⏑⏑−−¦⏑⏑⏑−¦¦−⏑−⏑¦⏑−⏑− navipulā
sita-śaṅkhojjvala-bhujā
nīla-kambala-vāsinī |
⏑−⏑−¦−−−−¦¦⏑⏑−⏑¦⏑−⏑− mavipulā
sa-phena-mālā-nīlāmbur
yamuneva sarid-varā || 12.110
12.110
She wore a dark-blue shawl,
And her arms were all lit up with white
shells,
So that she seemed like the Yamunā,
best of rivers,
When its dark-blue waters are wreathed
with foam.
COMMENT:
 |
| The New Yamuna Bridge at Allahabad |
The Yamunā is the largest tributary of
the Ganges. It rises in the Himālayas, flows south through New
Delhi, then south and east to Allahabad where the Yamunā and the
Ganges meet. This confluence, where the blue Yamunā meets the yellow
Ganges, has since ancient times been the site for the so-called "greatest religious
gathering on earth" held every 12 years -- the Kumbh Melha.
Nowadays, however, the Yamunā is one
of the most polluted rivers in the world, especially around India's
capital city of New Delhi, which is reported to dump 58% of its waste
into the river.
To obtain a picture of the Yamunā's
deep blue waters as they originally were in ancient times, therefore,
it is necessary to look upstream. This photo, for example, by Amit
Shankar, shows the Western Yamuna Canal branching off from the
Tajewala Barrage, providing water for irrigation to the state of
Haryana. (The Yamunā flows along the eastern boundary of Haryana on
its way south to New Delhi.)
And going back still further upstream,
here is a photo of the blue Yamunā from a webpage titled Himālayan Rivers.
The Yamunā has its source at Yamunotri (“Mouth of Yamunā”) in the Himālayan state of Uttarakhand which
shares its northern border with Tibet and its eastern border with
Nepal.
At Yamunotri, I note with interest, there are hot springs where one can soak all tensions away.
At Yamunotri, I note with interest, there are hot springs where one can soak all tensions away.
Here, for the present, ends my internet
exploration of the river that Aśvaghoṣa praised as the best of
rivers.
I am not much attracted to sacred religious sites, but I wouldn't mind visiting the Yamunā. And, as far as I can tell without actually going there, the closer to the source I could get, the better it might be.
I am not much attracted to sacred religious sites, but I wouldn't mind visiting the Yamunā. And, as far as I can tell without actually going there, the closer to the source I could get, the better it might be.
We are prone to think that water
closest to the source is purest, and totally pure water is the best
water. But not for a hungry fish. A contrary view is that the closer
we get to the source, the sharper the irony is. And an acute irony which
Aśvaghoṣa himself might have appreciated, is that a river which
Indians imbue with the highest religious significance, revering it as
the best of rivers, they also cause to be the shittiest of rivers.
At the first phase, then, rivers are pure and they have religious significance. At the second phase, rivers are full of shit. Never mind. The important thing in the Buddha's teaching, in practice, at the third phase, is for each to purify his or her own mind. And the Buddha's teaching at the fourth phase might be for human beings to work together to keep our rivers clean.
Maybe when Indian society becomes civilized and enlightened enough to have clean rivers, that will be the time when Indian society is civilized and enlightened enough to reclaim Aśvaghoṣa from the Buddhist Studies departments of Western universities where presently he is so grievously misunderstood as a religious poet.
At the first phase, then, rivers are pure and they have religious significance. At the second phase, rivers are full of shit. Never mind. The important thing in the Buddha's teaching, in practice, at the third phase, is for each to purify his or her own mind. And the Buddha's teaching at the fourth phase might be for human beings to work together to keep our rivers clean.
Maybe when Indian society becomes civilized and enlightened enough to have clean rivers, that will be the time when Indian society is civilized and enlightened enough to reclaim Aśvaghoṣa from the Buddhist Studies departments of Western universities where presently he is so grievously misunderstood as a religious poet.
VOCABULARY
sita-śaṅkhojjvala-bhujā
(nom. sg. f.): her arms shining with white shells
sita:
mfn. white
śaṅkha:
mn. .a shell , (esp.) the conch-shell (used for making libations of
water or as an ornament for the arms or for the temples of an
elephant)
ujjvala:
mfn. blazing up , luminous , splendid , light ; lovely
ud-
√jval: to blaze up , flame , shine ; Caus. P. : -jvalayati , to
light up , cause to shine , illuminate
bhuja:
arm
nīla-kambala-vāsinī
(nom. sg. f.): wearing a dark-blue shawl
nīla:
mfn. n. of a dark colour , (esp.) dark-blue or dark-green or black
kambala:
m. a woollen blanket or cloth or upper garment
vāsin:
mfn. having or wearing clothes , (esp. ifc.) clothed or dressed in ,
wearing
sa-phena-mālā-nīlāmbuḥ
(nom. sg. f.): its dark-blue waters wreathed with
foam
sa-phena:
mfn. having foam , foamy , frothy
mālā:
f. a wreath , garland , crown
nīla:
mfn. dark-blue
ambu:
n. water
yamunā
(nom. sg.): f. N. of a river commonly called the
Jumna (in Hariv. and Ma1rkP. identified with yamī q.v. ; it
rises in the himālaya mountains among the Jumnotri peaks at an
elevation of 10 ,849 feet , and flows for 860 miles before it joins
the Ganges at Allahabad , its water being there clear as crystal ,
while that of the Ganges is yellowish ; the confluence of the two
with the river sarasvatī , supposed to join them underground , is
called tri-veṇī q.v.)
iva:
like
sarid-varā
(nom. sg. f.): mfn. best of rivers
sarit:
f. a river , stream (saritāṁ varā , " best of rivers ")
, the Ganges
難陀婆羅闍 歡喜到其所
手貫白珂釧 身服青染衣
青白相映發 如水淨沈漫
手貫白珂釧 身服青染衣
青白相映發 如水淨沈漫
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