Abhijñānaśākuntalam 1.20
सरसिजमनुविद्धं शैवलेनापि रम्यं
मलिनमपि हिमांशोर्लक्ष्म लक्ष्मीं तनोति।
इयमधिकमनोज्ञा वल्कलेनापि तन्वी
किमिव हि मधुराणां मण्डनं नाकृतीनाम्॥
sarasijam anuviddhaṃ śaivalenāpi ramyaṃ
malinam api himāṃśor lakṣma lakṣmīṃ tanoti
iyam adhika-manojñā valkalenāpi tanvī
kim iva hi madhurāṇāṃ maṇḍanaṃ nākṛtīnām
Tap any word to see what it means and how it works in the line.
No word selected yet — choose one above and its meaning, grammar and root appear here.
Weed tangled in a lotus does not spoil it. The dark mark on the moon only makes it lovelier. So this slim girl, in her rough bark dress, is more beautiful still — to a face that is sweet, anything is an ornament.
How the sense would be said plainly today.
Metre
Mālinī
⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ ⏑ — — | — ⏑ — — ⏑ — —
Fifteen syllables: six light beats run quickly, then the line slows and settles. 'Mālinī' means 'garlanded' — the metre is used for verses of admiration.
— is a long beat, ⏑ a short one.
Why this verse matters
- The image
- Two flawed beautiful things — a weed-tangled lotus, a stained moon — prepare the third: a girl in coarse bark cloth.
- The craft
- The structure is a classic three-example induction closed by a rhetorical question. Duṣyanta is arguing himself into love, and using logic to do it.
- The moment
- Act One. The king, hidden, watches Śakuntalā watering plants in the hermitage garden, and sees her for the first time.
A short practice
Match each image to what it stands for.