MEGHADUTAM : PURVA MEGH- A SANSKRIT POEM

  

 

कश्चित् कान्ताविरहगुरुणा स्वाधिकारात्प्रमत्तः

      शापेनास्तङ्गमितमहिमा वर्षभोग्येण भर्तुः ।

यक्षश्चक्रे जनकतनयास्नानपुण्योदकेषु

      स्निग्धच्छायातरुषु वसतिं रामगिर्याश्रमेषु ॥ १॥

तस्मिन्नद्रौ कतिचिदबलाविप्रयुक्तः स कामी

      नीत्वा मासान् कनकवलयभ्रंशरिक्तप्रकोष्ठः ।

आषाढस्य प्रशथमदिवसे मेघमाश्लिष्टसानुं (प्रशम)

      वप्रक्रीडापरिणतगजप्रेक्षणीयं ददर्श ॥ २॥

तस्य स्थित्वा कथमपि पुरः कौतुकाधानहेतोः

      अन्तर्बाष्पश्चिरमनुचरो राजराजस्य दध्यौ ।

मेघालोके भवति सुखिनोऽप्यन्यथावृत्ति चेतः

      कण्ठाश्लेषप्रणयिनि जने किं पुनर्दूरसंस्थे ॥ ३॥

प्रत्यासन्ने नभसि दयिताजीवितालम्बनार्थी

      जीमूतेन स्वकुशलमयीं हारयिष्यन् प्रवृत्तिम् ।

स प्रत्यग्रैः कुटजकुसुमैः कल्पितार्घाय तस्मै

      प्रीतः प्रीतिप्रमुखवचनं स्वागतं व्याजहार ॥ ४॥

धूमज्योतिः सलिलमरुतां संनिपातः क्व मेघः

      संदेशार्थाः क्व पटुकरणैः प्राणिभिः प्रापणीयाः ।

इत्यौत्सुक्यादपरिगणयन् गुह्यकस्तं ययाचे

      कामार्ता हि प्रकृतिकृपणाश्चेतनाचेतनेषु ॥ ५॥

जातं वंशे भुवनविदिते पुष्करावर्तकानां

      जानामि त्वां प्रकृतिपुरुषं कामरूपं मघोनः ।

तेनार्थित्वं त्वयि विधिवशाद्दूरबन्धुर्गतोऽहं

      याच्ञा मोघा वरमधिगुणे नाधमे लब्धकामा ॥ ६॥

Yaksa or semi -god so called was so engrossed in his personal affairs as a matter of fact he was mad in love play with his spouse that he earned the displeasure of his master  Kuvera, the Hindu God of wealth.

According to some commentators, the Yaksha was entrusted with the care of Kuvera's  garden from where flowers for offering to Lord shiva were to be supplied. On a particular day the Yaksha was so engaged with his dear one that he forgot his duties. In his absence the garden was injured by the entrance of Airavata, the elephant of Indra,  the deity of the firmament. As a punishment for his offence, the Yaksa was condemned to a twelve month banishment and consequent separation from his home and wife.

 The seat of his exile is in the mountain Ramagiri . Upon the opening of the poem, the yaksa is supposed to have passed a period of eight months in solitary seclusion. The poem commences at the arrival of the rainy season when clouds are gathering in the south and proceeding in a northerly course.

For this purpose the poet describes the route that the cloud messenger is to pursue and this gives the poet an opportunity of alluding to the principal mountains, rivers villages that are to be met with on the road from Ramagiri to Ujjaini and thence nearly due north, to the Himalayas or the abode of snow; to the fabulous mountain Kailasha and there on Kuvers's city that are supposed to be in the central part of the snowy range. This part of the poem is ascribed as the first cloud (Purva Megh)

Unique in Sanskrit love poetry is Kalidasa's Megh Dut, in which the poet goes beyond the strophic unity of the short lyric which normally characterizes love poems by stringing stanzas into a narrative. It is considered as one of the most elegant love poems in World Literature.

(This blogpost is  a part of Blogchatter's Half-Marathon 2023)