[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) › 5.18 # The Birth of Kumāra 5.18 Kumārasaṃbhava 5.18 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [5.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.5.18) yadā phalaṃ pūrvatapaḥsamādhinā na tāvatā labhyamamaṃsta kāṅkṣitam | tadānapekṣya svaśarīramārdavaṃ tapo mahatsā carituṃ pracakrame || > But far too mild her Penance, Uma thought, > To win from Heaven the lordly meed she sought; > She would not spare her form, so fair and frail, > If mightier Penance could perchance prevail. > Oft had sweet pastime wearied her, and yet > Fain would she match in toil the anchoret; > Sure the soft Lotus at her birth had lent > Dear Uma's form its gentle element; > But gold, commingled with her being, gave > That will so strong, so beautifully brave! > Full in the centre of four blazing piles > Sate the fair Lady of the winning smiles, > While on her head the mighty God of Day > Shot all the fury of his summer ray; > Yet her fixt gaze she turned upon the skies, > And quenched his splendour with her brighter eyes. > To that sweet face, though scorched by rays from heaven, > Still was the beauty of the Lotus given, > Yet, worn by watching, round those orbs of light > A blackness gathered like the shades of night. > She cooled her dry lips in the laibbling stream, > And lived on Amrit from the pale moon-beam, > Sometimes in hunger culling from the tree > The rich ripe fruit that hung so temptingly. > Scorched by the fury of the noon-tide rays. > And fires that round her burned with ceaseless blaze, > Summer passed o'er her—rains of Autumn came > And throughly drenched the Lady's tender frame, > So steams the earth, when mighty torrents pour > On thirsty fields all dry and parched before. > The first clear rain-drops falling on her brow, > Gem it one moment with their light, and now > Kissing her sweet lip find a welcome rest > In the deep valley of the Lady's breast; > Then wander broken by the fall within > The mazy channels of her dimpled skin. > There as she lay upon her rocky bed. > No sumptuous roof above her gentle head. > Dark Night, her only witness, turned her eyes, > Red lightnings flashing from the angry skies, > And gazed upon her voluntary pain, > In wind, in sleet, in thunder, and in rain. > Still lay the Maiden on the cold damp ground. > Though blasts of winter hurled their snows around, > Still pitying in her heart the mournful fate > Of those poor birds, so fond, so desolate,— > Doomed, hapless pair, to list each other's moan > Through the long hours of night, sad and alone! > Chilled by the rain, the tender Lotus sank,— > She filled its place upon the streamlet's bank; > Sweet was her breath as when that lovely flower > Sheds its best odour in still evening's hour; > Red as its leaves her lips of coral hue, > Red as those qnivering leaves they quivered too. > — Ralph T. H. Griffith 1853, The Birth of the War-God (cantos 1–7) - [Previous: 5.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.5.17) - [Next: 5.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.5.19) - [Up: 5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.5) ## Translations (1) - [The Birth of the War-God (cantos 1–7)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava~en-griffith.5.p5) — Ralph T. H. Griffith 1853, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.5.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.saiva.kumarasambhava.5.18) · Pramāṇa