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Monday, June 09, 2008

#090, Kausalya-Spend one night with this dead horse!

1-14-34 Sanskrit verse
Patatrin`aa tadaa saardham
susthiteena ca ceetasaa
avasat rajaniim ekaam
Kausalyaa dharma kaamyayaa


Dharma kaamayaa = desirous of adhering to piety.
Rajani = night.
Saardham = horse.
Avasat = stayed, lived.

CONTEXT
Dasaratha performed a horse sacrifice before taking up Putra Kamesht`hi sacrifice to beget children. As a part of sacrificial procedure, Dasaratha's first queen Kausalya spent one night with the slain horse.

ENGLISH GIST of the verse
Kausalya, desirous of performing the pious duties, in a stable mental state, spent one night with the fallen horse.

BLOGGER'S VIEWS
*Queen to sleep with a horse! Why!
*What type of virtuous duty (dharma) is it which requires queens to sleep with dead horses?
*Some criticis deduced the meaning that she had sexual intercourse with the horse, but this interpretation will be too harsh on the customs of those days. But definitely, there is something strange in this spending a night with the horse. Sexual intercourse with a dead horse is not practical.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sick man?

Jolly said...

patatriNaa tadaa saardham susthitena ca cetasaa |
avasat rajaniim ekaam kausalyaa dharma kaamyayaa || 1-14-34

Please understand this:-

kausalyaa= Queen Kausalya; susthitena cha chetasaa= with composed - impassively; dharma kaamaayaa= dharma, desiring – for achieving results; patatriNaa saartham= with horse, for results; [where patatri = also means a bird, one that swiftly flew away like a bird; the sacrificed ritual horse is equated with the Divine Eagle – garuDa - that conducts the oblations; ekaam rajaniim avasat = one, night, she resided with that horse that flew away.

Queen Kausalya desiring the results of ritual disconcertedly resided one night with that horse that flew away like a bird.