Sunday 13 January 2013

To day's Subhashit.

अहो कनकमाहात्म्यम् वक्तुं केनाSपि शक्यते  |
नाम साम्यदहो  चित्रं धत्तूरोSपि  मदप्रद  ||

Aho kanak maahaatmyam vaktum kenaapi shakyate.
Naam saamyadaho chitram dhatturopi madaprada.

Aho = oh !  (an expression of surprise)       Kanak = Gold.    A plant called 'Dhattura" in Hindi and Sanskrit, which produces thorny and round fruits; Its seeds are very poisonous and intoxicating. The flowers and fruits of the plant are offered in pooja to Lord Shiva, as they are considered His favourits.
Maahatmya = greatness, majesty.    Vaktum = telling, able to explain.    Kenaapi = for some reason or other ,Shakyate = capable of..     Naam =  name.      Saamyadaho = resemblance of.     Chitram = surprising.
Mada = drunkenness, intoxicaant.    Prada = giver.    Madaprada =  causing intoxication or drunkenness.

i.e.     Oh ! no one is capable of describing the majesty of  Gold.   Simply by having  similarity of  its name
with Gold, even 'Dhattura'  causes intoxication and drunkenness.

(Through this Subhashit the author wants to draw attention towards the excessive desire to possess and hoard Gold , bordering into a craze, by comparing it to intoxication (drunkenness) by consuming dhattura. There is a 'Doha' (a couplet) in Hindi having the same theme as the above shloka, reading as under:-
'कनक कनक ते सौ गुनी  मादकता अधिकाय | यह् पाये बौराय जग वह् खाये बौराय "
'Kanak kanak te sou guni maadaktaa adhikaaya,  yah paaye bouraaya jaga wah khaaye bouraaya'
 i.e. gold is hundred times more intoxicating than Dhattura, because simply by possessing it a person behaves like a drunkard, whereas dhattura causes intoxication after consuming it.)

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