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Transcriber's note:
1. The spelling, accents, and diacritical marks of Sanskrit words is
not consistent through the book. The original spelling, accents, and
diacritical marks are retained.
2. The in-line notes refer to lines in the poems. These have been
converted to footnotes for easy reference. The information regarding
the line referred to is however retained.
NALA AND DAMAYANTI
AND OTHER POEMS
TRANSLATED FROM THE SANSCRIT INTO ENGLISH VERSE, WITH MYTHOLOGICAL
AND CRITICAL NOTES.
BY THE
REV. HENRY HART MILMAN, M. A.
PREBENDARY OF WESTMINSTER; MINISTER OF ST. MARGARET'S; AND LATE PROFESSOR
OF POETRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
OXFORD: D. A. TALBOYS.
M DCCC XXXV
* * * * *
TO MY MOTHER,
TO WHOM THESE TRANSLATIONS HAVE AFFORDED
MUCH PLEASURE,
AND TO WHOM, AT HER ADVANCED AGE,
TO HAVE AFFORDED PLEASURE
IS THE MOST GRATIFYING REWARD OF LITERARY
LABOUR,
THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED,
BY HER AFFECTIONATE SON.
* * * * *
CONTENTS:
NALA AND DAMAYANTI
NOTES
THE DEATH OF YAJNADATTA
NOTES
THE BRAHMIN'S LAMENT
NOTES
THE DELUGE
THE DESCENT OF THE GANGES
* * * * *
PREFACE.
Those friends who have taken an interest in my literary productions
may feel some surprise at my appearance in the character of a
translator of Sanscrit poetry. To those, and indeed to all who may
take up the present volume, I owe some explanation of my pretensions
as a faithful interpreter of my original text. Those pretensions are
very humble; and I can unfeignedly say, that if the field had been
likely to be occupied by others, who might unite poetical powers with
a profound knowledge of the sacred language of India, I should have
withdrawn at once from the competition. But, in fact, in this country
the students of oriental literature, endowed with a taste and feeling
for poetry, are so few in number, that any attempt to make known the
peculiar character of those remarkable works, the old mythological
epics of India, may be received with indulgence by all who are
interested in the history of poetry. Mr. Wilson alone, since Sir W.
Jones, has united a poetical genius with deep Sanscrit scholarship;
but he has in general preferred the later and more polished
period--that of Kalidasa and the dramatists--to the ruder, yet in my
opinion, not less curious and poetical strains of the older epic
bards.
A brief account of the manner in which I became engaged in these
studies, will best explain the extent of my proficiency. During the
two last years in which I held the office of Professor of Poetry in
the University of Oxford, having exhausted the subject which I had
chosen for my terminal course, I was at a loss for some materials for
the few remaining lectures before my office should expire. I had been
led by the ardent curiosity, which I have ever felt to acquire some
knowledge of the poetry of all ages and nations--to examine some of
the publications of French and German, as well as English scholars, on
the subject of Indian poetry; chiefly those of the Schlegels, of Bopp,
and of De Chezy. I was struck with the singularity and captivated by
the extreme beauty, as it appeared to me, of some of the extracts,
especially those from the great epic poems, the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana, in their Homeric simplicity so totally opposite to the
ordinary notions entertained of all eastern poetry. I was induced to
attempt, without any instruction, and with the few elementary works
which could be procured, the Grammars of Wilkins and Bopp, the
Glossaries of Bopp and Rosen (Mr. Wilson's Dictionary was then out of
print and could not be purchased), to obtain some knowledge of this
wonderful and mysterious language. The study grew upon me, and would
have been pursued with more ardour, perhaps with more success, but for
the constant interruption of more imperative professional and literary
avocations. In itself the Sanscrit is an inexhaustible subject of
interest; in its grammatical structure more regular, artificial, and
copious than the most perfect of the western languages; in its origin,
the parent from which the older Greek, the Latin and the Teutonic
tongues seem to branch out and develop themselves upon distinct and
discernible principles.
