The Muse

There exists a universe where I'm known as Lima. You aren't allowed there.
There exists another universe in which Lima walks. You are already here.
You have entered because you can appreciate style while ignoring content. You had been warned.
P.S. Don't bash me up if you find haiku or plain prose here.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

वेदोक्त रात्रिसूक्तम् (Vedokta Rātrisūktam)

उत्पत्ति: ऋग्वेदसंहितायां दशमं मण्डलं, १२७ सप्तविंशत्युत्तरशततमं सूक्तम् ।
Source: Rigveda, Book 10, Sukta 127
Order: Phonetic devanagari verse, Literal translation preserving word order (L), Simple translation (S), Explanation (E)


1. रात्री॒ व्य॑ख्यदाय॒ती पु॑रु॒त्रा दे॒व्य१॒॑क्षभिः॑ । विश्वा॒ अधि॒ श्रियो᳚ऽधित ॥

L: The Goddess Night approaches, looking upon many places with her many eyes, bearing many fortunes.

S: The world has many aspects, and the Goddess Night sees them all with her many eyes as she approaches, bringing many kinds of providence.

E: The theme of the verse is plurality. The world has many places, which undergo many seasons, and in fact there is more than one world. She has many eyes (not just two) and she looks through all of them, at all aspects. She comes bearing many fortunes, both in the sense of wealth, and in the sense of luck.

2. ओर्व॑प्रा॒ अम॑र्त्या नि॒वतो॑ दे॒व्यु१॒॑द्वत॑: । ज्योति॑षा बाधते॒ तम॑: ॥

L: The immortal Goddess occupies all dimensions of space, both causing the darkness and countering it with light.

S: The Goddess spans all of time (is immortal), fills all of space and contains within her both darkness (absence of the sun) and the light that ends it (the moon and stars).

E: The theme here is that the Goddess is all-encompassing.

3. निरु॒ स्वसा॑रमस्कृतो॒षसं॑ दे॒व्या॑य॒ती । अपेदु॑ हासते॒ तम॑: ॥

L: The Goddess as she approaches brings her sister, the Goddess Dawn, after her, and thus ends the darkness.

S: The Goddess brings her sister, the Goddess Dawn, in tow, and thus darkness gives way to light.

E: The idea is that the Goddess does not come alone. She and her sister come in turns, bringing darkness and light.

4. सा नो॑ अ॒द्य यस्या॑ व॒यं नि ते॒ याम॒न्नवि॑क्ष्महि । वृ॒क्षे न व॑स॒तिं वय॑: ॥

L: May she favour us, at whose advent we settle down, just as birds do in their arboreal nests.

S: Her advent makes us settle down, just as birds do in their nests. May she always favour us.

E: This is where the prayer starts. We seek the blessings of the Night, who causes us to seek shelter and repose.

5. नि ग्रामा॑सो अविक्षत॒ नि प॒द्वन्तो॒ नि प॒क्षिण॑: । नि श्ये॒नास॑श्चिद॒र्थिन॑: ॥

L: The villagers (humans), those with legs (beasts), and those with wings (birds) all settle down, even the birds that seek prey.

S: Villagers, beasts and even birds pursuing prey settle down at her advent.

E: The emphasis is on the Night being a time where all activity stops

6. या॒वया॑ वृ॒क्यं१॒॑ वृकं॑ य॒वय॑ स्ते॒नमू॑र्म्ये । अथा॑ नः सु॒तरा॑ भव ॥

L: O Goddess Ūrmyā, keep away the she-wolf, the he-wolf and those who steal, and become easy to pass.

S: O Goddess Night, keep danger at bay - be they wolves or thieves, and be safe for us to pass.

E: While actual thieves and wolves are a material threat IRL (and are more likely to appear at night), in this verse they also represent other spiritual dangers. It is particularly curious that the female and male wolves are mentioned separately. But we don’t have enough context to determine the exact nature of the spiritual dangers being referred to. It is totally open to interpretation. For example, the Gitā Press translation interprets the wolves as desire, i.e. that which gives birth to sin (female wolf) and the sin itself (male wolf).

7. उप॑ मा॒ पेपि॑श॒त्तम॑: कृ॒ष्णं व्य॑क्तमस्थित । उष॑ ऋ॒णेव॑ यातय ॥

L: The blue-black darkness appears; O Goddess Dawn, clear it as if it were a debt.

S: O Goddess Dawn, clear the blue-black darkness, just as wealth clears debt.

E: A clear night sky can be ablaze with stars (especially in the pre-industrial era), but nights can be cloudy and/or moonless too. This verse appeals to the sister of the Goddess Night, to dispel the darkness that Night herself cannot dispel on her own.
The imagery in this verse is especially interesting. The first part of the verse specifically attributes a colour to the darkness. That means the darkness is not impenetrable, and it does reflect some light. So, all hope is not lost. 
The imagery of darkness being cleared as if it were debt ties back to the first verse in which the Goddess Night comes bearing fortunes.

