effect;
                * R(omits the end of this line)
While  for *indigent spirits you become a brood  of  philosophers' stones
                 *R(the)
And for those submerged in *the ocean of birth and death, the  very tusk of Vishnu's boar
                                                    *R(birth-cycle ocean)

VERSE 4

Other arms *than Yours can confer protection or boon;
                      *R(of classes of divinities)
You  alone *do not act overtly , by gesture, the *promises of  refuge or boon
                     *R(are unique in not acting)          *R(promise)
What is more,Your feet,o sole refuge of the *world of beings,
                                                                               *R(worlds)
Are alone expert indeed in yielding *boons more than asked for.
                                    *R(more than asked for boon)

VERSE 5 
 
Once Vishnu, having adored You, the *bestower of blessings on 
                                                                    *R(the mother that bestows) 
*Your worshippers, 
*R(those who worship you)
Taking womanly form,*caused agitation even unto the City-Burner. 
                                        *R(even  to  the City-Burner  (Shiva)  caused agitation)
Eros, too, *worshipping  You  with body licked into reality  by  the glances of Rati
                  *R(on worshipping) 
Even to the minds of great recluses, confusion of values *brings. 
                                                                                                      *R(he  is indeed able to bring) 
 

VERSE 6

O  Daughter  of  the Snowy Peak, just deriving  from  Your  glance askance
Whatsoever grace he could; with *flowery bow,*bumble-bee bowstring,
                                                            *R(flower)     *P6(and)
And five-flowered dart and springtide for minister; all these  as one withal: 
Mounting  the  chariot  of the  mountain  breeze , he  victoriously  reigns, that god of
love. 
 
 
VERSE 7

*O let Her appear before us, that proud counterpart of the City-Burner
*R(this line goes to end of verse)
Resounding with waist-belt of jingle bells, recumbent by breasts

Like  frontal  bulges  of  a  calf  elephant, slim  of  waist, with autumnal full-moon mature face,

*Holding aloft bow *and arrow, noose and goad!
*R(by hands)           *R(with arrow)

VERSE 8

Seated on a couch of Shiva-form and having the Supreme Shiva  for cushion;

Placed  within a mansion wafted round by the perfume of  blossoms of Kadamba trees,

Located  within a celestial grove on a pearly-gem island in  the midst of a nectar ocean,

Some  fortunate ones contemplate You as the upsurging  billow  of mental joy.

VERSE 9

The earth placed in the Muladhara, water in the Manipura,

Fire in the Swadhisthana, air in the heart, with space above;

And amid eyebrows placing the mind, and breaking through the whole Kula path,

You  do  sport with your lord secretly  in  the  thousand-petaled lotus.

VERSE 10

With  streaks  of ambrosial essence streaming from  between  Your twin feet,

Sprinkling blessings over the worlds and again from that point of high intelligible values,

Turning Yourself into a snake form of three coils and a half,

You  sleep  in  the hollow of  he  Kulakunda, Your  proper  ground attaining.

VERSE 11

With the four of Shiva and of Shiva-maids five,

And  severally *the nine of prime nature, with eight  and  sixteen petals
                          *R(distinct from those of Shiva, those nine too  of prime nature)

Three circles and three lines, *are thus complete,
                                                      *R(thus are)
The forty-three elements *that make up Your *angular refuge.
                                             *P6(making up)       *R(finalized)

VERSE 12

O Daughter of the High Peak, to estimate the equal of Your beauty,

The  best  among  poets, exercising  their  fancy, somehow  created Brahma and others.

Eager Your beauty to see, heavenly damsels mentally attain to

What is hard even for ascetics to *attain; the state of union with Shiva
                                                            *R and P6 (gain)

VERSE 13

A man overaged, uninteresting to the view, inert in sport;

Falling within the range of Your side-glance, they  follow, running in hundreds -

Young  women, with  hair  dishevelled, their  *rounded shapely breasts by  blown-off clothes revealed 
                                                                                 *R(pot-shaped)
*Their waistbands bursting and *silk garments in disarray.
*R(By  their)                                     *R(with  their  silk  shawls  in  disarray)

VERSE 14

Fifty-six for earth; for water fifty-two;

Sixty two for fire; for air fifty-four;

Seventy-two for ether; for mind sixty-four;

Are the rays, even beyond these are Your twin feet.

VERSE 15

Clear as autumnal moonbeams, with matted hair-made diadem,

Attached  with  crescent and with hands bearing refuge  or  boon-giving

*gesture, Rosary  made  of  crystal-clear  beads  and book:
*R(geste)
How  could anyone, worshipping You but once,

Not  gain  in  flow of words somehow,  the  pleasing  sweetness  of honey, milk and grapes?

VERSE 16

That beauty residing within the minds of superior poets,

Resembling that of a forest of lotuses, when touched by the tender light of dawn:

He  who can thus adore You, who are so dear to Brahma  as  magenta itself;

He, by  profound  words  of most  tender  *erotic  content, shall please the same select ones
                                                                           *R(yet erotic)

VERSE 17

He  who  can  contemplate those word-bearing  elements  of  broken moonstone lustre,*
                                                                                                                                                               *R(lustre, with you)
Joined with vasinis, having an elusively fluid gleam;

He becomes, o Mother, the author of great poetic works,

Adding sweet charm to the lotus face of the Goddess of the Word.

VERSE 18

With  shades of Your bodily form enriched by the tenderly  sunlit *dawn,
                                                                                                                   *R(sky of a dappled dawn)
*And the whole earth submerged within magenta glory;
*R(submerging the whole earth within its sheer magenta glory)

*That  man, able to contemplate You thus, wins You over with  Urvasi
*R(Able  to  contemplate  thus, he  wins  over  maids  with startled, gentle, wild deer eyes) 
 
*and how many,how many other 
* R(together  with  Urvasi  and  how many,how  many  other  such  celestial damsels) 
Heavenly nymphs having gentle, startled, wild deer eyes. 
 
 
 
VERSE 19 

O  Shiva  Consort, making Your face the locus  with  twin  breasts below,

And  below still,as the better half of Shiva; meditating on  Your erotic aspect,

Without  delay  he can stir the *sentiments of women; this  is  but slight
                                                      *R(hearts)
And  at once agitates even Her of the three worlds,when  sun  and moon form Her twin breasts.

VERSE 20

He  who can bring You,as emanating nectar out of Your  limbs  all around,
 
Into his heart like a moonstone- made statue,
 
He can quell the pride of serpents like the King of Birds 
 
And a fever patient cure by his very look of ambrosial streak. 
 
 

VERSE 21

As lightning-streak-bodied,made of sun,moon and fire,

And as placed even above the six lotuses in a great lotus grove;

Those great ones,as seers of such,Your aspect *free from dross and ignorance
                                                                                        *R(having mind free)
They experience the upsurging billow of ultimate delight.

VERSE 22
 
O Goddess,You,on this Your servant bestow a kind look: 
 
Thus intending to adore,no sooner one begins saying: 
 
"O  Goddess,  You.."; You grant him that state of  identity  with You

The  same  as what Vishnu,Brahma and Indra  accomplished  by  the waving of *lights on their diadems.
                                                                                                                                                *R(the bright lights)

VERSE 23

Absorbing  the left half of the body of Shiva and unsatisfied  in mind still,
 
The other,I surmise,became absorbed also; therefore, 
 
This Your form,having three eyes and bent by twin breasts, 
 
Wearing *crescent bedecked crown,became of magenta glory.  
                *R(a curved crescent) 
 
 
VERSE 24 
 
Brahma creates the world,Vishnu protects,Shiva destroys:

Negating all this and his own body,the lord fades out.

Thus what results: Shiva who has eternity for prefix (Sadashiva)

He  blesses*,obeying  the *orders  derived  from  Your  instantly vibrating eyebrow-twigs
                     *R(too,obeying)*R(order)

VERSE 25

Of  the  three  gods,who are originated from  Your  three  nature modalities,

Their  worship of You,o consort of Shiva,would alone  be  worship

Offered to Your twin feet; it is indeed *thus when they do so,
                                                                  *R(so, despite this, when)
Standing  eternally  beside  Your  gem-decked  footstsool,joining bud-like their hands well above

*like crowns.
*R(their crowns)

VERSE 26

Brahma  regains  his  pure  quintuple  nature;  Vishnu  becomes passionless;

The  God  of Death destruction meets; the God of  Wealth  becomes bankrupt;

the  great Indra becomes  functionless,with  half-shut eyes;

In this great doom,he sports,o constant spouse,Your lord alone.

VERSE 27

Incantations,mutterings,ritual acts,hand gestures,gait,

Circumambulations, food offerings,inclination,*adoration by  lying down*
                                                                                    *PS(inclination, prostration)
                                                                                    *P6(omits" adoration by lying down")
All such enjoyments, as coming within the scope of self-surrender,

And thus synonymous *with worship of You, let such be what from  me might shine forth
                                         *R(synonymous for)

VERSE 28

Even *on partaking of nectar,so potent against fear old age and death;
          *P6 (as)
They reach their doom,all such gods as Brahma or Indra;

On  even swallowing that terrible  super-poison,for  Shiva,time's *becoming is not operative:
                                                                                                                     *R and P6(function)
The source here being the power of Your marital string.

VERSE 29

" Remove Brahma's crown from before,and of him called Vishnu;

You are going to hurt his hard headgear: bypass Indra's crown"

As inclining in front of You,they remain,at that very moment  for him *at his homecoming,
                                                                                                                         *R(on his)
You are about to rise.Such words of Your retinue , they do *reign supreme. 
                                                                                                        *R(ring)

VERSE 30 
 
Out  of  the  rays arising  from  Your  proper  body,representing psychic powers such as atomicity *(anima), 
                                                                                                   *R(omits)
Attendant  on  You, o eternal one, one who contemplates  these  in terms of oneself: 

What  wonder  for him that all benefits from the  three-eyed  one should only be worth rejection,

And  that  the fire of doom should perform for him  in  turn  the light-waving rite.

VERSE 31
 
By sixty-four know-how factors,each capable of generating its own psychic power; 

Transcending the whole world while remaining immobile, 
 
The  Lord  of  Beasts,again,by  Your insistence  by  that free expertness of Yours, 

Caused  to  be  brought  down this firm  earth  for  the  unified fulfilment of all life purposes.

VERSE 32

Shiva, Parvati, Eros  and  earth;  sun,moon,

God  of  Love, swan  and Indra; Para,  Mara and Hari;

With these three sets,with their heart monomarks suffixed,

They adore Your letters,o Mother,by way of naming Your  component limbs.

VERSE 33

Eros,source,wealth;  this  triplet  placing  *first  within  Your charm
                                                                           *P6 (omits "first")
O lone and eternal one, innumerable seekers of great enjoyment

Adore You,telling beads of philosopher's stone,ever *sacrificing into the fire of Shiva
                                                                                              *R(sacrifices)
By  hundreds  of streaks of clarified butter oblations  from  the celestial cow.

VERSE 34

You  *are the body of Shiva,having sun and  moon  for twin breasts
         *R and P6(you who are)
Yourself,I surmise,o Goddess,as a new sinless self.

Therefore,by mutual complementarity,this relation remains one  of common reciprocity
 
Between  You  two,participating on equal  terms  of  transcendant  bliss. 
 

VERSE 35 
 
The mind You are,the sky,the wind too, also the charioteer of the winds
 
You are the water,as well as the earth; apart from Your  manifest form there is nought else indeed!

You,in  order  to manifest *Your own self, *by taking  a  universal form
                                              *R(by Your)        *R(omits"by")
Of mental bliss substantial,do assume the role of Shiva-bride,and thus triumphant rule.

VERSE 36

I  adore  that  Shiva  ultimate,as  placed  in  Your  willing centre*,shining with the brilliance
                                                                                                                 *R(centre,(Ajna))
Of  millions of suns and moons,whose flanks are illumined by  the light of the intelligibles beyond;

Whom,worshipping with devotion,lifted beyond the reach  of sun,moon *and fire,
                                                                                                                                *(or)
In  that *domain above all need,one lives indeed in  that  bright world of light
            *R(shining domain)

VERSE 37
 
In Your Vishudhi Chakra,crystal-clear and sky-generating, 
 
I  adore  Shiva and the Goddess also,with *parity of  status *with Shiva
                                                                             *R(a parity)         *P6(omits "with Shiva")
By whose combined,streaming,moonbeam-like fluorescence,
 
With  banished  inner  dross,like a  female  partridge,the  world hereunder shines.

VERSE 38

I adore those twin swans,intent on enjoying the nectar

Of  the lotus blooming within the consciousness of  certain great ones,

Moving  within whose minds as a result of  their  elaboration,the maturation

Of the eighteen arts takes place freed from dross,their  goodness extracted as milk from water.

VERSE 39
 
O  Mother,I  praise,placing  in Your  Svadhisthana  the  fire  of sacrifice
 
Ever looking upon it as the great fire of doom,and placing  there her also called Samaya, 

So that when the worlds are burning due to his anger, 
 
Her  mercy-moist regard renders to it the cooling touch of  early spring.

VERSE 40

As  found in certain contemplatives who take full refuge in  Your Manipura,

I  adore  that  dark  cloud of  Yours,as  traversed  by  forceful lightning,

Banishing  darkness  and shining,bursting into  sparks  with  the varied gem-decked *brightness of Indra's bow,
                                                                                                                                                          *R and P6(gem-decked maturity)
While over the three worlds,agonized by the heat of  Shiva-sun,it sheds its showering waters.

VERSE 41

I meditate on Your new self,as placed at Your  Muladhara,together with Samaya,

Given  to  her  light-step dance,as  also  that  great  bold-step dancer;

Giving expression thereby to all nine aesthetic interests,thus by their joint lordship,

By mercy *ordaining the rebirth of the world,they confer on it the
                 *R(intending)
renewed  status of having both father and mother.

VERSE 42

These  sky  orbs  twelve attained to rubyhood  and  placed  close together
 
He who can praise thus Your golden crown,o Daughter of the  Snowy peak
 
Would  he not have then in his mind the impression of the bow  of Indra
 
When,  by  reflected glory, a  slender  crescent is  produced  by *gems imbedded therein.
                                                                                                                  *P6(the gems)

VERSE 43

Let  the blooming blue-lotus forest growth of  Your  thick,glossy  and lustrous *locks
                                                                                                                                            *R(cluster of locks)
O Shiva-consort,banish the darkness within us

To gain whose natural fragrance those other flowers of the garden of Indra,

As I can guess,take their place within Your tresses.

VERSE 44

May it bless us,the upsurging billow of the beauty of your face

Outflowing *into a stream,to resemble Your parted hairline,
                    *R(like unto a stream)

With  vermilion dust bedecked,keeping apart the strong growth  of tresses

As  if  in  bondage held by *anti-darkness  gangs,to  reveal  the tender rays of dawn
                                               *R(an anti-darkness gang)

VERSE 45

Your face,exuding perfume,as it gently smiles,

Having  Your  bright teeth for filament,when surrounded  by  Your natural curls
 
Like so many reveling,honey-licking bees; each the eye 
 
Of the Eros-burner,puts to shame the beauty of the lotus. 
 
 
 
VERSE 46 
 
I fain would treat Your forehead, shining with *radiant beauty,  
                                                                                 *R(a pure beauty)
A second crescent to that other frail one fixed to Your crown,

So that reversed in position,both as knit one-to-one,

Results the form of a fully-matured moon,emanating soft ambrosial essence.

 
VERSE 47 
 
O  Uma,ever  pained  in concern for banishing  the  fear  of  all creatures
 
And  thus  with eyebrows somewhat arched,with  eyes  of  bee-like beauty  below
 
I do surmise them as making up the bowstring for this bow 
 
Of the *lord of love,held by his other hand,his  arm and fist hiding the middle part
           *P6(god)

VERSE 48

That  eye of Yours,in essence the same as the sun and other  than the left,

It  generates daytime; the left one,presiding over  night,creates its three vigils;

While the third eye,*like a half-open golden lotus bud,
                                  *R(sweet like)
Ushers in the twilight time,moving between day and night.

VERSE 49 
 
Vishala  the expansive, Kalyani the auspicious;  Sphutaruchi  the clear of taste

Ayodhya  the invincible,by blue lotus  bound;  Kripadharadhara, on mercy's  fountain founded; 

A  certain  Madhura, the  sweet;  Avanti, of  saving power; Bhogavatika, enjoyment affording; 
 
All  such  names of various cities of  lasting  fame, *within  Your total regard they do reign triumphant
                                                                                            *R(fame, each  fit to be called by its own name) 
 

VERSE 50 

Seeing Your baby bumble-bee-like pair of eyes which, while seeming to cast *glances
                                                                                                                                            *R(side- glances)
Do not give up the bases of Your ears, mellowed by the play of the nine aesthetic interests,

Remaining like aptness with poets, wholly absorbed in drinking the honey within

a spray of *blooms;
                  *R(blossoms)
 
Your  mid  -  forehead lotus-bud  eye, by  jealousy  touched, seems magenta tinged

VERSE 51

Moved  by  sentimental  love for  Shiva, resentful  to  any  other person;

With  anger  of jealousy towards Ganges, and  with  transports  of wonder at Shiva's story;

With  fearful surprise for the snakes of Hara, and for  friends  a jestful smile;

As  such a source of lotus-red grace, Your regard, o Mother, for  me will remain one of kindliness.

VERSE 52

Drawn  fully  to  the ear-limits, like  gleaming  Eros  arrows, with lashes looking like

Arrow-base feathers; these Your eyes, having the effect 
 
Of *disturbing the complacent detachment of the City-Burner,
     *R(disrupting) 
Make for Your glory as the highest clan of the Mountain King. 
 