I ventured to communicate to the Members of the University who
attended my lectures, my discoveries, as it were, in the unknown
region of Indian poetry, and to introduce translations of such
passages as appeared to me of peculiar singularity or beauty. Though I
was still moving in the leading-strings of my learned guides, I had
obtained sufficient acquaintance with the language to compare their
interpretations with the original text. I afterwards embodied some
parts of my lectures in an article in the Quarterly Review, in order
to contribute as far as was in my power to open this new and almost
untrodden field of literature to the English reader.
Still I should not have presumed to form these translations into a
separate work, nor acceded to the proposal of the publisher of the
present volume, who has himself deserved so well of the students of
oriental lore by his excellent translation, or rather recomposition of
Adelung's "Historical Sketch of Sanscrit Literature," but for the
encouragement and assistance of Mr. Wilson, now, the University may be
proud to say, the Boden Professor of Sanscrit at Oxford. To his most
friendly care in revising these sheets, I owe the correction of many
errors; and Sanscrit scholars will find in the notes some observations
on the text, which will contribute to elucidate the poem of Nala.
Under the sanction of Mr. Wilson's revision, I may venture to hope
that the translation is, at least, an accurate version of the
original; and I cannot too strongly express my gratitude for the
labour which Mr. Wilson has been so kind as to expend on my imperfect
and unpretending work.
The versification, or rather the metrical system, which I have
adopted, is an experiment, how far a successful one must be judged by
others. The original verse in which the vast epics of Vyasa and
Valmiki are composed is called the Sloka, which is thus described by
Schlegel in his Indische Bibliothek, p. 36: "The oldest, most simple,
and most generally adopted measure is the Sloka; a distich of two
sixteen syllable-lines, divided at the eighth syllable." According to
our prosodial marks, the following is the scheme:--
u u u u | u - - - | u u u u | u - u -
- - - - | u | - - - - | u
u u u u | u - - - | u u u u | u - u u
- - - - | - u | - - - - | -
The first four syllables are bound by no rule; the second half, on the
contrary, is unalterably fixed, excepting that the last syllable has
the common licence of termination. In the second half verse, I do not
remember a single instance of deviation from this, though sometimes,
but very seldom, the first half verse ends with another quadrisyllable
foot. The reader who is curious on the subject, may compare Mr.
Colebrooke's elaborate essays on Sanscrit poetry, Kosegarten's preface
to his Translation of Nala, and Bopp's preface to his Translation of
Selections from the Mahabharata.
In the first translations which I attempted, a few passages from the
Bhagavat-Gita, I adhered as nearly as possible to the measure of the
original; in the Nala, in order to give the narrative a more easy and
trochaic flow, I omitted one syllable, and in some degree changed the
structure of the verse.
_July_ 1835.
NALA AND DAMAYANTI.
The episode of Nala is extracted from the Vanaparvam, the third part
of the Mahabharata, the great Indian poem, which contains 100,000
slokas, or distichs. The sage, Vrihadasva, relates the story of Nala
to king Yudishthira, in order to console him under the miseries to
which he was exposed by bad success in play. By the terms of the
gaming transaction, in which he was worsted by Sakuni, who threw the
dice for Duryodhana, he was condemned to wander with his brothers for
twelve years in the forest. The adventures of Nala showed how that
king, having been in the same manner unfortunate with the dice, had
suffered still greater toil and misery, and had at length recovered
his kingdom and his wife. The popularity of this fable with the
natives, is sufficiently proved by the numerous poetic versions of the
story. The Nalodaya, a poem ascribed to Kalidas, should first be
mentioned. A new edition of this work has been recently published by
Ferdinand Benary; we have a notice of it in the Quarterly Review: it
seems to bear the same relation to the simple and national episode of
the Mahabharata, as the seicentesti of Italy to Dante or Ariosto, or
Gongora to the poem of the Cid. Another poem called Naishadha, in
twenty-two books, does not complete the story, but only carries it as
far as the fifteenth book. There is a Tamulic version of the same
story, translated by Kindersley, in his specimens of Hindu Literature.
The third book of the poem of Sriharsha, containing 135 slokas, is
entirely occupied with the conversation between Damayanti and the
swans (the geese), in which the birds to excite her love, dwell with
diffuse eloquence on the praises of Nala.
NALA AND DAMAYANTI.
