मेघदूतम् · कालिदास · 1.42
गम्भीरा · the clear pool that takes him in
गम्भीरायाः पयसि सरितश्चेतसीव प्रसन्ने
छायात्माऽपि प्रकृतिसुभगो लप्स्यते ते प्रवेशम्
तस्मात् तस्याः कुमुदविशदान्यर्हसि त्वं न धैर्यान्
मोघीकर्तुं चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि
pāda a
pāda b
pāda c
pāda d
सरितः + चेतसि → सरितश्चेतसीव
ः + च्
चेतसि + इव → सरितश्चेतसीव
इ + इ → ई
छायात्मा + अपि → छायात्माऽपि
आ + अ → आ
प्रकृतिसुभगः + लप्स्यते → प्रकृतिसुभगो
ः + ल्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
कुमुदविशदानि + अर्हसि → कुमुदविशदान्यर्हसि
इ + अ
त्वम् + न → त्वं
म् + न्
धैर्यात् + मोघीकर्तुम् → धैर्यान्
त् + म्
मोघीकर्तुम् + चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि → मोघीकर्तुं
म् + च्
छाया + आत्मन् → छायात्मा
आ + आ → आ · falls inside the syllable या
प्रकृति + सुभग → प्रकृतिसुभगः
इ + स्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
कुमुद + विशद → कुमुदविशदानि
अ + व्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
चटुल + शफर → चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि
अ + श्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
शफर + उद्वर्तन → चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि
अ + उ → ओ · falls inside the syllable रो
उद्वर्तन + प्रेक्षित → चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि
अ + प्
no rule named — the builder's table does not hold this change
The stanza's simile is sealed by a sandhi. सरितश्चेतसीव runs three words together: सरितः goes to श् before the palatal च् of चेतसि (Pāṇini 8.3.34, then ścutva 8.4.40), and चेतसि + इव fuse इ and इ to a single ई (savarṇa-dīrgha, 6.1.101), giving चेतसीव. छायात्माऽपि is आ meeting अ, the अ merged and marked with the avagraha (6.1.101). कुमुदविशदान्यर्हसि is the इ of विशदानि going to य् before the अ of अर्हसि (6.1.77). धैर्यान्मोघीकर्तुं is a rarer join: a word-final त् before the nasal म् may itself become a nasal, so धैर्यात् prints धैर्यान् (8.4.45).
गम्भीरायाः षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
पयसि सप्तमी · locative — अधिकरण, the location
सरितः षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
चेतसि सप्तमी · locative — अधिकरण, the location
प्रसन्ने सप्तमी · locative — अधिकरण, the location
छायात्मा प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
with प्रकृतिसुभगः
ते षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
प्रवेशम् द्वितीया · accusative — कर्म, the object
तस्याः षष्ठी · genitive — सम्बन्ध, a relation to another word
त्वम् प्रथमा · nominative — कर्ता, the agent
धैर्यात् पञ्चमी · ablative — हेतौ पञ्चमी — an ablative of cause, and the word is glossed against its own dictionary sense
The ablative here marks a cause: do not, धैर्यात्, ‘out of ——,’ make nothing of her glances. The surprise is the gloss. धैर्य is ordinarily steadiness, a virtue; Mallinātha reads it धाष्ट्यात्, ‘out of audacity, out of nerve’ — the nerve to pass a river that is in love with you and not answer her look. So the fifth case is a cause, and the noun it sits on is turned from a merit into a fault.
चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि द्वितीया · accusative — कर्म, the object
with कुमुदविशदानि
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 11 · स्वरादिनिपातमव्ययम्
प्रकरण 12 · लः कर्मणि च भावे चाकर्मकेभ्यः
प्रकरण 34 · ण्वुल्तृचौ
प्रकरण 59 · इवे प्रतिकृतौ
प्रकरण 60 · स्त्रियाम्
not in the abridgement
छायात्मा
छाया · आत्मन्
छाया च असौ आत्मा च
कर्मधारय — a reflection, and it is a self
कर्मधारय. your reflected self — Mallinātha's vigraha is the karmadhāraya written out in full, छाया चासावात्मा च, and his gloss is प्रतिबिम्बशरीरम्, a body made of reflection. The compound is what the whole stanza turns on: not the cloud, but the cloud's image, is what the river takes in
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī“chāyā cāsāvātmā ca | so'pi pratibimbaśarīraṃ ca praveśaṃ lapsyate”
प्रकृतिसुभगः
प्रकृति · सुभग
प्रकृत्या सुभगः
तत्पुरुष (instrumental) — good-looking by nature
तत्पुरुष — it agrees with छायात्मा. handsome to begin with — Mallinātha unpacks it with the instrumental and then says the instrumental twice over: प्रकृत्या स्वभावेनैव, 'by nature, that is by its own being alone', where the एव rules out any help from outside. He fixes सुभग from the Śabdārṇava, which gives it handsome, very lucky, a day that is not overcast, a fourth part, and prosperous
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, citing the Śabdārṇava“prakṛtyā svabhāvenaiva subhagaḥ sundaraḥ || “sundare'dhikabhāgye ca durdinetaravāsare | turīyāṃśe śrīmati ca subhagaḥ” iti śabdārṇave”
कुमुदविशदानि
कुमुद · विशद
कुमुदम् इव विशदानि
कर्मधारय — white the way a night-lotus is white
कर्मधारय — it agrees with चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि. white as night-lotuses — Mallinātha's gloss keeps the comparison and drops the case: कुमुदवद्विशदानि धवलानि, 'white like a kumuda, that is, pale'. The comparison stands inside the compound with no इव printed, which is how the poem gives every colour. What is being called white is a glance, and it is white because the fish that make it are
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, whose gloss uses वत् where the vigraha uses इव“kumudavadviśadāni dhavalāni”
चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि
चटुल · शफर · उद्वर्तन · प्रेक्षित
शफराणाम् उद्वर्तनानि
तत्पुरुष (genitive) — the leaping of the minnows
चटुलानि शफरोद्वर्तनानि
कर्मधारय — and the leaping is quick
चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनानि एव प्रेक्षितानि
कर्मधारय — and those leapings are her glances
कर्मधारय. her darting glances, which are the leaping of minnows — Mallinātha builds the chain member by member and puts the एव where the identification is made: चटुलानि शीघ्राणि शफराणां मीनानाम् उद्वर्तनान्युलुण्ठनान्येव प्रेक्षितान्यवलोकनानि. He glosses every member with a synonym — चटुल by शीघ्र, शफर by मीन, उद्वर्तन by उलुण्ठन, प्रेक्षित by अवलोकन — and fixes चटुल from Viśva, who gives it as 'swift' in all three genders. Then he says what the compound is for: एतावदेव गम्भीराया अनुरागलिङ्गम्, 'just this much is the sign that Gambhīrā is in love'. It is all the river can do by way of a look
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, citing Viśva; the morphology authored, because DCS has no tags for this pāda at all“caṭulāni śīghrāṇi śapharāṇāṃ mīnānāmudvartanānyuluṇṭhanānyeva prekṣitānyavalokanāni || “triṣu syāccaṭulaṃ śīghram” iti viśvaḥ || etāvadeva gambhīrāyā anurāgaliṅgam”
ā-stem feminine, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
गम्भीरायाः
गम्भीरा
of the Gambhīrā — Mallinātha says at once that it is a name and not a description: गम्भीरा नाम सरित्, 'Gambhīrā is the name of a river'. The word also means deep, and the stanza uses both — a river called Deep, whose water is clear all the way down. He adds one more thing before touching a word of the verse: उदात्तनायिका च ध्वन्यते, 'and a high-born heroine is suggested by it'. That is the third stanza running in which he reaches for the handbooks' list of women
as-stem neuter, सप्तमी एकवचन locative singular
पयसि
पयस्
in the water — पयस् is water and also milk, and the same word does for both because it is what a thing gives out. The locative is where the reflection will find its way in
t-stem feminine, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
सरितः
printed सरितश्चेतसीव
सरित्
of the river — सरित् is from √सृ, to run, so the word is 'the runner', a river named by the one thing it does. Mallinātha uses it to identify the name: गम्भीरा नाम सरित्
