Padukasahasra 14

I imagine, O sandal of the King of Raṅgam, / that this tinkling sound is a certain dust / born from mutual friction / between the ornaments and the Śrutis.

O gem-sandal of Murabhid, listening to the praise composed by me, / thou seemest, with thy charming sounds, / to disregard the charmless words of wicked men.

When salutations have been offered by the Vedas, / with the sound of the inner jewels produced by movement, / thou, O foot-covering of the enemy of Madhu, / sweetly tenderest a return-greeting.

“Does Raṅganātha delight more staying right here on me, or in the supreme abode?” / — Thus surely, O queen, gem-sandal, / thou askest us with sweet reverberations.

With the sound of thy inner gems displayed during the steps / of the Lord of Raṅgam entering the inner quarters, / thou, O sandal, seemest to converse in reply / to the charming tinkles of Kamalā's anklets.

Having attained the aim of human life, which is celebrated joy / in the form of the lotus foot of Murabhid, / thou seemest to sing with faultless sounds, O gem-sandal: / “I am the eater of food!”

Serving the lotus foot of the enemy of Madhu, / O gem-foot-protector, by thy charming tinkling / thou seemest thyself repeatedly to recite for creatures / the mantra for averting misfortune, revealed by no other.

The supreme abode of Murāri, which is taken by the Śrutis / as beyond pointing, as “not thus”, / thou surely declarest as “this is thus” / through thy charming resonances, O gem-foot-protector.

Placing thee, O gem-sandal of the Sovereign of Raṅgeśa, / in their heart restrained by deep meditation, / the sages, single-minded, contemplate / thy resonance as a representative of the sacred syllable Om.

When the stroll of Raṅgapati has begun, / thou, O gem-sandal, with charming sounds, / seemest sweetly to reassure / those who have approached with supplication for fearlessness.

Granting a feast to my ears with thy charming resonances, / O gem-foot-protector, at that time / mayest thou bring the Sovereign of Raṅgam, / who has given his hand to Ramā and Kṣamā.

The jingling sound of thee, O gem-sandal of the moon of Raṅgam, / ever follows the immortal digit [of the moon], / which the virtuous, tasting through the ears as through a mouth, / in an instant attain freedom from age and death.

By thy sounds, O gem-sandal of the enemy of Madhu and Kaiṭabha, / ward off the ear-sins of mine / [born] of the unending, harsh, worthless words of wicked men, / such as slander, betrayal, and boastfulness.

Thy sounds, O sandal, indeed indicate to the attendants from afar / the three or four paces / of the Glorious One as he leaves his serpent-bed in sport.

O queen, gem-sandal, when the Lord departs in haste to vanquish the demons, / thy cry becomes an omen / indicating a special, universal auspiciousness.

O queen, gem-sandal of Raṅgapati, / thou oughtest to grant then to the ear / of me, who am distressed, / thy tinkling, a sweet elixir for the tongue of the ear.

“I am above all deities; above me shines this Vāsudeva; / therefore nothing here is higher than him” / — thus thou seemest to say, O foot-protector, through thy resonances.

Walking slowly, as if instructed by the intoxication of the honey / of the garland-wreaths of the bowed chiefs of the gods, / clasping the feet of Śauri, / thou spreadest, through the friction of gems, the chatter of an uninhibited woman.

Having conducted his sports celebrated by the gods in the royal assemblies, / having stopped his attendants here and there as appropriate, / as he approaches his bedchamber in person, O sandal of charming sound, / Raṅganātha surely does not abandon thee until [he reaches] the couch.

When the friend of Raṅgam places his feet very gently, / I consider thy charming sound, arisen from the gems placed within, O sandal, / to be that former state of Parā speech proceeding from the realm of breath, / prior to the sequence of evolution into Paśyantī and the rest.

Having caused a vow to be made in the assembly of the renowned virtuous, / that I would describe thee whose glory is widely proclaimed, / having obtained from the Sovereign of Raṅgam a sequence of paces corresponding [to it], / thou merely countest out the verses begun, O sandal, by thine own sounds.

“The ultimate import of the words of the Vedas, achieved by unanimous agreement, / lies in this lotus foot of Viṣṇu through various manifold functions” / — having touched that very truth, O sandal, / thou certainly declarest it to people of unskilled intellect through thy charming tinkling.

