Back in the days of yore, kings used to throw riddles and challenges to the court ministers and other courtiers. Maybe they really didn’t have too many other means to pass their time but as a result, we have some smart poems/riddles/whodunnit questions, whatever.
A king posed this riddle to his courtiers. Write a couplet that ends in ‘Mrugaat simhaha palaayate’ translated as ‘The lion flees from the deer’ or to be precise, ‘From the deer, the lion flees’. Such an event seemed so factually inconsistent – how to create a poem on this? Also, it had to make sense. This is what one smart guy came up with…
Kasturi jaayate kasmaat
Ko hanti karinaam shatam
Kim kuryaat kaataro yuddhe
Mrugaat simhaha palaayate
[Of what is musk born?]
[Who kills a hundred elephants?]
[What does a coward do in the midst of war?]
[From the deer, the lion flees]
To explain a li’l bit more, each word in the last line provides the answer to the respective question posed in the first three lines. Clever, huh!
surendra says:
Lovely.
Thanks for posting!
August 23, 2006 — 4:52 pm
Lakshmi says:
My pleasure!
August 23, 2006 — 8:00 pm
ragh_dr says:
cooool!! 🙂
I had come across another interesting one and had saved it..
ahi ripu pati kaantaa taat saMbaddha kaantaa |
hara tanaya nihantR^i praaNadaatR^i dhvajasya |
sakhi suta suta kaantaa taat saMpuujya kaantaa |
pitR^i shirasi patanti jaahnavii naH punaatu ||
The verse consists of deciphering long-winded relations to
arrive at the correct meaning (whereas a first look is misleading)
ahi = snake
ahi-ripuu = eagle, garuDaH
garuDa-pati = Master of garuDaH = vishhNu
vishhNu-kaantaa = wife of Vishnu = lakshhmii
lakshhmii-taat = Father of Lakshmi = Ocean (saagarH)
saagara-saMbaddhaH = one who blocked/tied down the ocean = raamaH
raama-kaantaa = Ramas wife = siitaa
siitaa-har = one who abducted siitaa = raavaNaH
raavaNa-tanaya = Ravanas son = Indrajit
indrajit-nihantR^i = one who killed Indrajit = lakshmaNaH
lakshmaNa-praaNadaatR^i = one who gave life to Lakshman = hanumaanaH
hanumaana-dvaja = One whose flag has Hanuman on it = Arjun
arjuna-sakhi = Arjun’s friend = Krishna
kR^ishhNa-suta = Krishna’s son = madana
madana-suta = Madan’s son = aniruddha
aniruddha-kaanta = Aniruddha’s wife = ushhaa
ushhaa-taata = Usha’s father = baaNaasura
baaNaasura-saMpuujya = one who is worshipped by Banasur = shivaH
shivaH-kaantaa = Shiva’s wife = Parvati
paarvati-pitaa = Parvati’s father = Himalaya
It actually means,
May jahnavi (the river Ganga), falling from the Himalayas,
purify us..
August 23, 2006 — 5:47 pm
Lakshmi says:
Ahh, this is tricky – should read it more carefully. Do you have the original link from where you got this one?
August 23, 2006 — 8:02 pm
ragh_dr says:
No, I had saved it years back along when I was searching for subhaashitni. However, there was a fine site “http://sanskrit.gde.to” (I guess) which had a massive collection of ancient texts, translations, shlokas, subhaashitas etc. It might have been from there. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t seem to exist anymore…
August 24, 2006 — 1:17 pm
Lakshmi says:
Oh yes, I remember this link. It had a huge collection of texts and Subhaashitaas.
August 24, 2006 — 3:53 pm
USH says:
FIRST TIME I HEARD THIS SHLOK WAS FROM MY SANSKRIT PROFSESSOR IN AHMEDABAD AROUND 1961. I NEVER CAME ACROSS IT SINCE AND WAS BEGINING TO THINK THAT HE PROBABLY MADE IT UP BY HIMSELF.
May 26, 2016 — 3:35 pm
Lakshmi says:
Ahh, maybe that’s where it originally came from… Your Samskrit Professor. 🙂 Thanks for visiting my little space on the Net.
May 29, 2016 — 9:03 pm
Lakshmi says:
Do you have the original explanation to this one? It is confusing and yet so tempting!
August 24, 2006 — 4:04 pm
ragh_dr says:
That was the original English explanation (Ofcourse I couldn’t have deciphered the thing by myself! :D)
In the original version, above the start of “ahi = snake” part, there is an anecdote in sanksrit, in which you might be interested.