BOOK I.
Lived of yore, a raja, Nala,--Virasena's mighty son,
Gifted he with every virtue,--beauteous, skilled in taming steeds:
Head of all the kings of mortals--like the monarch of the gods,
Over, over all exalted[1]--in his splendour like the sun:
Holy, deep-read in the Vedas[2]--in Nishadha lord of earth;[3]
Loving dice, of truth unblemished[4]--chieftain of a mighty host.
The admired of noble women--generous, with each sense subdued.[5]
Guardian of the state; of archers--best, a present Manu[6] he.
So there dwelt in high Vidarbha[7]--Bhima, terrible in strength,[8]
With all virtues blest, but childless--long for children had he pined.
Many an holy act, on offspring[9]--still intent, had he performed.
To his court there came a Brahmin,--Damana the seer was named.
Him the child-desiring Bhima--in all duties skilled, received,
Feasted with his royal consort--in his hospitable hall.[10]
Pleased on him the grateful Daman,--and his queen a boon bestowed,
One sweet girl, the pearl of maidens--and three fair and noble sons.
Damayanti, Dama Danta--and illustrious Damana,
Richly gifted with all virtues--mighty, fearful in their might.
Damayanti with her beauty--with her brilliance, brightness, grace,
Through the worlds unrivalled glory--won the slender-waisted maid.
Her, arrived at bloom of beauty,--sate a hundred slaves around,
And a hundred virgin handmaids--as around great Indra's queen.[11]
In her court shone Bhima's daughter--decked with every ornament,
Mid her handmaids, like the lightning[12]--shone she with her faultless
form;[13]
Like the long-eyed queen of beauty--without rival, without peer.
Never mid the gods immortal--never mid the Yaksha race,[14]
Nor 'mong men was maid so lovely--ever heard of, ever seen,
As the soul-disturbing maiden--that disturbed the souls of gods.
Nala too, 'mong kings the tiger[15]--peerless among earthly men,
Like Kandarpa in his beauty[16]--like that bright-embodied God.
All around Vidarbha's princess--praised they Nala in their joy.
Ever praised they Damayanti--round Nishadha's noble king.
Hearing so each others virtues--all unseen they 'gan to love.
Thus of each, O son of Kunti,[17]--the deep silent passion grew.
Nala, in his heart impatient--longer that deep love to bear,
To the grove, in secret, wandered--by the palace' inmost court.
There the swans he saw disporting[18]--with their wings bedropped with gold:
Through the grove thus lightly moving--one of these bright birds he caught.
But the bird, in human language--thus the wondering king addressed:
"Slay me not, O gentle monarch!--I will do thee service true;
So in Damayanti's presence--will I praise Nishadha's king,
Never after shall the maiden--think of mortal man but thee."
Thus addressed, at once the monarch--let the bright-winged bird depart.
Flew away the swans rejoicing--to Vidarbha straight they flew;
To Vidharba's stately city:--there by Damayanti's feet,
Down with drooping plumes they settled--and she gazed upon the flock,
Wondering at their forms so graceful--where amid her maids she sate.
Sportively began the damsels--all around to chase the birds;
Scattering flew the swans before them--all about the lovely grove.
Lightly ran the nimble maidens,--every one her bird pursued;
But the swan that through the forest--gentle Damayanti chased,
Suddenly, in human language--spake to Damayanti thus.--
"Damayanti, in Nishadha--Nala dwells, the noble king--
Like the Aswinas in beauty,[19]--peerless among men is he.
O incomparable princess--to this hero wert thou wed,
Noble birth and perfect beauty--not unworthy fruit had borne.
Gods, Gandharvas,[20] men, the Serpents,[21]--and the Rakshasas[22] we've
seen,
All we've seen--of noble Nala--never have we seen the peer.
Pearl art thou among all women--Nala is the pride of men.
If the peerless wed the peerless--blessed must the union be."
When the bird thus strangely speaking--gentle Damayanti heard,
Answered thus the wondering maiden--"Thus to Nala, speak thou too."
"Be it so," replied the egg-born--to Vidarbha's beauteous maid.
Home then flew he to Nishadha--and to Nala told it all.