Verse for the week 23/1/09 – रसतरञ्गिणी

योधानाम् अधरैर् अशोककुसुमैर्

नेत्रैः सितैः अम्बुजैर्

दन्तैः कुन्ददलैः करैः सरसिजैः

सम्पाद्य पुष्पश्रियम्

झिल्लीं कर्णयुगे विधाय करिणां

रक्तावसिक्ताञ्गकैः

प्रेतानां बटुभिः पुरः पुरभिदो

नृत्यं समारभ्यते।

In front of Indra the dance of the dead begins

as the corpses of young soldiers strew lovely flowers[1]–

the red ashokas are their bleeding lips,

the lotuses the whites of their rolled-back eyes,

the jasmine petals their teeth, the crimson lilies

their bloody hands, while crickets on their eyes

are their sounding earrings, and the gore

of slain elephants the lacquer on their feet.

Verse 10, Second Wave, Rasatarangini – Bhanudatta

Taken from Sheldon Pollock’s translation, published by the Clay Sanskrit Library, 2009

---

[1] Dances begin with an offering of flowers