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भानुर्निशासु भवदङ्घ्रिमयूखशोभालोभात् प्रताप्य किरणोत्करमाप्रभातम् ।
तत्रोद्धृते हुतवहात् क्षणलुप्तरागे तापं भजत्यनुदिनं स हि मन्दतातः ॥४०॥
T: Oh, Lord Śrī Varadarāja, coveting the beauty of the reddish hue of Your feet, the sun toils through the night heating himself into redness in a fierce fire. After much effort through the night, the sun rises with a reddish hue, but it lasts him only a short while! Nevertheless. he has to suffer the after-effects of heating up through the night during the entire day. Indeed he seems foolish. After all, is the sun not the father of Shani, also known as the slow one (punning on slow-witted)?
Explanation: अग्निं वा आदित्यः सूर्यं प्रविशति - this Vedic statement says that the sun acquires his radiation by heating himself through the night in a fire. On this basis, the poet crafts a figure of speech Utprekṣā. According to the poet, the sun is heating himself in fire every night to acquire the same reddish hue as seen in the attractive feet of Lord Śrī Varadarāja. But however much he heats himself up, the sun finds that the reddish hue he displays at dawn disappears quite soon. Notwithstanding this, the sun persists, heating himself up night after night.
Why does the sun go on like this, despite his constant failure? It is a sign of his dullness or slow wit! Shani, the slow-moving deity, is the son of the sun, Sūrya.
The poet says that the father is slow on the uptake, just as his son is slow-moving. This figure of speech employed is Kāvyaliṅgālaṅkāra.
The desired objective of the sun entering the fire night after night is also eventually futile, and thus, this is also an example of Viṣamālaṅkāra (adverse outcome) according to Kuvalayānanda.
