इत्युक्तवन्तं सा पुत्रं मूर्ध्नि पस्पर्श पाणिना । पल्लवेनाऽऽनता नम्रं मूलग्रन्थिमिवाऽब्जिनी ॥ ४० ॥
ityuktavantaṁ sā putraṁ mūrdhni pasparśa pāṇinā | pallavēnā’’natā namraṁ mūlagranthimivā’bjinī || 40 ||
Translation
When he had said this, she touched her son on the head with her hand, bending, as a lotus plant, bent down, touches with a leaf the knot of its own root.
Word by word
- itya
- (iti) this
- uktavantaṁ
- when he had said
- sā
- she
- putraṁ
- her son
- mūrdhni
- on the head
- pasparśa
- touched
- pāṇinā
- with her hand
- pallavēna
- with a leaf
- ānatā
- bending
- namraṁ
- bent down
- mūla
- root
- granthim
- the knot
- iva
- as
- abjinī
- a lotus plant
Meaning
Līlā's only gesture to the son of her former life: a touch, as a plant bends to its own root. The image is tender, and exact: the son is her root in that world.