Shringara-manjari Katha (translation and notes)
by Kumari Kalpalata K. Munshi | 1959 | 99,373 words
An English translation of the Shringara-manjari Katha by Bhojadeva. This detailed study includes four sections. The Introduction outlines the manuscript's unique features and provides a content analysis. The second section contains the Sanskrit text complemented by an index of proper names. The third section offers an English translation excluding ...
Section 3 - Description of Bhoja, the ruler of Dhara
In that city lives MAHARAJADHIRAJA PARAMESVARA SRI BHOJADEVA, the king of kings, capable of carrying the burden of the world; his footstool is reddened by the mass of rays of the rubies in the rows of crowns of all the bowing kings; the growth of whose creeper in the form of fame is constantly nourished by the sprinkling of water in the form of tears from the eyes of the women of the haughty enemies who are uprooted by his arms; (8) Who is everyday tortured by women... having written with sandal-paste as thick as camphor, on the walls, in the form of high breasts 'O heartless one! are you not afraid of the sin of killing women?'; who is the one victorious elephant of Madana uprooting the tree of pride of the proud women; who is the producer of love like Sauri «Visnu, who is the father of Madana»; whose body is as beautiful as the refulgence of gold mixed with glow of emeralds; he, whose moonlike nails of the feet reduces the lotuslike hands of the kings, daily and constantly bowing down, to the condition of buds, and which has in them reflected the deer by the
rays of emeralds shining in their crests and having similar complexion; whose sprays of flowers of fame daily shone on the trees in the form of his hands with the leaves in the form of the sword rendered red by the destruction of herds of intoxicated elephants; who clearly manifests the inauspicious beginning (of widow-hood) on the tearstained cheeks, which are covered with hair, of the wives of the kings killed in battle; he is the leader amongst the valorous; foremost amongst the victorious in battle; he is the one creator who has whitened the three worlds by the tide of fame possessing lustre as white as the waves of the Milky ocean motionless because of the destruction of a great host of enemies come prostrate before him like Rama, «i.e. Balarama who is handsome and who whitened the three worlds by fame as white as the waves of the Milky ocean became motionless because of the crushing of the powerful enemy Pralamba»; he is the birthplace of wondrous deeds; among men, he is a lion with dreadful and sharp nails tearing open the temples of the haughty elephants in the form of enemies; he had pillar-like huge hands looking like tying posts for the she-elephant in the form of the inconstant royal prosperity; who punishes the wrong doer like Indra «who destroyed the demon Ahi»; who uprooted all the insignificant Ksatriyas and exhibited his knowledge of archery like Bhargava <who uprooted all the Ksatriyas and manifested the secrets of Dhanurveda»; and who is the one house for the creepers of knowledge like Bhrgu. He is the source of Dharma; the resort of truth; the familyhouse of arts; the field of the right conduct of Ksatriyas; the pleasure garden of the creepers of knowledge; the store house of right conduct; the very life of valour; the residence of pleasures; the mine of compassion; the kinsman of learning; the chief among archers; and foremost among the virtuous; (9) as the milky ocean is adorned with waves, as the vault of the sky with clusters of stars, as the divine tree with sprays of flowers, as Sesa with a circle of hoods and the lake with the lotus stalks, so is he adorned with countless, joy giving, charming virtues, which are white as Sesa and which are desired by all the people. In the speech of the wise who judge his great intellectual acumen, GURU does not gain such veneration in comparision with him, BHARGAVA does not possess such brilliancy, UDDHAVA does not contribute to our joy; CANAKYA does not come within the enumeration of the learned, and DHARMAKIRTI does not find ground among those of keen intellect. In hundredfold ways on the battle field, the Glory of Victory continuously seeks asylum in his sword that possesses the lustre similar to that of a cat's eye-gem, which (sword) is decorated with
a broad blade, gives joy to the earth, increases the wealth of the earth; is as dark as the leaves of the white lotus plant, is unapproachable and is difficult to be plunged into by herds of enemies' elephants like a lake whose waters possess the colour of a cat's eye-gem, which is adorned with big lotuses, in which night lotuses grow, which possess the splendour of blooming blue lotuses, which is dark with the leaves of the lotus plants, which is very deep and into which even herds of best elephants cannot bathe. When his valour, born of his unique splendour which glitters like the mass of the rays of rubies, which is unsurpassable even by the sun and which cannot be conquered by others, became a city wall of the earth as of a single town, the four deep oceans assumed the beauty of a moat. His fame, resembling the glitter of the polished teeth of the Dravida women, having the complexion of the petals of open jasmine, became. paste of sandal on the creeper-like bodies of the separated-women, balls of foam on the sea, the celestial Ganges in the expanse of the sky, the stalks of white-lotus in the lakes, crystal slabs on the slopes of the mountains, and white cloth in .. ' He, who is the source of brilliant fame as the Himalaya is of the Ganges, the moon is of the moonlight, the laughter of Siva is of pure whiteness, and as the ocean of milk is of the moon � (10) Having said thus, when the Yantraputraka stopped, the Lord of the Earth himself commenced narrating: