वचोरचितनीहारा काञ्चनोपवनोज्ज्वला । नूनं विकासमायाति चिन्ताचणकमञ्जरी ॥ ४ ॥
vacōracitanīhārā kāñcanōpavanōjjvalā | nūnaṁ vikāsamāyāti cintācaṇakamañjarī || 4 ||
Translation
The spray of the chick-pea plant of care, its dew made of words of lament, bright with a garden of gold, is surely coming into bloom.
Word by word
- vacō
- (vacaḥ) of words
- racita
- made
- nīhārā
- its dew
- kāñcana
- of gold
- upavana
- with a garden
- ujjvalā
- bright
- nūnaṁ
- surely
- vikāsam
- into bloom
- āyāti
- is coming
- cintā
- of care
- caṇaka
- of the chick-pea plant
- mañjarī
- the spray
Meaning
A chick-pea plant is covered with dew in the cold season, and its flowers open in the early sun. Care is that plant. Its dew, the commentary says, is the tears that come with words of grief and lament; its brightness is the gold and other things one longs for nearby. And it is "coming into bloom" (vikāsam āyāti): growing, opening, flourishing. The image is unsettling because it is pretty. Anxieties too can be tended and grown as if they were a garden, watered with complaints and lit by the glitter of what one wants.