as-stem neuter, सप्तमी एकवचन locative singular
चेतसि
printed सरितश्चेतसीव
चेतस्
in a mind — the other half of the simile, and it stands in the same case as पयसि so that one adjective can serve both. चेतस् is from √चित्, to notice, so the word is the noticing rather than the seat of it
अव्यय
इव
printed सरितश्चेतसीव
इव
as — the particle of comparison, printed rather than left inside a compound, which is what marks this simile as the stanza's frame rather than one of its ornaments
√सद् + क्त, सप्तमी एकवचन locative singular
प्रसन्ने
प्रसन्न, from प्र + √सद्
clear — and this is where Mallinātha does the work of the stanza. He glosses the word twice, once for each half of the simile: of the mind, प्रसन्नेऽनुरक्तत्वाद्दोषरहिते, 'clear because being in love it has nothing wrong in it'; of the water, प्रसन्नेऽतिनिर्मले, 'clear, that is, perfectly unclouded'. One word, two senses, and the comparison is carried entirely by the fact that Sanskrit uses the same one for a settled liquid and a settled temper. The root is √सद्, to sit, so what is प्रसन्न is what has let its sediment go down
प्रसन्ने is the one word the whole simile turns on, and Mallinātha glosses it twice — once for each thing it describes. The water of the Gambhīrā is प्रसन्न, अतिनिर्मले, “very clear,” clean enough to hold a reflection. And a mind is प्रसन्न, दोषरहिते, “free of fault,” serene, clear in the other sense. The one adjective sits between पयसि and चेतसि, printed once and construed with both, so the water and the mind are joined by a word each can take: your image will enter the river's water the way a welcome thing enters a mind at peace. The particle इव, printed and not hidden in a compound, is what marks this the stanza's declared simile.
an-stem masculine, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
छायात्मा
printed छायात्माऽपि
आत्मन्
self — the subject of the sentence, and it is not the cloud but the cloud's likeness in the water. आत्मन् is the self, the body, and simply oneself, and putting छाया in front of it makes a self that is only a shadow. Mallinātha glosses the pair प्रतिबिम्बशरीरम्, a body made of reflection
छायात्मा, “your reflected self,” is the subject, and it is not the cloud but the cloud's likeness in the water. Mallinātha writes the karmadhāraya out in full, छाया चासावात्मा च, “a thing that is both a shadow and a self.” आत्मन् is the self, the very body; छाया is its cast image; the compound makes the reflection a second self. And अपि, small as it is, carries a concession Mallinātha stops on, अपिशब्दात्, “from the word api”: even the reflection — not the real cloud, only its picture — is handsome enough, प्रकृतिसुभगः, “lovely by nature,” to be let into the clear water. The river takes even the image gladly.
अव्यय
अपि
printed छायात्माऽपि
अपि
even — and Mallinātha stops on it, because a particle this small is carrying a concession: अपिशब्दात्, 'from the word api', the sense is that entry will be got even by one who does not want it. The clause is corrupt in the transcription and only that much of it is legible; what is clear is that he reads अपि as conceding something, and the concession is what makes the next sentence follow — since the cloud will get in whether or not it means to, it owes the river the courtesy
a-stem masculine, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
प्रकृतिसुभगः
printed प्रकृतिसुभगो
सुभग
handsome — glossed सुन्दरः, and fixed from the Śabdārṇava, which gives सुभग five senses at once. The word is सु + भग, 'having a good share', so what it says first is lucky and only then good-looking, and the two are not separable in it
√लभ्, class 1, लृट्, atmanepada, third person singular
लप्स्यते
√लभ्
will find — the future, and the only one in the stanza: everything else is either present or an infinitive. √लभ् is ātmanepada always, so the middle ending here says nothing about who benefits. The भ् meets the स् of the future and both harden, which is why the form is लप्स्यते and not लभिष्यते
pronoun, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
ते
युष्मद्
your — Mallinātha replaces the short form with the long one, ते तव, which is what he does whenever the enclitic could be read as something else: ते is also the nominative plural and the dative singular
a-stem masculine, द्वितीया एकवचन accusative singular
प्रवेशम्
प्रवेश
entry — from प्र + √विश्, and the noun is the going-in rather than the way in. It is what the reflection will 'find', which is the poem's way of saying that the water will take it: a river cannot admit anybody, so the guest has to obtain the entering
अव्यय — the ablative of तद् standing as a connective
तस्मात्
तद्
so — the ablative of the pronoun frozen into a conjunction, and Mallinātha writes out what it stands for: तस्माच्छायाद्वारापि प्रवेशावश्यम्भावित्वात्, 'therefore, because entry is bound to happen even by way of the reflection'. The word marks the same hinge that अतः marked at 1.41
pronoun, षष्ठी एकवचन genitive singular
तस्याः
तद्
her — the river's, and the genitive belongs to the glances at the end of the stanza. Mallinātha's text reads अस्याः, 'this one's', and so does DCS; this text reads तस्याः. Nothing turns on it: both point at the Gambhīrā
a-stem neuter, द्वितीया बहुवचन accusative plural
कुमुदविशदानि
printed कुमुदविशदान्यर्हसि
विशद
white — glossed धवलानि. विशद is white in the sense of bright and clean rather than of colour, and it is also used of a mind that is clear, which keeps the first pāda's simile going under the surface of the third
√अर्ह्, class 1, लट्, parasmaipada, second person singular
अर्हसि
printed कुमुदविशदान्यर्हसि
√अर्ह्
you ought — and with न in front of it, you ought not. अर्ह् with an infinitive is the ordinary polite way of asking in this poem, and here it is being used to forbid rather than to ask. It is also the verb the grammar names as one that takes तुमुन्, which is why मोघीकर्तुम् is in the form it is
pronoun, प्रथमा एकवचन nominative singular
त्वम्
printed त्वं
युष्मद्
you — the plain second person, where the stanzas around it have been using भवान्. The pronoun is not needed by the verb, which already carries the person, so printing it puts weight on it: you of all people
अव्यय
न
न
not — it stands three words away from the verb it negates, at the end of the third pāda, and the sentence is not finished until the middle of the fourth. Mallinātha puts them back together at once: नार्हसि
a-stem neuter, पञ्चमी एकवचन ablative singular
धैर्यात्
printed धैर्यान्
धैर्य
out of nerve — and the gloss is a surprise. धैर्य is ordinarily steadiness, and every dictionary sense of it is a virtue; Mallinātha glosses धैर्याद्धाष्टर्यात्, 'from effrontery', and then makes it plainer still: वैयात्यादिति यावत्, 'from impudence, that is to say'. So the ablative is not 'because you are steady' but 'out of sheer cheek'. The word is the abstract in ष्यञ् built on धीर, with the first vowel lengthened to वृद्धि
√कृ + तुमुन्
मोघीकर्तुम्
printed मोघीकर्तुं
मोघी + √कृ
to make nothing of — glossed विफलीकर्तुम्, to make fruitless, which keeps the whole shape of the word and changes only the adjective inside it. The form is the च्वि construction: मोघ, 'empty', is turned into मोघी and put in front of √कृ to mean 'to make into what it was not'. The infinitive depends on अर्हसि, and the negative in front of that turns the whole thing into a rule of conduct
a-stem neuter, द्वितीया बहुवचन accusative plural
चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि
प्रेक्षित, from प्र + √ईक्ष् with क्त, gone lexical
glances — glossed अवलोकनानि. प्रेक्षित is a past participle that has stopped being one: it means not 'looked at' but 'a look', the way रक्त at 1.38 means not 'dyed' but 'red'. The accusative plural is the object of मोघीकर्तुम्, and what it names is the only thing a river has to look with. This is the one pāda of the poem for which DCS has no tags at all — its stanza is three pādas long — so the morphology here is authored and the sense is Mallinātha's
चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि, “glances that are the quick leaping of her minnows,” is the compound the fancy lives in, and प्रेक्षित is a participle that has stopped being one. प्रेक्षित would mean “looked at”; here Mallinātha glosses it अवलोकनानि, “glances,” the looks themselves, a past participle turned into a noun of the action. The glances are चटुल, “quick” (शीघ्र), and they are the उद्वर्तन, the “leaping-up,” of शफर, the minnows in the river: the little fish darting at the surface are read as the river's darting eyes. And they are कुमुदविशद, “white as night-lotuses,” धवलानि — the flash of a pale fish-belly is the white of a glance. To pass without answering, the verse says, is to make nothing of a look.
