Post by Jagannāth Miśra Dās on Jul 10, 2022 5:26:32 GMT -6
Balarāma Dās’s Bhāva Samudra.
Jaya Gaurānga. Here are a few sample verses I have chosen from Balarāma Das’s (the eldest of the Pañca-Sākhās) most renowned and rasikā composition, the Bhāva Samudra, written after he was ignominiously dismissed from the chariot during the festive occasion of ratha yātrā whilst attempting to place a garland on Lord Jagannāth. Driven from the ratha, Balarāma Dās creates three carts on the sea shore out of sand (although Mādhava Pattnayaka’s Vaisnava Lilamrita, written in Oriya 1534, mentions just the one sand cart, Balarāma Dās notes in his Bhāva Samudra that he actually sculpted three carts out of the sand, one for each Deity.) Lord Jagannāth, Balarāma and Haladiā-mukhī (she whose face is like unto the hue of tumeric) Devī Subhadrā, forsake their majestic wooden chariots, alighting instead upon the freshly wrought sand carts of Balarāma Dās; and it is well documented that the wooden chariots did not move until Balarāma Dās was escorted by Gajapati Pratāpa Rudra from the seashore and allowed to offer his garland to lord Jagannāth. His Bhāva Samudra, or The Ocean of Love, is complete in 96 stanzas or verses, all uniformly composed in the same poetic meter containing exactly eleven feet per line, and address Lord Jagannāth, whom the poet considers to be none other than Lord Hari himself, in the vocative. Neither are the 96 verses in his Bhāva Samudra connected to each other; quite like the verses in Bilvalamangala’s krsnakarnamrita, in the sense that each verse is a spontaneous outpouring of a certain bhāva, having no obvious or necessary relation to any other verse in the book, as verses normally do in a typical narrative flow. I have translated verses 1,3,6,34,49,51 and 64; and which I hope will prove no unpleasant task to read.
O Hari!
Jaya Jagannāth! Your lotus eyes are immaculate, and so too are your bimba-like lips, and as you stand here now upon the shore of the Jambu river (the shore of the ocean in Puri,) you are verily tormented by (the love) in your own heart.
O Hari!
Balarāma Ḍās speaks of that love (which compelled you to appear) as the son of Yasodā, and likewise as he who takes delight in the company Janakī. (1)
O Hari! In your form as Kurma you bore the burden of the earth, and yet you still mange to hide yourself merely within Rādhīkā’s breasts! O Nāth! Your māyā is beyond all comprehension, and remains unknown to even Brahma and Śankara.
O Hari!
As you can bear the earth as if it were a mere mustard seed, why then do you not even speak to this Balarāma Ḍās? (3)
O Hari!
You rid the earth of the warrior race in your form as Parasurama, and by virtue of having emerged from your feet alone is the Gangā even considered pure. O Nāth! You are able to conjure up any form you wish, and did so in the forest bowers, wherein you enchanted the Gopis hearts.
O Hari!
Although I find my exclusive refuge in you. I know you to be the greatest Lord, yet I think you have surely forsaken this Balarāma Dās. (6)
O Hari!
You appear, O mighty armed one, from Devakī’s womb, and show her the whole brahmānada as you rest within her heart. Mārakanda, who performed much tapa, is likewise fortunate and blessed to have you reside in his heart too.
O Hari!
You beckon Mārakanda to your side, yet show only and nothing but your māyā to Balarāma Dās. (34)
O Hari!
You retreat in fear on beholding a pot of boiling milk on the stove, yet swallow forest fires with your eyes closed. As you appeared to deliver the gopa caste, you are now known as the son of Jasodā.
O Hari!
Jasodā was delivered by serving you in the disposition of a nurse, meanwhile Balarāma Dās simply wonders just what fault he must have committed? (49)
O Hari!
You have no shame or feeling of reservation whatsoever. Sītā was stolen by Rāvaṇa, but how could you, O Nāth, bring her back from there and reinstate her once again in your home?
O Hari!
You entertain not even the slightest sense of ignominy in this affair, and thus will you not once again except and deliver this Balarāma dās? (51)
O Hari!
You slaughter your brothers, crush the heads of others, and then float, as piece of wood, upon the swelling waters of the seven seas. O Nāth! You are worshipped in a wooden image, yet we know it was you who sucked the life breath out of Putana.
O Hari!
You convert some unknown maiden (Kubja) into your lover, yet still somehow continue to pass by Balarāma Dās? (64)
THE END.
The following 36 works were written by Balarāma Dās;
(1) jagamohana-dandi-ramayana (2) brahma-purana (3) mahabharata (4) candi-purana (5) laxsmi-purana (6) kurala-purana (7) namaratna-gita (8) mrugini-stuti (9) durga-stuti (10) kanta-koili (11) kamala-locana-cautisa (12) bara-masi (13) bhava-samudra (14) bata-avakasha (15) bhakti-rasamrita-sindu (16) sabha-vinode (17) rama-bibha (18) krusna-lila (19) rasa-keli (20) brahmanda-bhugola (21) sarira-bhugola (22) beda-parikrama (23) arjuna-gita (24) gana-nistarana-gita (25) bhagavad-gita (26) amarakosha-gita (27) gupta-gita (28) chatisa-gupta-gita (29) garuda-gita (30) birata-gita (31) ganesh-vibhuti-gita (32) gita-sara (33) nila-sundara-gita (34) kali-bharata (35) baula-adhyaya (36) panasa-chori-grantha-samudra-pradhana.
Matta Balarāma Dās: (1480-1534). Oriya Poet.
Jaya Gaurānga. Here are a few sample verses I have chosen from Balarāma Das’s (the eldest of the Pañca-Sākhās) most renowned and rasikā composition, the Bhāva Samudra, written after he was ignominiously dismissed from the chariot during the festive occasion of ratha yātrā whilst attempting to place a garland on Lord Jagannāth. Driven from the ratha, Balarāma Dās creates three carts on the sea shore out of sand (although Mādhava Pattnayaka’s Vaisnava Lilamrita, written in Oriya 1534, mentions just the one sand cart, Balarāma Dās notes in his Bhāva Samudra that he actually sculpted three carts out of the sand, one for each Deity.) Lord Jagannāth, Balarāma and Haladiā-mukhī (she whose face is like unto the hue of tumeric) Devī Subhadrā, forsake their majestic wooden chariots, alighting instead upon the freshly wrought sand carts of Balarāma Dās; and it is well documented that the wooden chariots did not move until Balarāma Dās was escorted by Gajapati Pratāpa Rudra from the seashore and allowed to offer his garland to lord Jagannāth. His Bhāva Samudra, or The Ocean of Love, is complete in 96 stanzas or verses, all uniformly composed in the same poetic meter containing exactly eleven feet per line, and address Lord Jagannāth, whom the poet considers to be none other than Lord Hari himself, in the vocative. Neither are the 96 verses in his Bhāva Samudra connected to each other; quite like the verses in Bilvalamangala’s krsnakarnamrita, in the sense that each verse is a spontaneous outpouring of a certain bhāva, having no obvious or necessary relation to any other verse in the book, as verses normally do in a typical narrative flow. I have translated verses 1,3,6,34,49,51 and 64; and which I hope will prove no unpleasant task to read.
hari ho-
jaya jagannāth jalaja netra
jalaja bimba adhara pavitra
nāth tu jambu nadi tire thia
jara jara to tathi nija hia
hari ho-
jasodā suta janakī vilāsa
bhāve bhaṇile balarāma dās (1)
Jaya Jagannāth! Your lotus eyes are immaculate, and so too are your bimba-like lips, and as you stand here now upon the shore of the Jambu river (the shore of the ocean in Puri,) you are verily tormented by (the love) in your own heart.
O Hari!
Balarāma Ḍās speaks of that love (which compelled you to appear) as the son of Yasodā, and likewise as he who takes delight in the company Janakī. (1)
hari ho
kurma rupare pruthibi bahilu
rādhīkā stana agrate lucilu
nāth to māyā ati agocara
jāṇi na pārilā brahmā sankara
hari ho
tila mañji prāya pruthibī bahu
ballia dāsaku katha na kahu? (3)
O Hari! In your form as Kurma you bore the burden of the earth, and yet you still mange to hide yourself merely within Rādhīkā’s breasts! O Nāth! Your māyā is beyond all comprehension, and remains unknown to even Brahma and Śankara.
O Hari!
