sakhī-vaśā—
vraja-rāja-kumāra karkaśe
sukumārīṁ tvayi nārpayāmy amum |
kalabhendra-kare navodayāṁ
nalinīṁ kaḥ kurute janaḥ kṛtī ||
The verse — decoded
L1other
vraja-rāja-kumāra karkaśe
vraja-rāja-kumāraO prince of Vraja — son of the king of Vraja (Kṛṣṇa), addressed vocativeहे व्रजराज-कुमार (हे व्रज के राजा नन्द के पुत्र)
karkaśeyou being rough, hard-handed — pairs with tvayi in the next line loc., agrees with tvayiकठोर (रूखे स्वभाव वाले) तुझ पर — यह 'तुझ पर' का विशेषण है
vraja-rāja-kumāra — O prince of Vraja; karkaśe (tvayi) — to you, rough as you are.
हे व्रजराज-कुमार! कठोर (रूखे स्वभाव वाले) तुझ पर —
Lalitā calls out: 'O prince of Vraja!' And in the same breath she flags what he is — rough, hard-handed. That word 'karkaśe' waits to lock onto 'you' (tvayi) in the next line: 'to you, rough as you are.'
हे व्रज के राजा के पुत्र! तू तो कठोर (रूखे स्वभाव वाला) है।
karkaśe is not a second vocative; it is a locative that goes with tvayi ('in/to you'). Lalitā's whole objection is packed into that one word — the man she is asked to trust is rough.
L2other
sukumārīṁ tvayi nārpayāmy amum |
sukumārīmthis delicate, tender girl — the object she will not part with acc.इस अत्यन्त कोमल (सुकुमारी) कन्या को
tvayiinto your keeping — one entrusts a thing INTO someone loc. governed by arpaṇaतुझ पर (जिस पर सौंपना है)
na arpayāmiI will not hand over, I refuse to entrust na negates the verbमैं अर्पित नहीं करती (सौंपती नहीं)
amumthis one right here — pointing to the girl demonstrative; masc. acc. form pointing to fem. sukumārīmइसको (इस कोमल कन्या को)
amum sukumārīm — this very tender girl; karkaśe tvayi — to you, rough as you are; na arpayāmi — I do not entrust.
इस अत्यन्त कोमल (सुकुमारी) को तुझ पर मैं अर्पित नहीं करती।
'This tender girl — I will not hand her over to you.' The verb of entrusting (arpaṇa) puts 'you' in the locative: you place a thing INTO someone's keeping, and Lalitā refuses to place Rādhā into his. The pointing word 'amum' jabs at the girl standing there: 'this one, right here.'
इस अत्यन्त कोमल कन्या को मैं तुझ पर नहीं सौंपती।
amum is masculine accusative in form though it points to the feminine sukumārīm; read it deictically ('this very one'), a common looseness in the demonstrative.
'अमुम्' पुल्लिंग द्वितीया रूप है, यद्यपि यह स्त्रीलिंग 'सुकुमारीम्' की ओर संकेत करता है।
L3other
kalabhendra-kare navodayāṁ
kalabhendra-kareinto the trunk of a lordly elephant — kalabha-indra, the mightiest of the young bull-elephants; kara here is its trunk loc. of placeगजराज (मत्त हाथी) की सूँड़ में
navodayāmjust-blossomed, only now opened — describing the lotus in the next line acc. fem., modifies nalinīmअभी-अभी खिली हुई (नवोदित) — नलिनी का विशेषण
kalabhendra-kare — into a mighty elephant's trunk; navodayāṁ (nalinīm) — a freshly opened lotus.
गजराज की सूँड़ में अभी-अभी खिली हुई (नवोदित) —
Now the picture that carries the argument. On one side, the trunk of a huge bull-elephant. On the other, a lotus that has only just opened — 'navodayā,' newly risen. 'Kara' is the elephant's grasping trunk. Hold both images: they set up the rhetorical question in the last line.
मतवाले गजराज की सूँड़ में अभी नई-नई खिली हुई —
kalabha = a young elephant; kalabha-indra = its 'lord,' i.e. a great rutting bull. The elephant's roughness matches the 'karkaśe' of line 1; the tender lotus matches the 'sukumārī' of line 2.