When men, eager to praise the conqueror of Madhu with the Vedas, / which have no other object, / succumb to confusion in the midst [of it] out of devotion / and their words stumble in the principles of phonetics, / thou thyself seemest, O sandal, to instruct them step by step in the morae and the rest by thy charming sounds.

For the women of the royal capital whose minds are hurried by passion / to see that certain youthful Lord of Lakṣmī coming out into the street, / the charming sound of the bowstring of the god of the flower-bow / suffers a dismissal through thy sweet tinkling, O sandal.

When the Lord of Raṅgam is respectfully invited along with Kamalā / by sacrificers wishing to taste the divine essence of sacrificial oblations, / thou, O sandal, with thy tinkling sounds closer than the words of the Vedas, / ever hostile to sin, givest a conversational reply.

Having surely worshipped thee, O gem-sandal, / the royal swan for the lotus foot of Raṅgeśa, / the royal carrier-swans of the Lord of Creatures / obtained of old their charming voice.

For those who are asleep under the sway of the beginningless night of illusion, / I see you, O sandal, worthy of waking them, as the dawn benediction of eternal day.

"Let the Sovereign of Raṅgam hear the cry of distress rising up somewhere from the people"— / as if thinking this, O jeweled sandal, your tinkling is soft with slow movements.

O foot-protector, when Murāri rushes forward to calm my distress at the end, / may I, overcome by weariness, hear your cool tinklings running ahead [of him].

O footwear of Raṅgeśvara, drinking your sweet tinklings with their ears, / those who know the Self cook away completely all the inner impurities accumulated by ignorance.

When people look for protection from the Sovereign of Raṅgam, / I perceive you, O jeweled sandal of noble sound, uttering the syllable of consent: "Om".

O mother, cause of the unfettered stroll of Madhudviṣ! / O jeweled footwear, you seem to teach sweet sounds to the jeweled anklets of Padmā and Dharaṇī at his sides.

When the times of departure have arrived, having reached the place familiar to Garuḍa, / you, O jeweled sandal of King Raṅga, produce as it were an auspicious proclamation with the sounds of your inner gems.

"With your sweet sound, at the hour of death, you will make the proper response in our ears to the cry of distress"— / so thinking, O jeweled footwear, O goddess, the virtuous take up residence on the holy sands of the Marudvṛdhā.

Having forged friendship with the Lord on his embassy, in the crushing of Bali, in the breaking of the cart, / and during festival processions, you certainly proclaim his heroic deeds endowed with royal titles through your sweet sounds, O jeweled sandal.

Even though I have set out to praise you, who are praised by the Vedas, my senses are ceaselessly attached to sense-objects; / yet with the sounds of your inner gems, O sandal of Acyuta, possessing innate compassion, you awaken me at every moment.

O jeweled footwear of the Lord, the foe of the Dānavas, when sound is produced in the auspicious rite of departure, / I know you, consecrated to protecting the three worlds, to be yourself declaring: "Do not fear, O virtuous ones!"

O jeweled sandal, having reached the lotus foot of the Supreme Person in his playful, unfettered gait, / with sound produced at every step, you seem to whisper some hymn that puts the armies of enemies to flight.

When Raṅgeśvara rises in autumn from his serpent couch Śeṣa to protect the people who have sought refuge, / your sounds, pleasing to the ear, O jeweled footwear, come forth even before the blare of the departure conch.

O jeweled footwear, you are the constant protector of his two lotus feet, possessing the wealth of the sound of cattle-herds; / with his steps he, the beloved of the cowherd maidens, out of pure love never abandons you even when resting in Raṅgam.

O foot-protector, first raised in the auspicious rite of departure of the Lord who destroys the distress of the bowed, / your tinklings, it seems, at once begin of themselves the golden-trumpet and conch sounds suited to the occasion.

O foot-protector of Śauri, with the sounds of your gems echoing the host of Śruti texts, / you surely wish to give the key-note, as it were, to the Sāma-singers about to chant your unfailing greatness known through the Vedas.

O jeweled footwear, in the streets of King Raṅga, the sweet sound produced by your inner jewels / turns into an ear-enchanting incantation for the city beauties eager for a sight [of him].

