चलत्पद्मं सर इव वहद्विहगमेव च । नभः शूरशिरःकीर्णं भाति तारकिताकृति ॥ २ ॥
calatpadmaṁ sara iva vahadvihagamēva ca | nabhaḥ śūraśiraḥkīrṇaṁ bhāti tārakitākṛti || 2 ||
Translation
"The sky, strewn with heroes' heads, shines like a lake with moving lotuses and with birds flying over it, and looks as if it were full of stars."
Word by word
- calat
- moving
- padmaṁ
- with lotuses
- sara
- (saraḥ) a lake
- iva
- like
- vahad
- (vahat) flying
- vihagam
- with birds
- ēva
- also
- ca
- and
- nabhaḥ
- the sky
- śūra
- heroes'
- śiraḥ
- with heads
- kīrṇaṁ
- strewn
- bhāti
- shines
- tārakita
- full of stars
- ākṛti
- looks as if
Meaning
The first voice is a watcher's, and it sees beauty. The flying heads are lotuses on a lake, or birds, or stars. The horror of the field is turned into an image, as poets do; the sarga will set beside it voices that feel the horror.