मेघदूतम् · कालिदास · 1.39
उज्जयिनी · the women out in the dark
गच्छन्तीनां रमणवसतिं योषितां तत्र नक्तं
रुद्धालोके नरपतिपथे सूचिभेद्यैस्तमोभिः
सौदामिन्या कनकनिकषस्निग्धया दर्शयोर्वीं
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरो मा स्म भूर्विक्लवास्ताः
pāda a
pāda b
pāda c
pāda d
गच्छन्तीनाम् + रमणवसतिम् → गच्छन्तीनां
म् + र्
रमणवसतिम् + योषिताम् → रमणवसतिं
म् + य्
योषिताम् + तत्र → योषितां
म् + त्
नक्तम् + रुद्धालोके → नक्तं
म् + र्
सूचिभेद्यैः + तमोभिः → सूचिभेद्यैस्तमोभिः
ः + त्
दर्शय + उर्वीम् → दर्शयोर्वीं
अ + उ → ओ
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः + मा → तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरो
ः + म्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
भूः + विक्लवाः → भूर्विक्लवास्ताः
ः + व्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
विक्लवाः + ताः → भूर्विक्लवास्ताः
ः + त्
रमण + वसति → रमणवसतिम्
अ + व्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
रुद्ध + आलोक → रुद्धालोके
अ + आ → आ · falls inside the syllable द्धा
नर + पति → नरपतिपथे
अ + प्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
पति + पथिन् → नरपतिपथे
इ + प्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
सूचि + भेद्य → सूचिभेद्यैः
इ + भ्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
कनक + निकष → कनकनिकषस्निग्धया
अ + न्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
निकष + स्निग्ध → कनकनिकषस्निग्धया
अ + स्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
तोय + उत्सर्ग → तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः
अ + उ → ओ · falls inside the syllable यो
उत्सर्ग + स्तनित → तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः
अ + स्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
स्तनित + मुखर → तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः
अ + म्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
The stanza's first half runs on म् as अनुस्वार before consonants (Pāṇini 8.3.23): गच्छन्तीनां रमण-, रमणवसतिं योषिताम्, योषितां तत्र, नक्तं रुद्धालोके. सूचिभेद्यैस्तमोभिः and भूर्विक्लवास्ताः carry the visarga's two outcomes — before the dental त् it goes to स् (8.3.34), before the voiced व् it goes to र्, so भूः + विक्लवाः + ताः prints भूर्विक्लवास्ताः, र् and स् in one word. दर्शयोर्वीं is guṇa, the अ of दर्शय meeting the उ of उर्वीम् to give ओ (6.1.87): दर्शय + उर्वीम्. And तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरो loses its visarga to ओ before the म् of मा, the same visarga-before-voiced outcome written as the vowel change.
रमणवसतिम् द्वितीया · accusative — कर्म, the object
योषिताम् षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
with गच्छन्तीनाम्
नक्तम् द्वितीया · accusative — क्रियाविशेषण / कालाधिकरण — an adverbial accusative of time, where prose would use the locative
नक्तम् is an accusative in form but a time-adverb in force, ‘by night.’ Mallinātha glosses it रात्रौ, putting it in the locative — the case prose uses for a time — which shows the accusative here is not an object but doing the locative's adverbial work.
