Section Three Kalidasa     Vikramorvasie or The Hero and the Nymph       Characters   PURURAVAS, son of Budha and Ila, grandson of the Moon, King of the world, reigning at Pratisthana. MANAVAKA, a Brahmin, the King's jester and companion. LATAVYA, Chamberlain of the King's seraglio. CHITRARATH, King of the Gandharvas, musicians of Heaven. AYUS, son of Pururavas. CHARIOTEER of Pururavas. THE QUEEN AUSHINARIE, wife of Pururavas and daughter of the King of Kashi. URVASIE, an Apsara or Nymph of Heaven, born from the thigh of Narayan. NIPUNIKA, the Queen's handmaid. SATYAVATIE, a hermitess.   A HUNT

APPENDIX   A Later Version of Chapters I and II   CHAPTER I     It was the summer of the Bengali year 1176. The village of Podchinha lay oppressed under a tyrannous heat of the mid summer sun. The village was packed with houses, but people were nowhere to be seen. Rows of shops in the bazaar, rows of booths in the market place, hundreds of clay houses in every quarter with here and there high and low terraced mansions; but today all was silent. In the bazaar the shops were shut; the shopkeepers had fled, one knows not where. It was market-day, but the market was not in swing, — begging-day, but the beggars were not out. The weaver had stopped his

'Translations' by Sri Aurobindo - Page 1 of 30   Appeal   Thy youth is but a noon, of night take heed, — A noon that is a fragment of a day, And the swift eve all sweet things bears away, All sweet things and all bitter, rose and weed. For others' bliss who lives, he lives indeed.   But thou art pitiful and ruth shouldst know. I bid thee trifle not with fatal love, But save our pride and dear one, O my dove, And heaven and earth and the nether world below Shall only with thy praises peopled grow.   Life is a bliss that cannot long abide, But while thou livest, love. For love the sky Was founded, earth upheaved from the deep cry Of wa

'Translations' by Sri Aurobindo - Page 1 of 30   Vidula   Vidula   This poem is based on a passage comprising four chapters (Adhyayas) in the Udyog-parva of the Mahabharat. It is not a close translation but a free poetic paraphrase of the subject matter; it follows closely the sequence of the thoughts with occasional rearrangements, translates freely in parts, in others makes some departures or adds, develops and amplifies to bring out fully the underlying spirit and idea. The style of the original is terse, brief, packed and allusive, sometimes knotted into a pregnant obscurity by the drastic economy of word and phrase. It would have been im

To the Cuckoo   O Cuckoo that peckest at the blossomed flower of honey dripping champaka and, inebriate, pipest forth the melodious notes, be seated in thy ease and with thy babblings, which are yet no babblings, call out for the coming of my Lord of the Venkata hill. For He, the pure one, bearing in his left hand the white summoning conch shows me not his form. But He has invaded my heart; and while I pine and sigh for his love, He looks on indifferent as if it were all a play.   I feel as if my bones had melted away and my long javelin eyes have not closed their lids for these many days. I am tossed on the waves of the sea of pain without finding the boat t

  The Pilot   In the dark without end Who art Thou, O Friend? I am led as if by a hand: But cannot see, Nor reach to Thee, Nothing can understand. To my eyes is given no light, All seems everlasting night Thou only my comrade there, Helping my plight: To rout the gloom Thy star-lamp relume — Thy splendid vision reveal. Pierced by the thorns of pain, I ask again and again: "To what far alien realm This hard path?" but in vain! Once let me hear, Love's lips grown near, Whisper to my appeal. If Thou art here by my side, In this heart-lost darkness wide Stretch out Thy hand My wea

Part One   Translations from Sanskrit   Sri Aurobindo with students of the Baroda College, c. 1906   The first page of "Selected Poems of Bidyapati" Section One   The Ramayana Pieces from the Ramayana 1 Speech of Dussaruth to the assembled States-General of his Empire     Then with a far reverberating sound As of a cloud in heaven or war-drum's call Deep-voiced to battle

'Translations' by Sri Aurobindo - Page 1 of 30 Nammalwar's Hymn of the Golden Age   'Tis glory, glory, glory! For Life's hard curse has expired; swept out are Pain and Hell, and Death has nought to do here. Mark ye, the Iron Age shall end. For we have seen the hosts of Vishnu; richly do they enter in and chant His praise and dance and thrive. (1)   We have seen, we have seen, we have seen — seen things full sweet for our eyes. Come, all ye lovers of God, let us shout and dance for joy with oft-made surrenderings. Wide do they roam on earth singing songs and dancing, the hosts of Krishna who wears the cool and beautiful Tulsi, the desire of the Bees. (2)   The I

'Translations' by Sri Aurobindo - Page 1 of 30   Section Two   The Mahabharata   Sabha Parva or Book of the Assembly-Hall   CANTO I The Building of the Hall   And before Krishna's face to great Urjuun Maia with clasped hands bending; mild and boon His voice as gratitude's: "Me the strong ire Had slain of Krishna or the hungry fire Consumed: by thee I live, O Kuuntie's son: What shall I do for thy sake?" And Urjuun, "Paid is thy debt. Go thou and prosper: love Repays the lover: this our friendship prove." "Noble thy word and like thyself;" returned The Titan,

APPENDIX II A Later Translation of the Opening of the Gita   DHRITARASHTRA In the sacred field, the field of the Kurus met together with will to battle what did my people and the people of the Pandavas, O Sunjaya?   SUNJAYA When Duryodhana the King saw marshalled the Pandava host, he approached the Teacher and spoke this word. "Behold, O Teacher, this mighty army of the sons of Pandu marshalled by Drupad's son, thy disciple wise of brain. Here are heroes, mighty bow