As you can bear the earth as if it were a mere mustard seed, why then do you not even speak to this Balarāma Ḍās? (3)
hari ho!
paraṣurama rūpe ksiti niksetra
gangā to pādu bāhāru pavitra
nathuku āpaṇā rūppaku kañju
kunjabane gopīnka manarañju
hari ho!
baḍa prabhu boli āsreya karuchi
dāsa baliāku pakāu lechi (6)
You rid the earth of the warrior race in your form as Parasurama, and by virtue of having emerged from your feet alone is the Gangā even considered pure. O Nāth! You are able to conjure up any form you wish, and did so in the forest bowers, wherein you enchanted the Gopis hearts.
O Hari!
Although I find my exclusive refuge in you. I know you to be the greatest Lord, yet I think you have surely forsaken this Balarāma Dās. (6)
hari ho !
devaki garbhu jata mahabahu
gotie brahmānada hrude dekhāu
nāth se dhanya tapi mārakanda
tohare rahilā hrudaya khaṇda
hari ho!
mārakandaku dāki thāba deu
dās baliāku māyā dekhau (34)
You appear, O mighty armed one, from Devakī’s womb, and show her the whole brahmānada as you rest within her heart. Mārakanda, who performed much tapa, is likewise fortunate and blessed to have you reside in his heart too.
O Hari!
You beckon Mārakanda to your side, yet show only and nothing but your māyā to Balarāma Dās. (34)
hari ho
tapata dughda dekhile palāu
nayana buji agni gili deu
nāth tu gopa udhāribā paiṅ
name jasodāra aṭha tanayī
hari ho
dhāi rūpare jasodā tarilā
balarama dās ki doṣā kalā? (49)
O Hari!
You retreat in fear on beholding a pot of boiling milk on the stove, yet swallow forest fires with your eyes closed. As you appeared to deliver the gopa caste, you are now known as the son of Jasodā.
O Hari!
Jasodā was delivered by serving you in the disposition of a nurse, meanwhile Balarāma Dās simply wonders just what fault he must have committed? (49)
hari ho
lāja sankoca dvaya tora nāhiñ
sītāku rāvaṇa nelā corāi
nāth se puru kemante ānilu
tāku gheni puṇi gharaku galu
hari ho
se kathāku lāja nohīlā tora
baliā dasaku kariba pāra (51)
You have no shame or feeling of reservation whatsoever. Sītā was stolen by Rāvaṇa, but how could you, O Nāth, bring her back from there and reinstate her once again in your home?
O Hari!
You entertain not even the slightest sense of ignominy in this affair, and thus will you not once again except and deliver this Balarāma dās? (51)
hari ho
sodara badhiṇa paraku koḍu
dāru hoi sāta samudra baḍu
nāth tu dāru ho pūjā pāu
śoṣiṇa putanā jīvana piu
hari ho!
para juvatīki karu ramanī
baliā dāsaku na pāru jiṇi (64)
You slaughter your brothers, crush the heads of others, and then float, as piece of wood, upon the swelling waters of the seven seas. O Nāth! You are worshipped in a wooden image, yet we know it was you who sucked the life breath out of Putana.
O Hari!
You convert some unknown maiden (Kubja) into your lover, yet still somehow continue to pass by Balarāma Dās? (64)
THE END.
The following 36 works were written by Balarāma Dās;
(1) jagamohana-dandi-ramayana (2) brahma-purana (3) mahabharata (4) candi-purana (5) laxsmi-purana (6) kurala-purana (7) namaratna-gita (8) mrugini-stuti (9) durga-stuti (10) kanta-koili (11) kamala-locana-cautisa (12) bara-masi (13) bhava-samudra (14) bata-avakasha (15) bhakti-rasamrita-sindu (16) sabha-vinode (17) rama-bibha (18) krusna-lila (19) rasa-keli (20) brahmanda-bhugola (21) sarira-bhugola (22) beda-parikrama (23) arjuna-gita (24) gana-nistarana-gita (25) bhagavad-gita (26) amarakosha-gita (27) gupta-gita (28) chatisa-gupta-gita (29) garuda-gita (30) birata-gita (31) ganesh-vibhuti-gita (32) gita-sara (33) nila-sundara-gita (34) kali-bharata (35) baula-adhyaya (36) panasa-chori-grantha-samudra-pradhana.
Matta Balarāma Dās: (1480-1534). Oriya Poet.