नरपतिपथे सप्तमी · locative — अधिकरण, the location
with रुद्धालोके
तमोभिः तृतीया · instrumental — करण, the instrument or cause
with सूचिभेद्यैः
सौदामिन्या तृतीया · instrumental — करण, the instrument or cause
with कनकनिकषस्निग्धया
उर्वीम् द्वितीया · accusative — कर्म, the object
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
विक्लवाः प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
ताः 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 6 · औङ आपः
प्रकरण 7 · अतोऽम्
प्रकरण 8 · हो ढः
प्रकरण 12 · लः कर्मणि च भावे चाकर्मकेभ्यः
प्रकरण 22 · स्वतन्त्रः कर्ता
प्रकरण 33 · धातोः
प्रकरण 34 · ण्वुल्तृचौ
प्रकरण 60 · स्त्रियाम्
not in the abridgement
रमणवसतिम्
रमण · वसति
रमणस्य वसतिः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the lover's house
तत्पुरुष. the lover's house — Mallinātha glosses प्रियभवनम् and then writes in the word the compound is governed by: प्रति, towards. The accusative is one of goal, and it is प्रति that licenses it, so the women are not entering the house but on their way to it, which is the whole subject of the stanza
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, who supplies प्रति“ramaṇavasatiṃ priyabhavanaṃ prati gacchatīnāṃ yoṣitām”
रुद्धालोके
रुद्ध · आलोक
रुद्धः आलोकः यस्मिन् सः, तस्मिन्
बहुव्रीहि — the road on which the light is shut off
बहुव्रीहि — it refers to नरपतिपथे. with the light shut out of it — Mallinātha glosses it with a bahuvrīhi of his own, निरुद्धदृष्टिप्रसारे, 'in which the reach of sight is stopped', which reads आलोक as the seeing rather than the light seen by. The word does both, and his gloss chooses: what the dark blocks is not the road's brightness but the women's eyes
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, whose gloss is itself the vigraha“tamobhī ruddhāloke niruddhadṛṣṭiprasāre”
नरपतिपथे
नर · पति · पथिन्
नराणां पतिः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the lord of men, the king
नरपतेः पन्थाः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the king's road
तत्पुरुष. the king's highway — Mallinātha glosses राजमार्गे, the royal road, which is the broad street through the middle of a city and not a road belonging to a king. The compound is worth stopping at for its ending: पथिन् at the end of a tatpuruṣa takes the affix अ and declines as an ordinary a-stem, which is why the locative here is पथे and not the पथि that the word makes standing alone
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī (sense); Pāṇini 5.4.74 ऋक्पूरब्धूःपथामानक्षे, by way of skt-mcp, for the ending“narapatipanthe rājamārge”
सूचिभेद्यैः
सूचि · भेद्य
सूचिभिः भेद्यैः
तत्पुरुष (instrumental) — such as could be split with needles
तत्पुरुष — it agrees with तमोभिः. thick enough to take a needle — Mallinātha's vigraha is one line, सूचिभिर्भेद्यैः, and his gloss another, अतिसान्द्रैः, 'exceedingly dense'. The gloss is what the compound means and the vigraha is how it is built: the dark is not being pierced by anybody, it is only such that a needle could go into it and stand there. Kālidāsa uses the same image of a dark that has a surface, and the commentator flattens it back to a word for thickness
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“sūcibhirbhedyaiḥ | atisāndrairityarthaḥ”
कनकनिकषस्निग्धया
कनक · निकष · स्निग्ध
कनकस्य निकषः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the streak gold leaves on the stone
कनकनिकषस्य इव स्निग्धं तेजः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — a glow as rich as that streak
कनकनिकषस्निग्धं तेजः यस्याः सा, तया
बहुव्रीहि — the lightning that has such a glow
बहुव्रीहि — it refers to सौदामिन्या. glowing like the streak gold leaves on a touchstone — Mallinātha does the hardest work of the stanza here. निकष usually names the touchstone itself; he derives it निकष्यत इति निकषः, 'what is rubbed', and so makes it the mark rather than the stone — उपलगतरेखा, the line left on the rock. Then he fixes स्निग्ध from the Śabdārṇava, which gives it four senses — smooth, dense, lovely, and in the neuter a brightness — and takes the fourth, supplying तेजः into the vigraha so that the compound comes out a bahuvrīhi: the lightning is the one whose light is as rich as that streak. The comparison is a colour and a texture at once: gold on stone is both yellow and oily-bright, and so is a flash of lightning in a dark street
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, deriving निकष and citing the Śabdārṇava for स्निग्ध; he supplies तेजः“kanakasya nikaṣo nikaṣyata iti vyutpattyā nikaṣa upalagatarekhā tasyeva snigdhaṃ tejo yasyāstayā || “snigdhaṃ tu masṛṇe sāndre ramye klībe ca tejasi” iti śabdārṇave”
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः
तोय · उत्सर्ग · स्तनित · मुखर
तोयस्य उत्सर्गः
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the letting go of water — rain
तोयोत्सर्गश्च स्तनितं च
द्वन्द्व — rain and thunder, each on its own account
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनिताभ्यां मुखरः
तत्पुरुष (instrumental) — loud with the two of them
तत्पुरुष. loud with rain and thunder — Mallinātha glosses the pair वृष्टिगर्जिताभ्याम् and मुखर by शब्दायमानः, sounding. Then he rules on the compound against a reading he rejects: नात्र तोयोत्सर्गसहितं स्तनितमिति विग्रहः — 'the analysis here is not thunder-accompanied-by-rain'. The two are a dvandva, thunder and rain side by side, because thunder on its own is unwanted too, and a reading that only forbade the thunder that comes with rain would leave dry thunder allowed
