दण्डतृतीयपादेन प्रस्खलन्ती मुहुर्मुहुः । कासाधोवायुमुरजा जरा योषित् प्रनृत्यति ॥ ३३ ॥
daṇḍatṛtīyapādēna praskhalantī muhurmuhuḥ | kāsādhōvāyumurajā jarā yōṣit pranṛtyati || 33 ||
Translation
Old age, a woman, dances, stumbling again and again on her third foot, the stick, with cough and wind for her drum.
Word by word
- daṇḍa
- the stick
- tṛtīya
- on her third
- pādēna
- foot
- praskhalantī
- stumbling
- muhurmuhuḥ
- again and again
- kāsa
- with cough
- adhōvāyu
- and wind
- murajā
- for her drum
- jarā
- old age
- yōṣit
- a woman
- pranṛtyati
- dances
Meaning
The picture of an old woman dancing: she leans on a stick, her "third foot", stumbles, and keeps time to the drum of her coughing and her bowels. the commentaries describe it. It is grotesque, and its grotesqueness is the point: the dance of life ends like this.