ततो निशाया दिवसस्य चाशिवः; शिवारुतः संधिर् अवर्तताद्भुतः ॥
कुशेशयापीडनिभे दिवाकरे; विलम्बमाने ऽस्तम् उपेत्य पर्वतम् ॥
वरासिशक्त्यृष्टिवरूथचर्मणां; विभूषणानां च समाक्षिपन् प्रभाम् ॥
दिवं च भूमिं च समानयन्न् इव; प्रियां तनुं भानुर् उपैति पावकम् ॥
महाभ्रकूटाचलशृङ्गसंनिभैर्; गजैर् अनेकैर् इव वज्रपातितैः ॥
सवैजयन्त्यङ्कुशवर्मयन्तृभिर्; निपातितैर् निष्टनतीव गौश् चिता ॥
tato niśāyā divasasya cāśivaḥ; śivārutaḥ saṃdhir avartatādbhutaḥ ||
kuśeśayāpīḍanibhe divākare; vilambamāne 'stam upetya parvatam ||
varāsiśaktyṛṣṭivarūthacarmaṇāṃ; vibhūṣaṇānāṃ ca samākṣipan prabhām ||
divaṃ ca bhūmiṃ ca samānayann iva; priyāṃ tanuṃ bhānur upaiti pāvakam ||
mahābhrakūṭācalaśṛṅgasaṃnibhair; gajair anekair iva vajrapātitaiḥ ||
savaijayantyaṅkuśavarmayantṛbhir; nipātitair niṣṭanatīva gauś citā ||
Then came an ominous, unprecedented junction of night and day, resounding with the howl of jackals. As the sun, the color of a lotus garland, sank lingering toward the mountain of its setting, taking the gleam from swords, spears, javelins, ramparts, shields and adornments, as though joining heaven and earth together, the sun-light descended into the fire, bearing away its beloved form. With elephants like the peaks of mountains and masses of clouds, struck down as though by the thunderbolt — with standards, goads, armor and drivers — the earth, heaped with the fallen, seems to moan.
0d70893bd662 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:30:04 PM UTC
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From this verse the meter shifts into the broad tristubh, and the very twilight becomes a lament: "aśivaḥ śivārutaḥ saṃdhiḥ" — the ominous junction of day and night, howling with jackals, at the hour of the boy's death. The wondrous image of the setting sun — "priyāṃ tanuṃ bhānur upaiti pāvakam," "bearing away its beloved form, the sun descends into the fire" — is as though the sun itself commits its own body to the funeral flame after the fallen one. And the earth, heaped with elephants like mountains, "groans." Here the verse teaches that at the passing of the pure, creation itself dims its light and bows into mourning.