Sanskrit Tidbits-40:The brilliance of Sanskrit poet Magha
From Kalidasa, in this version of tidbits, I am going to move on to Magha. (I have mentioned him earlier.) He was from 7th century ACE, in what was then Gujarat, and is now Rajasthan. Magha (Maagha) may have written several works, but the only one that has survived is Shishupala Vadha. Everyone knows the story of Krishna beheading Shishupala and this mahakavya is about that incident. About Magha it has been said, उपमा कालिदासस्य भारवेरर्थगौरवं| दन्डिन: पदलालित्यं माघे सन्ति त्रयो गुणः|| We have four Sanskrit poets mentioned in that couplet – Kalidasa, Bharavi, Dandin and Magha. Kalidasa’s similes (metaphors), the deep purport of Bharavi’s words, the beauty of Dandin’s words – all three qualities are to be found in Magha. Shishupala Vadha has 20 sargas. Indeed, it is a mahakavya and many connoisseurs of Sanskrit poetry have raved about Magha. However, he is not one of my favorite poets. You should read him and judge for yourself. I find Magha to be too clever and I personally think that cleverness comes in the way of good poetry. This reaches a crescendo in the 19th sarga of Shishupala Vadha. Let me give you examples of what I mean by cleverness and this will also explain why I decided to introduce you to Magha.
Sanskrit poetry had a concept of चित्रकाव्य. चित्र has many meanings – picture, wonderful, excellent. So these are wonderful decorative compositions. For example, how about composing a shloka with the first pada entirely in ज, the second pada entirely in त, the third pada entirely in भand the fourth pada entirely in र? Magha came up with
जजौजोजाजिजिज्जाजी तं ततोऽतितताततुत्।
भाभोऽभीभाभिभूभाभू- रारारिररिरीररः॥
As I have said several times, I am not a Sanskrit pundit. I have tried to crack this shloka several times and have failed. Perhaps some reader will help. Sanskrit pundits say this means “Then the warrior, winner of war, with his heroic valour, the subduer of the extremely arrogant beings, he who has the brilliance of stars, he who has the brilliance of the vanquisher of fearless elephants, the enemy seated on a chariot, began to fight.” For example, you will find this translation in Winternitz’s “History of Indian Literature”. Here is another example.
भूरिभिर्भारिभिर्भीराभूभारैरभिरेभिरे।
भेरीरेभिभिरभ्राभैरभीरुभिरिभैरिभाः॥
This apparently means, “The fearless elephant, who was like a burden to the earth because of its weight, whose sound was like a kettle-drum, and who was like a dark cloud, attacked the enemy elephant.” As a third example,
दाददो दुद्ददुद्दादी दाददो दूददीददोः।
दुद्दादं दददे दुद्दे दादाददददोऽददः॥
The meaning is, “Sri Krishna, the giver of every boon, the scourge of the evil-minded, the purifier, the one whose arms can annihilate the wicked who cause suffering to others, shot his pain-causing arrow at the enemy.” Don’t ask me about the explanations for the translations. As I have said, I haven’t been able to crack them. Some day, I will.
Magha also specialized in palindromes. Here is one.
वारणागगभीरा सा साराभीगगणारवा।
कारितारिवधा सेना नासेधा वारितारिका॥
The translation is, “It is very difficult to face this army which is endowed with elephants as big as mountains. This is a very great army and the shouting of frightened people is heard. It has slain its enemies.” Notice that each line is a palindrome, read right to left. Here is an example of another palindrome. तं श्रिया घनयानस्तरुचा सारतया तया।
यातया तरसा चारुस्तनयानघया श्रितं॥ The entire shloka is a palindrome now, not just each individual line. Ingenious for sure, I am not sure about poetry. But perhaps I am biased.
Magha was partly trying to rival Bharavi. Bharavi (6th century ACE) wrote a mahakavya titled “Kiratarjuniya”. This is the story of Arjuna’s encounter with Shiva, in the form of a hunter. So, if you like, Magha was Krishna’s devotee and Bharavi was Shiva’s devotee. This is Bharavi’s work.
न नोननुन्नो नुन्नोनो नाना नानानना ननु।
नुन्नोऽनुन्नो ननुन्नेनो नानेना नुन्ननुन्ननुत्॥
This translation is easier to figure out. “О ye many-faced ones (nānānanā), he indeed (nanu) is not a man (na nā) who is defeated by an inferior (ūna-nunno), and that man is no man (nā-anā) who persecutes one weaker than himself (nunnono). He whose leader is not defeated (na-nunneno) though overcome is not vanquished (nunno’nunno); he who persecutes the completely vanquished (nunna-nunna-nut) is not without sin (nānenā).” And here is Bharavi’s palindrome.
देवाकानिनि कावादे वाहिकास्वस्वकाहि वा।
काकारेभभरे का का निस्वभव्यव्यभस्वनि॥
The translation is, “O man who desires war! This is that battlefield which excites even the gods, where the battle is not of words. Here people fight and stake their lives not for themselves but for others. This field is full of herds of maddened elephants. Here those who are eager for battle and even those who are not very eager, have to fight.” This is a palindrome, line by line, breaking it up into four lines. If you remember, I mentioned sarvatabhadro compositions earlier. This is one of those. It is not just a palindrome right to left, but also from top to bottom and from bottom to top.
Finally, here is another remarkable example from Bharavi
विकाशमीयुर्जगतीशमार्गणा विकाशमीयुर्जगतीशमार्गणाः।
विकाशमीयुर्जगतीशमार्गणा विकाशमीयुर्जगतीशमार्गणाः॥
The words only seem to repeat themselves. However, the meaning is quite different. “The arrows (mārgaṇāḥ), of the king (jagatīśa) Arjuna spread out (vikāśam īyuḥ). The arrows (mārgaṇāḥ), of the lord of the earth (jagatīśa), Lord Śiva, spread out (vikāśam īyuḥ). The Gaṇas (gaṇāḥ) who are the slayers of demons (jagatīśamār) rejoiced (vikāśam īyuḥ). The seekers (mārgaṇāḥ) of Lord Śiva (jagatīśa), i.e. the deities and sages, reached (īyuḥ) the sky (vikāśam) [to watch the battle].” Many of these meanings flow from Mallinatha. As a commentator, he wrote commentaries on Kalidasa, Bharavi and Magha (there were other commentaries too). I will return to the beauty of Chitrakavya in next week’s tidbit