Thursday, May 23, 2024

Kālidāsa's Raghuvaṃśa 12th Sarga - 29


जय श्रीराम!



स जहार तयोर्मध्ये मैथिलीं लोकशोषणः ।
नभोनभस्ययोर्वृष्टिमवग्रह इवान्तरे ॥१२.२९॥

Notes: Kālidāsa spins a beautiful simile here, following his earlier astronomical comparison to the eclipse. Monsoon is the heart and soul of our wonderfully blessed country. The rains in the months of Śrāvaṇa and Bhādrapada (July-September period) bring life to all our life forms. All our poetry, dance, music, and worshipful festivals like Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī, Vināyaka Caturthī, and even ONAM, are all our ways of celebrating rain. People pay top dollar to visit India to watch the Monsoon.

Now, imagine there is a sudden unseasonal whirlwind that steals away the rains of Monsoon at the junction of Śrāvaṇa and Bhādrapada. How sudden and unexpected would it be? 
Here, Kālidāsa says,
" That monster, tormentor of the world (life-forms), suddenly abducted Devī Sītā, who was between Śrīrāma and Lakṣmaṇa, as if he were a hurricane stealing away the rain between the months of Śrāvaṇa and Bhādrapada (the earlier names of these months were Nabhas, Nabhasya)!"
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जय श्रीराम!