##
yadaa vyaasaH gaNapatinaa mahaabhaarataM lekhayan.h aasit.h,
tadaa gaNapateH sa~NketaH aasit.h yat.h nivedanasamaye kadaa.api
khaNDaH na bhavet.h iti| vyaasaH tam.h sa~Nketam.h a~NgikR^itavaan.h,
api cha gaNapatiM uktavaan.h, “ahaM yad.h vadaami, tasyaa arthaH
dnyaatvaa eva bhavataa lekhaniyaaM” iti| ataH yadaa chintanaaya
adhikaH avakaashaH aavashyakaH aasit.h, tadaa saH gaNapatiM
kuTa-shlokaM uktvaa samayaH praapnoti sma| teshhu shlokeshhu ekaH atra
varNitaH asti …
##
(From the bits and pieces that I know, I think this is what it means.
When Vyasa asked Ganapathi to write Mahabharatha, Ganapathi said that “I will write on the condition that you don’t stop in between”. Vyasa agreed to it on the counter-condition that Ganapthi should not simply write whatever he said, but has to understand completely and write. So, whenever Vyasa wanted a few extra seconds to think in between, he would give Ganapathi a series of sholkas like this. This is one of those shlokas.
This with the explanation given above is all there is in the original version.
August 25, 2006 — 9:17 am
Lakshmi says:
Yes, I read through carefully last night and got it. Nice verse!
Now on to the Vyaasa-Ganapathi one… Thanks for these beauties!
August 25, 2006 — 6:29 pm
shri says:
Clever! 😀
August 23, 2006 — 5:53 pm
Lakshmi says:
Isn’t it?
August 23, 2006 — 8:02 pm
quizling says:
I remember my Sanskrit teacher (this was in 1979!) reciting a verse that Kalidasa reputedly composed for Raja Bhoja to prove a point. Apparently the challenge was to create a stanza ending with the letters “ka kha ga gha”. A chance encounter with a schoolgirl inspired Kalidasa to come up with this:
Kā tvam bālé? Kānchanamālā
Kasyāh putri? Kanakalatāyah
Hasté kim té? Tālipatram
Kāvā rekha? Kā khā gā ghā.
I quoted that from memory, so please excuse any errors. I suppose anyone with a smattering of Sanskrit can guess what it means. (Who are you, little girl? Kanchanamala. Whose daughter are you? Kanakalata’s. What’s in your hand? A palm frond. What have you written there? Ka kha ga kha.)
August 23, 2006 — 7:58 pm
Lakshmi says:
Perfect! I recall my Dad reciting this one and it’s right, no errors. Do you remember one that starts off as Jambhu phalaani pakwaani,….. ending in something like Ghulu ghulu gu ghulu….?
Should ask Daddy about this one.
August 23, 2006 — 8:01 pm
quizling says:
That didn’t ring any bells, unfortunately. But it reminded me of another Kalidasa verse:
Rāmābhisheke jalamāharantyāh
Hastāchchyuto hemaghato yuvatyāh
Sopāna mārgena karothi shabdam
Thātham thatham tham thathatham tha tham thāh!
Can you guess the context? Or ask your dad. 🙂
August 24, 2006 — 8:39 am
Lakshmi says:
Bits and parts – ahh, this is tempting. Let me try, ‘At Rama’s abhishekam,……makes the sound Thatham thatham….’ beats me! Will try again.
August 24, 2006 — 3:58 pm
Lakshmi says:
Ok, I am tempted to give up. Tell me what it means?
August 25, 2006 — 6:30 pm
quizling says:
I recalled that Praveen had mentioned this riddle many years ago, and I managed to trace it. It explains things in greater detail than I can in a comment!
August 25, 2006 — 7:12 pm
ragh_dr says:
That was a popular one while introducing Kalidasa! I remember that a bit…
Jambhu phalaani pakwaani patanthi vimalai jalai
Kapi kampitha shakhebhyo gulugu gulugu gulu|
(I think it means that, ripe jambhu fruits fall into clear water when the monkey shakes the branch, making the sound gulugu gulugu gulu..)
August 24, 2006 — 1:31 pm
Lakshmi says:
Exactly!!! Thanks for sharing… let me add you as my new LJ-pal.
August 24, 2006 — 3:59 pm
Lakshmi says:
Btw, it should be Kava lekha, I think. Rekha means ‘line’. Lekha means ‘written’.
August 25, 2006 — 6:31 pm
hariputtar says:
what a treat. some of the comments are equally enlightening. thanks for the post.
August 23, 2006 — 9:39 pm
Lakshmi says:
I agree. My pleasure in sharing the good stuff!
August 24, 2006 — 3:59 pm
fugney says:
Ha-ha!
August 24, 2006 — 12:03 pm
Lakshmi says:
Glad you liked them. Do check out the comments as well.
August 24, 2006 — 4:02 pm
rileen says:
Very nice post, and some of the comments realy add to it (not this one :-p !) – thanks!
August 25, 2006 — 6:05 am
Lakshmi says:
Glad you liked it!
August 25, 2006 — 6:31 pm