Chandi Das - Poems

Here is one of the classic padas attributed to Chandi Das. I honestly have never been able to make head nor tail of the numerous Chandi Das's, and so I cannot say with certainty whether this is the "real" Chandi Das. Nevertheless, this really carries the simplicity of language and intensity of feeling that is associated with him.

Haridas Das quotes this as an example of "rAga," where distress suffered on behalf of the beloved is experienced as a joy. (UN 14.126)

bandhu ! tumi je AmAra prANa
deha mana Adi, tomAre saMpechi
kula zIla jAti mAna

My beloved! You are my life!
I have surrendered my body, mind, everything to you,
family, character, caste and good name.

akhilera nAtha tumi se kAliyA
yogira ArAdhya dhana
gopa goAlinI hAma ati dInA
nA jAni bhajana-pUjana

You are the Lord of all creation, the black Krishna,
the worshipable treasure of the yogis.
I am but a lowly cowherd woman
who knows nothing of worship and religious ritual.

pirIti rasete DhAli tanu mana
diyAchi tomAra pAya
tumi mora pati tumi mora gati
mama nAhi Ana bhAya

I have soaked my body and mind in the waters of love
and offered them at your feet.
You are my husband, you are my destiny,
nothing else matters to me at all.

kalaGkI boliyA DAke saba loka
tAhAte nAhika dukha
tomAra lAgiyA kalaGkera hAra
galAya parite sukha

Everyone is calling me a fallen woman,
but that is not a cause of distress to me.
I will gladly wear the garland of disrepute
around my neck for your sake.

satI vA asatI tomAre vidita
bhAlo manda nAhi jAni
kahe caNDIdAsa pApa-puNya-maya
tomAra caraNa du-khAni

You alone know whether I am chaste or unchaste,
I have lost all track of what is good or bad.
Chandi Das calls out, "O Krishna!
Your lotus feet are the abode of all sin and piety."

Thanks for that Jagat, what a wonderful idea to start a thread on Candidas.
Here is another pada of Candidas. This came from "Mystic Romance in Vaisnab Lyrics" by Dr. Narendra Nath Law.

baadhu ki ar baliba tore
alapa vayase piriti kariyaa
raahite na dili ghare

Friend, what more shall I tell you! Through love in my tender years, you have not allowed me to live peacefully in my own home.

kamanaa kariyaa saagare mariba
saadhiba maner saadhaa
mariyaahaiba Sri Nander nandan
tomaare kariba Radha

I will put an end to my life by plunging into the sea with the desire for wreaking vengeance that I may be born as the son of Nanda, Sri Krishna, and you as Radha in our next births.

piriti kariyaa chadiyaa yaaiba
rahiba Kadamba tale
tribhanga haiyaa murali baajaaba
yakhan yaaibe jale

I shall forsake you after enmeshing you in my love. I shall stand under a Kadamba tree, playing on my flute in the tri-bent pose, when you will go to the Jamuna to fetch water.

murali suniyaa mohita haibe
sahaje kuler baalaa
Candidas kay takhani jaanibe
piriti keman jvaalaa

You as a simple housewife will be infatuated by the music of my flute. Candidas says, "You (Krishna) will then experience the pangs of love."

The famous pada PIritI baliyA (Banghiya-sahitya-parisad edition of Candidasa ) with the signature 'Candidasa' (No.335) , in other manuscripts the same pada is signed 'Narahari (Sarkar) ' .

By the way , can anybody provide a translation of this pada ?

Wow! and that pada you posted Sakhi carana, does it suggest referance to Gaura?

QUOTE(Madanmohan das @ Jan 9 2005, 02:23 PM)

Wow! and that pada you posted Sakhi carana, does it suggest referance to Gaura?

The same thing crossed my mind as I was posting it. I was reminded of the Baul song "Be born as Radha in your next life." Hmm...

A translation of the song by Jagat can be found with a click.

