Aphoristic Poems
from the Śatakatraya
by Bhartṛihari
translated by Paul Elmer, Arthur Ryder & Vivekananda
(1)
Lightly an ignorant boor is made content.
And lightlier yet a sage ;
But minds by half-way knowledge warped and bent,
Not Brahma's self their fury may assuage.
[Translation: A Century of Indian Epigrams, by Paul Elmer More (XXX, p.52)]
(2)
A diamond you may draw
From an alligator's jaw;
You may cross the raging ocean like a pool;
A cobra you may wear
Like a blossom in your hair;
But you never can convince a stubborn fool.
[Translation: Women's Eyes, by Arthur Ryder]
(3)
An old man bald as a copper pot,
Because one noon his head grew hot.
Crawled to a spreading bilva-tree
To seek the shade. By Fate's decree
A fruit just then came tumbling down.
And cracked the old man's brittle crown
With loud explosion - which was worse.
Ill dogs us everywhere when Fate 's averse.
[Translation: A Century of Indian Epigrams, by Paul Elmer More (XLVIII p.71)]
(4)
Girls with the startled eyes of forest deer,
And fluttering hands that drip
With sandal-water; bathing-halls with clear
Deep pools to float and dip ;
The light moon blown across the shadowy hours,
Cool winds, and odorous flowers.
And the high terraced roof - all things enhance
In Summer love's sweet trance.
[Translation: A Century of Indian Epigrams, by Paul Elmer More (verse III, p.25)]
(5)
My love within a forest walked alone,
All in a moonlit dale ;
And here awhile she rested, weary grown.
And from her shoulders threw the wimpled veil
To court the little gale.
I peering through the thicket saw it all.
The yellow moonbeams fall,
I saw them mirrored from her bosom fly
Back to the moon on high.
[Translation: A Century of Indian Epigrams, by Paul Elmer More (X, p.33)]
(6)
This Winter gale will play the gallant lover,
And meeting careless girls
Will pluck their gowns, and with rude fingers hover
Among their tangled curls.
He'll kiss their eyelids too, their cheeks caress
Till they are all a-tremble ;
He'll tease their lips till murmurs soft confess
The love they would dissemble.
[Translation: A Century of Indian Epigrams, by Paul Elmer More (V, p.27)]
(7)
We become decrepit with age, but not so Desire.
Infirmity assails us, the skin wrinkles,
The hair whitens, the body becomes crooked,
Old age comes on.
Desire alone grows younger every day.
[Translation: Vivekananda]
(8)
Old age watches us, roaring like a tigress.
Disease, like enemies, is striking us often.
Life is flowing out like water from a broken jar.
Curious still how men do evil deeds in this world!
[Translation: Vivekananda]
(9)
This whole wide earth my bed,
My beautiful pillows my own two arms,
My wonderful canopy the blue sky,
And the cool evening air to fan me,
The moon and the stars my lamps,
And my beautiful wife, Renunciation, by my side,
What king is there who can sleep like me in pleasure?
[Translation: Vivekananda]
[Brahma on Cave 3 ceiling, Badami Hindu cave temple, Karnataka (6th c.)]
Bhartrihari (also romanised as Bhartṛhari, fl. c. 5th century CE) is an Indian poet known for his major work, the Śatakatraya, comprising three
collections of about 100 stanzas each. These are the Nītiśataka, containing aphoristic poems about correct moral conduct), the Śṛṅgāraśataka, containing love poems, and the Vairāgyaśataka with poems on denunciation and asceticism. In fact, there are more than 300 poems (about 700), so it seems that the collection has been added to after Bhartrihari's time. It is also possible that Bhartruhari (about whom we know nothing at all) was a legendary figure under whose name many anonymous poems in a similar style were gathered, like the Hanshan poems in ancient China.
Bhartrihari is also credited as the author of the Vākyapadīya, a Sanskrit grammar and text of linguistic philosophy, but again, we are not even certain that these two Bhartriharis were one and the same person.
Interestingly, in the 17th century Bhartrihari's aphoristic poetry came to Europe through Dutch missionaries - making the author the first Indian poet to become known in Europe via translation.
Translation:
I quote from the following three translations, all in the public domain:
- Paul Elmer More (1898), A century of Indian epigrams: chiefly from the Sanskrit of Bhartrihari, Houghton Mifflin.
- Arthur William Ryder (1910), Women's Eyes, A.M. Robertson.
- BHARTRIHARI'S VERSES ON RENUNCIATION, Swami Vivekananda's free translation of verses from Bhartrihari's Sanskrit poem Vairâgya Shatakam.
Other translations:
Barbara Stoler Miller (1967), Bhartrihari: Poems, Columbia University Press (UNESCO collection of representative works).
Poems from the Sanskrit, by John Brough (Penguin Classics, 1977)