शैलार्णवद्युधराशृङ्गजगदूर्णायुसौनिकः । प्रत्यहं पिबते प्रेक्ष्य तारारक्तकणानपि ॥ ४१ ॥
śailārṇavadyudharāśṛṅgajagadūrṇāyusaunikaḥ | pratyahaṁ pibatē prēkṣya tārāraktakaṇānapi || 41 ||
Translation
The butcher of the world-sheep, whose four horns are mountain, ocean, sky and earth, every day, watching, licks up even the drops of blood that are the stars.
Word by word
- śaila
- mountain
- arṇava
- ocean
- dyu
- sky
- dharā
- and earth
- śṛṅga
- whose horns are
- jagad
- (jagat) world
- ūrṇāyu
- sheep
- saunikaḥ
- the butcher
- pratyahaṁ
- every day
- pibatē
- licks up
- prēkṣya
- watching
- tārā
- the stars
- rakta
- of blood
- kaṇān
- the drops
- api
- even
Meaning
A butcher kills sheep and licks the drops of blood. The world is a sheep with four horns: mountain, ocean, heaven, earth; and Time is its butcher, who even licks up the stars, the drops of blood in the courtyard of the sky, each dawn. The commentary explains the image. It is the darkest of the sarga's pictures: the dawn swallowing the stars as a butcher licks blood. The reader may see the stars fade at dawn differently after it.