A Tribute Through Sanskrit Verses: Sachin, The Sun God?

Here is an amateurish attempt to write shleshartha shlokas (carrying multiple meanings) in praise of the Cricketing God, newly crowned Bharat Ratna and freshly retired Sachin Tendulkar. There would be incorrectness here and there in these verses as this is one of my early attempts to write in Sanskrit, but want to share it on my blog nonetheless, as a tribute to arguably the best cricketer the country has seen.

So here are the verses:

वन्देऽहम् जगदाधारम्
वल्लभारोहितम् सुरम् ।
सौरवादिप्रवक्तारम्
राहुलाञ्छनविक्रमम् ॥

शतानिलम् पिङ्गलाद्यम्
लक्ष्मणार्ककुलाश्रयम् ।
सञ्चिताघापनेतारम्
सचिन्तम् प्रणमाम्यहम् ॥


Meaning: Version 1:
These verses carry two meanings, one version obviously praises Sachin, so, here's what I have tried bringing in. Every line below corresponds to the English translation of the corresponding line in the Shlokas:

  • I bow to him, the "God" (जगदाधार:)
  • The idol who likes a heavy (भारः) bat (वल्ल),
  • The one who taught (all about batting) to Saurav (Ganguly) and others (प्रवक्तार:),
  • The one who set / stretched (आञ्छन) World Records (विक्रम:) for Rahul (Dravid to aim at)

  • The first one with 49 (ODI) and 51 (Test) hundreds (Anila = 49; Pingala is the 51st of the 60 Samvatsaras of the Hindu calendar),
  • The one who was prior (अर्क) to Laxman (in the batting order) and on whom the whole (Indian cricket followers') community depended (for wins),
  • The one who obtained leadership (Captaincy of the Indian team) during a time it was composed of impurities and danger (match fixing scandals),
  • Sachin, to him, I bow. (सचिन् तम्)



Meaning: Version 2:
The other version praises the Sun God, worshiped as the one responsible for ensuring sustenance of life on Earth:

  • I bow to him, the one who support the entire world,
  • The Sun God, who rides on (the chariot of) horses (वल्लभ आरोहितम्),
  • The one who comes announcing (प्रवक्तार:) divinity (सौर) and wisdom (वादि) (every day during sunrise),
  • The one who overcomes the stain / mark of ignominy of Rahu (eclipse) (राहु-लाञ्छन),

  • The one who is made of many a gases and has a golden (पिङ्गल) beginning (during the sunrise),
  • The one who is seen as the source of the lineage of Lakshmana's elder brother (अर्क) (Rama - Suryavamsha),
  • The one who removes (अपनेतॄ) all the sins one has collected through many births,
  • To that thoughtful being (सचिन्तम्), I bow.



Dattapadi:
Even before I started thinking about these verses, I wanted to implement a bit of Dattapadi in this. For the uninitiated, Dattapadi is an art in Avadhana where given a few words, a verse is to be created using them. Usually, those words will not have any connection to the topic on which the verse must be created. In this case, I have tried using the names of Sachin and other legendary cricketers of his generation: Saurav, Rahul, Anil and Laxman. Also present is the pretender to the throne, the newest Mumbaikar in the Indian test team, Rohit.

I have used all but Rohit and Anil with their original meanings in the Sachin version of the verses and in completely different meanings in the Sun version.

For those interested in the gory details, it took about 6 hours to come up with these verses.

Finally, today is about Tendulkar, so, here's wishing him a great life outside of cricket too, and congratulations to him on winning the Bharat Ratna.

UPDATE:

The above verses were tuned to Raga Charukesi and sung by my colleague Mekhala Hiriyanna as part of her concert on 31st December 2013, at the School of Ancient Wisdom, Banglaore. Here is a video collage:


VandEham JagadAdhAram from hmvprasanna on Vimeo.


Comments

Arun Kamal said…
wonderful!
i read this many times already, within 5-10 minutes... the way u blended cricket heroes and Sanskrit words is too good...
each word of these verses deserves a separate mention and appreciation...
using the 49th and 51st samvatsaras of the 60 year calendar is very much impressive and inspiring, too!
good luck and do come up with more poems like these... I personally enjoy those poems which blend traditional and current aspects into one!
Anonymous said…
wow! just wow!
Unknown said…
Simply awesome. Quite a talent dear friend. Where at one place, people are forgetting the taste of Culture, you are really holding the light for the few. Appreciate your effort and you views. One of the best tributes to SRT.