Meghadūta 1.5
धूमज्योतिःसलिलमरुतां सन्निपातः क्व मेघः
सन्देशार्थाः क्व पटुकरणैः प्राणिभिः प्रापणीयाः।
इत्यौत्सुक्यादपरिगणयन्गुह्यकस्तं ययाचे
कामार्ता हि प्रकृतिकृपणाश्चेतनाचेतनेषु॥
dhūma-jyotiḥ-salila-marutāṃ sannipātaḥ kva meghaḥ
sandeśārthāḥ kva paṭu-karaṇaiḥ prāṇibhiḥ prāpaṇīyāḥ
ity autsukyād aparigaṇayan guhyakas taṃ yayāce
kāmārtā hi prakṛti-kṛpaṇāś cetanācetaneṣu
Tap any word to see what it means and how it works in the line.
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A cloud is only smoke, fire, water and wind thrown together; a message needs a living messenger with senses. The yakṣa, in his longing, never stopped to think of this, and asked the cloud anyway — for people in love cannot tell the living from the lifeless.
How the sense would be said plainly today.
Metre
Mandākrāntā
— — — — | ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ — | — ⏑ — — ⏑ — —
The two 'kva … kva' halves fall on matching positions, so the metre itself stages the mismatch.
— is a long beat, ⏑ a short one.
Why this verse matters
- The image
- The cloud is stripped down to its physics — smoke, light, water, wind — precisely so that the absurdity of speaking to it can be felt.
- The craft
- Kālidāsa answers his own objection before a reader can raise it, then converts the absurdity into a truth about desire. The poem's whole premise is defended in four lines.
- The moment
- The yakṣa has just decided to speak. The poet pauses to admit that this makes no sense.
A short practice
Put the argument of the verse back in order.