L4other
nalinīṁ kaḥ kurute janaḥ kṛtī ||
nalinīma lotus, a lotus-flower — the delicate thing at risk acc.नलिनी (कमलिनी) को
kaḥ ... janaḥwhat person? — rhetorical; the expected answer is 'no one' nom. subjectकौन-सा व्यक्ति (मनुष्य)
kṛtīwho has any sense, who knows what he is doing nom., modifies janaḥचतुर (निपुण, समझदार) — 'जन' का विशेषण
kurutewould place, would put [it there] kṛ here = 'set, place'रखता (स्थापित करता) है
kaḥ kṛtī janaḥ — what sensible person; navodayāṁ nalinīṁ — a freshly opened lotus; kalabhendra-kare — into a mighty elephant's trunk; kurute — would put?
कौन चतुर व्यक्ति नलिनी को (ऐसी जगह) रखता है?
'What person with any sense would put a freshly opened lotus into a bull-elephant's trunk?' It is a rhetorical question — the answer is 'no one.' Read the picture off point by point: the lotus is the tender girl (Rādhā); the elephant is the rough Kṛṣṇa; his grasping trunk is his rough, forward hands, which would crush her. A general truth — nobody hands something delicate to something that crushes — is set down to prove the particular refusal of lines 1–2. That move (general truth backing a specific claim) is the figure Viśvanātha names next as arthāntara-nyāsa. Where the picture stops: an elephant cannot stop being an elephant — but Kṛṣṇa can change, and Viśvanātha's next note turns that opening into the real demand ('become gentle like a bee').
भला कौन समझदार व्यक्ति कोमल कमलिनी को मतवाले हाथी की सूँड़ में रख देता है?
Commentary — decoded
Jīva Gosvāmī
s1other
na vyākhyātam |
na vyākhyātamnot commented on — Jīva passes this verse over without explanation na + past participleव्याख्या नहीं की गई
na vyākhyātam — [it was] not explained.
इसकी व्याख्या नहीं की गई।
Jīva Gosvāmī gives no comment on this verse — his commentary simply passes it by. That is all the entry says.
इस श्लोक की व्याख्या नहीं की गई।
An editorial marker, not an interpretation: it records that Jīva's commentary is silent here, so the decode below rests on Viśvanātha.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī
s1avataranika
abhisāritāṁ rādhāṁ śrī-kṛṣṇa-samīpe balād ākṛṣyamānīyāpi tasya hastauddhatyam ālakṣya punas tāṁ parāvartayantī lalitā prāha—vrajeti |
abhisāritāṁ rādhāmRādhā, who had been sent out to the tryst (the abhisārikā, made to go meet her lover) acc., object of ākṛṣya-ānīyaअभिसार को गई हुई राधा को
śrī-kṛṣṇa-samīperight up close to Śrī Kṛṣṇa loc. of destinationश्रीकृष्ण के पास (की ओर)
balād ākṛṣya ānīya apieven after forcibly dragging her and bringing her — balāt 'by force,' api 'even though' two gerunds; api concessiveबलपूर्वक खींचकर और ले आकर भी
tasya hastauddhatyam ālakṣyaon noticing how forward his hands were — hasta-auddhatya, the eager aggressiveness of his hands gerund; tasya = Kṛṣṇa'sउस (कृष्ण) के हाथ की उद्धतता (धृष्टता) को देखकर
punaḥ tāṁ parāvartayantīturning her back around again, leading her away once more present participle, fem., of Lalitāफिर उस (राधा) को लौटाती हुई (पीछे मोड़ती हुई)
lalitā prāhaLalitā speaks main verbललिता ने कहा —
vrajetithe verse beginning 'vraja...' iti citing the pratīka'व्रज' इत्यादि (यह श्लोक), ऐसा कहकर
lalitā — Lalitā; abhisāritāṁ rādhāṁ — Rādhā sent out to the tryst; balād ākṛṣya ānīya api — even after forcibly dragging and bringing her; śrī-kṛṣṇa-samīpe — right up to Śrī Kṛṣṇa; tasya hastauddhatyam ālakṣya — noticing the forwardness of his hands; punaḥ tāṁ parāvartayantī — turning her back again; prāha — speaks; vrajeti — the verse 'vraja...'.
अभिसार को गई राधा को श्रीकृष्ण के पास बलपूर्वक खींच-लाकर भी, उस (कृष्ण) के हाथ की उद्धतता देखकर, फिर उसे लौटाती हुई ललिता ने कहा — 'व्रज' इत्यादि।
Here is the scene Viśvanātha paints. Rādhā had set out for the tryst; Lalitā had even dragged her by force right up to Kṛṣṇa. But then Lalitā sees how forward Kṛṣṇa's hands are — too eager, too grabby. So she turns Rādhā around and pulls her back again, and it is at that moment she speaks the verse beginning 'vraja.' Note the irony Viśvanātha builds: the very friend who forced Rādhā forward is now the one yanking her back — the heroine is wholly 'sakhī-vaśā,' in her friend's hands.