8. उप॑ ते॒ गा इ॒वाक॑रं वृणी॒ष्व दु॑हितर्दिवः । रात्रि॒ स्तोमं॒ न जि॒ग्युषे॑ ॥

L: Accept these cattle-like hymns, O daughter of heaven, Goddess Night, just as victors accept their spoils

S: O Goddess Night, daughter of heaven, accept these hymns, which are like the cattle and homage offered to victors of raids.

E: Vedic India had pastoral tribes that raided each other for cattle, and these raids or battles were often the subject of songs and stories. Hence the comparison to cattle and homage.

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Indra and Hanuman

Invocation

 

Upon the waves of the milky ocean,

Using a coiled serpent as his bed,

Lies the shining deity Ranganatha

 

His lotus feet I always seek,

His praises I shall ever sing,

For wisdom lies therein.

 

Story

 

My dearest friend, sister mine,

You had always taken a shine,

To the bedtime stories I once told,

When you were not yet half as old

As you are today.

 

So I tell you another tale,

Of a hero you know and love,

Blessed with strength and fearlessness,

But was too young to know better

And abused it.

 

He liked fruits you see,

Because he was a monkey,

And in his childish fun,

Set his eyes upon the sun,

To eat it.

 

Monkey see and monkey do,

Doesn’t think things through,

Just to fulfil his desire,

Leaps high and flies higher

Into orbit.

 

Unlike another young man,

From another mythology,

Who flew wings held with wax,

Our monkey leapt into the sky,

And didn't die.

 

The sun looked at him and fled,

And to the other Gods he pled,

Save me from that crazy ape,

Who follows with mouth agape,

He'll kill me.

 

Then He who had a thousand eyes,

Firstborn of Aditi, ever wise,

Appeared at his brother's call,

And to stop the monkey small,

He punched him.

 

Mighty though he was, the ape,

Was no match for Indra the great,

And fell to the ground nearly dead,

But at his father Vayu's request,

Indra raised him.

 

Little monkey you are small but bold,

You will know better when you're old,

Until then your powers I keep,

Under lock and key, for you to use,

In emergency.

 

I resurrect you, said the King,

And heal your broken jaw,

Because in Sanskrit the same,

Is called a हनु (hanu), your name,

Shall be Hanuman.

 

Thus it happened when the time

To leap to Lanka came around

To rescue Sita and report to Ram

His awesome powers were unbound

The rest you know.

 

Benediction

 

Bonu, like your favourite God,

You have reached many heights,

The clan, the country and career,

All behold you with pride

And always will.

 

In telling you this ancient tale,

I hope to not only regale,

And pass the time, but also tell,

Know your powers and know also

Your limits.

 

Know your foes, choose your friends

For their bravery and good sense

So that they will not hesitate

To either praise you or punch you

To set you straight.

 

As in heaven the thunder wielder

As on earth the immortal ape

Guide their respective realms

So may my sister lead and protect

Her dependents.

Monday, July 4, 2022

मर्यादा

All is fair in love and war,

Quoth the party holding power,

And relentlessly pursued,

Both with equal attitude.


Did they think it would be kind,

That their lover would not mind,

Being treated just the same,

As some hapless hunting game?

 

And what of those who would fight,

For the causes that are right,

But severely lack the means,

To protect their hopes and dreams? 


So bear in mind before you raise

Your arms, or desire chase,

Let not your pleasure prevail,

Over the needs of the frail.


For as a better poet wrote,

It does transpire as in the quote,

That the strong who crush the weak

May not be shown the other cheek.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

오세호 (Oh Se-ho)

Oh you poor broken boy
Raised by a tyrant
In a gilded cage

Oh father of this hateful man
Who follows his hateful parent
In a misguided rampage

Alas, alas! O destroyer you
Betrayer of friends
And teacher's woe

May 복수's 복수*
Not fail to reclaim your soul
May he further your goal

Dedicated to the antagonist of the drama My Strange Hero (aka Bok-su is back, 복수가 돌아왔다)

*pronounced Bok-su, it is the protagonist's name, and means 'revenge' in Korean

Thursday, January 31, 2019

State of mind

Many screeds I read
Many creeds I repeat
Regardless of their merit I pay them heed
Ideas come and go in on a two-way street
My theories of everything will never be complete

In deep waters I hide
In deep waters I reside
The burden of this ocean I carry inside
Stirred by currents and eddies and the shifting tide
My mind is an arena where these thoughts collide

The tides of fiction, currents of affairs
With notions abstract
And pretensions of fact
They seek my attention, they give me nightmares
I cannot go without
They're all I think about

So I drown myself in vice
And my body pays the price
I can tolerate this pain
At least I'm not insane

(Sung to the tune of Gasoline, by Halsey)