Pearls at Random Strung

Just a place to jot down my musings.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Godā Stuti, 26

raṅge taṭid-guṇavato ramayaiva Gode
kṛṣṇāmbudasya ghaṭitāṃ kṛpayā suvṛṣṭyā |
daurgatya-durviṣa-vināśa-sudhā-nadīṃ tvāṃ
santaḥ prapadya śamayanty acireṇa tāpān || 26 ||

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Monday, January 3, 2011

Godā Stuti, 25

Gode guṇair apanayan praṇatāparādhān
bhrū-kṣepa eva tava bhoga-rasānukūlaḥ |
karmānubandhi-phala-dāna-ratasya bhartuḥ
svātantrya-durvyasana-marma-bhidā nidānam || 25 ||

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Godā Stuti, 24

ārdrāparādhini jane ’py abhirakṣaṇārthaṃ
raṅgeśvarasya ramayā vinivedyamāne |
pārśve paratra bhavatī yadi tatra nāsīt
prāyeṇa Devi vadanaṃ parivartitaṃ syāt || 24 ||

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Godā Stuti, 23

arcyaṃ samarcya niyamair nigama-prasūnaiḥ
nāthaṃ tvayā kamalayā ca sameyivāṃsam |
mātaś ciraṃ niraviśan nijam ādhirājyaṃ
mānyā manu-prabhṛtayo ’pi mahīkṣitas te || 23 ||

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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Godā Stuti, 22

dūrvā-daḷa-pratimayā tava deha-kāntyā
go-rocanā rucirayā ca rucendirāyāḥ |
āsīd anujjhita-śikhā-vaḷa-kaṇṭha-śobhaṃ
māṅgalyadaṃ praṇamatāṃ Madhu-vairi-gātram || 22 ||

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Godā Stuti, 21

Raṅgeśvarasya tava ca praṇayānubandhāt
anyonya-mālya-parivṛttim abhiṣṭuvantaḥ |
vācālayanti vasudhe rasikās trilokīṃ
nyūnādhikatva-samatā-viṣayair vivādaiḥ || 21 ||

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Friday, December 31, 2010

Godā Stuti, 20

dhanye samasta-jagatāṃ pitur uttamāṅge
tvan-mauḷi-mālya-bhara-saṃbharaṇena bhūyaḥ |
indīvara-srajam ivādadhati tvadīyāny
ākekarāṇi bahumāna-vilokitāni || 20 ||

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Why pearls, and why strung at random?

In his translation of the famous "Turk of Shiraz" ghazal of Hafez into florid English, Sir William Jones, the philologist and Sanskrit scholar and polyglot extraordinaire, transformed the following couplet:

غزل گفتی و در سفتی بیا و خوش بخوان حافظ

که بر نظم تو افشاند فلک عقد ثریا را


into:

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,
Whose accents flow with artless ease,
Like orient pearls at random strung.

The "translation" is terribly inaccurate, but worse, the phrase is a gross misrepresentation of the highly structured organization of Persian poetry. Regardless, I picked it as the name of my blog for a number of reasons: 
1) I don't expect the ordering of my posts to follow any rhyme or reason
2) Since "at random strung" is a rather meaningless phrase, I decided to go with the longer but more pompous "pearls at random strung". I rest assured that my readers are unlikely to deduce from this an effort on my part to arrogate some of Hafez's peerless brilliance!

About Me

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Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
—W.H. Davies, “Leisure”