Goethe's poem on Sakuntala

Discussions on various aspects of advaita vedAnta have been going on in

this forum. For a change I thought I would write something relating to

Sanskrit literature.

Kalidasa is accepted by all scholars to be the greatest of Sanskrit

poets. He was a devotee of Shiva and a great vedAntin. He is believed to

have lived in the first century B. C. His play, 'abhijnAnaSAkuntalam'

(popularly known as Sakuntala) is considered to be the best among Sanskrit

plays. It is well known that the great German poet Goethe went into ecstasy

when he read Sakuntala and composed a poem in praise of it. I am giving

below the original poem in German and its English translation.

Poem by the great German poet J. W. Goethe in praise of Kalidasa's Sanskrit

play abhijnAnaSAkuntalam.

Will ich die Blumen des frühen, die Früchte des späteren Jahres,

Will ich, was reizt und entzückt, will ich, was sättigt und nährt,

Will ich den Himmel, die Erde mit einem Namen begreifen,

Nenn' ich, Sakontala, dich, und so ist alles gesagt.

English translation:--

Wouldst thou the young year's blossoms and the fruits of its decline,

And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed,

Wouldst thou the Earth and Heaven itself in one sole name combine,

I name thee, O Sakontala, and all at once is said.

(Translation by E. B. Eastwick)

S.N.Sastri

Namaste Sastri-ji.

Of all things attributed to him, Shyamala Dandakam is my all time

favourite.

Will you kindly tell where exactly can I have the correct text of the

dandakam with correct meaning? With whatever I have seen on the web,

there seem to be many mistakes in both text and translation. Always,

the last portion of it looks messed up. Hence, this request.

PraNAms.

Madathil Nair

_______________

- particularly advaitin , " S.N. Sastri "

<sn.sastri wrote:

......... For a change I thought I would write something relating to

> Sanskrit literature.

>

> Kalidasa is accepted by all scholars to be the greatest of

Sanskrit

> poets. ..............

Shrimaan Shastriji ! You are truly amazing . It is so wonderful to

see you post the German poet/philosopher Goethe's neat translation

of 'shakuntala' ... Shastriji , i am told that German and sanskrit

have a lot of similarities - A word that comes readily to mind

is 'Gow' ( Sanskrit ) , Ko ( German) and Cow ( English) !

One German Philosopher who was very much influenced by our Hindu

philosophy was none other than Arthur Schopenhauer( 1788 - 1860)!

and not to speak of Friedrich Max Müller ( 1823 – 1900), the German

German philologist who translated the Upanishads ( not great but

still O.K) !

Shastriji , Kalidasa was a favorite playwright of mine right from my

School days . in fact i have taken part in many of kalidasa's dance -

dramas - my personal favorite of Kalidasa's works is of course

Rithu Samharam - for its poetic excellance .

On another note ., may i take this opportunity to offer belated

birthday greetings to my shakta bhakta friend of many years Shri

Nairji ! Nairji -do you want to know what the German

poet /philosopher John wolfgang Goethe said in his wonderful work

entitled 'Faust ' ? Goethe said " The eternal feminine ever leads us

upward " ! Yes ! i wonder if Goethe was euphemistically talking

about the 'kundalini' shakti - the divine serpant power ! in fact ,

Kalidasa himself describes the rise and fall of Kundalini shakti in

one of his famous plays in the folowing verse -

Parvati meditating on her Lord and Master Shiva

stithaaH xa.Nam paxmasu taaDita-adharaaH payodhara-utsedhanipaata-

chur.Nitaa

valeeshu tasyaaH skhalitaaH prapedire chire.N naabhim prathama-oda-

bindavaH

free translation

The first drop of rain stayed momentarily on her eyelids, dropped on

her lips, shattered on her hard breasts and trickled down her triple

fold and after a long time disapperaed in her navel.

( nairji , here the great poet is describing the fall of 'kundalini'

shakti ! )

If a dumb woodcutter like Kalidasa can become a great poet due to

Devi Kataksham , who can deny Lady Maya's infinite prowess ? She can

create something out of 'nothing' and reduce everything

to 'nothing' - such is her Leela ! SHE IS THE 'ONE' BEFORE AND AFTER

THE 'SHUNYAM' ( ZERO) - yes - after pralaya , even survives only

because of hHER 'mangalya' bhagyam! She is 'tandava Saxini' !

tvayâ & #8255;etad dhâryate viswam

tvayâ & #8255;etat srjyate jagat,

tvayâ & #8255;etat pâlyate devi

tvam atsy ante ca sarvadâ.

By you this universe is born,

By you this universe is created,

By you it is protected oh Devi

And you always consume it at the end

She is thus 'purnam ' and 'poojyam ' and 'shreyam' and shrestham' !

Nairji , i love the Shyamala dandakam just like you do - in fact ,

my favorite rendering of this composition is by D.K PATTAMMAL - she

sings this verse with the greatest of devotion. nairji , there are

many sites where the text and translation of Shymala dandakam is

available - you are right , the transliteration is not ideal nor the

translation perfect at times ! but , our beloved member P.R.

Ramachanderji has posted the SHYAMALA DANDAKAM at the following

link

http://www.celextel.org/stotrasdevi/shyamaladandakam.html

there is one at the sanskrit documents site as well ! maybe our

linguistic expert Sunderji can provide the correct tranliteration!

he always does!

have you been to group lately ? there is a thread on

Shyamala dandakam and i saw some wonderful translation attempts

there ! please look in the archives !

Once more , nairji , wishing you a very happy 61!

Love and blessings

adi shakthi

Namaste Bhagini-ji.

Yours 38530.

Immense thanks for your best wishes and the web references to Shyamala

Dandakam.

I have already seen some of them. I will certainly visit the rest.

Besides, I have a copy of the Dandakam in Malayalam print and have been

chanting it every morning for the last several years. However, I have

doubts about the last portion of it - the phalashruti part. Off-list,

Shri Sastri-ji has very kindly offered to send me the original text in

Sanskrit. That I am sure is going to solve the problem.

PraNAms.

Madathil Nair