Canonical Ref: SL 94
Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)
कलङ्कः कस्तूरी रजनिकरबिम्बं जलमयं
कलाभिः कर्पूरैर्मरकतकरण्डं निबिडितम् ।
अतस्त्वद्भोगेन प्रतिदिनमिदं रिक्तकुहरं
विधिर्भूयोभूयो निबिडयति नूनं तव कृते ॥ ९४॥
कलाभिः कर्पूरैर्मरकतकरण्डं निबिडितम् ।
अतस्त्वद्भोगेन प्रतिदिनमिदं रिक्तकुहरं
विधिर्भूयोभूयो निबिडयति नूनं तव कृते ॥ ९४॥
English Scholarly Translation
The moon's blemish is musk, its disc is a water-mirror, its digits are
camphor — [all of this] packed into an emerald box. Therefore this [moon], whose hollow is emptied daily
by your use, Brahma certainly refills again and again for your sake.
camphor — [all of this] packed into an emerald box. Therefore this [moon], whose hollow is emptied daily
by your use, Brahma certainly refills again and again for your sake.
व्याख्या / Traditional Commentary & Notes
Classical Exegesis
【Title: The Moon as a Mirror-Box Refilled for the Goddess's Use】
The verse reinterprets all the features of the moon as components of a woman's
cosmetic set: the dark spot (kalaṅka) is musk (kastūrī); the bright surface
(bimba) is a water-mirror (jalamaya darpaṇa); the moon's digits (kalā) are
sticks of camphor (karpūra); and the whole is an emerald-green box (marakata-karaṇḍa,
the emerald-green of the new moon's absence). The Goddess uses the moon nightly as her cosmetics-box,
emptying it of musk, mirror-use, and camphor; the waning of the moon is thus explained as the Goddess's
nightly beauty routine consuming its contents. Brahma refills it each lunar cycle for her continued use.
Padaccheda: कलङ्कः · कस्तूरी · रजनिकर-बिम्बम् · जलमयम् · कलाभिः · कर्पूरैः · मरकत-करण्डम् · निबिडितम्
· अतः · त्वत्-भोगेन · प्रतिदिनम् · इदम् · रिक्त-कुहरम् · विधिः · भूयोभूयः · निबिडयति · नूनम् · तव · कृते
Canonical CTS URN Reference
Saundaryalaharī, SL 94. Poorvam Open Research Engine (PORE) Corpus.