A Queen's Eulogy

In the city named the Temple of Patience,

in the city of Former Eloquence, and eventually

in the city of Angkor, this Brahmin girl of royal rank

became the beloved of King Jayavarman.

Her lowered head on the raised feet of the king,

she approached the Ganges, whose fallen feet lay on Shiva’s head.

Among the lovelies who loved learning, she scattered the king’s favors,

lovely nectars in the form of learning.

Wise by nature, a polymath, perfectly pure,

devoted to King Jayavarman,

having composed this pure paean

at the expense of all other arts, she gleamed.

Queen Indradevi (c. 1181-1218), Translated from Sanskrit by Trent Walker

From 1190–1200, Indradevi penned a composition eulogizing her late younger sister, Jayarajadevi. Her composition was inscribed on a large stone stele at Phimeanakas temple in Angkor Thom. The composition was in Sanskrit, comprised of 102 stanzas, the last three are included above. Trent Walker also recorded his chanting of the above stanzas in their original Sanskrit. Give it a listen

Winter is Now Here

Stacks of ripe rice and sugar-cane cover the earth

The air rings with the hidden calls of curlews:

Love grows exuberant: Dear to lovely women,

Winter is now here; hear now, my love.

People close their windows tight, light fires,

Keep warm in the sun and wear heavy garments:

Men find the company of youthful women

Pleasing at this time of the year.

This wintry season that abounds with sweet rice,

and sugar-cane,

and mounds of dark palm-sugar dainties:

when Love waxes proud

and Love’s sport is at fever-pitch;

when the anguish is intense of parted lovers:

May this season be to you ever auspicious.

Cantos 1, 2 and 16 of the Gathering of the Seasons by Kālidāsa (5th century CE)

Control the Present

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence;

The Bliss of Growth,

The Glory of Action,

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And Tomorrow is barely a Vision;

But Today well lived makes every

Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, and every

Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn.

Kālidāsa (5th century CE)

Branch Out

You cannot count on the physical proximity of someone you love all the time. A seed that sprouts at the foot of its parent tree remains stunted until it is transplanted. When the time comes, every human being has to depart to seek his fulfillment in his own way.

The Rámáyana of Válmíki (5th century BCE) 

Love is a Tyrant

She - of whom I am constantly thinking, has no love towards me. She loves another person and he is interested in another woman. Some other lady is longing for me. Fie her, him, the Cupid, that lady and me too. 

 The Śatakatraya or The Three Hundred (5^th Century CE) by Bhartṛhari

Autumn Has Arrived!

Robed in pale silk plumes of kasa blooms,

Full-blown lotuses her beautiful face,

The calls of rapturous wild geese

The music of her anklet bells,

Ripening grain, lightly bending, her lissome form:

Autumn has now arrived, enchanting as a bride.

 Autumn from Ṛtusaṃhāra or Gathering of the Seasons by Kālidāsa (5th century CE)

*Note: Kasa is a name of a variety of grass.