Canonical Ref: SL 88
Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)
पदं ते कीर्तीनां प्रपदमपदं देवि विपदां
कथं नीतं सद्भिः कठिनकमठीकर्परतुलाम् ।
कथं वा बाहुभ्यामुपयमनकाले पुरभिदा
यदादाय न्यस्तं दृषदि दयमानेन मनसा ॥ ८८॥
कथं नीतं सद्भिः कठिनकमठीकर्परतुलाम् ।
कथं वा बाहुभ्यामुपयमनकाले पुरभिदा
यदादाय न्यस्तं दृषदि दयमानेन मनसा ॥ ८८॥
English Scholarly Translation
O Goddess! Your foot — the foremost seat of glories and the destroyer of
calamities — how did the virtuous bring it to comparison with the hard shell of a female tortoise? Or
how, at the time of the wedding, did the compassion-minded destroyer of the Triple City (Śiva) take it
with his arms and place it on the stone?
calamities — how did the virtuous bring it to comparison with the hard shell of a female tortoise? Or
how, at the time of the wedding, did the compassion-minded destroyer of the Triple City (Śiva) take it
with his arms and place it on the stone?
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Classical Exegesis
【Title: The Feet — The Place of Glories, Placed on Stone at the Wedding】
The comparison of the soft sole of a beautiful foot to the hard shell of a female
tortoise (kamaṭhī-karpara) is a standard convention of Sanskrit foot-description poetry: the
slightly convex, smooth underside of the foot resembles the domed, smooth surface of a tortoise-shell.
The verse expresses mock-outrage at this comparison: how could poets dare to compare the most glorious,
calamity-destroying foot of the Goddess to something so lowly as a tortoise-shell? The second part of
the verse wonders how Śiva could place such a sacred foot on the rough wedding stone (the
aśmarohana ceremony).
Padaccheda: पदम् · ते · कीर्तीनाम् · प्रपदम् · अपदम् · देवि · विपदाम् · कथम् · नीतम् · सद्भिः ·
कठिन-कमठी-कर्पर-तुलाम् · कथम् · वा · बाहुभ्याम् · उपयमन-काले · पुरभिदा · यत् · आदाय · न्यस्तम् · दृषदि ·
दयमानेन · मनसा
Canonical CTS URN Reference
Saundaryalaharī, SL 88. Poorvam Open Research Engine (PORE) Corpus.