When, at unexpected times, turning away the servants, the Lord of Raṅgam playfully enters the inner chambers, / you, by enchanting the fair-eyed women with your sweet sound, recite the secret Upaniṣad of love.

O foot-protector of the Sovereign of Raṅgam, we recognize your sweet sound, arisen during festival strolls, / as the enchanting song of a hunter meant to capture the deer of men's agitated senses.

Surely the daughter of the king of rivers, desiring to announce the arrival of her son-in-law to the daughter of the Sahya mountain, / filled you within, O jeweled sandal, with fragments of dowry gems charming with sweet resonance.

Always at the time of strolls, with sounds followed by the Vedas and born from the inner gems dancing with your strides, / you yourself seem to tell, O footwear of the crusher of Naraka, of the master who dwells at the end of sound.

O jeweled footwear, when the three strides of the Lord, the foe of the Dānavas, were common to both of you, / we perceive even today, under the guise of tinkling, an ongoing dispute concerning who was lesser and who was greater.

O foot-protector, when the Lord has offended in love, to appease the proud anger of his queens, / your inner jewels with their sounds seem to utter the elevated syllable of speech that offers refuge.

When the inner breaths are conquered, the wise, turning the activity of the mind inward, / savor with relish your sound, O jeweled footwear, at the moment of the cessation of sound.

O footwear of Acyuta, "Here surely is courtesy; in this one surely is nectar"— / the sound of the middle gems seems to rise as a debate between you two to praise each foot you respectively support.

O foot-protector, with inner jewels mimicking playful quarrels during your strolls, / you seem to proclaim to those seeking protection the natural, sovereign, and unrestrained tenderness of Raṅgeśvara toward all creatures.

For sages who daily practice the three-measure Omkara to attain the supreme Person resting in the city, / the tinkling of you, O foot-protector of the King of Śrīraṅga, is, I imagine, the sound of the special Udgītha chant.

Ever showing to those of collected mind that indescribable splendor reclining on the serpent lord above you, / and having reached the pericarp of the heart, you shine forth, O jeweled sandal, sweet-sounding like the supreme bee of speech.

O jeweled footwear of the foe of the Dānavas, when the Vedas, though taking refuge in you, are disregarded as authorities, / you seem to say with your sweet sounds: "Do not do so!", O mother, to restrain humans wishing to transgress their bounds.

When people lying in the outskirts of Raṅgam cry out in distress through timidity at the cessation of their senses, invisible [to others], / you, with unswerving compassion, sweet-sounding like a mother, O jeweled sandal, swiftly draw near.

O jeweled footwear, for the ornaments of the lotus feet of the consort of Padmā, which possess forms of shining gold, / you, whose sweet sound is mistaken for the jingling of anklets, are like a casket holding the words of the Upaniṣads.

Because the lotus feet of Raṅgeśa depend upon your movement, / your own majesty, imperceptible to certain others and unknowable by anyone else, / is hidden in the Vedas; yet by means of your ringing inner gems, / you make it known, as it were, to those very close to you.

When my senses have ceased their functions at the appointed hour, / and I lie motionless and exhausted, O footwear of Janārdana, / let your sounds, removing my afflictions, / run forward as messengers of news to comfort me, O Mother!

When the travels of the king of Raṅgam have arrived, / at the proper time to protect the three worlds, / a flawless and auspicious hymn, pleasing to the ear, / will be produced, O gem-footwear, by your charming sounds.

Made vocal by the loose stones in your interior through the speed of His stride, / you, O gem-sandal of the slayer of Madhu, / announce to those of concentrated minds, on the path of the gods, / the distinct drumbeat for auspicious departure.

When the Lord reclined upon His serpent couch, O gem-sandal, / you abandoned His foot, assumed a seal of silence, / and gave Him, as it were, the opportunity, O Mother, / to hear the Sāma-chant sung by the child resting in His lotus navel.

O queen, gem-footwear, having raised the consort of Padmā / onto the serpent couch for His enjoyment, / and having ceased your strolls, you keep silence, / as though pondering some great deed concerning the protection of the universe.

When that Supreme Person, charming in His eternal awakening, / has succumbed to slumber, you, whose nature it is to frolic only with Him, / cast off your charming sound, O gem-sandal, / and, staying near His feet, wish only to rest beside Him.

