Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 20

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the Trinity, who burnt and reduced to ashes Kāma, the god of love, who wields the crescent moon on top of his matted hair, who swallowed deadly poison which discoloured His throat, who in worship exchanged His own eye with that of Visnu, who portioned off half of His body to accommodate the softer half of His consort Gauri within Himself and who sustains on his head the mighty heavenly river jumping down from the heaven. Nearby is the third eye of the God, situated on His forehead which deserves your homage. And now the Poet turns his attention to the members of Śiva's Family. The son Kartikeya whom the Love-god leaves untouched through mortal fear, His consort Parvati in her blissful and fearful aspects, as the slayer of the Demon Mahiṣa, as Kālī, the Night of destruction and as hideous Camunḍā. Saraswati, the goddess of Learning, who stealthily moves on the tongues of poets. The lovely moon's orb with a colourless dark spot on it, the Sun-god whose chariot is driven by his seven horses in the firmament, the great Seşa who bears the earth's burden on his multiple hoods, Ganapati with His elephantine tusk protruding over the left mouthcorner, the goddess Laksmi emerging out of the ocean with a lotus in her hand, Kāma the god of love and finally the river Ganga on the lap of the Himalaya, who incurs Parvati's jealousy and in whose waters, on the head of Śiva, floats the skull of Brahma, the
Grand-father!
Praise of Poets :
After Invocations, in the next 36 Gāthās (62-97), Vāk patirāja talks in general about poets, great and small, old and new, the impact and the response they get from readers, their difficulties and handicaps, the language,