gvaran vônànam kunuy vatsun,
nèbàrà dôpanam andaray atsun |
suy gav lali me va:kh tà vatsun,
tavai me hyotum nangay natsun ||
My guru gave me
just one advice:
"from outside," he said,
"go inward."
For me, Lali,
that became
the guiding rule;
therefore,
naked,
I began
to dance.
Note: Sir George Grierson, on p. 107: "The dance, called 'ta:NDava,' of the naked devotee is supposed to be a copy of the dance of Shiva, typifying the course of the cosmos under the god's rule. It implies that the devotee has wholly surrendered the world, and become united with Shiva." Lalla's last line, "therefore naked I began to dance," implies that what she found "inside" was Shiva. The word "tavai," "therefore," tells us that embodying Shiva by dancing naked was a consequence of "going inward." The first time I translated this va:kh, some twenty years ago, I missed this point. I allowed myself to be persuaded by some commentator that Lalla had meant the word "natsun," "to dance," figuratively, "dancing about," in the sense of "wandering." But no. the dancing, the emulation and embodiment of Shiva, is the whole point of the poem, and is what makes it a great poem.
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ
