Canonical Ref: SL 45
Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)
अरालैः स्वाभाव्यादलिकलभसश्रीभिरलकैः
परीतं ते वक्त्रं परिहसति पङ्केरुहरुचिम् ।
दरस्मेरे यस्मिन् दशनरुचिकिञ्जल्करुचिरे
सुगन्धौ माद्यन्ति स्मरदहनचक्षुर्मधुलिहः ॥ ४५॥
परीतं ते वक्त्रं परिहसति पङ्केरुहरुचिम् ।
दरस्मेरे यस्मिन् दशनरुचिकिञ्जल्करुचिरे
सुगन्धौ माद्यन्ति स्मरदहनचक्षुर्मधुलिहः ॥ ४५॥
English Scholarly Translation
Your face, surrounded by naturally curling locks resplendent with the beauty of young bees, laughs at
the beauty of the lotus. In that face, which is slightly smiling, made splendid by teeth-lustre as
stamens, and fragrant — the bees that drink honey from the eye of Śiva-who-burned-Love become
intoxicated.
the beauty of the lotus. In that face, which is slightly smiling, made splendid by teeth-lustre as
stamens, and fragrant — the bees that drink honey from the eye of Śiva-who-burned-Love become
intoxicated.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Classical Exegesis
【Title: The Curling Locks and the Fragrant Face】
The face-as-lotus (vadana-kamala) is a stock image in Sanskrit poetry,
but this verse renovates it through sustained rūpaka (metaphor). The teeth become the golden
stamens (kiñjalka) of the lotus; the face itself is the lotus-flower; the curling dark locks
around it are the bees (ali-kalabha) attracted to it. The pun on madhulīha
(honey-drinker = bee) and its qualification as "born from Śiva's third eye" collapses two registers: the
ordinary bee that circles a lotus, and the ecstatic devotee who drinks the nectar of consciousness from
the Goddess's face.
Padaccheda: अरालैः · स्वाभाव्यात् · अलि-कलभ-सश्रीभिः · अलकैः · परीतम् · ते · वक्त्रम् · परिहसति · पङ्केरुह-रुचिम् ·
दर-स्मेरे · यस्मिन् · दशन-रुचि-किञ्जल्क-रुचिरे · सुगन्धौ · माद्यन्ति · स्मरदहन-चक्षुः-मधुलिहः
Canonical CTS URN Reference
Saundaryalaharī, SL 45. Poorvam Open Research Engine (PORE) Corpus.