Kalidasa - Flights of Imagination

How does one express gratitude to an algorithm? :)

Social media in general, and YouTube particular, can lead you to some of amazing young talent. During the Covid years, there was this lady, Anuja K (Out of the Shruti Box), who demystified Indian classical music by relating it not only to popular Bollywood songs but also linked it to other systems of music in the world. There is also a new generation of historians like Anirudh Kanisetti (Thinking Medeival), who brings fresh perspectives to the way we examine our 'messy, bloody, colourful' past.

One aspect common to all these new content creators is that they understand not only the importance pitching to the right audience with appropriate tags and key-words, but also the need to keep their clips of just the right size - not too long, not too short.

This week the algorithm spirits led me to Navaneet Galagali who has a channel named "Rasaganga" for appreciating literature, poetry and music.  Perhaps it is my interest in Sanskrit that led YT to suggest Galagali's introduction to "Meghadootam", or the 'Cloud Messenger'. Written by Kalidasa, one of ancient India's greatest poets (5th century CE), Meghadoota, describes the plight of an exiled, lovelorn celestial (a Yaksha) who asks a passing cloud to carry a message to his beloved wife.

Sanskrit poetry can be dense and forbidding but Galagali introduces the Meghadoota beautifully in two short clips. Initially I was a bit skeptical when he started off with his Yankee accent but got hooked the moment he switched to reciting stanzas from "Purva Megha" (Eastern Cloud).

On the first day of Ashadha month,

he sees a cloud clinging to a mountain;

It appears as though an elephant

is head-butting the peak!

He welcomes the cloud with love and affection, imagines it be a sentient being, and requests the cloud to carry his message while remembering to take breaks along the way:

As you proceed, use the mountaintops,

as your resting spots;

And quench your thirst,

From the water in the streams;

For its a long way ti Alaka Nagari!

It is a long way for sure! - from hills and plains of central India, all the way across a specific Himalayan pass to the base of Mt. Kailasha where Alaka Nagari is situated.

Navaneet Galagali presents the poem so well that I found myself looking for specific stanzas in the original text. He has only skimmed over the first part of the 120 stanza poem and I look forward to the rest of his series on this, as well as his melodious recitations!

----------------------------------------------------

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ilgqmfO6Sy4?si=TGImXtbkvndbuHp1&amp;start=121" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Cloud's Itinerary :)

• Ramtek (Maharashtra)
• Amrakuta (Amarakantak
• Alaka (atop Mt. Kailasha)
• Vidisha (capital of Dasharana Desha)
• Neechairna Giri (Udayagiri caves)
• Avanti
• Ujjain 
• Shipra River
• Devagiri - temple of Skanda
• Charmanvari River (Chambal)
• Dashapura (Mandsaur)
• Brahmavarta (between Saraswati and Drishadvati rivers)
• Kurukshetra
• Kanakhala (near Haridwar)
• Gangotri
• Krauncha Pass / Hamsadwara (Niti Pass bordering Tibet - north of Nanda Devi National Park)
• Manasarovar Lake
• Alaka Nagari on 'the lap of Mt. Kailasa)

----------------------------------------------------

REFERENCES & LINKS

* Meghadoota by Kalidasa (5th Century CE) - https://avg-sanskrit.org/avgclasses/Books&PDFs/kavya/Meghaduta/Kalidasas%20Meghaduta%20Skt%20Eng%20-%20KB%20Pathak%201916.pdf

* Meghaduta by Kalidasa - Ashadha maasa (part 1) | Navaneet Galagali - https://youtu.be/ilgqmfO6Sy4?si=ndbQS-DJjidY6A9G

* The cloud's journey - Meghaduta by Kalidasa (part 2) - https://youtu.be/O9JxBm4C1CQ?si=Qh7unO8WeASz5M0P

* Exploring the Geographical Data of Meghadoota - https://ggw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/168/1/1112-GW%20%20WESTRA%20M.%20%20Ma-thesis.pdf

* Blogpost - Jaladhara - https://karpuramanjari.blogspot.com/2015/06/

Ramah, Ramou, Ramah!

Last week marked the political re-inauguration and 'consecration' of the Sri Rama temple at Ayodhya. 

While I am still trying to understand the complex ways in which this event was built ground-up from the community-level across most of north India - the house-to-house campaign with the "akshath", the all-day langar (community kitchen) that was set up across housing societies with live broadcast of the events taking place in Ayodhya that day, bright orange flags fluttering everywhere...it did bring back memories.

At school Sanskrit had been a compulsory subject for a few years. I hated it - especially because it brought down my (already pathetic) grades. We had to learn by rote a table with the various usages of the name, "Rama":

It was drilled into our heads so well that we could recite it anywhere, anytime! The only thing I never understood was why we were learning this. 

A few months ago, while trying to understand my mother's fascination for Sanskrit shlokas, as well as the ease with which she memorised poetry in complicated meters (eg., Shyamala Dandakam of Kalidasa), I stumbled on this YT series from the Chinmaya Foundation - Sanskrit for Shastra Study by Ved Chaitanya. 

This turned out to be fascinating. For the first time I began to understand why I had learnt Rama-Ramou-Ramah decades ago! 

I have not even reached half-way through this 53-session series but each session is nicely paced out. While in 7th grade perhaps my Sanskrit teacher did tell us that the Rama-series represents 'nominative cases for masculine nouns'. Even if she did I would not have understood. Thanks to this series and to CIF, a new, exciting world is opening up now!

