Bharavi's Poem Kiratarjuniya, or Arjuna's Combat with the Kirata by Carl Cappeller

Review by: F. W. Thomas

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, (Oct., 1917), pp. 869-877
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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 BHARAVl's POEM KIRATARJUNIYA 869

business or whose
pleasure it is to study the Malay
or the is a valuable
languages Malay mind It addition
to the admirable work that has already been done by
English scholars and printers in the Malay world.
R. N. Bland.

BlIARAVl's POEM KlRATARJUNlYA, or ArJUNA'S COMBAT

with THE Kirata. Translated from the original
Sanskrit into German and explained by Carl
Cappeller, Professor at the Universitv of Jena.
Harvard Oriental Series, vol. xv. Cambridge,
Massachusetts : Harvard University.
published by
1912.

This fine volume, which respect inof all material

features, paper, typography, etc., is fully worthy of its

place in Professor Lanmon's unrivalled series, was dedicated

to Professor Del br?ck of Jena in 1912, upon the occasion
of his 70th That it has in this country so
birthday.
long awaited a review would be inexcusable, were it
not that it does not seem to have reached us before the
outbreak We may thank a special conjuncture,
of the War.
if even now we have been able to for the
gird ourselves
serious task of reading and reviewing such a work.
As Professor Lanman out in the note which he
points
has himself prefixed, the Kirdtdrjuniya has never before
been at length
translated into any European language.
Even if we add
to the bibliography supplied by Dr. Blau
(pp. xxii-v) a few school or university text-books, usually
covering only the first few cantos, the great part was for
the translator virgin soil. The
poem is one of the most
difficult of the Mahdkdvyas, more difficult, for instance,
than the Sisupdlavadha, which Alfigha wrote expressly
to surpass it, though some of the later artificial works
may present in general more tortuous BhAravi
puzzles.
was a great of the best Classical and his
poet period,

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870 NOTICES OF BOOKS

verse, compact and meaning-laden, oilers to the translator

a such as we lind in He has not the
problem Vergil.
ease and grace of K?lid?sa, who in date was earlier : he
is a hard-thinking poet, in whom we feel at work a certain
intension of will. Some would prefer to compare the
Sanskrit Classical epics rather with the Alexandrine
school, Callimachus, etc., than with the Latins, whose
was not with a
golden age weighted long (native) literary
tradition. But this does not do justice to the scope,

sincerity, and seriousness of the Indian classics. The

latter, whatever literary artifices
their and commonplaces,
deal with interests of Indian thought.
the real
We would say at once that Professor Cappeller's
translation is an excellent piece of work. The German
language, in virtue of its synthetic character and elaborate

syntax, seems well suited for embracing in a single

sentence the complicated matter of a Sanskrit verse : and,
so far as a foreigner may Professor
judge, Cappeller's
style, though aiming at philological exactness, is very

fairly readable. For the most part the translation follows

the excellent exegesis of Mallin?tha's commentary, without
which no prudent scholar would have essayed the task :
there must be very few passages where it could safely be
from. Professor comes well out of
departed Cappeller
the ordeal provided by the artificial combinations in
canto xv.

The footnotes contain mythological, botanical, literary,

and other material explanations. They are economized,
and in almost all cases they supply a real and necessary
guidance : we are spared the evidence of that passion
for annotation which cumbers some works with un

necessary, and not seldom borrowed, erudition. The

notes are also brief
appended philological (pp. 153-75)
and useful, explaining words or syntax, adducing parallels
from other poems, and especially from the Sisupdlavadha,
which so constantly the poem. There are two
implies

