श्लोकोऽयं मह्यं रोचते – 61

जी

जीवितावधि वनीयकमात्रैर्याच्यमानमखिलैः सुलभं यत् ।

अर्थिने परिवृढाय सुराणां किं वितीर्य परितुष्यतु चेतः ॥ (5, 81)

jévitävadhi vanéyakamätrairyäcyamänamakhilaiù sulabham yat ।

arthine parivåòhäya suräëäm kim vitérya parituñyatu cetaù ॥

दमयन्तीस्वयम्वरार्थं गच्छन्तः सुराः, मार्गे नलं दृष्ट्वा तमुद्दिश्य प्रार्थितवन्तः । तदा तेषां वचनानि श्रुत्वा नलः एवम् अचिन्तयत्- 'समस्तैरपि पात्रलक्षणरहितैः याचकैः प्राणपर्यन्तं याचितं यद्वस्तु मत्सकाशात् सुलभतया लभ्यते । परन्तु इदानीं याचकाय सुराणां प्रभवे इन्द्राय किं दत्वा मम च अन्तःकरणं सन्तुष्टं भवतु।'

The above verse is from sri Harsa’s Naishadham.

The gods meet Nala on the way as he proceeds to the city of kundina to attend Damayanti’s svayamavara. They greet Nala and announce that they have a favour to ask him. Nala’s heart overflows with sentiments of generosity and self sacrifice at the thought of gods coming to him as suppliants.

He says – ‘As anybody who seeks a favour from me will easily receive anything that he asks for up to my life, but now by giving which gift will my heart be content when the suppliant is the lord of gods?’

अखिलैः – By all, वनीयकमात्रैः – those who beg, याच्यमानं- by seeking, सुलभं यत्-easily , जीवितावधि – up to one’s life ,अर्थिने – one who seeks , सुराणां – of the gods, परिवृढाय- to the lord , किं वितीर्य- by giving , चेतः – my mind , परितुष्यतु – will be happy.

श्लोकोऽयं मह्यं रोचते – 57

छे

छेत्तुमिन्दौ भवद्वक्त्रबिम्बविभ्रमविभ्रमम् ।

शङ्के शशाङ्कमानङ्के भिन्नभिन्नविधिर्विधिः ॥

Tha above sloka is from the twentieth canto of sri Harsha’s naishadeeya charitam.

In the above sloka Nala describes the beauty of Damayanti.He says ‘ Oh ! Damayanti, the creator, during his creation, has differentiated between object to object and person to person’.

And he further says ‘ I think the moon was also created with a black spot in order to remove the confusion between the moon and your shining face’.

श्लोकोऽयं मह्यं रोचते – 56

छि
छिन्नमप्यतनु हारमण्डलं मुग्धया सुरतलास्यकेलिभिः ।
न व्यतर्किं सुदृशा चिरादपि स्वेदबिन्दुकितवक्षसा हृदि ॥ (18, 107)

The above sloka is from the eighteenth canto of sri Harsha’s ‘naishadiya charitam’.

The eighteenth canto starts with a description of nala’s palace but the main portion of this canto describes the love sport between Nala and Damayanti. The above verse is one from the same canto where the intimacy between the couple has been poetically fancied by the poet sri Harsha

श्लोकोऽयं मह्यं रोचते – 50

चु

चुलुकिततमः सिन्धोर्भृङ्गैः करादिव शुभ्यते

नभसि बिसिनीबन्धोरन्ध्रच्युतैरुदबिन्दुभिः ।

शतदलमधुस्रोतःकच्छद्वयीपरिरम्भणा-

दनुपदमदःपङ्काशङ्काममी मम तन्वते ॥

culukitatamaù sidhorbåìgaiù karädiva çubhyate

nabhasi bisinibandhorandhracyutairudabindubhiù

çatadalamadhusrotaùkaccdvayéparirambhanä

danupadamadaùpaìkaçaìkämamé mama tanvate

The above verse is from the 19^th canto of naishadiya charitam of sri Harsha.

In the above verse the poet says “the bees shine in the sky like water drops falling from the sky. Then by clinging to the two sides of the nectar dripping from the lotus, the bees give me an impression of mosses floating on top of an ocean”.

Sun heats the water from the ocean and showers it as rain. Here, The poet describes that the sun drinks the ocean of darkness through his palm and showers as water drops through the space between his fingers and metamorphically compares the bees on the sky to the water drops.