 
VERSE 53 
 
The  tricolour  distinctness  of Your eyes, o  beloved  of  Ishana (Lord)

Presented in clear threefold relief by the use of collyrium,
 
Would seem to create afresh the gods *Shiva,Vishnu and Indra, 
                                                                       *R(Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva) 
Bereft  of passion and having the qualities of *Rajas, Sattva  and Tamas
                                                                                 *R(rajas (active) , sattva (pure) and tamas (dark)

VERSE 54

O one of kindly, sympathetic regard, Your heart being

Given  over to the Lord of Beasts: of rivers such as  Shona, Ganga and Yamuna,

Coloured red, white and black:

Their  sacred waters You do blend indeed into sinless  confluence for our purification.

VERSE 55

With eyes open or shut, You can effect, as saints say,

The  being  or non-being of the world, o Daughter  of  the  Earth- Supporting Lord;

What thus came to be as you opened them, this entire world, without anything left,

To  save*, I  now  surmise, You remain  now  with  eyes  unwinkingly withdrawn
               *R(from dissolution)

VERSE 56
 
O *Aparna, afraid of the gossip carried to Your ear bases by  Your lengthened eyes
    *R(O Aparna(Parvati)) 
 
Surely  they  lie  merged unwinking *in  water  like  the  female Sapherika fish
                                                                *R(within) 
This Lakshmi too, leaves behind at dawn the closed petal doors  of  *water lilies,
                                                                                                                            *R(blue water lilies)
And at dusk, forcing them open, She re-enters therein.

VERSE 57

With Your long-extended regard having the beauty of  water-lilies just opening, 

O  Shiva-consort, do bathe with mercy *even me steeped  in  misery far off
                                                                     *R(me too) 
Thus shall I be blessed with no loss *to You;
                                                                    *R(either for You)
The moonbeams do fall on forest and mansion with equality.

VERSE 58

The two sets of curved limiting lines of Yours, o Daughter of  the King of Mountains,

Who  is  it  that will not fancy them as the  bow  of the  flower- arrowed one;

Where, placed obliquely, and reaching beyond the path of hearing,

As  it  shines, adhering  to  Your  side-glances, it  gives  the impression of the fixing of the arrow.

VERSE 59

This, Your face, I consider Kama's chariot with four wheels,

As  seen  when Your ear ornaments are reflected on  Your  shining cheeks;

Surmounting which that great hero Kama assails the Lord of Hosts,

Who, with  sun  and  moon  for *foothold, mounting  the  globe  for chariot, is fully ready to give him battle
                                                        *R(wheels)

VERSE 60

The good sayings of Saraswati, exuding nectar sweetness,

Ever  absorbing  as  with slow interest, *You bend  Your  ears  to them, o blessed one
                                                                       *R(by Your ears, o)
Each bright wit therein *approving with nods,
                                         *R(while approving)
*While Your series of earrings seem to applaud them with their high pitch jinglings
*R(omits "while")

VERSE 61

O banner of the dynasty of the Himalayas, Your nose ridge, here  as Your clan's flagstaff,

Let it ripen for us, standing so near *below You, deserving fruit;
                                                                 *R(omits "below")
Inwardly  wearing pearls as they do, and dropped by cool  moonbeam respiration,

It bears, even outside, pearls due to the plenitude of the same.

VERSE 62

O  one of goodly teeth, of Your parted lips naturally red I  shall declare the similitude;

Let the coral reef bear fruit *by reflection *from its original model
                                                                         *R(fruit, not the fruit but by)
                                                                         *R(reddened from)
With which desiring to climb to *the point of mid-parity, 
                                                        *R(a state of) 
However could *it avoid being abashed at least by a *degree?
                           *R(could they, the teeth, avoid)           *R(a shade) 
 
 
VERSE 63 
 
Your smile, like a moonbeam cluster out of Your moon-bright face,

Partridges, on drinking, by surfeit of sweetness

Numbness  of  tongue  they got; thus  presently  do  they  imbibe eagerly

The nectar thereof, treating it as sour brew, night by night.

VERSE 64

By incessant repetition of a muttered charm glorifying Your Lord;

As offering the flower-red shade of Your tongue triumphs;

The pure ,clear crystal outline image of Saraswati,

While  seated  at  Your tongue-tip, o Mother, in  turn  attains  to rubyhood in its bodily form.