------------------------------------------------

LINKS & REFERENCES

* Tricky Words (The Telegraph, 2024) - https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/tricky-words-changing-idioms-changing-meanings/cid/1997041

* Chinmaya International Foundation - CIF - https://www.chinfo.org/ 

The first session (1/53):

Sanskrit Poetry - Going by the Metre

What is the Sanskrit word for Python? - Ajagar

While the English word for the snake has its origins in the Greek word Puthōn, the name of a huge serpent killed by Apollo, the Sanskrit word, Ajagar is a combination of "Aja" (goat) and "Gara" (swallow). So any snake that can swallow a goat could be called a python. The word can also be used for a boa constrictor or an anaconda.

In Sanskrit, the verb is the most important thing and the noun, or proper-noun is secondary and is derived or surmised from the meaning of the word used in a specific context. So, depending on the context you can have at least 12 different options for the word, "Friend"!

To be sure, these are things many of us learnt in our school lessons. Unfortunately, during those years, learning Sanskrit was was anything but fascinating - memorising Shlokas and the meaning of words by rote, the terror of being told to read out a lesson loudly in class, and the pain of clearing tests and exams. It is only now that I turn to look at the language with a fresh pair of eyes - thanks largely to videos like this one where the eminent economist, Bibek Debroy describes his efforts at translating the unabridged versions of Sanskrit classics.

Bibek started learning Sanskrit in his 40s and then amazingly, went on to translate tome after tome of the 18 Mahapuranas, a body of work that has more than 400,000 shlokas in over 12 million words! I have less than a passing acquaintance with most of these Mahapuranas - Bhagavata-purana, Markendeya-purana, Bramha-purana, Vishnu-purana, Shiva-purana, Brahmanada-purana, Matsya-purana, and so on. Even the one I am familiar with - the Mahabharata - has 10 volumes, 100,000 shlokas in about 2.25 million words!

I also learnt from Bibek that rhyming in Sanskrit poetry is of very recent vintage -  from the 8th to 10th centuries through poets such as Jayadeva (eg., Dashavatara Stotram). Until then the emphasis was on the metres such as the Anushthup (4 verses of 8 syllables each). It seems word "Shloka" (verse) itself originates from its use by the poet Valmiki to describe "Shoka" (sorrow) at the sight of a mating crane getting killed by a hunter's arrow - 

Ramayana Verse 2.14

मा निषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वमगमः शाश्वतीः समाः । 

यत्क्रौंचमिथुनादेकमवधी काममोहितम् ।।

mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṃ tvamagamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ |

yat krauñcamithunādekamavadhīḥ kāmamohitam || 14 ||

(You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity

For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting)

Other commonly known shlokas using the Anushthup meter include -

The Ganesha Mantra

श्री वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा।

निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्व-कार्येशु सर्वदा॥

Shree Vakratunda Mahakaya Suryakoti Samaprabha।

Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva Sarva-Kaaryeshu Sarvada॥

Tantroktam Devi Suktam (15 shlokas following a common pattern - "Yaa devi sarva bhuteshu.."):

या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्ति-रूपेण संस्थिता।

नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥

One big surprise was that even a very recent 'patriotic' Bengali song is structured on the same Anushthup metre - 

ধনধান্য পুষ্প ভরা আমাদের এই বসুন্ধরা

তাহার মাঝে আছে দেশ এক সকল দেশের সেরা

Dhono dhanno pushpe bhora, amader ei boshundhora

Tahar majhe ache desh ek shokol desher shera

Thanks to Bibek Debroy, these familiar verses open the doors to world that I always thought to be intimidating, like trying to swim in the open oceans. I hope the kids who are now learning Sanskrit in the schools also realise that beyond those boring textbooks there are far better resources available for free the web!

-------------------------------------------------

REFERENCES & LINKS

https://youtu.be/98vH6xh7XnY

https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/?q=sakhi

https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-ramayana-sanskrit/d/doc705252.html

https://www.drikpanchang.com/vedic-mantra/gods/lord-ganesha/vakratunda-mahakaya-mantra.html

Tantroktam Devi Suktam - https://www.icanspirit.com/ya-devi-sarvabhuteshu-maa-durga-mantra/

Dhanno Dhanne Pushpo Dhora - https://www.gdn8.com/2017/12/dhana-dhanya-pushpa-bhara-lyrics.html

Detours from Madison County

Detours from a book by Robert James Waller - The Bridges of Madison County:

Poems & Songs

THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS

by: W.B. Yeats

WENT out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread; 

And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout. 

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air. 

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
...............................................................

  

Bob Dylan's song - "Girl from the North Country"
Song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWnT5-3SrsA
Lyrics - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/girlfromthenorthcountry.html

Hank Snow's Train Songs

Faron Young: The Shrine of St. Cecilia
Song- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PwqQfJIgo

Lyrics - http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/faron_young/the_shrine_of_st_cecelia.html

(Rachel Carson, John Muir, Aldo Leopold)

Places

Bellingham, Washington

Cascades - paper Mills of Kalispell, Montana - Indian Reservations in North Dakota -- Iron Mines of Hibbing (Bob Dylan-Zimmerman's hometown)
Duluth, Minnesota
Isle au Haut and Stonington...across the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia
Big Sur, south of San Francisco
Mississippi River towards Iowa
Iowa - Clayton, Des Moines, Madison County, Shenandoah, Roseman Bridge
Naples, River Po, Sicily
The Green Hills of Africa - a 1935 work of nonfiction written by Ernest Hemingway

'Words & Phrases'

• The  constant chirping of those who would save me and those who would sell me.
• Lying naked where the blue whales swim.
• She wished him steaming trains that left from winter stations.
• Before I became a man, I was an arrow - a long time ago
• Somali Current, Big Hatchet Mountains, Malacca Strait
• You are what you produce.
• Thomas Wolfe - "ghost of the old eagerness"
• "In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live."
• Robert Penn Warren - "a world that seemed to be God-abandoned"

-------------------------------------------------------

LINKS

The movie - Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep)