Arjuna and the Hunter 7

English (machine translation) 7

Language: English

7.1

Then, as the celestial women were guarded by the glorious counselors of the lord of the three worlds with chariots and elephants, / the swelling rumble of the mṛdaṅga drum, broken by the openings of massive celestial cars, proclaimed their departure.

7.2

Scattered after by the longing hosts of immortals, having marched out with blazing splendor from the city of Maghavan, / parasols held above the women under the sun achieved no useful purpose.

7.3

As their lotus eyes were clouded from fatigue and blown upon by the facing winds, / the flush on the cheeks produced by the glare of the hot-rayed sun brought to the women the charm born of intoxication.

7.4

With the horses pulling swift and far, held back with difficulty by divine power, / when the rotation of the fellys ceased, the course of the masses of chariots in the sky became like that of aerial cars.

7.5

Raising horripilation in the unguent of the breasts, appearing like pearls on faces from which the forehead marks had fallen, / the outbreak of sweat caused by exertion became an adornment for the lovely ones; even disarray adds to beauty.

7.6

Shining along the path of the winds with uniform appearance and swift motion like flashes of meteors, / the rays of the banners and goads, golden like lines on a touchstone, seemed to impart extraordinary length [to the path].

7.7

When the bodies of the women, surpassing garlands in delicacy, were found capable of enduring the heat, / the Gandharvas, struck with wonder, perceived the auspicious diversity in the Creator’s creations.

7.8

Beautified with red lead, girdled with gold, shedding rut in streams, / the divine elephants attained resemblance to rain-clouds parted by the glow of the sun's morning light and flashing with lightning while raining down.

7.9

Advancing far from the periphery of the sun's orb that was exceedingly hard to approach, / the armies reached the river of the gods, whose waves were delightful, appearing as a single braid of hair woven for the quarters.

7.10

Shaking the lotuses surrounded by swarms of intoxicated bees, raising dense clouds of pollen, / the wind, cooled by the waves of the river of the sky, dispelled the heat of the lovely women.

7.11

Reaching the shores following the rows of celestial cars, [the soldiers] made the waters of the heavenly river, / disturbed by the plunge of elephants and horses, break and swirl against the edges of the banks as never before.

7.12

For the chariots traversing the path beyond the course of planets,
whose axle-tips grazed the balconies of the gods' dwellings,
the turning of their felly-rims was caught without hindrance
upon the clouds whose waters churned under their pressure.

7.13

Shattered by the tusks of the heated celestial elephants,
the clouds shed moisture and brought refreshing relief;
indeed, for great beings intent on benefiting others,
even when hurt, their conduct brings welfare.

7.14

As the wind repeatedly blew and turned aside
the fine garments upon the hips of the celestial women,
the spreading mass of rays from their broad jewelled girdles
became, as it were, a clinging undergarment for their thighs.

7.15

Though making the tilaka-marks moist again with showers of dew,
the clouds, giving refreshing delight and quenching fatigue,
won the high regard of the lovely women:
a slight flaw does not spoil a great benefit.

7.16

When the mass of clouds, resembling sands woven by waves,
became waterless and broke apart,
the radiances of the jewels adorning the bodies of the gods' brides
extended and joined together, forming a rainbow.

7.17

While thus engaged in conversation touching on their purpose,
passing across the path of the flying fowl to reach their goal,
the army of the Thousand-Eyed God arrived at Indrakīla,
its slopes enveloped in clouds.

7.18

Strewn with the lotus-faces of the graceful women,
with pure white parasols raised like bright froth,
that army, descending with the deep rumble of musical instruments,
shone upon the head of the mountain like the river of heaven.

7.19

While the canopy of clouds formed a bridge,
the horses, rushing swiftly from excitement,
were brought to ground with difficulty, their noses bent
as their reins were pulled tight and their chariots halted.

7.20

The noble cow-elephants around Indra's mountain,
descending from heaven with clouds resting on their flanks,
resembled the lords of mountains resting in the ocean,
whose wings were made motionless in their resting place.

