Today's Beautiful Gem: `na cApyauSadham - No medicine exists!' by BhartRhari.

"vyAdIrgheNa calena vakragatinA tejasvinA bhoginA
nIlAbjadyutinAhinA varamahaM daSTo na taccakSuSA |
daSTe santi cikitsakA dis'i dis'i prAyeNA dharmArthino
mugdhAkSikSaNavIkSitasya na hi me mantro na cApyauSadham ||"

"I prefer the bite from a long, agile, curved, and glowing serpent
that has the sheen of a blue lotus to being bitten by her eyes.
There exist all around great souls that can cure the snake-bite;
There is neither a spell nor a medicine for the fleeting glance
of a beautiful woman!"

Note: For one reason or other, readers are more familiar with
BhartRhari's poems from nItis'ataka or vairAgyas'ataka.
The stanzas in s'RngAras'ataka are no less pretty. Then, why is
it that we do not read them much? After all, aren't we from the
land of kAmasUtra and khajUrAho? The one I quoted above looks
more like a quatrain from a great Persian poet, not an ancient
Sanskrit bard unless it is explicitly mentioned so. May be this
is a Sanskrit shaayri! Enjoy! Wednesday is St Valentine's Day!

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

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