वृष्टमूककचन्मेघलवावलिरिव च्युता । हैयङ्गवीनपिण्डानामीरितेव परम्परा ॥ १६ ॥
vṛṣṭamūkakacanmēghalavāvaliriva cyutā | haiyaṅgavīnapiṇḍānāmīritēva paramparā || 16 ||
Translation
like a string of shreds of cloud that, having rained, fall silent and gleam, dropping down; like a stream of lumps of fresh butter tossed down;
Word by word
- vṛṣṭa
- having rained
- mūka
- fall silent
- kacan
- (kacat) and gleam
- mēgha
- of cloud
- lava
- of shreds
- āvalir
- (āvaliḥ) a string
- iva
- like
- cyutā
- dropping down
- haiyaṅgavīna
- of fresh butter
- piṇḍānām
- of lumps
- īritā
- tossed down
- paramparā
- a stream
Meaning
The images become homely. Small white clouds, the kind that are left after the rain, silent and shining (vṛṣṭa-mūka-kacat-megha), the commentary says without thunder and glittering with lightning, seem to fall; and the flowers are like balls of fresh butter (haiyaṅgavīna, butter made from yesterday's milk) thrown down one after another. Butter is the image of whiteness and softness, and of nourishment. Even the most ordinary things of the household serve the description. The reader may see in it that the sacred and the everyday are not two kinds of thing.