I suppose you could ascribe it as another amongst the many causes or needs for lord Krsna's Gaura svarupa. Do you know the Svapnamrta Vilasa?

QUOTE(Madanmohan das @ Jan 9 2005, 03:49 PM)

I suppose you could ascribe it as another amongst the many causes or needs for lord Krsna's Gaura svarupa. Do you know the Svapnamrta Vilasa?

That is a good thought! One can read the Svapna-vilasamrtastaka here in the Copy and Paste section.

Sri Radha realizes the depth of Her love for Her Dark Lord...

Suddenly I am afraid.
At any moment, Kanu's love for me may cease...

A building can collapse because of a single flaw--
who knows in what ways I, who desire to be
a palace for His pleasure, may be faulty?

And few are those who can restore
what once is broken --

Distracted, I wander
from place to place, everywhere finding
only anxiety. Oh to see
His smile!

My love,
whoever brings down the house of our love
will have murdered a woman!

Candidas says, O Radha, you reflect too much;
without your love He could not live a moment.

"In Praise of Krishna - songs from the Bengali" Edward C. Dimock

Never have I seen such love, nor heard of it.

Even the flutter of the eyelids
Holds eternity.

Clasped to my breasts, you are far from me.
I would keep you as a veil close to my face.

I shudder with fright when you turn your eyes away.

As one body, we spend the night,
Sinking in the depths of delight.

As dawn comes, we see with anxious hearts,
Life deserts us.

The very thought breaks my heart.

Says Chandi Das:
O sweet girl, how I understand.

[attachmentid=1237]

My moon-faced one,
I am waiting
...to make our bed ready,
...to gather lotus petals--
your body will press them,
hidden from even friendly eyes . . .
Come,
the sweet breeze from the sandalwoods
censes our trysting place . . .

Attachment:

Srimati Radhika says in this Bengali poem of the Rasik Saint Chandi daas

Bengali song of the Rasik-Saint, Sri Candidasa, describing the Glory of Sri Radhika, through the words of Lord Krishna

Prema-vaicittya

I have never seen or heard of such an amazing love affair...
It seems that two hearts have been spontaneously fused together.

Though holding each other in an embrace, both shed tears over a feeling of imagined separation....
By not seeing the other for even half a moment, each suffers the pangs of death.

This phenomenon resembles the condition of fishes, who are unable to live out of the water...
I have never heard of such a love between human beings.

If you take for comparison the relationship of the sun with the lotus, it is not like this...
When the lotus withers and dies in a chill, the sun survives even then in happiness.

Should you consider the cataka bird and the raincloud, their love cannot stand in comparison with this...
as the raincloud does not release a single drop of rain out of season.

Even the affinity of the black bee for the flower cannot bear comparison...
If the bee does not come on time, the flower never stirs out to search for it, impelled out of love.

Fie on the love between the cakora bird and the moon!
They are no match for the aforesaid lovers.
Says Candidas, "Such love has no equal in the three worlds!"

Viraha

Seeing the pool of love-nectar nearby, I went into it to bathe.
As soon as I came out after finishing My ablution and cast my glances about,
misery-laden breezes touched my body.

Oh, who has made this pool of love, with its beautiful transparent waters?
It appears so alluring, but the crocodile of misery is continuously swimming about,
thereby making my heart tremble.

The interference of my unpleasant superiors is the moss in the pond,
while the critical neighbors are the stinging sheat-fishes.
The entaglements of family dignity are the thorny waterchestnuts floating about the surface of the water.

Rumors of my so-called ill repute are like particles of algae in the water that constantly stick to the skin.
If I drink this water even after straining it, it irritates my body inside and out.
The creator has somehow designed a type of enjoyment that is corrupted with heartache.

Candidas says, "O giver of delight! Pleasure and pain are twin brothers.
One who seeks pleasure in love verily gets pain instead."

Translation by Dasaratha-suta dasji