Sun चुलुकित-drank, तमः- the darkness, सिन्धोः- of the ocean, करात्- through his palm, बिसिनीबन्धोः- sun (बिसिनी-lotus, बन्धोः- friend),रन्ध्र- space between the fingers, च्युतैः- dropped, उदबिन्दुभिः- water drops, इव- like, भृङ्गाः-the bees, नभसि- in the sky, शुभ्यते- shine ।

अनुपदं- after this, शतदल- lotus (शत- hundred, दल – petals; the flower with hundred petals) ,मधुस्रोतः- the flow of nectar, कच्छद्वयी- both the sides, परिरम्भणात्- clinging, अमी- these bees, पङ्कशङ्कां मम तन्वते - give me the impression that they are the mosses.

The sun rises destroying the darkness, the bees come out of their nest and proceed towards the lotuses to relish the nectar. This is a very normal scenario. But the secret of the magic spell present in the words of a poet can change a normal scenario into a commendable description.

श्लोकोऽयं मह्यं रोचते – 43

घा
घातितार्कसुतकर्णदयालुर्जैत्रितेन्दुकुलपार्थकृतार्थः।
अर्धदुःखसुखमभ्यनयस्त्वं सास्रुभानुविहसद्विधुनेत्रः ॥ (21, 83)

ghätitärkasutakarëadayäluù jetritendukulapärthakrtärthaù

ardhadukkhasukhamabhyanayastvam säsrubhänuvihasadvidhunetraù

हे विष्णो ! सूर्यचन्द्रयोः तव नेत्रत्वात् तथा कर्णस्य च सूर्यपुत्रत्वात् तन्नाशे सूर्यस्य शोको अभवत्। अर्जुनस्य चन्द्रवंशस्थत्वात् तस्य विजये चन्द्रः सुखमन्वभवत्। ताभ्याम् अर्धसुखमर्धदुःखाभिनयात् त्वम् अद्भुतरूपोऽसि।

The above sloka is from naishadIya charitam of srI Harsha.

Lord visnu is praised in the above sloka.

Mahavisnu’s two eyes are Chandra and surya. One eye of visnu started watering in grief while the other glowed with pride. In the kurukshetra battle, when Arjuna kills karna as adviced by lord Krishna, Chandra beams with pride as Arjuna belongs to the Chandra vamsa. And
Surya weeps in grief as karna is his son.

अर्कसुतः-son of surya, कर्णः-karna, दयालुः-the compassionate one, घातितः- killed in the battle, इन्दुकुलपार्थः- pArtha or arjuna , who belongs to the Chandra vamsa, जैत्रितः –was given the victory, कृतार्थः- by this the purpose of Krishna avataara is fulfilled, त्वं – you lord visnu, नेत्रः- your eyes, अभ्यनयः – were showing both, अर्धसुखं- happiness,and अर्धदुःखं-sorrow, ( the eyes of lord visnu are surya nad Chandra) भानुः –the sun , सास्रुः- was with tears (as his son karna was killed in the battle), विधुः – , Chandra, विहसत् – was smiling( as arjuna got the victory), ।

The victory of Arjuna and the death of karna is a known story. But the poet has imagined and brought it out in a creatively unique point of view.

कविः – 4

श्रीहर्षः

‘सद्यः परनिर्वृत्तये कान्तासम्मिततयोपदेशयुजे’ इति काव्यस्य ख्यातिः अस्ति। काव्येषु पञ्चमहाकाव्यानि प्रसिद्धानि। तादृश पञ्चमहाकाव्येषु एकतमस्य नैषधीयचरितस्य प्रणेता श्रीहर्षः अस्ति। सः कविः श्रीहीरपण्डितान्मामल्लदेव्यां समजनीति तस्य काव्यस्य प्रतिसर्गस्य समाप्तिश्लोकतः ज्ञायते।

अत्र हि श्लोकः -

श्रीहर्षं कविराजराजिमुकुटालंकारहीरः सुतं

श्रीहीरः सुषुवे जितेन्द्रियचयं मामल्लदेवी च यम्।

तच्चिन्तामणिमन्त्रचिन्तनफले श्रृङ्गारभङ्ग्या महा-

काव्ये चारुणि नैषधीयचरिते सर्गोऽयमादिर्गतः ।।

आसीत् काश्यां राजा जयन्तचन्द्रो नाम। तस्य च राज्ञः सदसि बहवः विद्वांसः बभूवुः। तत्रैको हीरनामा विप्रः। तस्य नन्दनः प्राज्ञचक्रवर्ती श्रीहर्षः।