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 BHARAVl's POEM KIRATARJUNIYA 871

excursuses, one dealing with Bh?ravi's strict P?ninean

use of the narrative tenses, and the other with the medio

passive (including the impersonal passive) perfect. We

have also a glossary of rare words, a list of alamkdras,
a list and scheme of metres, a list of citations of the poem
in other works, and a reprint of Ruckert's verse translation
of viii, 27-57, with some additions.
It will not be expected that in the case of so difficult
a work we in all points
should accept the interpretation
even of so accomplished a scholar as Professor
Cappeller.
And, as the matters in question are not to present
likely
themselves for discussion in another connexion, it will be
worth while to place them on record here. Accordingly
we may venture?with a brevity which will not, it is
hoped, be mistaken for uncourteous
dogmatism?to call
attention to the following :?
points
i, 4. "die durch Sp?her ihre Augen ?berall haben"
(cdracaksusah): rather, "who have to see (not everything
with their own eyes, but) through spies."
9. "zeigt er . , . mit eine m?nnliche Tat
Klugheit
kraft": rather, "he(tena) by policy supplements, amplifies
(vitanyate. vistdryate), his energies."
17. "die der Ackersmann fr?hlich ernten kann": but
suldiena meansrather "easily''* than ".
"joyfully
"
29. akhandam = " without a break "
das ganze
(not
Land"); ciram omitted in translation.
" " "
30. sathds = the false (not die B?sen ").
= " whose "
43. yasodhandh wealth is prestige (not
"
merely ruhmgekr?nte").
ii, 31. "wie die Natur zum fruchtreichen Herbste' :
but loka here (as Mallin?tha points out) means
"
jana,
people.*'
"
iii, 1. "Eine Gewitter-wolke : this overlooks the
comparison of the lightning (taditvantam) with the
tawny-coloured top-knot.
"
30. der Diener des K?nigs aber tat nach seinem

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"
Befehl und sich leibhaftig an jenen Ort :
begab
Alallin?tha has here a wrong reading. The true
adopted
reading ddesa iva (not ddesam
iva), which is found in
some AISS., means "like a
grammatical substitute",
e.g. the root hlifi for as in the future of asti, as is
proved
by the passage (xii, 58) in the Raghnvamsa. The Yak sa
like a substitute in the very place where the
appeared
muni had been.
38. "mit gehemmtem Thr?nenausbruch und mit leiser
Stimme": so also Alallinfitha, but the sense is rather "with
throat weak (voice faint) through restrained tears".
"
iv, 4. wer sollte herrliche Sch?nheit in dem seltenen
"
Verein mit dem n?tzlichen nicht :
freudig begr?ssen
"
but the meaning is beauty enhanced (jrrakar?alaksm?m)
"
by union with its like (anurripasamgamc) ; cf. x, 50.
"
0, n. Das Wasser gilt als Gewand der Sandbank
"
oder Insel : rather the reverse, the lines on the sand

being compared with the wavy lines on a white silk robe.

Else where we have indeed the contrary idea.
10. "sehns?chtig nach dem Wiedersehen (mit den
" "
Freunden) : rather, eager to look (at the cows)."
" . . . ohne
25. Da das Geschrei des Pfaues
. . . rather, its
verlangen hervordringt": "abandoning
desire (vihdya for the cry . . ."
vd?chdm) peacock's
v, 7. "W?lder mit aufgebl?htem Lotus": why not
" "
forests of blooming lotuses (sphutasarojavand) ?
" "
S. mit ihren von Gold erf?llten Spalten : rather,
" "
having fragments (bhitti) of gold interspersed ?
12. "ohne zu wanken" (avicalam): but it is the
clouds which, being motionless, are distinguished only by
their sound from the tops of the mountain.
10. "die Redseligkeit bricht ja hervor": rather, "talking
is excellent (vira ja te) in season."
49. "wenn auch fromm" : but
(Alallinfitha ?dnia)
"
rather though destined for success" (bhavya) ?
"
vi, 30. mit freundlichen Worten": rather, "with