Abandoning the dance and resting quietly / along with the Lord of Raṅgam in the gemmed pavilions, / even when your charming sounds have ceased, / you, alas, make this entire universe eloquent by your silence!

As though astounded, O gem-footwear, / by such a great gift from the son of Virocana, / you, holding His foot, O queen, as if crying 'Enough with this much!', / seemed to turn back the Lord who was Trivikrama with your sounds.

The king of Raṅgam, sovereign [in His will] and a connoisseur, / silences the Sāma hymns and sweet songs during His playful strolls, / in order to listen to your charming tinklings, / pleasing to the ear, O golden foot-protector!

Virtuous persons place upon the touchstone of their minds / that Vedic gold of yours, whose high grade is revealed by its lovely luster / and which surpasses all [ordinary gold] in brilliance, / recognizing it by its charming sound, O footwear of Madhusūdana.

Surely, hearing this haphazard prattle of mine, / a foolish man who is praising you, / you utter charming sounds, O sandal of Mādhava, / in order to instruct me: 'Speak in this way!'

When I, wishing to praise your boundless ocean of glory, / hastily uttered at the outset the word 'thousand', / could it be that you, unable to tolerate this, / repeat it again, O gem-sandal of Madhujit, through your charming sound?

O sandal, when Raṅganātha, having placed His feet in you, wanders at ease / with only limited attendants, / Nārada, His eternal, solitary attendant, silences his vīṇā / in order to listen to your noble sounds.

While Raṅganātha strolls gracefully through the street, / and you ring with your inner jewels shaken by His pace, / the city women give a noble reply to you, O sandal, / with the lovely tinkling of their gem-bracelets.

Mounted upon you, whose sounds imitate the morning offering's hymns and recitations / and who are followed by the Vedas, / Raṅganātha enters the sacrifice enclosure of the twice-born, O foot-guard, / intending to taste the oblation worthy of no other god.

Truly showing to mortals that this lotus foot / of Raṅganātha is their eternal refuge, / the line of the Vedas merely repeats after your sound, O sandal, / which is delightful at every step and inherently sweet.

When Raṅganātha has left His serpent couch and set out, accompanied by you, / to remove the dread of His subjects, / your sound, arising first, O sandal, / echoes forth before the blast of Pāñcajanya and the sound of trumpets.

Your sounds, delightful at every step, O sandal, / add fragrance to that gathering of the Vedas— / that collection which you, having assumed the form of Nammāḻvār, beheld, / and which was delighted by the fragrance of Hari's lotus feet.

At the arrival of autumn, suitable for a triumphal campaign / by the slayer of Diti's son, / the royal swans, having abandoned their own dwellings, flock to the daughter of Sahya, / in order to learn your sound, noble and sweet to the ear, O sandal.

During the daily strolls of the Lord of Raṅgam, / draped in the upper garment of pure rays from His toenails, / you modulate your sound through your inner jewels, O sandal, / as if to train the royal swans of the pleasure-lake like disciples.

When the assembly has ended, O sandal, and the Lord of Raṅgam, / having dismissed His attendants, sets out for the inner apartments, / you surely utter the words of greeting appropriately / under the guise of the sweet sound arising from your multitude of gems.

The divine cowherd effortlessly brought under control / that thousand of cowherd girls restrained by their elders, / on the sands of the river Yamunā, / with such charming sounds of yours, O foot-guard, that followed the notes of His flute.

‘Just as Raṅganātha transforms me into one whose movement is boundless / through the placing of His own feet, so too does He transform His devotees’— / thus, at the time of His strolling, through your charming, varied tinklings, / you seem to instruct all creatures in what is good, O sandal.

Seeing at every step the various paths devised / by agitated creatures, saying, ‘This is it! This is it!’, / you, O foot-protector of Śauri, with your moving clusters of gems, / make the foremost royal highway to liberation resound during His strolls.

Showing the noble lotus foot of Murāri, / and uttering a low, sweet sound with your loose inner jewels, / you surely turn the minds of creatures, / agitated by thirst for dangerous sense-objects, toward Him, O sandal.