यदा श्रीहर्षः बालावस्थायाम् आसीत् तदा एकस्मिन् दिने राजसभायां पण्डितेन एकेन वादे हीरः जितः। तदनन्तरं हीरः दुःखे मग्नोऽभूत्। सः हीरः मृत्युकाले पुत्रं हर्षमाहूय – ‘नृपसदसि जितोऽहं पण्डितेन। तन्मे दुःखम्। यदि त्वं सत्पुत्रोऽसि, तर्हि भूमिपालसदसि तं वादिनं जयेः’ इत्युक्त्वा दिवं गतः।

श्रीहर्षः विविधाचार्येषु अलंकारगीतगणितज्यौतिषव्याकरणचूडामणिमन्त्रादि सर्वाः विद्याः प्रजग्राह। गङ्गातीरे सुगुरुदत्तं चिन्तामणिमन्त्रं साधयामास। तदा साक्षात् भारती प्रत्यक्षाऽभूत्। अमोघादेशवराप्तिः अभूत्। तेन हर्षेण यत् उच्यते तत् अन्यैः केवलं श्रूयते परन्तु न किमप्यवगम्यते। ततः अतिविद्ययाऽपि लोकागोचरतया पुनः भारती उपास्यते कविना। भारत्योपदिष्टः सः आर्द्रशिरसि दधि पपौ, कफांशावतरात् सः लेशं जडताम् प्राप्नोत्, तथा च, बोध्यवागासीत्।

तदनन्तरं, वादे पितृवैरिणं वादिनं जित्वा, पितृवाक्यं परिपाल्य, द्वाविंशतिसर्गयुक्तं नैषधीयचरितं च विरचय्य राज्ञे दर्शितम्।हर्षितो राजा तस्मै सम्मानं प्रयच्छत्।

पञ्चमहाकाव्येषु नैषधीयचरितस्यार्थावगमनं दुष्करमस्ति, लेशजडस्थित्यामेवास्य कवेः कठिनप्रयोगाः, किं पुनः संपूर्णज्ञाने ?

Poet -4

srI harsha

SrI Harsha is the author of NaishadIya charitam, the one among the pancha mahAkavyam in Sanskrit. At the end of every canto he mentions about his father hIra, a great scholar and his mother mAmalla devI.

The sloka reads-

श्रीहर्षं कविराजराजिमुकुटालंकारहीरः सुतं

श्रीहीरः सुषुवे जितेन्द्रियचयं मामल्लदेवी च यम्।

तच्चिन्तामणिमन्त्रचिन्तनफले श्रृङ्गारभङ्ग्या महा-

काव्ये चारुणि नैषधीयचरिते सर्गोऽयमादिर्गतः ।।

śrīharṣaṁ kavi-rāja-rāji-mukuṭālaṅkāra-hīraḥ sutaṁ
śrīhīraḥ suṣuve jitendriyacayaṁ māmalladevī ca yam
taccintāmaṇi-mantra-cintana-phale śṛṅgārabhaṅgyā mahā-
kāvye cāruṇi naiṣadīyacarite sargo'yamādirgataḥ

There was a king by name Jayachandra in vAraNAsI, who was patronizing many scholars and poets. SrI HIra was one among the scholars. Once there was a debate between a scholar and hIra. The former won over hIra, by which the pride of hIra was completely shattered. When hIra was in his death bed he called his son Harsha and took a promise that his son will win over the scholars in the same king’s court where he lost.

Having promised his father srI harsha learnt not only the sAstras under many teachers, but he also learnt the cintAmaNi mantra and mastered the mantra in a year and acquired high knowledge, by which people were unable to understand what he said. So, as advised by goddess saraswatI, during midnight with wet hair he drank curd. Affected by sudden cough and phlegm he started vomiting because of that his power of knowledge reduced and so that he could write in a simple style. After that he wrote the kAvyam naishadiya charitam, a story on nala and damayantI in 22 cantos, in a simple style.

An average reader would find it difficult to comprehend even the current work in one reading, then one could very well imagine………. If he had continued writing in the original style.