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, who rejects the karmadhāraya reading and argues for the dvandva“kiṃca toyotsarga stanitābhyāṃ vṛṣṭigarjitābhyāṃ mukharaḥ śabdāyamāno mā sma bhūḥ | … nātratoyotsargasahitaṃ stanitamiti vigrahaḥ | viśiṣṭasyeva kevalastanitasyāpyaniṣṭatvāt”
√गम् + शतृ + ङीप्, षष्ठी बहुवचन genitive plural
गच्छन्तीनाम्
printed गच्छन्तीनां
गच्छन्ती, from √गम्
going — the present participle, so the women are on the road at the moment the cloud is asked to light it. The genitive plural goes with योषिताम् and is the genitive of the person a thing is done for: it is to them that the ground is to be shown
i-stem feminine, द्वितीया एकवचन accusative singular
रमणवसतिम्
printed रमणवसतिं
वसति
dwelling — glossed भवनम्, house. वसति is √वस् 'to stay the night' with the affix इ, and the word keeps the night in it: it is the place one stops at when the day is over, which is exactly the errand these women are on
t-stem feminine, षष्ठी बहुवचन genitive plural
योषिताम्
printed योषितां
योषित्
of the women — and Mallinātha names which women: अभिसारिकाणाम्, of the abhisārikās. That is a word out of the handbooks of poetry rather than out of ordinary speech: the abhisārikā is the woman who goes out to meet her lover at a set place, one of the named types a heroine can be, and going by night through a dark street is her whole description. The commentator's one word puts the stanza inside a convention the verse itself never mentions
अव्यय
तत्र
तत्र
there — Mallinātha says where: उज्जयिन्याम्, in Ujjayinī. The city has held the poem since 1.30 and is not named again inside this stanza; the one indeclinable does the work
a-stem neuter, द्वितीया एकवचन accusative singular
नक्तम्
printed नक्तं
नक्त
by night — Mallinātha glosses रात्रौ, putting it in the locative, which is where prose would put a time. नक्तम् is an accusative doing an adverb's work, and the gloss is the shortest possible statement of that: he does not argue the case, he simply writes the case prose would use. The accusative stands as an adverb of time
a-stem masculine, सप्तमी एकवचन locative singular
रुद्धालोके
आलोक
light, or the seeing by it — आलोक is आ + √लोक्, looking at, and the noun swings between the looking and the light that lets it happen. Mallinātha's gloss takes the first: दृष्टिप्रसार, the reach of sight. The locative agrees with नरपतिपथे, so what is described is the street
a-stem masculine, सप्तमी एकवचन locative singular
नरपतिपथे
पथ, which पथिन् becomes at the end of a compound
road — glossed मार्गे. The form is the answer to a difficulty this analysis met at 1.14, where पथि stood alone and the generator could not decline it: पथिन् is irregular by itself, and at the end of a compound it stops being so. Here it is a plain a-stem and carries a generated table. पथिन् takes the affix अ at the end of a tatpuruṣa and declines from there as an ordinary a-stem
√भिद् + ण्यत्, तृतीया बहुवचन instrumental plural
सूचिभेद्यैः
printed सूचिभेद्यैस्तमोभिः
भेद्य, from √भिद्
to be split — a kṛtya, the verbal adjective that says a thing can or should be done to something. √भिद् ends in a consonant and so takes ण्यत् rather than यत्, and the ṇ of the affix is what lifts the इ to ए: भिद् becomes भेद्य. The instrumental plural agrees with तमोभिः
as-stem neuter, तृतीया बहुवचन instrumental plural
तमोभिः
printed सूचिभेद्यैस्तमोभिः
तमस्
by the darknesses — the plural of a word for something that has no plural in English. Sanskrit will count a dark the way it counts a water, and the plural here is a way of saying how much of it there is. The instrumental is the agent of रुद्ध: the darknesses are what shut the light off
ī-stem feminine, तृतीया एकवचन instrumental singular
सौदामिन्या
सौदामिनी
with the lightning — and Mallinātha derives the name rather than translating it: सुदाम्नाद्रिणा एकदिक् सौदामनी विद्युत्, 'the lightning is what lies in the same quarter as the mountain Sudāman'. The affix is अण्, by the rule तेनैकदिक्, which makes an adjective meaning 'in the same direction as that' from a word in the instrumental. So a word that now simply means lightning is built out of a mountain's name and a compass bearing. His edition and DCS both read सौदामन्या; this text reads सौदामिन्या. It declines on the नदी pattern, which is the regular feminine ī-stem
ā-stem feminine, तृतीया एकवचन instrumental singular
कनकनिकषस्निग्धया
स्निग्धा, the feminine of स्निग्ध
rich, glossy — Mallinātha does not translate the word, he fixes it: the Śabdārṇava gives स्निग्ध four senses, smooth, dense, lovely, and in the neuter a brightness, and it is the last that is wanted, which is why he supplies तेजः. The root is √स्निह्, to be sticky and so to be fond of, and the everyday sense of स्निग्ध is affectionate; here it is the wet shine of oil or of gold. स्निग्ध is an a-stem adjective and takes ā at the end of a bahuvrīhi describing the lightning
कनकनिकषस्निग्धया, “rich as the streak gold leaves on a touchstone,” is the stanza's hardest compound and Mallinātha does the most work here. निकष is the touchstone, the dark stone a goldsmith rubs gold against to judge it; the rub leaves a bright line, कनकनिकषरेखा, the gold's streak on the stone. The lightning is स्निग्ध “like” that streak — a thin, bright, gold line against the black. Mallinātha will not merely translate स्निग्ध; he fixes it with the Śabdārṇava, which gives the word four senses — smooth, dense, lovely, and, of light, glowing — and it is the last that fits: the flash glows gold against a dark as thick as a touchstone.
