SAUNDARANANDA 10.58: Gautama

tato jighaaMsur hRdi tasya tat tamas
tamo-nudo naktam iv' otthitaM tamaH
mahaa-rShi-candro jagatas tamo-nudas
tamaH-prahiiNo nijagaada gautamaH

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10.58
Desiring to dispell that darkness in his heart

Like the moon
dispersing the darkness that rises by night,

Then spoke the moon of great seers,
the disperser of the world's darkness,

The one devoid of darkness -- Gautama:

COMMENT:
In line 1 hRdi tasya tat tamaH means "that darkness in his [Nanda's] heart." That darkness, as I have been seeking to explain it in recent comments, is the darkness of greedy end-gaining. The darkness, or ignorance, of greedy end-gaining Ashvagosha expresses here as tamas, the accusative singular of which is tamaH.

So Ashvaghosha's wordplay continues in this verse with a play on the tamaH of gautamaH. The name gautama is a patronymic from go-tama ("the largest ox") in which -tama is a superlative suffix ("the largest"). The final word of the verse is the nominative singular masculine of the Buddha's family name, gautama -- gautamaH.

If we leave tamaH untranslated to get a better sense of the poetry of the original:

10.58
Desiring to dispell that tamaH in his heart

Like the moon dispersing the tamaH that rises by night,

Then spoke the moon of great seers,
the disperser of the world's tamaH,

The one devoid of tamaH -- Gau-tamaH.



EH Johnston:
Then spoke Gautama, the Moon of great seers, Himself free from mental darkness and dispeller of the mental darkness of the world, desiring to dispel the darkness in Nanda's heart, just as the moon, the dispeller of darkness, dispels the darkness that rises by night :--

Linda Covill:
So the moon of the great seers, the dispeller of the world's darkness, Gautama devoid of darkness spoke, wishing to dispel the darkness in Nanda's heart like the moon dispels the night's rising darkness:

VOCABULARY:
tataH: ind. from that, then, so
jighaaMsuH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. (from desid. han) desirous of destroying or ruining
hRdi (loc. sg.): n. heart
tasya (gen. sg.): his
tat (acc. sg. n.): that
tamaH (acc. sg.): n. darkness

tamo-nudaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. dispersing darkness ; m. the sun; m. the moon
tamo: ( in comp. for tamas) darkness
nuda: mfn. pushing , impelling , driving away , removing
√nud: to push , thrust , impel , move , remove
naktam: ind. by night
iva: like
utthitam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. risen or rising; endeavouring , striving , exerting one's self ; happened , occuring
tamaH (acc. sg.): n. darkness

mahaa-rShi-candraH (nom. sg. m.): the moon of great seers
candra: m. the moon ; m. ifc. " the moon of " i.e. the most excellent among
jagataH (gen. sg.): n. the world , esp. this world , earth
tamo-nudaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. dispersing darkness ; m. the sun; m. the moon

tamaH-prahiiNaH (nom. sg. m.): being devoid of darkness
prahiiNa: mfn. (ifc.) wanting , destitute of
nijagaada = 3rd pers. sg. perfect ni- √ gad: to recite , proclaim , announce , declare , tell , speak
gautamaH (nom. sg.): m. Gautama