सरितः · गम्भीरायाः · प्रसन्ने · चेतसि · इव · पयसि · प्रकृतिसुभगः · ते · छायात्मा · अपि · प्रवेशम् · लप्स्यते · तस्मात् · तस्याः · कुमुदविशदानि · चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि · त्वम् · धैर्यात् · मोघीकर्तुम् · न · अर्हसि
uncheckedMallinātha, Sañjīvinī, whose commentary is written as anvaya; प्रसन्ने stands once in the verse and twice in his gloss, once for each half of the simile, and is placed here with the mind, which he takes first“tasyāḥ prasanne'nuraktatvāddoṣarahite cetasīva prasanne'tinirmale payasi | prakṛtyā … subhagaḥ … te tava chāyā cāsāvātmā ca | so'pi … praveśaṃ lapsyate | tasmāt … asyā gambhīrāyāḥ | kumudavadviśadāni … prekṣitāni … dhairyāt … moghīkartuṃ … nārhasi”
the dependency structure
लप्स्यते · क्रिया — will find; the future of √लभ्, ātmanepada, and the one finite of the first sentence
छायात्मा · कर्ता — your reflected self, छाया चासावात्मा च; not the cloud but its likeness in the water
ते · षष्ठी — your, ते तव; the long form for the enclitic
प्रकृतिसुभगः · agreeing with छायात्मा — handsome to begin with, स्वभावेनैव सुन्दरः
अपि · even — a concession, अपिशब्दात्: even the mere reflection, and not the real body, will go in
प्रवेशम् · कर्म — entry, the going-in; what the reflection will find
पयसि · अधिकरण — in the water, अतिनिर्मले; where the reflection enters
सरितः · षष्ठी — of the river, सरित्, ‘the runner’, named by the one thing it does
गम्भीरायाः · agreeing with सरितः — of the Gambhīrā, गम्भीरा नाम सरित्; a name, not a description
प्रसन्ने · agreeing with पयसि — clear, अतिनिर्मले; the word Mallinātha glosses twice, once for the water and once for the mind
चेतसि · अधिकरण — in a mind, the simile's other half; clear as a mind that is clear, दोषरहिते
इव · as — the particle of comparison, printed rather than folded into a compound
अर्हसि · क्रिया — you ought; with न in front, you ought not; अर्ह् with an infinitive is the polite way of asking
त्वम् · कर्ता — you; the plain second person, where the stanzas around use भवान्
न · not — it stands three words from the verb, at the end of the third pāda, the sentence unfinished until अर्हसि
मोघीकर्तुम् · infinitive — to make nothing of, विफलीकर्तुम्, to make fruitless
चटुलशफरोद्वर्तनप्रेक्षितानि · कर्म of मोघीकर्तुम् — her glances, अवलोकनानि, that are the quick leaping of her minnows
कुमुदविशदानि · agreeing — white as night-lotuses, कुमुदवद्विशदानि धवलानि
तस्याः · षष्ठी — her, the river's; the genitive of the glances
धैर्यात् · अपादान by case, हेतु by force — out of nerve, धाष्ट्यात्; not steadiness here but audacity
तस्मात् · so — तस्माच्छायाद्वारा, ‘so, since the reflection will enter’; the ablative frozen into a conjunction
uncheckedMallinātha’s Sañjīvinī for the anvaya and the reading; the Telugu drawn from Vedam Venkataraya Sastri’s Āndhra Meghasandeśam and the Bālānandinī
In the Gambhīrā's water, clear as a mind that is clear, your reflected self — handsome to begin with — will find its way in. So do not, out of sheer nerve, make nothing of her glances, white as night-lotuses, that are the quick leaping of her minnows.
uncheckedthe reader's reading, following Mallinātha's gloss
In the Gambhīrā's water, clear as a mind that is clear, your reflected self — handsome to begin with — will find its way in. So do not, out of sheer nerve, make nothing of her glances, white as night-lotuses, that are the quick leaping of her minnows.
No figure is named for this verse by the commentary this reading follows, so none is shown.