Gita Govinda 1.8

1.8.1

atha katham api yāminīṃ vinīya smara-śara-jarjaritāpi sā prabhāte |
anunaya-vacanaṃ vadantam agre praṇatam api priyaṃ āha sābhyasūyam ||

Then, having somehow passed the night, though shattered by Smara's arrows,
at dawn, with indignation, she addressed her beloved,
who stood bowed before her, speaking words of conciliation:

For when the weary night had worn away
In these vain fears, and the clear morning broke,
Lo, Krishna! lo, the longed-for of her soul
Came too!--in the glad light he came, and bent
His knee, and clasped his hands; on his dumb lips
Fear, wonder, joy, passion, and reverence
Strove for the trembling words, and Radha knew
Peace won for him and her; yet none the less
A little time she eluded him, and sang:

1.8.1.p1

|| prabandhaḥ 17 ||

|| Lyric Composition 17

(What follows is to the Music BHAIRAVÎ and the Mode YATI)

1.8.1.p2

bhairavi-rāga-yati-tālābhyāṃ gīyate |

Sung in the melodic mode Bhairavī and the rhythmic meter Yati.

1.8.2

rajani-janita-guru-jāgara-rāga-kaṣāyitam alasa-nimeṣam |
vahati nayanam anurāgam iva sphuṭam udita-rasābhiniveśam ||

Reddened by the deep sleeplessness born of night, its blinking sluggish,
your eye bears, as it were, a manifest passion, its absorbed aesthetic flavor aroused.

Krishna!--then thou hast found me!--and thine eyes
Heavy and sad and stained, as if with weeping!
Ah! is it not that those, which were thy prize,
So radiant seemed that all night thou wert keeping
Vigils of tender wooing?--have thy Love!
Here is no place for vows broken in making;
Thou Lotus-eyed! thou soul for whom I strove!
Go! ere I listen, my just mind forsaking.

1.8.2.p1

hari hari yāhi mādhava yāhi keśava mā vada kaitava-vādam |
tām anusara sarasīruha-locana yā tava harati viṣādam || dhru. ||

Hari, Hari! Go, Mādhava! Go, Keśava! Speak no deceitful words! / Follow her, lotus-eyed one, who takes away your sorrow! // Refrain

1.8.3

kajjala-malina-vilocana-cumbana-viracita-nīlima-rūpam |
daśana-vasanam aruṇ aṃ tava krsṇa tanoti tanor anurūpam ||

Given a dark hue by kissing eyes stained with collyrium,
your red lip, Kṛṣṇa, makes itself look just like your body.

Krishna! my Krishna with the woodland-wreath!
Return, or I shall soften as I blame;
The while thy very lips are dark to the teeth
With dye that from her lids and lashes came,
Left on the mouth I touched. Fair traitor! go!
Say not they darkened, lacking food and sleep
Long waiting for my face; I turn it--so--
Go! ere I half believe thee, pleading deep;

1.8.4

vapur anuharati tava smara-saṅgara-khara-nakhara-kṣata-rekham |
marakata-śakala-kalita-kala-dhauta-liper iva rati-jaya-lekham ||

Your body bears scratches from sharp nails received in love's battle,
like a record of victory in amorous pleasure, written in gold upon a piece of emerald.

But wilt thou plead, when, like a love-verse printed
On the smooth polish of an emerald,
I see the marks she stamped, the kisses dinted
Large-lettered, by her lips? thy speech withheld
Speaks all too plainly; go,--abide thy choice!
If thou dost stay, I shall more greatly grieve thee;
Not records of her victory?--peace, dear voice!
Hence with that godlike brow, lest I believe thee.

1.8.5

caraṇa-kamala-galad-alaktaka-siktam idaṃ tava hṛdayam udāram |
darsayatīva bahir madana-druma-nava-kiśalaya-parivāram ||

Sprinkled with red lac dripping from lotus feet, this broad chest of yours
shows outwardly, as it were, a cluster of fresh sprouts from the tree of desire.

For dar'st thou feign the saffron on thy bosom
Was not implanted in disloyal embrace?
Or that this many-coloured love-tree blossom
Shone not, but yesternight, above her face?
Comest thou here, so late, to be forgiven,
O thou, in whose eyes Truth was made to live?
O thou, so worthy else of grace and heaven?
O thou, so nearly won? Ere I forgive,

1.8.6

daśana-padaṃ bhavad-adhara-gataṃ mama janayati cetasi khedam |
kathayati katham adhunāpi mayā saha tava vapur etad abhedam ||

The tooth-mark upon your lip produces grief in my heart;
how can it now say that your body is non-different from mine?

