रोषरोदनरौद्रासु दैन्यजर्जरितासु च । दशासु बन्धनं बाल्यमालानं करिणामिव ॥ ३ ॥
rōṣarōdanaraudrāsu dainyajarjaritāsu ca | daśāsu bandhanaṁ bālyamālānaṁ kariṇāmiva || 3 ||
Translation
In its states, fierce with anger and weeping and worn down with misery, childhood is a bondage, like the post to which elephants are chained.
Word by word
- rōṣa
- with anger
- rōdana
- and weeping
- raudrāsu
- fierce
- dainya
- with misery
- jarjaritāsu
- worn down
- ca
- and
- daśāsu
- in its states
- bandhanaṁ
- a bondage
- bālyam
- childhood
- ālānaṁ
- the post
- kariṇām
- of elephants
- iva
- like
Meaning
A young elephant is chained to a post (ālāna) to be broken in; it pulls and cries and cannot get free. Childhood is such a post. Its moods are rage, weeping, and helpless misery, and the child is tied to them, unable to understand or escape. The image is compassionate. It does not blame the child; it describes a condition. The reader who remembers the tantrums of their own childhood, or watches a child now, may see a small being chained.