मेघदूतम् · कालिदास · 1.27
उज्जयिनी · the detour asked for
वक्रः पन्था यदपि भवतः प्रस्थितस्योत्तराशां
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखो मा स्म भूरुज्जयिन्याः
विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैस्तत्र पौराङ्गनानां
लोलापाङ्गैर्यदि न रमसे लोचनैर्वञ्चितोऽसि
pāda a
pāda b
pāda c
pāda d
पन्थाः + यत् → पन्था
ः + य्
यत् + अपि → यदपि
त् + अ
प्रस्थितस्य + उत्तराशाम् → प्रस्थितस्योत्तराशां
अ + उ → ओ
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः + मा → सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखो
ः + म्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
भूः + उज्जयिन्याः → भूरुज्जयिन्याः
ः + उ
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः + तत्र → विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैस्तत्र
ः + त्
पौराङ्गनानाम् + लोलापाङ्गैः → पौराङ्गनानां
म् + ल्
लोलापाङ्गैः + यदि → लोलापाङ्गैर्यदि
ः + य्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
लोचनैः + वञ्चितः → लोचनैर्वञ्चितोऽसि
ः + व्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
वञ्चितः + असि → लोचनैर्वञ्चितोऽसि
ः + अ → ओ
उत्तर + आशा → उत्तराशाम्
अ + आ → आ · falls inside the syllable रा
सौध + उत्सङ्ग → सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः
अ + उ → ओ · falls inside the syllable धो
उत्सङ्ग + प्रणय → सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः
अ + प्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
प्रणय + विमुख → सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः
अ + व्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
विद्युत् + दामन् → विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः
त् + द्
दामन् + स्फुरित → विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः
न् + स्
स्फुरित + चकित → विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः
अ + च्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
पौर + अङ्गना → पौराङ्गनानाम्
अ + अ → आ · falls inside the syllable रा
लोल + अपाङ्ग → लोलापाङ्गैः
अ + अ → आ · falls inside the syllable ला
This verse turns the visarga (the breath-h written ः) three different ways in three lines, and it is worth watching them side by side. Before a voiced consonant it goes to र्: लोलापाङ्गैः + यदि gives लोलापाङ्गैर्यदि, and लोचनैः + वञ्चितः gives लोचनैर्वञ्चितः. Before a vowel it also goes to र्: भूः + उज्जयिन्याः gives भूरुज्जयिन्याः. Before the hard dental त् it goes to स्: विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः + तत्र gives …चकितैस्तत्र. And before a short अ the ending -अः goes to ओ while the अ drops to an avagraha: वञ्चितः + असि gives वञ्चितोऽसि. Alongside these, पौराङ्गनानाम् keeps its final म् as अनुस्वार before ल् (पौराङ्गनानां लोचनैः), and यत् + अपि voices its त् to द् (यदपि). Inside the compounds the vowels fuse: सौध + उत्सङ्ग → सौधोत्सङ्ग (अ and उ to ओ), उत्तर + आशा → उत्तराशा and लोल + अपाङ्ग → लोलापाङ्ग (अ and अ to आ), and विद्युत् + दामन् → विद्युद्दाम voices त् to द् before द्.
वक्रः प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
पन्थाः प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
भवतः षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
with प्रस्थितस्य
उत्तराशाम् द्वितीया · accusative — कर्म, the object
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
उज्जयिन्याः षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
पौराङ्गनानाम् षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
लोचनैः तृतीया · instrumental — करण, the instrument or cause
with विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः, लोलापाङ्गैः
वञ्चितः प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
प्रकरण 1 · हलन्त्यम्
प्रकरण 2 · इको यणचि
प्रकरण 3 · स्तोः श्चुना श्चुः
प्रकरण 4 · वा शरि
प्रकरण 5 · अर्थवदधातुरप्रत्ययः प्रातिपदिकम्
प्रकरण 8 · हो ढः
प्रकरण 11 · स्वरादिनिपातमव्ययम्
प्रकरण 12 · लः कर्मणि च भावे चाकर्मकेभ्यः
प्रकरण 13 · अदिप्रभृतिभ्यः शपः
प्रकरण 22 · स्वतन्त्रः कर्ता
प्रकरण 34 · ण्वुल्तृचौ
प्रकरण 59 · इवे प्रतिकृतौ
not in the abridgement
उत्तराशाम्
उत्तर · आशा
उत्तरा आशा
कर्मधारय — the quarter, and it is the northern one
कर्मधारय. the north — Mallinātha glosses उदीचीं दिशम्. आशा is a direction here rather than a hope, which is the sense it carries everywhere in this poem
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“uttarāśāmudīcīṃ diśaṃ prati prasthitasya”
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः
सौध · उत्सङ्ग · प्रणय · विमुख
सौधानाम् उत्सङ्गाः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the flat tops of the mansions
सौधोत्सङ्गेषु प्रणयः
तत्पुरुष (locative) — and an acquaintance with them
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयस्य विमुखः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — turning your face away from it
तत्पुरुष. not to be turned away from getting to know the roofs of Ujjayinī — Yādava, whom Mallinātha quotes, gives प्रणय as acquaintance before he gives it love, and Mallinātha takes परिचय
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“saudhānāmutsaṅgeṣūparibhāgeṣu praṇayaḥ paricayaḥ … tasya vimukhaḥ parāṅmukho mā sma bhūḥ”
विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः
विद्युत् · दामन् · स्फुरित · चकित
विद्युतां दामानि
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — ropes of lightning
विद्युद्दाम्नां स्फुरितानि
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — and their flashings
स्फुरितेभ्यः चकितैः
तत्पुरुष (ablative) — startled by them
तत्पुरुष — it agrees with लोचनैः. eyes startled by the flare of your lightning — Mallinātha glosses दाम as विद्युल्लता, a creeper of lightning, and reads the case as ablative: startled *from* the flashes
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“vidyuddāmnāṃ vidyullatānāṃ sphuritebhyaḥ sphuraṇebhyaśca kitaiḥ”
पौराङ्गनानाम्
पौर · अङ्गना
पौराणाम् अङ्गनाः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the women of the townsmen
तत्पुरुष. the women of the city — the third set of women on this journey, after the Siddha women at 1.14 and the field-women at 1.16, and the first who are neither country nor divine
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“paurāṅganānāṃ locanairna ramase yadi”
लोलापाङ्गैः
लोल · अपाङ्ग
लोलः अपाङ्गः येषां तैः
बहुव्रीहि — by the ones whose eye-corners are restless
बहुव्रीहि — it refers to लोचनैः. eyes with unsettled corners — Mallinātha glosses चञ्चलकटाक्षैः, glances that will not hold still. अपाङ्ग is the same word that named the peacocks at 1.22, and here it is doing the opposite work
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“lolāpāṅgaiścañcalakaṭākṣaiḥ”
a-stem masculine, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
वक्रः
वक्र
crooked, bent — Mallinātha glosses दूरः, long: the road bends because Ujjayinī lies east of the Nirvindhyā and the northern road runs west of it
वक्रः means bent or crooked, and the road bends because Ujjayinī lies off to the side of the straight northward route. Mallinātha does not stop at “bent” — he glosses वक्रः as दूरः, long: the point of the word is that the detour adds distance. The whole first half is a concession held open by यदपि, “although”: although the road bends and lengthens, do not turn away. Vedam draws out why the delay costs nothing — the pleasure of the city's startled glances is worth more than the time a straight road would save, so the crooked road is the one to take.
in-stem masculine, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
पन्थाः
printed पन्था
पथिन्
the road — the same stem as the पथि of 1.14, and this is the strong form of it. The printed पन्था is the visarga lost before a य. पथिन् is irregular: it declines on पन्थान् in the strong cases, so the nominative singular is पन्थाः
अव्यय
यत्
printed यदपि
यद्
— with अपि it makes "although", which is what holds the two halves of the verse apart
अव्यय
अपि
printed यदपि
अपि
even so — Mallinātha finishes the sentence the particle starts: तथापि, and yet
at-stem masculine, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
भवतः
भवत्
your honour's — the polite "you" again, as at 1.22. भवत् is the polite word for you and stands where a pronoun would, but its endings are the ordinary at-stem ones
√स्था + क्त, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
प्रस्थितस्य
printed प्रस्थितस्योत्तराशां
प्रस्थित, from प्र + √स्था
set out — a past participle used actively: of you, who have started off
ā-stem feminine, द्वितीया एकवचन accusative singular
उत्तराशाम्
printed प्रस्थितस्योत्तराशां
आशा
the quarter — in the accusative because प्रस्थित takes the direction one starts towards. Mallinātha supplies प्रति to make that plain
आशा usually means hope or longing, and everywhere else in this poem it does; here it means a quarter of the compass, and उत्तराशा is the north, which Mallinātha glosses उदीचीं दिशम्. The word stands in the accusative because प्रस्थित, “set out”, takes the goal one starts towards, and Mallinātha supplies प्रति, “towards”, to make that plain. Vedam hears a second thing in the word: by a pun (śleṣa) उत्तराशा can also suggest a woman — the “further hope” — so the very line that sends the cloud north whispers of a beloved as well.
