Uma and the Moon

(Translated by Kalipada Mukherjee from the original poem in Bengali)

[A Vaidya by caste, Ramprosad Sen, the greatest of the Sakta singers of Bengal, was born in 1723 and died in 1775 in Halishahar near Calcutta. He learnt Bengali, Sanskrit, Persian and Hindi. He was a ‘Tantrik,’ and later in life practised ‘yoga.’ He presented his ‘Vidyasundar Kavya’ to Raja Krishnachandra of Nuddea, who conferred on him the title of ‘Kaviranjan.’]

O Lord of mountains, I can no longer console Uma.

She weeps, is sullen, and does not suck my milk; neither does she take sweetened milk or cream or butter.

Towards the end of the night, the moon rose.

And Uma asked me to catch it for her.

Her eyes were swollen with weeping, and her face became pale.

How can the heart of a mother bear all this?

Catching me by the fingers, she calls me to go with her, I know not where.

When I said it was impossible to catch the moon, she put off her ornaments and beat me.

Girish¹ then rose up, and after soothing Uma, took her on his lap.

Putting a mirror in her hands, he said, smiling, "Take, my darling, take here the moon."

On seeing the reflection of her face which outshines millions of moons in beauty, Uma went into ecstasies with joy.

Says Ramprosad, "O how very blessed must they be who have as their daughter the Mother of all the Worlds!" Prattling the while, the Mother of the Worlds sleeps comforted, and at last is put in the bed.

1 According to "the Hindu Puranas, Himalaya is ‘Girish’ or ‘the king of mountains’. He married Mena or Manaka. From their union were born a son, Mainak, and two daughters, Ganga and Uma, both of whom were married to Mahadev or Siva. Vide Kalidas’s ‘Kumarasambhavam.’