√दृश् with णिच्, class 1, लोट्, parasmaipada, second person singular
दर्शय
printed दर्शयोर्वीं
√दृश् with णिच्
show — the causative imperative, and the causative is the point: √दृश् is to see, and with णिच् it is to make somebody see. The cloud does not look at the road, it makes the road visible. This is the stanza's one positive command, and it is answered in the fourth pāda by a prohibition of the same length
दर्शय, “show them,” is a causative, and the causative is the whole of the kindness. √दृश् is “to see”; with णिच् it becomes “to make someone see,” दर्शय, “cause to see.” The cloud does not itself look at the road — it makes the women see it, by its lightning. And the object it lights is उर्वीम्, “the ground,” literally “the wide one,” a name for the earth built out of the adjective उरु, which Mallinātha narrows to मार्गम्, the road: what these women, the अभिसारिकाs going to their lovers by night, need lit is the path under their feet, and the flash is a lamp held for them.
ī-stem feminine, द्वितीया एकवचन accusative singular
उर्वीम्
printed दर्शयोर्वीं
उर्वी
the ground — literally 'the wide one', a name for the earth built out of the adjective उरु. Mallinātha narrows it to मार्गम्, the road: what is to be shown is not the earth at large but the piece of it the women are walking on. The gloss is a small act of interpretation, and it is what keeps the request practical. It is of the नदी type: उरु "wide" takes ङीष् in the feminine and the उ turns to व्
a-stem masculine, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः
printed तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरो
मुखर
noisy — glossed शब्दायमानः, making a sound. मुखर is मुख, the mouth, with the affix र: 'mouthy', and it is normally said of a person who talks too much. Said of a cloud it keeps the rudeness — the nominative agrees with the cloud, which is the unnamed subject of भूः
अव्यय
मा
मा
do not — the prohibitive particle, which does two things to the verb after it: it calls for the aorist, and it takes the aorist's augment away. Mallinātha carries it over without comment, which is what a commentator does with a construction every reader knows
अव्यय
स्म
स्म
— an untranslatable particle that stands after मा and sharpens it. The rule that licenses it, स्मोत्तरे लङ् च, allows the imperfect as well as the aorist when स्म follows मा, so the pair is a fixed prohibition rather than two words. DCS reads च here, which the metre will not take: the twelfth syllable of the pāda has to be heavy and च is light
√भू, class 1, लुङ्, parasmaipada, second person singular
भूः
printed भूर्विक्लवास्ताः
√भू
be — the aorist, second singular, with its augment gone. On its own the form would be अभूः; after मा the rule न माङ्योगे takes the अ away, and what is left is भूः. The same root stood at 1.33 as अभूत्, with the augment on, and the pair shows the rule at work in two verses six apart. DCS tags the form lun_unaug, which is exactly right, and `scripts/draft-analysis.ts` has no name for it and called it a present
मा स्म भूः, “do not be,” is the stanza's grammar lesson: how Sanskrit forbids a thing. The prohibition particle मा does two things to the verb after it. It calls for the aorist — भूः, from √भू — and it strips the aorist of its augment: on its own the form would be अभूः, but under मा the rule न माङ्योगे takes the अ away, leaving भूः. And स्म, the particle after मा, sharpens the ban; the rule स्मोत्तरे लङ् च lets the imperfect stand there too. So three small words — मा, स्म, भूः — carry a single “don't,” aimed at the cloud: do not, going by, be loud with rain and thunder.