O footwear of the enemy of Madhu, when I of feeble intellect / praise you of boundless majesty by your grace, / you surely silence the arrogant speeches of various poets / with the charming sounds arising from your cluster of gems.

When someone has sought refuge in you, O footwear of the bowman, / which is accomplished by rule only once, but out of delusion wishes to repeat it, / you surely turn him back with affection by means of your tinklings / made manifest by the moving web of gems, saying, ‘Enough, enough!’

When the functions of my senses have failed, my limbs are trembling, / and out of bewilderment I lament helplessly, / behold, O foot-protector, carrying the foot of Śauri, come near, / driving away all my dread with your sounds!

At the moment when the senses depart, fearful of the roaring of death, / approaching with swift steps, his hands supported by his two consorts, / may Raṅganātha himself in my ear turn / into the sacred syllable Praṇava, O sandal, your sweet sound.

Bringing near that very moon of Raṅgam, / who bears the moonlight that is friend to the lotus cluster, / O sandal, dispel with your cooling jingling / my agonies that rise on the day of doom.

May your private wandering with Raṅganātha dispel our terror / at the time of the final breath; / for your sound, O sandal, constantly performs / the delightful role of proclaiming the protection of all the worlds.

When, at the thought of Yama standing with hand on hip, / and with the breath of life slipping away, the heart sinks into bewilderment, / may your jingling sound, O sandal, bring awakening, / ready, as it were, to hasten Mukunda who obeys your will.

Repeatedly drinking in the sound of your inner gems, sweet to the ear, / a support for consciousness and the introductory utterance of the Upaniṣads, / my poetic utterances, O foot-protector of the slayer of Madhu, / indeed burst forth, rich with the sweet taste of melted grapes.

May your diverse sportive strolls, captivating the minds of all people by their charms, / repeatedly penetrate my heart, O foot-protector of the Lord of Raṅga's soil— / channels flowing with streams of nectar under the guise / of the tinkling of gems tumbling within.

We shall resort solely to you, O foot-guard of the lover of Padmā, / who resound with jingling agreeable to the ear and worthy to abide in the ranks of the Śruti; / not to someone harsh with deep roars, puffed up with pride / over the moment he bestows a trifling particle of wealth fallen from his closed fist.

O foot-covering of the sovereign Lord of Śrī Raṅgam, / this ringing of yours occurs to dispel in humans the anxious grief born of sin; / through hearing which, as the body displays its true state, / the clangour of the bell of Yama’s buffalo will not fall upon our ears.

Terrified at first by the swift descent of the torrent of merit dripping from the sky, / the gods then recognized at once the eager exertion to crush Bali / through your faultless sounds, O foot-protector of the Lord of Śrī Raṅgam’s soil, / which announced the stride of his lotus foot.

Do you command the eight guardians of the directions to their respective posts? / Do you hold free conversations with the seated threefold Veda? / Or, having reached the lotus foot of Raṅgeśa worshiped by all worlds, / do you say to me with sweet sounds, O sandal: “Do not fear”?

O divine queen in Raṅgam, companion to the spontaneous play of the feet of him who holds the discus! / I will hear your blameless jingling sound that introduces his graceful steps of slight movement, / which irresistibly refutes the succession of shouts / raised by the host of Yama’s servants arrived at the final hour.

From tasting always the sweetness of sugar that is your jingling sound, / the ear of virtuous, learned men becomes intoxicated and almost stunned, O mother, sandal of Mādhava; / therefore, free from fear and embarrassment, I describe you here / with compositions whose knots of syllables fade away upon a single scrutiny of worth and worthlessness.

As the gems within you play through your movement, O mother, / with ineffably sweet jingling sounds, O sandal of the lover of Ramā, / singing praises of his feet and establishing your majestic power, / a hundred Śrutis, as it were, engage in a quarrel among kinsmen.

Surely with your sounds, O jeweled footwear, / you cast aside Raṅgeśvara’s delay in protecting those who take refuge, / when he waits to see if protection is desired.

Thus ends the fourteenth section, on Sound, in the Thousand Verses on the Sandals of Śrī Raṅganātha, composed by the Lion among poets and logicians, the master of all systems, the venerable Veṅkaṭanātha, the venerable teacher of Vedānta.

15. Section on Gems in General (50)