a-stem masculine, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः
printed सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखो
विमुख
with the face turned away — Mallinātha glosses पराङ्मुखः. The same word stood at the end of 1.17, of a man who turns a friend away
प्रणय almost always means love or fond attachment, but here Mallinātha, following Yādava, takes it in its plainer sense of परिचय, acquaintance — “getting to know” the roofs. The compound stacks three tatpuruṣa (dependent-compound) links: सौधानाम् उत्सङ्गाः, the laps, that is the flat tops, of the mansions; प्रणय with those tops, an acquaintance with them; and विमुख from that acquaintance, turned away from it. विमुख Mallinātha glosses पराङ्मुखः, face-averted — the same word that closed 1.17 of a man who turns a friend away. So the whole long word is one charge: “do not be someone who turns his face from getting to know Ujjayinī's roof-terraces.”
अव्यय
मा
मा
do not — the particle of prohibition, which is what takes the place of a negative imperative in Sanskrit
अव्यय
स्म
स्म
— it goes with मा and changes which tense the verb has to be in, which Mallinātha names
√भू, class 1, लङ्, parasmaipada, second person singular
भूः
printed भूरुज्जयिन्याः
√भू
be — the imperfect with its अ- taken off. Mallinātha names both halves of the rule: with स्म following, the tense is लङ्, and "na māṅyoge" blocks the augment that would otherwise stand in front. So मा स्म भूः is "do not be"
मा स्म भूः, “do not be”, shows how Sanskrit forbids a thing — not with a negative imperative but with the particle मा. Mallinātha spells out the grammar in two steps. By the rule “smottare laṅ ca”, when स्म follows मा the verb is put in लङ्, the form otherwise used for the simple past (the imperfect); so the verb here wears a past-tense shape even though the sense is a command about what is to come. Then the rule “na māṅyoge” blocks the अ- that such a past-tense form normally carries in front (the augment), so the form is भूः, not अभूः. Put together, मा स्म भूः is “do not be [turned away]”. The particle मा carries the prohibition; the verb only supplies the action.
ī-stem feminine, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
उज्जयिन्याः
printed भूरुज्जयिन्याः
उज्जयिनी
of Ujjayinī — Mallinātha calls it विशालनगर, the wide city, and quotes Utpala for the two names being one place
√चक् + क्त, तृतीया बहुवचन instrumental plural
विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः
printed विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैस्तत्र
चकित, from √चक्
startled — the same participle that was doubled into an adverb at 1.14, and here it is an adjective on the eyes
अव्यय
तत्र
printed विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैस्तत्र
तत्र
there — Mallinātha places it: उज्जयिन्याम्
ā-stem feminine, षष्ठी बहुवचन genitive plural
पौराङ्गनानाम्
printed पौराङ्गनानां
अङ्गना
of the women — the same word as at 1.14, where it was the Siddhas' wives looking up
a-stem neuter, तृतीया बहुवचन instrumental plural
लोलापाङ्गैः
printed लोलापाङ्गैर्यदि
अपाङ्ग
the outer corner of the eye — but the compound is a bahuvrīhi and means the eyes that have restless ones. The word is masculine as a noun and neuter here, taking the gender of the लोचनैः it describes
अव्यय
यदि
printed लोलापाङ्गैर्यदि
यदि
if — and Mallinātha supplies the तर्हि the verse leaves out
अव्यय
न
न
not
√रम्, class 1, लट्, atmanepada, second person singular
रमसे
√रम्
you take pleasure — a middle verb, which is the voice for what a subject does for its own sake, and the right one for this
a-stem neuter, तृतीया बहुवचन instrumental plural
लोचनैः
printed लोचनैर्वञ्चितोऽसि