ā-stem feminine, प्रथमा बहुवचन nominative plural
विक्लवाः
printed भूर्विक्लवास्ताः
विक्लवा, the feminine of विक्लव
easily frightened — Mallinātha glosses भीरवः, timid, and the gloss is the reason for the whole prohibition: he sets it under कुतः, 'why?', and answers तास्तु विक्लवाः. विक्लव is वि + क्लव, a word for someone come apart — bewildered, flustered, at a loss — and 'timid' is the commentator narrowing it to what this stanza needs
pronoun, प्रथमा बहुवचन nominative plural
ताः
printed भूर्विक्लवास्ताः
तद्
those women — the pronoun reaches back to योषिताम् in the first pāda, across the whole stanza, and turns the genitive into the subject of a sentence of its own. Mallinātha writes the noun back in when he glosses, ता योषितः, because in his prose the pronoun has too far to reach
तत्र · नक्तम् · रमणवसतिम् · गच्छन्तीनाम् · योषिताम् · सूचिभेद्यैः · तमोभिः · रुद्धालोके · नरपतिपथे · कनकनिकषस्निग्धया · सौदामिन्या · उर्वीम् · दर्शय · तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः · मा · स्म · भूः · ताः · विक्लवाः
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, whose commentary is written as anvaya; the last two words stand as his own separate sentence, set under his कुतः“tatrojjayinyāṃ naktaṃ rātrau ramaṇavasatiṃ … gacchatīnāṃ yoṣitām | … sūcibhirbhedyaiḥ … tamobhī ruddhāloke … narapatipanthe … tasyeva snigdhaṃ tejo yasyāstayā … tayorvīṃ mārgaṃ darśaya | kiṃca toyotsarga stanitābhyāṃ … mukharaḥ … mā sma bhūḥ | kutaḥ | tā yoṣito viklavā bhīravaḥ”
the dependency structure
दर्शय · क्रिया — show them; the causative imperative of √दृश्, ‘make somebody see’, with णिच्
उर्वीम् · कर्म — the ground, मार्गम्, the road; ‘the wide one’, a name for the earth built on उरु
सौदामिन्या · करण — by the lightning; सुदाम्नोऽद्रेरेकदिक् सौदामनी विद्युत्, the flash off the mountain Sudāman
कनकनिकषस्निग्धया · agreeing with सौदामिन्या — rich as the streak gold leaves on a touchstone, निकषोपलगतरेखेव स्निग्धा
योषिताम् · षष्ठी — the women, अभिसारिकाणाम्, those going to meet their lovers; whom the light is shown to
गच्छन्तीनाम् · agreeing with योषिताम् — going, on the road at the moment the cloud is asked to light it
रमणवसतिम् · कर्म / goal — toward the lover's house, प्रियभवनं प्रति; वसति keeps the night in it, ‘the place one stays’
नक्तम् · क्रियाविशेषण — by night, रात्रौ; an accusative doing an adverb's work
नरपतिपथे · अधिकरण — on the king's highway, राजमार्गे, the broad street through the middle of the city
रुद्धालोके · agreeing with नरपतिपथे — its light shut out, निरुद्धदृष्टिप्रसारे
तमोभिः · करण — by the darknesses; a plural for what has no plural in English, dark counted the way water is counted
सूचिभेद्यैः · agreeing with तमोभिः — thick enough to take a needle, सूचिभिर्भेद्यैः, अतिसान्द्रैः
तत्र · there — उज्जयिन्याम्, in Ujjayinī; the city has held the poem since 1.30
भूः · क्रिया — be; the aorist, second singular, its augment gone after मा, न माङ्योगे
मा · do not — the prohibitive that calls for the aorist and takes its augment away
स्म · — the particle standing after मा and sharpening it, licensed by स्मोत्तरे लङ् च
तोयोत्सर्गस्तनितमुखरः · predicate agreeing with the cloud — loud with rain and thunder, वृष्टिगर्जिताभ्यां शब्दायमानः
ताः · कर्ता — those women; the pronoun reaches back to योषिताम् across the stanza
विक्लवाः · predicate — easily frightened, भीरवः; the reason for the whole prohibition
uncheckedMallinātha’s Sañjīvinī for the anvaya and the reading; the Telugu drawn from Vedam Venkataraya Sastri’s Āndhra Meghasandeśam and the Bālānandinī
There, when women go by night to their lovers' houses along the king's highway, where the dark is thick enough to take a needle and no light gets through — show them the ground by your lightning, rich as the streak gold leaves on a touchstone. But do not be loud with rain and thunder: they are easily frightened.
uncheckedthe reader's reading, following Mallinātha's gloss
There, when women go by night to their lovers' houses along the king's highway, where the dark is thick enough to take a needle and no light gets through — show them the ground by your lightning, rich as the streak gold leaves on a touchstone. But do not be loud with rain and thunder: they are easily frightened.
No figure is named for this verse by the commentary this reading follows, so none is shown.