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Yoga Vāsiṣṭha, Sarga 3.35

Traditional (ascribed to Vālmīki)

Prakaraṇas
6
Sargas
175
Published
88
Verses
3571
Level
intermediate

Utpatti Prakaraṇa · Sarga 35

The Battle in Images

The battle of the fourfold army at length, likened to the sea, the forest and the end of the world.

In this chapter

Sarga 35 · Verse 1

श्रीवसिष्ठ उवाच । अथ प्रोड्डयनोद्युक्ततुरङ्गमतरङ्गकः । उत्ताण्डव इवोन्मत्तो बभूव स रणार्णवः ॥ १ ॥

śrīvasiṣṭha uvāca | atha prōḍḍayanōdyuktaturaṅgamataraṅgakaḥ | uttāṇḍava ivōnmattō babhūva sa raṇārṇavaḥ || 1 ||

Translation

Vasiṣṭha said: Then that ocean of battle, its waves the horses eager to leap, grew frenzied, as if dancing the wild tāṇḍava.

Word by word

atha
then
prōḍḍayana
to leap
udyukta
eager
turaṅgama
the horses
taraṅgakaḥ
its waves
uttāṇḍava
dancing the wild tāṇḍava
iva
as if
unmattō
(unmattaḥ) frenzied
babhūva
grew
sa
that
raṇa
of battle
arṇavaḥ
ocean

Meaning

The second commentary sums up the sarga: the battle of the four arms of the army (elephants, horses, chariots, foot) told in images of the ocean, the forest and the world's end. It begins with the ocean, and with the tāṇḍava, Śiva's dance of destruction. The whole sarga is one sentence of descriptions hung on "the ocean of battle" and then on "the end of an age in battle" (v. 20). For the reader who has followed the tale, it is still the world of thought of a dead king, and the more vivid it grows, the more it shows what a mind can make.