vvath rö:ny artsun sakhar,
athi al-pal tà vakhur hèth |
yôdvanay za:nakh paramàpad akSar,
hiSi: kôSi khor könh-ti na: khèth ||
Arise, lady,
to prepare the offering,
with wine, meat and
cakes in hand.
As long as you know
the supreme syllable,
the left-handed ways
will do you no harm.
Note: It is likely that this poem is from an early period in Lalla's life, when she was forced to follow family custom in matters of religion, rather than her own inclination. B. N. Parimoo pointed out that when one addresses oneself (as Lalla does here) in Kashmiri, it is tantamount to grumbling about having to do something. The wine, meat, and cakes that Lalla mentions are three elements of Tantric worship. As Lalla points out, as long as you know the supreme syllable (OM), even the left-handed ways will not harm you.
Taking a hint from Grierson, and following the example of my Lalvakh tapes (sung by the wonderful Arti Tiku Kaul and produced by my friend and mentor Virendra Qazi), I have replaced the garbled and meaningless variants of the last line of this poem with the last line of the closely-related poem JK/NKK 60, which is probably what was intended anyway.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ
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