अभिसार के लिए निकली राधा को (सखियाँ) बलपूर्वक श्रीकृष्ण के पास खींच लाईं। परन्तु कृष्ण के हाथ की उतावली (धृष्टता) देखकर ललिता राधा को फिर लौटाती हुई यह 'व्रज...' श्लोक कहती है।
abhisārikā / abhisāritā: the heroine who goes out (or is sent out) to meet her lover at an appointed place — a standard nāyikā-type; here it fixes why Rādhā was brought to Kṛṣṇa in the first place.
s2definition
kalabhednrety arthāntara-nyāsaḥ |
kalabhendra itithe line beginning 'kalabhendra...' — i.e. the elephant-and-lotus image of lines 3–4 iti marks the pratīka'कलभेन्द्र' इत्यादि (आगे का चरण)
arthāntara-nyāsaḥis an arthāntara-nyāsa — the figure in which a general truth is laid down to back up a particular claim nom., predicateअर्थान्तरन्यास अलंकार है (सामान्य कथन से विशेष बात का समर्थन)
kalabhendra iti — the 'kalabhendra' line; arthāntara-nyāsaḥ — is an arthāntara-nyāsa.
'कलभेन्द्र...' इत्यादि चरण में अर्थान्तरन्यास अलंकार है।
Viśvanātha names the figure of speech: that elephant-and-lotus line is an arthāntara-nyāsa. The particular claim ('I won't give you Rādhā') is propped up by a general maxim ('nobody puts a lotus in an elephant's trunk'). Naming the figure tells the class exactly how lines 3–4 do their work on lines 1–2.
'कलभेन्द्र-करे...' वाला चरण अर्थान्तरन्यास अलंकार है।
arthāntara-nyāsa ('laying down another sense'): a rhetorical figure of Sanskrit poetics where a specific statement is corroborated by a general truth, or a general truth by a specific instance. Here the general truth supports the specific refusal. Source text reads 'kalabhednrety,' a metathesis for 'kalabhendrety' (= kalabhendra iti).
s3conclusion
tena svasya kalabhendratvaṁ parityajya yadi bhramaratvam aṅgīkuruṣe tadaivemāṁ dāsyāmīti bhāvaḥ ||
tenaso, on that logic — following out the image just named instr. as connectiveइसलिए (अतः)
svasya kalabhendratvaṁ parityajyagiving up your being-an-elephant — dropping your rough, elephant-like nature gerund; svasya = 'your own'अपने कलभेन्द्र-भाव (गजराजपन) को त्यागकर
yadi bhramaratvam aṅgīkuruṣeif you take on being-a-bee instead — a bee sips the lotus gently and never crushes it yadi 'if'; conditionalयदि तू भ्रमरत्व (भौंरे का भाव) स्वीकार कर ले
tadā evathen and only then eva restrictsतभी (उसी समय)
imāṁ dāsyāmiI will hand her over future; imām = 'her'इस (राधा) को दे दूँगी
iti bhāvaḥ— such is the inner sense of it closes the bhāva— ऐसा अभिप्राय है
tena — on that logic; svasya kalabhendratvaṁ parityajya — giving up your elephant-nature; yadi bhramaratvam aṅgīkuruṣe — if you adopt bee-nature; tadā eva — only then; imāṁ dāsyāmi — will I give her; iti bhāvaḥ — such is the meaning.
इसलिए, अपने कलभेन्द्रत्व (गजराजपन) को त्यागकर यदि तू भ्रमरत्व स्वीकार करे, तभी इस (राधा) को दूँगी — ऐसा भाव है।
Viśvanātha unpacks the unspoken point. An elephant crushes the lotus; a bee sips at it gently and does no harm. So Lalitā is really saying: 'Give up being the rough elephant. Become gentle like a bee — and only then will I hand Rādhā over to you.' The refusal is not final; it is a condition. This is where the arthāntara-nyāsa pays off: the image does not just block Kṛṣṇa, it tells him exactly how to change.
अभिप्राय यह है — अपने कठोर गजराज-स्वभाव को छोड़कर यदि तू कोमल भ्रमर का भाव अपना ले, तभी मैं इस (राधा) को तुझे सौंपूँगी।
kalabhendratva / bhramaratva are coined abstracts — 'elephant-hood' and 'bee-hood' — the roughness and the gentleness the two creatures stand for; the demand is that Kṛṣṇa trade the one for the other.