Today's Beautiful Gem: `A Parrot's Talk can be Embarrassing!' by Amaru(ka)
(sometime between 650 and 750 AD).

"dampatyor nis'i jalpator gRhas'ukenAkarNitaM yad vacas
tat prAtar gurusaMnidhau nigadatas tasyAtimAtraM vadhUh:
karNAlambitapadmarAgas'akalaM vinayasya cancUpuTe
vrIDArtA vidadhAti dADimaphalavyAjena vAgbandhanam"

"As the pet parrot, having overheard at night the love-nothings of
the young couple, began to repeat the same in the morning before
the elders, with great embarrassment the young wife, on the
pretext of feeding it with a pomegranate fruit, tenderly places
in its beak a fragement of the gem of her earring to stop its talk."

Note: Classical Indian literature teems with s'RngAra rasa (the
mood of love). Sanskrit poetry is no exception. However, in
gnomic poetry, some poems stand out individually for their
aphorisms of love. The ABC's of such poetry are amaru(ka),
bhartRhari, and (caura) bilhaNa. I have already given samples of
Bhartrhari (kes'ah: samyaminah:...) and Bilhana (adyApi tAm na
khalu...). Whereas the sRngAra s'ataka of Bhatrhari is at times
tinged with vairAgya, whereas the caurapAncas'ika of Bilhana
dwells on past dalliances, the poetry of Amaru is robust, tender,
and, at times, as in the above example, quite humorous.

om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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