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 BHARAVl's POEM KIRATARJUN1YA 873

gratifying (abhirdma) words." Indra is glad to hear of

his son's conduct. I would also take ?ithil?krta as
"
disposed of ".
vii, 7. "der . . . Leib der Frauen aus
derSonnengluth
gesetzt war" : rather, "the bodies of the women supported
(sahatvam) the heat."
18. Note that it is the heavenly stream, as it
Ganges
falls on the Himalaya's summit, which is compared to the
alighting company.
40. Here by a slip adhvasiumatura is translated by
the word "reizende" (repeated from the context).
" "
viii, 2. Lotus?ugigen is hardly enough for vanajd
yateksandh.
" "
4. will immer mehr und mehr davon haben : rather,
"
desires the further and further (or better and better)."
" "
6. : the
Lippeubiss lips of the ladies are stung by
the bees (cf. Sakuntald, Act vi),
13. The words svagocare sat y api are left untranslated.
26. "zum
ersten Male zog etwas wie Ehrfurcht in ihre
Augen ein": rather, "desire to look (?ksanddartr
dlokanakutfil?ala) came upon them, as if for the first
time."

57. baddhormi
applies to the bed also (" rumpled").
ix, 15. "oder
die Berggipfel abgerissen": rather, "or
the regions of space abolished."
" "
17. "gl?nzende" Staubwolke : rather, "lending
beauty" (lambhitakdnli) and "handful of powder"
(carnamusti).
"
30. der sich w?hrend der Hitze mit seinem Weibchen
freut":' rather, during"who the heat can keep up his
spirits in the company of his wife."
54. Mallin?tha's of lirdaya as =
interpretation
" "
intelligence" (not heart") is supported by the double
antithesis hr?-p?tava, vimoha-hrdaya.
61. karnaga also to the eyes of the women :
applies
? " made a distinction".
pravibhcjc

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"
73. war auch ein zielloses
Gebahrcn sch?n, bei dem
ihre Licbesleidenschaft (nur) dem Geliebten : rather,
galt"
"
their lovers were moved to even misplaced desires,
inspired by passion."
70. paribhoga seems to be left untranslated.
x, 11 and n. What Alallinatha explains by dvrnvan is
not dadhat, but apidadhat, "covering" (not "erf?llend ").
15. "das ihre Aliihe . . . sein werde":
vergeblich
"
that his effort . . . was
rather, superfluous."
19. "bei Ruhe denen
und Aufruhr miteinander
" "
wechselten : rather, an end to
" putting (interrupting)
lover-quarrels (vyavahita-rativagrahaih), which the

rainy season is supposed to do.

40. "nach
verflogenem Weinrausch" : rather,
"though
without intoxication of wine" (amadhnmada0). "
50. Here and elsewhere annrupa (yogya) "your equal
"
seems to be not exactly rendered by ".
liebensw?rdige"
"
55. Das m?chte noch sein, wenn nur nicht : rather,
" . . ."
so be it ! (very well !) it is a mistress that
50. "ihre Stimme vor Eifersucht zitterte": but it is
the under that quivers" (sphuradadharostha), an
slip
ordinary Indian sign of emotion.
58. abhisdrane seems better taken with prakupitam
(so Alallinatha) than with anunctum.
03. dhvastarucayah = = "their
( nastakdntayah) beauty
overcast", not "their desire crushed" ("ihr Verlangen
vereitelt ").
xi, 3. Here the ascetic's red jatfi with the white hairs

showing round it (not "filling it") is compared to the

sunset with the moon's rays.
5. Here the fat protuberance is the supposed load (not
"
Trotz der abgezehrten, scheinbar von einem Last be
schwerten Glieder "). dichb?uchig
"
11. In deiner ist die herrlichste
Erscheinung Tugend
"
f?lle zum Ausdruck : rather, " your form
gelangt (perfect)
has attained something even better, perfection of virtue."

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 BI-IARAVI'S POEM KIRATARJUNIYA 875

10. kalevare should be taken with nihsprhasya.

