Gita Govinda 1.4

1.4.1

yamunā-tīra-vānīra-nikuñje mandaṃ āsthitaṃ |
prāha prema-bharodbhrāntaṃ mādhavaṃ rādhikā-sakhī ||

To Mādhava, who lingered quietly in a cane arbor on the bank of the Yamunā, bewildered by the weight of love, Rādhā's confidante spoke:

Then she whom Radha sent came to the canes--
The canes beside the river where he lay
With listless limbs and spirit weak from love;--
And she sang this to Krishna wistfully:

1.4.1.p1

|| prabandhaḥ 8 ||

|| Lyric Composition 8

(What follows is to the Music KARNÂTA and the Mode EKATÂLÎ.)

1.4.1.p2

karṇāṭa-rāgaika-tālī-tālābhyāṃ gīyate |

Sung in Karṇāṭa melodic mode and Ekatālī rhythmic meter.

1.4.2

nindati candanam indu-kiraṇam anu vindati khedam adhīram |
vyāla-nilaya-milanena garalam iva kalayati malaya-samīram ||

She reviles sandalwood paste, and upon the moonbeams finds anxious distress; / through contact with the home of serpents, she reckons the breeze from the Malaya mountains to be like poison.

Art thou sick for Radha? she is sad in turn,
Heaven foregoes its blessings, if it holds not thee,
All the cooling fragrance of sandal she doth spurn,
Moonlight makes her mournful with radiance silvery;
Even the southern breeze blown fresh from pearly seas,
Seems to her but tainted by a dolorous brine;
And for thy sake discontented, with a great love overladen,
Her soul comes here beside thee, and sitteth down with thine.

1.4.2.p1

mādhava manasija-viśikha-bhayād iva bhāvanayā tvayi līnā |
sā virahe tava dīnā || dhruva-padam ||

O Mādhava, as if from fear of the arrows of mind-born love, she has dissolved in thought of you; / she is wretched in separation from you. || Refrain

1.4.3

avirala-nipatita-madana-śarād iva bhavad-avanāya vīśālam |
sva-hṛdaya-marmaṇi varma karoti sajala-nalinī-dala-jālam ||

As if to protect you from the incessantly falling arrows of Madana, / she makes a broad armor upon her heart's vital core with a screen of wet lotus leaves.

Her soul comes here beside thee, and tenderly and true
It weaves a subtle mail of proof to ward off sin and pain;
A breastplate soft as lotus-leaf, with holy tears for dew,
To guard thee from the things that hurt; and then 'tis gone again
To strew a blissful place with the richest buds that grace
Kama's sweet world, a meeting-spot with rose and jasmine fair,
For the hour when, well-contented, with a love no longer troubled,
Thou shalt find the way to Radha, and finish sorrows there.

1.4.4

kusuma-viśikha-śara-talpam analpa-vilāsa-kalā-kamaṇīyam |
vratam iva tava parirambha-sukhāya karoti kusuma-śayanīyam ||

Her bed of flower-arrows, lovely with the abundant arts of erotic dalliance, / she makes into a flower bed as though practicing an ascetic vow for the bliss of your embrace.

Her soul comes here beside thee, and tenderly and true
It weaves a subtle mail of proof to ward off sin and pain;
A breastplate soft as lotus-leaf, with holy tears for dew,
To guard thee from the things that hurt; and then 'tis gone again
To strew a blissful place with the richest buds that grace
Kama's sweet world, a meeting-spot with rose and jasmine fair,
For the hour when, well-contented, with a love no longer troubled,
Thou shalt find the way to Radha, and finish sorrows there.

1.4.5

vahati ca calita-vilocana-jaladhāram ānana-kamalam udāram |
vidhum iva vikaṭa-vidhuntuda-danta-dalana-galitāmṛta-dhāram ||

And her noble lotus face bears streams of water from her trembling eyes, / like the moon bearing streams of nectar dripping from the tearing teeth of fierce Rāhu.

But now her lovely face is shadowed by her fears;
Her glorious eyes are veiled and dim like moonlight in eclipse
By breaking rain-clouds, Krishna! yet she paints you in her tears
With tender thoughts--not Krishna, but brow and breast and lips
And form and mien a King, a great and godlike thing;
And then with bended head she asks grace from the Love Divine,
To keep thee discontented with the phantoms thou forswearest,
Till she may win her glory, and thou be raised to thine.

1.4.6

vilikhati rahasi kuraṅga-madena bhavantam asama-śara-bhūtam |
praṇamati makaram adho vinidhāya kare ca śaraṃ nava-cūtam ||

In secret, with musk, she paints you in the form of the Bodiless One with his uneven arrows; / placing a sea-monster beneath you and a fresh mango sprout as an arrow in your hand, she bows down.

