Sanskrit quote nr. 29 (Maha-subhashita-samgraha)
Sanskrit text:
अकलङ्कान्तिके कान्तिः केति कालङ्कलङ्किनः ।
अरुणे तरुणे मस्या धावं कामयते शशी ॥akalaṅkāntike kāntiḥ keti kālaṅkalaṅkinaḥ |
aruṇe taruṇe masyā dhāvaṃ kāmayate śaśī ||⏒⏒⏒⏒¦⏑⎼⎼⏒¦¦⏒⏒⏒⏒¦⏑⎼⏑⏒¦¦
⏒⏒⏒⏒¦⏑⎼⎼⏒¦¦⏒⏒⏒⏒¦⏑⎼⏑⏒¦¦
Meter name: Śloka; Type: pathyā (‘normal’); 8 syllables per quarter (pāda).
Primary English translation:
“The moon desires to cleanse his dark spot in the young (morning) sun, as otherwise his brilliance is nowhere near one who is spotless.”
(translation by A. A. Ramanathan)
Index
- Introduction
- Glossary of terms
- Analysis of Sanskrit grammar
- Sources
- Authorship
- About the Mahāsubhāṣitasaṃgraha
Presented above is a Sanskrit aphorism, also known as a subhāṣita, which is at the very least, a literary piece of art. This page provides critical research material such as an anlaysis on the poetic meter used, an English translation, a glossary explaining technical terms, and a list of resources including print editions and digital links.
Glossary of Sanskrit terms
Note: Consider this as an approximate extraction of glossary words based on an experimental segmentation of the Sanskrit verse. Some could be superfluous while some might not be mentioned.
Akalanka (akalaṅka, अकलङ्क): defined in 6 categories.
Tika (तिक): defined in 11 categories.
Kanti (kānti, कान्ति): defined in 16 categories.
Ka (kā, का): defined in 15 categories.
Kim (किम्): defined in 4 categories.
Iti (इति): defined in 6 categories.
Kalam (kālam, कालम्): defined in 6 categories.
Kalankin (kalaṅkin, कलङ्किन्): defined in 1 categories.
Aruna (aruṇa, अरुण, aruṇā, अरुणा): defined in 17 categories.
Taruna (taruṇa, तरुण): defined in 12 categories.
Taru (तरु): defined in 14 categories.
Masi (masī, मसी): defined in 12 categories.
Dhava (dhāva, धाव): defined in 14 categories.
Shashi (sasi, śaśī, शशी): defined in 15 categories.
Defined according to the following glossaries/dictionaries: Sanskrit, Shaktism (Shakta philosophy), Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy), Theravada (major branch of Buddhism), Marathi, Kannada, Buddhism, Hinduism, Pali, Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism), Vaishnavism (Vaishava dharma), Hindi, Biology (plants and animals), Tamil, Purana (epic history), Natyashastra (theatrics and dramaturgy), Yoga (school of philosophy), Ayurveda (science of life), Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology), Pancaratra (worship of Nārāyaṇa), Prakrit, Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammar), India history, Ganitashastra (Mathematics and Algebra), Jainism, Shilpashastra (iconography), Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism), Arts (wordly enjoyments), Nepali, Vastushastra (architecture), Dharmashastra (religious law), Jain philosophy, Chandas (prosody, study of Sanskrit metres)
Analysis of Sanskrit grammar
Note: this is an experimental feature and only shows the first possible analysis of the Sanskrit verse. If the system was successful in segmenting the sentence, you will see of which words it is made up of, generally consisting of Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Participles and Indeclinables. Click on the link to show all possible derivations of the word.
- Line 1: “akalaṅkāntike kāntiḥ keti kālaṅkalaṅkinaḥ”
- akalaṅkān -
-
akalaṅka (noun, masculine)[accusative plural]
- tike -
-
tika (noun, masculine)[locative single]
- kāntiḥ -
-
kānti (noun, feminine)[nominative single]
- ke -
-
kā (indeclinable interrogative)[indeclinable interrogative]ka (noun, neuter)[compound], [nominative dual], [vocative single], [vocative dual], [accusative dual], [locative single]ka (noun, masculine)[nominative plural]kaḥ (pronoun, masculine)[nominative plural]kim (pronoun, neuter)[nominative dual], [accusative dual]kā (pronoun, feminine)[nominative single], [nominative dual], [accusative dual]
- iti -
-
iti (indeclinable particle)[indeclinable particle]iti (noun, feminine)[compound], [adverb]
- kālaṅ -
-
kālam (indeclinable)[indeclinable]
- kalaṅkinaḥ -
-
kalaṅkin (noun, masculine)[nominative plural], [vocative plural], [accusative plural], [ablative single], [genitive single]kalaṅkin (noun, neuter)[ablative single], [genitive single]
- Line 2: “aruṇe taruṇe masyā dhāvaṃ kāmayate śaśī”
- aruṇe -
-
aruṇa (noun, masculine)[locative single]aruṇā (noun, feminine)[nominative dual], [vocative single], [vocative dual], [accusative dual]aruṇi (noun, masculine)[vocative single]
- taruṇe -
-
taruṇa (noun, masculine)[locative single]taruṇa (noun, neuter)[nominative dual], [vocative dual], [accusative dual], [locative single]taru (noun, neuter)[dative single]
- masyā* -
-
masī (noun, feminine)[ablative single], [genitive single]
- dhāvam -
-
dhāva (noun, masculine)[adverb], [accusative single]dhāva (noun, neuter)[adverb], [nominative single], [accusative single]dhāvā (noun, feminine)[adverb]
- kāmayate -
-
√kam -> kāmayat (participle, masculine)[dative single from √kam]√kam -> kāmayat (participle, neuter)[dative single from √kam]√kam (verb class 0)[present middle third single]
- śaśī -
-
śaśī (noun, feminine)[compound], [nominative single]śaśin (noun, masculine)[nominative single]
Sources
This quote is contained within the following Sanskrit literary sources:
Sūktimuktāvalī 11.33: The poems contained in this compilation belong to the category “muktaka” (gnomic poetry). It is divided into twelve chapters. Deals with topics such as Gods and Goddesses, politics, erotics, heroes, etc. The book was compiled by Harihara.
More info
About the Mahāsubhāṣitasaṃgraha
buy this bookThis quote is included within the Mahāsubhāṣitasaṃgraha (महासुभाषितसंग्रह, maha-subhashita-samgraha / subhasita-sangraha), which is a compendium of Sanskrit aphorisms (subhāṣita), collected from various sources. Subhāṣita is a genre of Sanskrit literature, exposing the vast and rich cultural heritage of ancient India.
It has serial number 29 and can be found on page 6. (read on archive.org)
Sanskrit is the oldest living language and bears testimony to the intellectual past of ancient India. Three major religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism) share this language, which is used for many of their holy books. Besides religious manuscripts, much of India’s ancient culture has been preserved in Sanskrit, covering topics such as Architecture, Music, Botany, Surgery, Ethics, Philosophy, Dance and much more.