VERSE 65

O Mother, they merge, those mouthfuls of betel-juice of Your face,

As Skhanda, Vishnu and Upendra, *vanquishing demons in battle,
                                                                *R(returning from vanquishing the)
Taking off their  headgear  and *armour, they  *return discountenancing
                                                       *R(still in their) *R(they  discountenance that Shiva's)
That Shiva's portion of offering meant for Chanda which are moon-bright bits of camphor. 
 

VERSE 66 
 
Starting as You do to sing with Your vina*, with head movements, 
                                                                        *R(vina and with) 
Of  the varied exploits of the City-Burner, You, as the Goddess  of the Word

The one of lovely speech, You promptly cover up to silence

Your  instrument  as mocking the sweetness thereof by  sounds  of strings.

VERSE 67

Affectionately  touched  by the tip of the hand of  the  Mountain king,

And lifted *again and again by that Shiva out of desire
                  *R(lifted up again)
To drink of the lips thereof, that which makes the handle

For Your face-mirror, how could we ever speak of it, Your peerless chin.

VERSE 68

Incessantly embraced by the arms of the City-Burner,

And thrilled to *thorny bristling of the hair of Your neck,
                          *R(to a thorny)
It  shows  *the  lotus-stalk  grace ,smudged  by  excess  of  dark cosmetic paste
                   *R(a)
By itself *it retains beneath the *creeper-tendril  suppleness  of * the pearly necklace lotus core
               *R(retaining) *R(lotus creeper)                                            *R(of a pearly necklace)

VERSE 69

Those three lines on Your neck, o One fully expert in time, syncope and melody;

They  are the counter-grounds of Your marital thread  of  strands and substrands,

As they do shine as the ground wherein is born many a melody;

Giving position, regulation and limitation for the three groups of musical keys.

VERSE 70

Of the lotus-core tender beauty of You fourfold *hands,
                                                                                    *R(creeper-like arms)
He  sings  the  praise, the  lotus-born  god, trembling  the  while because of Shiva's nails
 
That once of yore nipped off his extra head, he (Brahma) intending now to pray for 

Your  refuge-granting  hand- gesture for each  of  his  remaining heads

VERSE 71 

Shining by the *play of Your fingernails that mock *in colour
                          *R(brilliance)                                       *R(the  colour of)
Just-opening lotus buds, how could we speak of the beauty of Your hand?

Granted  be, o  Uma, that the lotus could have one  shade  less  of parity with it

If  at all, and that , alas, only when touched by the magenta  paste of the sole of Lakshmi as she plays thereon.

VERSE 72

Let it banish our misery, o Goddess, your twin breasts,

Ever being sucked equally by Skanda and Ganesha;

Of  which, seeing  their  milk-spouting  fronts, Ganesha  causes laughter
 
As he feels his own front with misgivings in his *mind.
                                                                                      *R(heart) 
 
 
VERSE 73 
 
O banner of the King of Peaks, Your breasts, shoulder-borne 
 
Are nectar-bearing ruby pots indeed, without any trace of doubt: 
 
 These  two, Skanda and Ganesha, both innocent of *the pleasures  of marital contact
                                                                                               *R(conjugal joy) 
*Drinking  from  them they remain thus child-like to  the  present day
*R(By reason of drinking) 

VERSE 74

Your mid-bust region, wearing a* slender garland of pearly beads,
                                                         *R(pure  and  slender streak  of  a garland)

Derived and  worked  out *by some  elephant-demon  vanquished  by Shiva
                                              *R(out of the frontal knobs of some)
The semblance bears of his *reputation with added redness of lips
                                                    *R(very  reputation, mixed  with  his  exploits with added)
And an inner brightness presenting a *picturesque charm.
                                                                    *R(a  variegated picturesque)
 

VERSE 75

Your  breast  milk, I  consider,  o  maiden  born  to  the  Earth- Supporting Lord,

As if it were word-wisdom's ocean of nectar, flooding *from out of Your heart
                                                                                                *R(out from)
Offered by one who is kind, which, on tasting,

This dravidian child, amidst superior poets, is born a composer  of charming verse.

