इहाऽभूवमहं जीर्णा शिरालाङ्गी कृशा सिता । ब्राह्मणी शुष्कदर्भाग्रभेदरूक्षकरोदरा ॥ ५ ॥
ihā’bhūvamahaṁ jīrṇā śirālāṅgī kṛśā sitā | brāhmaṇī śuṣkadarbhāgrabhēdarūkṣakarōdarā || 5 ||
Translation
Here I was an old brahmin woman, the veins standing out on my limbs, thin and grey, the palms of my hands rough and cracked from the tips of dry kuśa grass;
Word by word
- iha
- here
- abhūvam
- was
- ahaṁ
- I
- jīrṇā
- old
- śirāla
- veins standing out
- aṅgī
- on my limbs
- kṛśā
- thin
- sitā
- grey
- brāhmaṇī
- a brahmin woman
- śuṣka
- dry
- darbha
- kuśa grass
- agra
- from the tips
- bhēda
- cracked
- rūkṣa
- rough
- kara
- of my hands
- udarā
- the palms
Meaning
Verses 5 to 15 are one long sentence, Līlā's portrait of herself in that life. It begins with the body: old, thin, veined, the hands cut by the kuśa grass a brahmin household gathers every day for its rites.