Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers

J. Muir

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138981010
• eBook ISBN: 9781136386442
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

First published in 2000. This title is Volume VIII in the XIV-Volume set titled India: Language and Literature, part of Truber's Oriental Series. This volume embraces the contents of the little work entitled Religious and Moral Sentiments, metrically rendered from Sanskrit Writers and presents with a detailed, line-by-line contents, appendix containing prose translations and index. Biblical texts are separated from Sanskrit texts in this index while including classical quotations and parallel passage supplements.

METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM SANSKRIT WRITERS.

__________

Atharvaveda x. 8, 44.

The happy man who once has learned to know

The self-existent Soul, from passion pure,

Serene, undying, ever young, secure

From all the change that other natures show,

Whose full perfection no defect abates,

Whom pure essential good for ever sates,—

That man alone, no longer dreading death,

That man alone, no longer dreading death,

With tranquil joy resigns his vital breath.

Śvetāśatara Upanishad iii. 19.

No hands has He, nor feet, nor eyes, nor ears,

And yet He grasps, and moves, and sees, and hears.

He all things knows, Himself unknown of all;

Him men the great primeval Spirit call.

Vikrama-charita 232.

O God of gods, Thou art to me

A father, mother, kinsmen, friends;

I knowledge, riches, find in Thee;

All good Thy being comprehends.

Raghuvanśa x. 15, ff.

To Thee, creator first, to Thee,

Preserver next, destroyer last,

Be glory; though but one, Thou hast

Thyself in act revealed as three.

As water pure from heaven descends,

But soon with other objects blends,

And various hues and flavours gains;

So moved by Goodness, Passion, Gloom,*

Dost Thou three several states assume,

While yet Thine essence pure remains.

Though one, Thou different forms hast sought;

Thy changes are compared to those

Which lucid crystal undergoes,

With colours into contact brought.

Unmeasured, Thou the worlds dost mete.

Thyself though no ambition fires,

'Tis Thou who grantest all desires.

Unvanquished, Victor, Thee we greet.

A veil, which sense may never rend,

Thyself,—of all which sense reveals

The viewless source and cause—conceals:

Thee saints alone may comprehend.

Thou dwellest every heart within,

Yet filiest all the points of space;

Without affection, full of grace,

Primeval, changeless, pure from sin;

Though knowing all, Thyself unknown,

Self-sprung, and yet of all the source,

Unmastered, lord of boundless force,

Though one, in each thing diverse shown.

With minds by long restraint subdued,

Saints, fixing all their thoughts on Thee,

Thy lustrous form within them see,

And ransomed, gain the highest good.

Who, Lord, Thy real nature knows?

Unborn art Thou, and yet on earth

Hast shown Thyself in many a birth,

And, free from passion, slain Thy foes.

Thy glory in creation shown,

Though seen, our reason's grasp transcends:

Who, then, Thine essence comprehends,

Which thought and scripture teach alone?

Ungainecl, by Thee was nought to gain,

No object more to seek: Thy birth,

And all Thy wondrous deeds on earth,

Have only sprung from love to men.

With this poor hymn though ill-content,

We cease:—what stays our faltering tongue?

We have not half Thy glories sung,

But all our power to sing is spent.

Mahābhārata iii. 1124 ff.

DRAUPADI speaks:

Beholding noble men distrest,

Ignoble men enjoying...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• MISCELLANEOUS METRICAL TRANSLATIONS
• VERSIFIED TRANSLATIONS FROM THE RIGVEDA
• APPENDIX, CONTAINING PROSE TRANSLATIONS, ETC.
• SUPPLEMENT TO APPENDIX, CONTAINING PARALLEL PASSAGES FROM THE CLASSICAL AUTHORS