VERSE 76

That mind-born god,once,on his body being engulfed

In the *fire of Shiva's ire,into the deep lake of Your navel,
            *R(encircling flames of)
O Mountain Daughter,he dived, and on re-emerging,

The *smoke thus raised,the people look upon as Your rows of hair.
        *R(creeper-like streaks of smoke)

VERSE 77
 
O  auspicious  Mother,that  something revealed  at  Your  slender waist

Looking like *ripples on the surface of the river Kalindi, 
                      *R(superfine ripples) 
Looms in the mind of contemplatives as space reduced to  ethereal particles 

Entering  into  the  cavity of Your  navel, and  produced  by  the friction of Your pot-like breasts
 

VERSE 78 
 
O* mountain-born, your navel reigns supreme 
   *R(O Daughter of the peak) 

As  a stilled gangetic whirlpool, as the fecund flowerbed of  Your breast-bud-bearing creeper 

As the sacrificial fire-pit for *Kama, and for Rati                 *her pleasure- bower
                                                *R(for receiving Kama's glory)*R(as her) 
While  to the eyes of the Mountain Lord the cavern mouth for *his austerities
                                                                                                             *R(the fruition of his austerities)

VERSE 79

For Your waist*, naturally slim, fatigued by weight of *bust form,
                         *R(o  best  of  women)                            *R(Your)

*Bending by form and on the point of breaking,
*R(With a figure bent down and)

*Equal in state to a tree on a collapsing brook bank;
*R(Having the equality of the state of a tree)

O mountain-born one let there be security forever.

VERSE 80

O  Goddess, having made Your twin breasts gain the  beauty of gold pots,

Rubbing  at  the  upper arms, bursting the  bodice  and  presently perspiring,

*The God of Love, now wanting to save your threefold waist from breaking, saying : "enough"
*R(The maker thereof, the God)

With *three strands of a wild creeper, he presently binds.
          *R(with threefold strands of a wild creeper, he has now bound)

VERSE 81

Ponderability and  extensiveness *Shiva once bestowed on  You  as dowry
                                                             *R(o  Parvati, the earth-supporting lord)
Cutting  them  off  from  his own hips; thus  *it  is  this
                                                                              *R(omits "it is")
Yours here, both weighty and expansive, cancels out the whole world

And by prior substantiality confers lightness on it too.

VERSE  82

Beating  both  the best of elephant trunks, and groups  of  golden banana stems,

By *thighs and by knees having goodly *callosities, due to  daily devotions
      *R(two)                                                   *R(rounded callosities)
To Your lord, even the twin *knobs of the heavenly elephant
                                                 *R(frontal knobs)
You out-do, *o Mountain Daughter triumphant.
                      *R(fully aware of right obligations, o)

VERSE 83

His quiver duplicating as Your twin legs, looking like pillars

Made *by the God of Love, for giving battle to Shiva,
           *R(surely by)
They show at their *knees ten arrowheads, simulating nails,
                                  *R(bases)
Sharpened *only on the whetstones which are the crowns of gods.
                     *R(solely on)

VERSE 84
 
Mother, Your  twin feet, marking as they do the crest  point  of *wisdom,
                                                                                                              *R(scriptural wisdom)
*Wearable  as  head ornament by You as by me ,kindly  place  both upon my head
*R(worn) 
  
Water  *from  their ablution comes *from the  stream  in  Shiva's matted hair
             *R(for)                                      *R(is the brook in) 
*And the red paste on their sole comes from the magenta glory of Vishnu's crown
*R( and the auspicious beauty of their red paste is the magenta) 
 
 
VERSE 85 
 
Spoken words of worship do we offer to these Your lotus feet, 
 
Beauteous as they are to view, smeared over with paste of *magenta glory
                                                                                                          *R(brilliant magenta)
Extremely jealous is he, the Lord of Beasts, of that Ashoka tree 

In Your pleasure grove, for desiring to be kicked by them.

VERSE 86

On having inadvertently defaulted in respect of Your family name,

While  stooping  in shame, Your husband's forehead as  You  kicked with Your lotus feet,

That  enemy  of Shiva, wholly giving up his *rancour ,his  victory
                                                                             *R(long-standing rancour, caused by the heat(of Shiva)
*celebrates with clamour of many jingle bells.
*R(celebrated)

VERSE 87

Capable of being killed by snow, and fully at home on *snow peak;
                                                                                                  *R(the)
Sleeping at night, and in bloom both at *dusk and after;
                                                                      *R(dawn)
Making Lakshmi's bowl overgenerous to Your vedic worshippers,

Such  the  twin  lotus of Your foot, it  triumphs* : what  wonder herein?
                                                                                *R(o Mother)

VERSE 88 
 
Your foot is the *seat for good repute, o Goddess; 
                            *R(supreme) 
How then from danger to safety did it come? The wise treat it  as of tortoise-shell hardness;

How then was it that Shiva,

At  his wedding, could lift it with a tender mind to place  it  on the ritual stone?

VERSE 89

*With fingernails like moons, putting to shame
*R(With  fingernails  of  the  lotus  hands  of  celestial damsels, putting to shame the moon)
The  lotus hands of celestial damsels, and feet that seem to  mock celestial trees,

O  tragic  one,  Chandi, Your  twin  feet  offer  fruit  to heaven dwellers

With leaf-tender finger-tips, and bring secure riches to the poor instantly and incessantly.

VERSE 90

Giving  riches  *to the needy as required, and of  *its  store  of honey
                           *R(incessantly)                                *R(the)
*Distributing plentifully sweetness around; into such a beauty
*R(Of the celestial blossoms of beauty distributing  plentifully all around; into such a beauty)

Of the celestial *blossom of Your feet, immersed altogether,
                            *R(blooms of Your feet, let my life go immersed  with legs and)
Let my life go merged with legs and inner organs into  six-footed beehood.

VERSE 91

Your  young domesticated cygnets ,intent on learning from You  the sportive pose of steps,

Practising still with faults,  o one of graceful gait, on their  not giving up,

With the sound of *gem-filled anklets imitating,
                                *R(gem-set)
It would seem now that You are *teaching them.  
                                                          *R(instructing) 
 
 
VERSE 92 
 
Gone as they are to Your couch-hood, Brahma, Vishnu, Ishvara, Rudra and others 

Shiva wearing a deceptive canopy derived from his crystal light; 

By  Your  radiance  projected on to it and turned  to  a  magenta shade,

As the very embodiment of erotic bliss, he charms the view.

VERSE 93

Curly  in  hair *and naturally simple in  smile, with  a  magenta-flower-supple mind
                         *R(and with a smile of natural simplicity)
Bust firm like a kitchen mashing stone, extremely slender at waist,

With solid shoulders and hips, thus Shiva's world to save,

She reigns supreme, a certain kindliness called magenta.

VERSE 94

The dark zone of the moon *it is musk; the *moon's orb is water*;
                                                 *R(omits "it")     *R(orb of the moon)   *R(watery)
The moon's phases they are camphor bits filling a box of ebony,

Which, hen emptied daily by Your joys,

For Your sake, Brahma fills it *again and again.
                                                     *R(it up again and again)

VERSE 95

You being the consort of Shiva, it is difficult indeed

For  unsettled minds to attain the equivalent of the way of  Your worship;

Whatever limitless gains they, the divinities such as Indra and others might have had,

Those  psychic powers such as Anima, from just outside  Your  door they got them.

VERSE 96

The wife of Brahma,* how many poets does she not woo?
                                    *R(how many ,how many poets do they not woo)
*How  many  are there not, who, by having some  wealth, can  claim Lakshmi's hand?
*R(Or by having some wealth, whoever is it that cannot claim to be husband to Lakshmi)

*O constancy's ultimate meaning, outside Shiva
*R(O constant wife, of the term constancy the ultimate meaning)
The contact with Your breasts is hard even to *a favourite garden tree
                                                                                  *R(ordinary garden)

VERSE 97

As *the Goddess of the Word, Veda-knowers speak of You as Brahma's wife
      *R(As Goddess)
Lakshmi  is  Vishnu's  wedded one, and the  Mountain  Daughter  is Shiva's consort;

Certain  others  as the unattainable and boundless  fourth  state refer to You;

While you remain as the great Maya, making the universe go round, as queen of the Ultimate Absolute.

VERSE 98

When, o Mother, tell me ,shall this thy *supplicant drink
                                                                    *R(wisdom-seeker)
Of the ablution water of Your magenta sap-smeared feet?

As causing even one dumb born to be a poet,

When *will he enjoy within the flavour of the betel juice in  the lotus mouth of the Word-Goddess
           *R(shall I enjoy)

VERSE 99
 
Sporting  with  Saraswati  and with Lakshmi  as *co-consort  with Brahma and Vishnu
                                                                                       *R(co-consorts) 
While disrupting with his charming body the constancy of Rati  to her lord, 
 
With banished animality and bondage, living long, 

He enjoys *what is known as ultimate bliss, your supplicant.
                   *R(the taste of what)

VERSE 100

To  carry  out the ritual propitiation of the sun  by  waving  of *flames,
                                                                                                          *R(lighted flames)
To offer oblations to the moon, the source of nectar, by  particles of moonstone water,

To appease the deep with offerings of water its own,

Such ,o Mother is this wordy praise with words Your own.