7.21

Upon the uneven slopes of the great mountain, all at once,
the tracks of horses' hooves, galloping with the lightness of sky-flight,
acquired an unbroken regularity
from the summit down to the river-sands.

7.22

Resounding upon the plateaus with murmuring echoes
mingled with the roar of falling torrents,
the rumble of the chariots was eagerly heard by the peacocks,
necks arched in mistaking it for thunder.

7.23

Intermingled with the thick-falling rays
of the blue sapphires clinging close to their girdles,
the women beheld the mountain's cascading streams
as if torn into fragments across the mid-sky.

7.24

Angered by the scent of rut from nearby elephants,
flouting the control of their drivers,
yet charmed craftily by their own mates,
the divine bull-elephants set out with reluctant paces.

7.25

Dispersing the dense dust on the road stirred by chariot wheels,
bearing the tawny hues of newly fallen waters,
that army spread through the forest thickets
like Jahnu's daughter whose waters are roiled at summer's end.

7.26

Then, alongside the Gaṅgā, the companions of Vṛtra's foe
occupied the earth: its thickets fit for dalliance,
its sands bearing glittering jewels, strewn with fallen blossoms,
and thick with lush green lawns.

7.27

The encampment of the army of Indra's friend
imparted still greater splendor to the ground of that mountain;
what is unattainable when high fortunes meet?
Union, even by chance, leads to exalted height.

7.28

The secluded, fragrant glories of flowering trees
and the richness of creeping vines resplendent with sprouts
attained fulfillment when enjoyed by the wives of the immortals:
that is true fortune by which one benefits others.

7.29

Though weary, the celestial women shrank from contact
with the sandalwood trees before them,
whose shoots trembled with the breath of hidden snakes,
shunned like worthy men beset by the insolent.

7.30

With flags, saddle-cloths, and armor removed,
brought to the ground by skilled drivers to dispel fatigue,
the elephants shone like mountains overturned at the end of an aeon,
their forest thickets tossed down by the cosmic winds.

7.31

Forsaking sleep brought on by the fatigue of travel,
when the lord elephant smeared himself in muddy temporal rut,
a swarm of bees clinging for a moment to the edge of his bed
shone like a broken chain that had fallen in fury.

7.32

Wearied, his path blocked by the celestial river's current,
an elephant, eager to reach the bank scented with the wild elephants' rut,
shook his head against the sharp goad pressed upon it
and paid no heed to his mahout.

7.33

As a cow-elephant raised the remaining water with her trunk
after drinking, spraying it with trepidation upon her rider bowed low,
she washed her temples streaming with red rut,
and the spray seemed to flow like rutting juice itself.

7.34

Sniffing it for an instant, an elephant, though intensely thirsty,
rose angrily to the bank, casting sidelong glances,
and would not drink the cold water
because it was mixed with the rut of wild bulls.

7.35

Sporting and making the river's waters fragrant
with dripping ichor, the lord elephants emerged,
their cheeks lotus-scented, lined with copper-colored rut
veiled with pollen.

7.36

Overspread with the army's dust, thick and reddish,
rippled on the banks by their sudden plunges,
tawny with the lotus pollen churned up by the elephants,
the water shone like a red-madder robe.

7.37

Noble, holding back their thick necks,
lingering in the aloe groves with dancing movements,
the great elephants, with streams of rut pouring forth,
assumed the beauty of moving crags with flowing torrents.

7.38

Completely laying the dust by streams of rut
which the elephants poured forth unceasingly,
the wind carried a fragrance surpassing abundant blossom-scents,
perfumed like cracked cardamom.

7.39

Resembling the deep rumble of rain clouds,
heard by startled lion kings awakened from slumber,
the trumpeting of the immortals' great elephants
alarmed the cakora birds and the peacocks in the marshlands.

7.40

With handsome garments hung upon their dripping branches,
resorted to by women exhausted by travel,
and adorned by the divisions of the encampment,
the forest trees assumed the splendor of city gardens.

Commentaries (1)

Ghaṇṭāpatha — Mallinātha Sūri, Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Kirātārjunīya — Bhāravi, Sanskrit