Go, Krishna! go!--lest I should think, unwise,
Thy heart not false, as thy long lingering seems,
Lest, seeing myself so imaged in thine eyes,
I shame the name of Pity--turn to dreams
The sacred sound of vows; make Virtue grudge
Her praise to Mercy, calling thy sin slight;
Go therefore, dear offender! go! thy Judge
Had best not see thee to give sentence right.

1.8.7

bahir iva malinataraṃ tava kṛṣṇa mano'pi bhaviṣyati nūnam |
katham atha vañcayase janam anugatam asama-śara-jvara-dūnam ||

Just like your exterior, Kṛṣṇa, your mind must surely be even darker;
why else do you deceive this woman who is devoted to you and tormented by the fever of the Odd-Arrowed One's shafts?

Go, Krishna! go!--lest I should think, unwise,
Thy heart not false, as thy long lingering seems,
Lest, seeing myself so imaged in thine eyes,
I shame the name of Pity--turn to dreams
The sacred sound of vows; make Virtue grudge
Her praise to Mercy, calling thy sin slight;
Go therefore, dear offender! go! thy Judge
Had best not see thee to give sentence right.

1.8.8

bhramati bhavān abalā-kavalāya vaneṣu kim atra vicitram |
prathayati pūtanikaiva vadhū-vadha-nirdaya-bāla-caritram ||

You wander in the forests to devour helpless women—what is strange in that?
Pūtanā alone made known your youthful deeds, merciless in slaying women.

1.8.9

śrī-jayadeva-bhaṇita-rati-vañcita-khaṇḍita-yuvati-vilāpam |
śṛṇuta sudhā-madhuraṃ vibudhā vibudhālayato'pi durāpam ||

Listen, wise gods, to the lament uttered by Śrī Jayadeva of the young woman deceived in love and wronged by infidelity,
sweet as nectar and hard to attain even in the realm of the gods.

1.8.10

tavedaṃ paśyantyāḥ prasarad-anurāgaṃ bahir iva priyā-pādālakta-cchuritam aruṇa-cchāya-hṛdayam |
NOTE: {dyoti-}
mamādya prakhyāta-praṇaya-bhara-bhaṅgena kitava tvad-ālokaḥ śokād api kim api lajjāṃ janayati ||

Looking at this chest of yours, its reddish glow smeared with the red lac of your beloved's feet,
as if your passion were spilling outside,
the sight of you, deceiver, today causes me, along with grief, a certain shame
because the heavy love once so renowned has been broken.

1.8.11

antar-mohana-mauli-ghūrṇana-calan-mandāra-visraṃśana-stambhākarṣaṇa-dṛṣṭi-harṣaṇa-mahā-mantraḥ kuraṅgī-dṛśām |
NOTE: {vibhraṃśana}
NOTE: {dṛpti}
dṛpyad-dānava-dūyamāna-diviṣad-durvāra-duḥkhāpadāṃ bhraṃśaḥ kaṃsa-ripor vyapohayatu vaḥ śreyāṃsi vaṃśī-ravaḥ ||

May the sound of Kaṃsa's enemy's flute take away your misfortunes and grant blessings—
that great mantra which enchants the hearts of fawn-eyed maidens, captivating their gaze and freezing them as it shakes loose mandāra flowers falling from their swaying crests,
and which destroys the unbearable distress and disasters of the gods tormented by arrogant demons!

1.8.11.p1

NOTE: {vyapolayatu vaḥ śreyāṃsi iti ni-pāṭhaḥ.}

NOTE: {The variant reading is vyapolayatu vaḥ śreyāṃsi.}

1.8.11.p2

iti śrī-śrī-gīta-govinde mahā-kāvye khaṇḍitā-varṇane
vilakṣa-lakṣmīpatir nāma
aṣṭamaḥ sargaḥ
||8||

Thus ends the eighth sarga,
entitled 'Lakṣmī's Lord Abashed',
in the great poem Śrī-Gītagovinda,
in the description of the wronged woman.
|| 8

1.8.11.p4

navamaḥ sargaḥ
mugdha-mukundaḥ

Ninth Sarga
Bewildered Mukunda