शुष्कसागरसङ्काशो निखातो योऽद्य दृश्यते । स प्रातरभ्रसंवीतो नगः सम्पद्यते मुने ॥ २ ॥
śuṣkasāgarasaṅkāśō nikhātō yō’dya dṛśyatē | sa prātarabhrasaṁvītō nagaḥ sampadyatē munē || 2 ||
Translation
What is seen today as a deep pit, like a dried-up ocean, becomes by morning a mountain wrapped in clouds, O sage.
Word by word
- śuṣka
- dried-up
- sāgara
- an ocean
- saṅkāśō
- (saṅkāśaḥ) like
- nikhātō
- (nikhātaḥ) a deep pit
- yō
- (yaḥ) what
- adya
- today
- dṛśyatē
- is seen
- sa
- (saḥ) it
- prātar
- (prātaḥ) by morning
- abhra
- in clouds
- saṁvītō
- (saṃvītaḥ) wrapped
- nagaḥ
- a mountain
- sampadyatē
- becomes
- munē
- O sage
Meaning
Verses 2 to 9 are a series of reversals in nature. A great hollow, like the bed of a dried sea, becomes in time a mountain with clouds round its peak. "By morning" (prātar) compresses the ages into a night: from the point of view of Time, the change of geology is as fast as a change of weather. The reader may look at a landscape and imagine it in another age.