But now her lovely face is shadowed by her fears;
Her glorious eyes are veiled and dim like moonlight in eclipse
By breaking rain-clouds, Krishna! yet she paints you in her tears
With tender thoughts--not Krishna, but brow and breast and lips
And form and mien a King, a great and godlike thing;
And then with bended head she asks grace from the Love Divine,
To keep thee discontented with the phantoms thou forswearest,
Till she may win her glory, and thou be raised to thine.

1.4.7

dhyāna-layena puraḥ parikalpya bhavantam atīva durāpam |
vilapati hasati viṣīdati roditi cañcati muñcati tāpam ||

Having conjured you before her through absorption in meditation, though exceedingly hard to attain, / she laments, she laughs, she desponds, she weeps, she trembles, she casts off torment.

Softly now she sayeth,
"Krishna, Krishna, come!"
Lovingly she prayeth,
"Fair moon, light him home."
Yet if Hari helps not,
Moonlight cannot aid;
Ah! the woeful Radha!
Ah! the forest shade!

1.4.8

prati-padam idam api nigadati mādhava tava caraṇe patitāham |
tvayi vimukhe mayi sapadi sudhā-nidhir api tanute tanu-dāham ||

At every step she declares this too: “O Mādhava, I have fallen at your feet; / when you are turned away from me, instantly even the storehouse of nectar creates a burning of my body.”

Ah! if Hari guide not,
Moonlight is as gloom;
Ah! if moonlight help not,
How shall Krishna come?
Sad for Krishna grieving
In the darkened grove;
Sad for Radha weaving
Dreams of fruitless love!

1.4.9

śrī-jayadeva-bhaṇitam idam adhikaṃ yadi manasā naṭaṇīyam |
hari-virahākula-ballava-yuvati-sakhī-vacanaṃ paṭhanīyam ||

If this utterance of Śrī Jayadeva is to be performed intensely by the mind, / the speech of the cowherd maiden’s confidante, agitated by separation from Hari, should be recited.

Strike soft strings to this soft measure,
If thine ear would catch its treasure;
Slowly dance to this deep song,
Let its meaning float along
With grave paces, since it tells
Of a love that sweetly dwells
In a tender distant glory,
Past all faults of mortal story.

1.4.10

āvāso vipināyate priya-sakhī-mālāpi jālāyate tāpo'pi śvasitena dāva-dahana-jvāla-kalāpāyate |
sāpi tvad-viraheṇa hanta hariṇī-rūpāyate hā kathaṃ kandarpo'pi yamāyate viracayan śārdūla-vikrīḍitam ||

Her dwelling behaves like a wilderness, even the circle of dear companions behaves like a snare, / and the heat [of passion], through her sighing, behaves like the mass of flames of a forest fire; / alas, through separation from you, she too behaves like a doe. Ah, why does even Kandarpa behave like Yama, playing the sport of a tiger?

Strike soft strings to this soft measure,
If thine ear would catch its treasure;
Slowly dance to this deep song,
Let its meaning float along
With grave paces, since it tells
Of a love that sweetly dwells
In a tender distant glory,
Past all faults of mortal story.

1.4.10.p1

|| prabandhaḥ 9 ||

|| Lyric Composition 9

Strike soft strings to this soft measure,
If thine ear would catch its treasure;
Slowly dance to this deep song,
Let its meaning float along
With grave paces, since it tells
Of a love that sweetly dwells
In a tender distant glory,
Past all faults of mortal story.

1.4.10.p2

deśākhya-rāgaika-tālī-tālābhyāṃ gīyate |

Sung in Deśākhya melodic mode and Ekatālī rhythmic meter.

Strike soft strings to this soft measure,
If thine ear would catch its treasure;
Slowly dance to this deep song,
Let its meaning float along
With grave paces, since it tells
Of a love that sweetly dwells
In a tender distant glory,
Past all faults of mortal story.

1.4.11

stana-vinihitam api hāram udāram |
sa manute kṛśā-tanur iva bhāram ||

Even the magnificent necklace placed upon her breasts, / she, with her wasted body, deems to be a burden.

1.4.11.p1

rādhikā tava virahe keśava || dhruvam ||

O Keśava, Rādhikā [suffers] in separation from you! || Refrain

1.4.12

sa-rasa-masṛṇam api malayaja-paṅkam |
paśyati viṣam iva vapuṣi sa-śaṅkam ||

Even the wet and smooth sandalwood paste upon her body / she regards with apprehension, as though it were poison.

1.4.13

śvasita-pavanam anupama-pariṇāham |
madana-dahanam iva vahati sa-dāham ||

The breath of her sigh, matchless in extent, / she bears, full of burning, like the fire of Madana.

1.4.14

diśi diśi kirati sajala-kaṇa-jālam |
nayana-nalinam iva vigalita-nālam ||

In every direction she scatters a shower of tear-drops, / as if casting out eye-lotuses with severed stalks.

1.4.15

tyajati na pāṇi-talena kapolam |
bāla-śaśinam iva sāyam alolam ||

She does not remove her cheek from the palm of her hand, / like the young crescent moon resting motionless at dusk.

1.4.16

nayana-viṣayam api kiśalaya-talpaṃ |
kalayati vihita-hutāśa-vikalpam ||

A bed of sprouts, though falling within the range of her eyes, / she considers equivalent to a blazing fire.

1.4.17

harir iti harir iti japati sa-kāmam |
viraha-vihita-maraṇeva nikāmaṃ ||

“Hari! Hari!” she mutters passionately, / as if utterly brought to death by separation.

1.4.18

śrī-jayadeva-bhaṇitam iti gītam |
sukhayatu keśava-padam upanītam ||

May this song uttered by Śrī Jayadeva, / offered at the feet of Keśava, bestow delight.

1.4.19

sā romāñcati śītkaroti vilapaty utkampate tāmyati dhyāyaty udbhramati pramīlati pataty udyāti mūrcchaty api |
etāvaty atanu-jvare vara-tanur jīven na kiṃ te rasāt svar-vaidya-pratima prasīdasi yadi tyakto'nyathā hastakaḥ ||

Her hair bristles, she makes whistling cries of pain, she laments, she trembles violently, she languishes, / she meditates, she wanders in confusion, she closes her eyes, she collapses, she rises up, and she even swoons. / In such intense fever of love, would that slender-bodied woman not live through your passion, / O you who resemble the physician of the gods, if you show grace? Otherwise, her hand has been abandoned [as dead]!

1.4.20

smarāturaṃ daivata-vaidya-hṛdya tvad-aṅga-saṅgāmṛta-mātra-sādhyam |
nivṛtta-bādhāṃ kuruṣe na rādhām upendra-vajrād api dāruṇo'si ||

O you who are dear as the heavenly physician, if you do not free from affliction / Rādhā, sick with love and curable only by the nectar of contact with your limbs, / you are harsher even than the thunderbolt of Indra.

1.4.21

kandarpa-jvara-saṃjvarātura-tanor aścaryam asyāś ciraṃ cetaś candana-candramaḥ-kamalinī-cintāsu santāmyati |
kintu klānti-vaśena śītala-tanuṃ tvām ekam eva priyaṃ dhyāyantī rahasi sthitā katham api kṣīṇā kṣaṇaṃ prāṇiti ||

It is a wonder that, though her body is tormented by the burning fever of Kandarpa, / her heart languishes constantly in thoughts of sandalwood, the moon, and lotus ponds; / yet, overwhelmed by exhaustion, meditating in secret solely upon you, her cooling-bodied beloved, / the wasted maiden somehow breathes for a moment.

1.4.22

kṣaṇam api virahaḥ purā na sehe nayana-nimīlana-khinnayā yayā te |
śvasiti katham asau rasāla-śākhāṃ cira-viraheṇa vilokya puṣpitāgram ||

Formerly, distressed even by the closing of her eyes, she could not bear separation from you for even a moment; / how then can she breathe in prolonged separation, beholding the mango branch with flowering tips?

1.4.23

vṛṣṭi-vyākula-gokula-vana-rasād uddhṛtya govardhanaṃ bibhrad ballava-vallabhābhir adhikānandāc ciraṃ cumbitaḥ |
darpeṇeva tad-arpitādhara-taṭī-sindūra-mudrāṅkito bāhur gopa-tanos tanotu bhavatāṃ śreyāṃsi kaṃsa-dviṣaḥ ||

Lifting Govardhana out of passionate love for the forest of Gokula agitated by torrential rain, / kissed lingeringly out of boundless delight by the lovers of the cowherds, / and marked, as if with pride, by the red vermilion seals of their lower lips impressed upon it, / may the arm of the enemy of Kaṃsa in his cowherd form bestow welfare upon you!

1.4.23.p1

iti śrī-gīta-govinde snigdha-madhusūdano nāma
caturthaḥ sargaḥ
||4||

Thus ends the fourth sarga, entitled “Affectionate Madhusūdana,” in the glorious Gītagovinda. ||4

1.4.23.p2

(5)
pañcamaḥ sargaḥ
sākāṅkṣa-puṇḍarīkākṣaḥ

(5)
Fifth Sarga
Longing Lotus-Eyed One