तुम्बीलताभिरुग्राभिः पुष्टाभिरिव वेष्टितम् । महानसस्थानमिदं मम देहमिवाऽपरम् ॥ २३ ॥
tumbīlatābhirugrābhiḥ puṣṭābhiriva vēṣṭitam | mahānasasthānamidaṁ mama dēhamivā’param || 23 ||
Translation
This kitchen, wrapped in fierce gourd vines as if in swollen veins, is like another body of mine.
Word by word
- tumbī
- gourd
- latābhir
- (latābhiḥ) in vines
- ugrābhiḥ
- fierce
- puṣṭābhir
- (puṣṭābhiḥ) swollen veins
- iva
- as if; like
- vēṣṭitam
- wrapped
- mahānasa
- kitchen
- sthānam
- place
- idaṁ
- this
- mama
- of mine
- dēham
- body
- aparam
- another
Meaning
The vines on the kitchen walls are like the veins on her thin old body (vv. 5, 11). Again house and body are one: a life so given to the house that the house became a second body.