JK/NKK 14
ha: tsyata: kavà chuy lôgmut parà mas,
kavà gôy apàzis pazyuk bront |
dàSi-bôz vaS kôrnakh par-darmas,
yinà-gatshanà zyanà-marànas kront ||
O Mind, why have you gotten drunk
on foreign wine?
Why have you put the unreal
before the real?
Lack of wisdom has put you
on an alien path,
and the ordeal of
coming and going,
birth and death.
Note: This poem contains tricky symbolism and double meanings. The wordplay is extremely clever, and makes the translator's job harder. I've tried to translate on the level that makes for the best poetry. What Lalla is suggesting here is that she was, for a time, seduced by alien (probably theistic/dualistic) doctrine. There is other evidence that this may have been the case, because in another poem she says that she has read (and is still reading) the Bhagwad Gita. Lalla's work (which has been claimed by Hindus, Sufis, and Buddhists) goes beyond the sectarianisms of her day, but I think it is closest to Kashmiri Shaivism. That she intended it to be universal is indicated by the words, in another poem:
"mo za:n hyond tà musalma:n," Forget about "Hindu" and "Muslim,"
because "Shiva lives everywhere" and "the sun shines on all alike." Too bad this tolerant attitude is not coming into play today.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ
Sunday, December 25, 2016
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ THE POEMS OF LALLA OF KASHMIR JK/NKK 2
JK/NKK 2
lalith lalith vaday bà va:y,
tsyata: muhàc pyayiy ma:y |
roziy nà patà loh-langaràc tsha:y,
niza svaru:p kya: môThuy ha:y ||
Lalit, Lalit, I will weep for you.
O Mind, you have fallen under the spell
of maya.
Even the shadow of worldly possessions
will desert you.
You have forgotten
your own nature.
Why this foolishness?
Note: "lalith" is a double meaning, and can also be translated as "slowly" or "gently." But these meanings can only be considered to be secondary; the first meaning is her own name, by which she addresses herself. (Of all the other authors who have written on Lalla's poems, only Shambhu Nath Bhatt and Janki Nath Bhan, authors of the 1971 Köshur Sama:cha:r collection, have gotten this right.) In her poems, Lalla generally calls herself "Lali," which is a short form of "Lalita," a name of Parvati, consort of Shiva. Here she uses a slightly fuller form of that name. Other theories, such as that "lal" referred to a big belly that hung over her pudenda, thus protecting her modesty, are imaginative and creative, but lack any evidence in her poems or elsewhere.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ
lalith lalith vaday bà va:y,
tsyata: muhàc pyayiy ma:y |
roziy nà patà loh-langaràc tsha:y,
niza svaru:p kya: môThuy ha:y ||
Lalit, Lalit, I will weep for you.
O Mind, you have fallen under the spell
of maya.
Even the shadow of worldly possessions
will desert you.
You have forgotten
your own nature.
Why this foolishness?
Note: "lalith" is a double meaning, and can also be translated as "slowly" or "gently." But these meanings can only be considered to be secondary; the first meaning is her own name, by which she addresses herself. (Of all the other authors who have written on Lalla's poems, only Shambhu Nath Bhatt and Janki Nath Bhan, authors of the 1971 Köshur Sama:cha:r collection, have gotten this right.) In her poems, Lalla generally calls herself "Lali," which is a short form of "Lalita," a name of Parvati, consort of Shiva. Here she uses a slightly fuller form of that name. Other theories, such as that "lal" referred to a big belly that hung over her pudenda, thus protecting her modesty, are imaginative and creative, but lack any evidence in her poems or elsewhere.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