"
18. bei den Geduldigen, die da Busse ?ben "should be
"
bei den Busse-?benden, die geduldig sind ".
20. Mallin?tha's interpretation of anyadehesu (:i in
other births") seems much to be preferred.
38. sdkdiiksam amipaskdram is not well rendered by
"Winke enthaltende, ungek?nstelte": ?kdnks? is a
technical term in rhetoric, used of the relation of words
" or ellipse
requiring each other. Render without laxity \
42. "du w?nschest ich solle die Fr?mmigkeit lehren" :
rather, "you wish to teach me (mam sdsilum) ..."
" "
43. nayadruhah, impolitic," not B?sewicht".
" "
47. nltdni panatdm, staked," not verloren ".
50. Alallinfitha is certainly right in taking bhdvain
"
dnayane as purpose to take ".
53. jydydn eva, "selbst der Alteste," seems to give a
" "
wrong turn. It is not even the eldest ", but it was, in
fact (and with good reason), the eldest".
" as an
05. nddharanam dsihftu, and cited in blessings
not "das Ideal unseres r?hmlichen Stiebens".
example,"
72. "Stammbaum": but jdti here means "birth" or
"
"genus (as man).
" " "
xii, 2. : rather, determined upon
" Siegesgewissen
victory (dhrtajayadhrti).
21. "weltbezwingenden": rather, "world-surpassing"
{bhuvanO? ivartin).
xiii, 5. krtajnayd omitted in translation.
7. "unm?glich": rather, "respected" (olanghyam).
"
9. durch den L?rm der grossen Heeresschaaren."
"
Transpose the adjective grossen ".
23. The sense of the verse, according to which the
arrow is at the same time seen at three
separate stages by
three separate groups of spectators, does not appear in the
rendering.
" " "
30. rings von B?umen : rather, that the
umgeben
trees bent round or turned somersaults."

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33. "als w?re er zu einem schlechten Dienste verwandt":

" "
rather, like a favour conferred on a bad man (upak?ra
being nominative).
"
37. "Fr?mmigkeit": but ?ruta is scriptural learning".
" " "
57. y nkta = suitable (not crspriesslicht"); ilar
? = mutual f?rdernde
tarderaya (not "gegenseitig ").
60. "an reich": rather, "whose (who
Dienstfertigkeit
feels that his
true) wealth is service" (upakdrakatva
t??lradhana) ; cf. yasodliana, i, 43.
"
xiv, 4. Bei solchen Rednern bringen manche (Zuh?rer)
"
. . . : rather, "even these a few of
among speakers only

special cleverness succeed in conveying a

deep sense."
11, "ohnedass uns Unrecht rather, "without
geschieht": "
" : rather,
fault (on our part)." sagt nur was recht ist
i%
mentions onlv ?/ what is meritorious."

36. anddaropdtia is not "aus Nichtachtung hervor

"
gezogenen ", but carelessly taken ". ajr?rnapratikdra
= " too feeble to react
ltclava equally (to be his match)".
" "
42. Innbegritf does not quite correspond to gati.
xv, 12. dharasamstha should go with rdk?asah, not
with naga.
24-S. All the locatives go with ?surc mah?have, "battle
with the asuras," and iha refers to the present (a different)
light.
xvi, 14. atimanyund goes with vriyate, not with
dmnlalfinair: even when cut off, the trunks retain their
fury and try to stop the cars.
xvii. 2 n. Why not take bhfiriprabhdvcna with rana,
as M all in?t h a does ?
13. vapr?natasya=z" dashing against the banks (of
its streams, rodhasi not "zur Erde
pxirinatasya)",
".
geneigten
27.
avidilaprayoga, "whose procedure is not discerned

(by the adversary)," not"in der Bogcnkunde" unerfahren ".

42. "Wenn die W?rde ist : rather, "when
gesunken
one has falsified
good opinion" (sambhdvand).

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 BHARAVI'S POEM KIRATARJUNIYA 877

25, n. For read

paryasa?yaugapadya, parydya--.

ayaugapadya.
53. = " like
paricyutanddrya ivopacdrah politeness
(upacdra) without liberality", not "eine Wohltat ohne
Edel ninth ".
"
xviii, 30. Verleiht dir den Anspruch auf heilbringende
"
: rather, "is the
Verehrung greatness (the great fruit) of
reverence to thee ".
F. W. Thomas.

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