[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [Poetry (mahākāvya, lyric, messenger poems, stotra, Prakrit kāvya)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya) › [Court epics (sargabandha)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya) › [Śiva, Pārvatī, Skanda and Devī epics](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva) › [The Birth of Kumāra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava) › 4.29 # The Birth of Kumāra 4.29 Kumārasaṃbhava 4.29 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [4.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.4.29) amunā nanu pārśvavartinā jagadājñāṃ sasurāsuraṃ tava | bisatantuguṇasya kāritaṃ dhanuṣaḥ pelavapuṣpapatriṇaḥ || > "Turn, gentle friend, thy weeping eyes, and see > That dear companion who was all to me— > His crumbling dust with which the breezes play. > Bearing it idly in their course away— > White as the silver feathers of a dove. > Is all that 's left me of my murdered love! > Now come, my Káma,—Spring, who was so dear, > Longs to behold thee—oh, appear, appear! > Fickle to women Love perchance may bend > His ear to listen to a faithful friend. > Remember, lie walked ever at thy side > O'er bloomy meadows in the warm spring-tide, > That Gods above, and men, and fiends below > Should own the empire of thy mighty bow. > That ruthless bow, which pierces to the heart, > Strung with a lotus-thread, a flower its dart. > As dies a torch when winds sweep roughly by, > So is my light for ever fled, and I, > The lamp his cheering rays no more illume, > Am wrapt in darkness, misery, and gloom. > Fate took my love, and spared the widow's breath. > Yet fate is guilty of a double death; > When the wild monster tramples on the ground > The tree some creeper garlands closely round, > Reft of the guardian which it thought so true, > Forlorn and withered, it must perish too. > Then come, dear friend, the true one's pile prepare, > And send me quickly to my husband there; > Call it not vain—the mourning Lotus dies > When the bright Moon, her lover, quits the skies; > When sinks the red cloud in the purple west, > Still clings his bride, the lightning, to his breast— > All nature keeps the eternal high decree. > Shall woman fail?—I come, my love, to thee! > Now on the pile my faint limbs will I throw. > Clasping his ashes—lovely even so,— > As if beneath my weary frame were spread > Soft leaves and blossoms for a flowery bed; > And oh, dear comrade (for in happier hours > Oft have I heaped a pleasant bed of flowers > For thee and him beneath the spreading tree) > Now quickly raise the pile for Love and me! > And in thy mercy gentle breezes send > To fan the flame that wafts away thy friend, > And shorten the sad moments that divide > Impatient Káma from his Reti's side; > Set water near us in a single urn, > We'll sip in heaven from the same in turn, > And to his spirit let thine offering be > Sprays fresh and lovely from the Mango tree, > Culled when the round young buds begin to swell, > For Káma loved those fragrant blossoms well." > — Ralph T. H. Griffith 1853, The Birth of the War-God (cantos 1–7) - [Previous: 4.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.4.28) - [Next: 4.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.4.30) - [Up: 4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.4) ## Translations (1) - [The Birth of the War-God (cantos 1–7)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava~en-griffith.4.p7) — Ralph T. H. Griffith 1853, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.4.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.4.29) · Pramāṇa