अलाबुवीणामधुरः शरद्व्योमलसच्छविः । देवः किल महाकालो लीलाकोकिलबालकः ॥ ८ ॥
alābuvīṇāmadhuraḥ śaradvyōmalasacchaviḥ | dēvaḥ kila mahākālō līlākōkilabālakaḥ || 8 ||
Translation
the god Mahākāla, sweet as a gourd-lute, glowing like the autumn sky, is his pet young cuckoo;
Word by word
- alābu
- gourd
- vīṇā
- as a lute
- madhuraḥ
- sweet
- śarad
- autumn
- vyōma
- like the sky
- lasat
- glowing
- chaviḥ
- his radiance
- dēvaḥ
- the god
- kila
- indeed
- mahākālō
- (mahākālaḥ) Mahākāla
- līlā
- pet
- kōkila
- cuckoo
- bālakaḥ
- young
Meaning
A prince keeps a songbird. Time's cuckoo is Mahākāla, Śiva as the Great Destroyer, whose voice is sweet as the tumba-vīṇā, and whose dark blue glow is like the clear autumn sky. The commentary adds that what is terrible to others is sweet to Time. The verse reaches the summit of the image: even the Destroyer is Time's pet bird. The reader is left with the thought that Time is greater than every name of power.