लोचन
with the eyes — the instrumental that रम् takes for what one is delighted by
√वञ्च् + णिच् + क्त, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
वञ्चितः
printed लोचनैर्वञ्चितोऽसि
वञ्चित, from √वञ्च् with णिच्
cheated — Mallinātha glosses प्रतारितः and then says by whom, or rather of what: जन्मवैफल्यं भवेत्, your whole existence would have been wasted
√अस्, class 2, लट्, parasmaipada, second person singular
असि
printed लोचनैर्वञ्चितोऽसि
√अस्
you are — the present, not a conditional: the yakṣa says it as a thing already true rather than a thing that might follow
उत्तराशाम् · प्रस्थितस्य · भवतः · पन्थाः · वक्रः · यत् · अपि · उज्जयिन्याः · सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः · मा · स्म · भूः · तत्र · विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः · लोलापाङ्गैः · पौराङ्गनानाम् · लोचनैः · यदि · न · रमसे · वञ्चितः · असि
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, whose commentary is written as anvaya“ihānvayamukhenaiva sarvaṃ vyākhyāyate mayā”
the dependency structure
भूः · क्रिया — do not be turned away; मा स्म भूः is the verse's main charge, which Mallinātha reads न भवेत्यर्थः, “let it not be”
मा · the particle of prohibition — Sanskrit's way of forbidding, standing in for a negative imperative
स्म · goes with मा — it fixes which past-tense form the verb must take, which Mallinātha names
सौधोत्सङ्गप्रणयविमुखः · predicate — the state forbidden: with your face turned from getting to know Ujjayinī's roof-terraces; Mallinātha पराङ्मुखः
उज्जयिन्याः · षष्ठी — of Ujjayinī, whose roof-terraces these are; Mallinātha विशालनगरस्य
पन्थाः · the road — subject of the concessive clause held apart by यदपि / तथापि
वक्रः · predicate — bent, and so long; Mallinātha glosses दूरः
यत् · with अपि — although
अपि · even so
भवतः · षष्ठी — your honour's, of you; the polite भवत्
प्रस्थितस्य · agreeing with भवतः — of you who have set out
उत्तराशाम् · कर्म — towards the north, the quarter you started for; Mallinātha supplies प्रति
असि · you are — the conclusion of the condition: वञ्चितः असि, you are cheated
वञ्चितः · predicate — cheated; Mallinātha प्रतारितः, your very birth wasted
रमसे · the यदि clause — if you do not take your pleasure
यदि · if — Mallinātha supplies the तर्हि that answers it
न · not
तत्र · there — Mallinātha places it उज्जयिन्याम्
लोचनैः · करण — with the eyes, what रम् takes for the thing one is delighted by
पौराङ्गनानाम् · षष्ठी — of the city's women
विद्युद्दामस्फुरितचकितैः · agreeing with लोचनैः — startled by the flare of your lightning; Mallinātha reads पञ्चमी inside the compound, startled from the flashes
लोलापाङ्गैः · agreeing with लोचनैः — whose eye-corners are restless; Mallinātha चञ्चलकटाक्षैः
uncheckedMallinātha’s Sañjīvinī for the anvaya and the reading; the Telugu drawn from Vedam Venkataraya Sastri’s Āndhra Meghasandeśam and the Bālānandinī
Even though the road bends for you, who set out towards the north — do not turn your face from getting to know the roof-terraces of Ujjayinī. If you do not take your pleasure there in the eyes of the city's women, their corners restless, startled by the flare of your lightning, then you have been cheated.
uncheckedthe reader's reading, following Mallinātha's gloss
Though the road bends and lengthens for you, who have set out towards the north — do not turn your face from getting to know the roof-terraces of Ujjayinī. If you do not take your pleasure there in the eyes of the city's women, their corners restless, startled by the flare of your lightning, then you have been cheated of your very birth.
No figure is named for this verse by the commentary this reading follows, so none is shown.