[INDOLOGY] your आधुनिकपुण्यपत्तनमाहात्म्यम् ādhunikapuṇyapattanamāhātmyam /// Re: My encounters with the new Pune

Wed Oct 19 10:28:17 UTC 2016

Dear Madhav,
For a senior colleague who has been visiting Pune for over 40 years,
usually 2-3 months per year, I have collected all your recent verses on
Pune.
I have found in messages between 19 and 23 June:
42 verses,
4 in Śārdūlavikrīḍita
38 in śloka/vaktra, mostly in regular form (pathyā, the form which “follows
the path”, what Jacobi in 1885 called their “gewöhnlichste Form”), the
number of vipulās does not exceed 10-12%.
Please allow me to express in my own little śloka my gratitude for your
brilliance; generosity and 'good-heartedness' (sauhrdya) thanks to which we
all can have a 'vision' of modern Pune:

धन्यतमा वयं हन्त  येषां नस्तादृशः सुहृत् ।

यस्य साधूक्तकाव्येन  पश्यामः पुण्यपत्तनम् ॥

dhanyatamā vayaṁ hanta  yeṣāṁ nas tādrśaḥ suhrt /

yasya sādhūktakāvyena  paśyāmaḥ puṇyapattanam //

Jan

NB a calendar with photographs of Old Pune (ca. 1950s) can be ordered at
paperleafpune at gmail.com
jbhatawadekar at gmail.com

*Jan E.M. HOUBEN*

Directeur d’Études

Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite

*École Pratique des Hautes Études*

*Sciences historiques et philologiques *

54, rue Saint-Jacques

CS 20525 – 75005 Paris

johannes.houben at ephe.sorbonne.fr

https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben

www.ephe.fr

2016-06-24 1:09 GMT+02:00 Jesse Knutson <jknutson at hawaii.edu>:

> Dear Madhav-mahodaya, As I have already told you off list, I find these
> poems really beautiful and extraordinary. I especially loved
> 'gallIbhūṣaṇa...', but also found these ones about running into your old
> playmate really delightful. The poems appeal to me so much because of their
> simplicity, unabashed modernity, and playful wit. They definitely merit
> publication as a collection and it will really be a gift to modern Sanskrit
> literature. भवदीयः,J
>
> 2016-06-23 11:27 GMT-10:00 Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu>:
>
>> My encounters in the new Pune
>>
>> यदा यदाहं गच्छामि पुरीं पुण्यां तदा तदा ।
>> प्राचीनता मदीया मां विष्टभ्नाति पदे पदे ।।
>> "Whenever I go to the Pune City, then my ancientness obstructs me at
>> every step."
>>
>> हनूमन्तो गणेशाश्च मार्गे मार्गे पुराभवन् ।
>> न तानाधुनिको वेत्ति कोऽपि वाहनचालक: ।।
>> "In earlier times, there were Hanuman and Ganesh temples on every street,
>> but none of the modern drivers know them."
>>
>> “कथयस्व नवं किञ्चिन्नाम यद्विदितं मम ।
>> किञ्चित् चीनान्नभवनं प्रथितं कञ्चिदापणम् ।।
>> The driver says: "Tell me some new name that I know, some place of
>> Chinese food, or some famous shop,"
>>
>> पिझ्झागृहं नाट्यगृहं नृत्यस्थानं सुरापणम् ।
>> वद किञ्चित् मम ज्ञातं स्थानं यद् गन्तुमिच्छसि” ।।
>> "Or, some Pizza place, or drama house, or dance studio, or a wine shop.
>> Tell me some place that I know where you wish to go."
>>
>> इत्युक्ते मूकतां यामि, न जानामि नवं पुरम् ।
>> कथं कुत्र गमिष्यामि नवेऽस्मिन् पुण्यपत्तने ।।
>> When he says this, I become silent. I don't know this new city. How can I
>> go anywhere in this new Pune?
>>
>> यस्यां पुर्यामहं जात: शिक्षितश्चाप्यहं पुरा ।
>> न सा पुरी मां जानाति, न च जानामि तामहम् ।।
>> The city where I was born and educated many years ago, that city does not
>> know me, and I don't know it.
>>
>> स्मरामि यां पुरीं नित्यमत्र सा विस्मृतिं गता ।
>> या पुरी वर्तते तत्र तदन्यत् पुण्यपत्तनम् ।।
>> The Pune city that I always remember is mostly forgotten here. The city
>> that exists here is a different Pune city.
>>
>> स्मरामि यां पुण्यपुरीं सा मे मनसि जीवति ।
>> यां पुरीमधुना यामि, न सा मे मनसि स्थिता ।।
>> I remember the Pune city that lives in my mind, and the city that I visit
>> now is not in my memory.
>>
>> भूतकालात् समायातो न जाने नवपत्तनम् ।
>> नवा पुरी पृच्छति मां “कस्त्वं,” किं करवाण्यहम् ।।
>> I arrive from an ancient past and don't recognize the new city. The new
>> city asks me: "who are you?" What shall I do?
>>
>> “कस्त्वं कुत: समायात:, मराठीं भाषसे पुन: ।
>> वाणी तथापि ते भाति किञ्चित् प्राचीनकालिकी ।।
>> The driver says to me: "Where have you come from? You do speak Marathi,
>> and yet your speech appears to be somewhat old fashioned."
>>
>> भवान् टिळकवद् ब्रूते ब्रूते वा विष्णुशास्त्रिवत् ।
>> नास्मिन् पुरेऽधुना कोऽपि मराठीं भाषते तथा ।।
>> "You speak like Lokmanya Tilak or like Vishnushastri Chiplunkar. In this
>> city no one now speaks like that."
>>
>> कुत्रेदृशी मराठी वाक् प्राचीनाद्यापि वर्तते ।
>> पुराणीं भाषते कस्मात् मराठीमधुना भवान्” ।।
>> "Where does this old fashioned Marathi continue to be spoken? Why do you
>> even now speak this old fashioned Marathi?"
>>
>> इति श्रुत्वा न जानामि किं वक्तव्यं मयाधुना ।
>> प्राचीने काल एवाहं निर्गत: पुण्यपत्तनात् ।।
>> Hearing this, I don't know what to say, since I did leave the Pune city
>> long ago.
>>
>> मया सह समायाता मराठी वाक् पुरातनी ।
>> अहं तामेव जानामि भाषे तामेव सम्प्रति ।।
>> The old Marathi language came with me. I only know that old Marathi
>> language, and continue to speak the same."
>>
>> “अस्त्वेवम्” इति मामुक्त्वा स मे वाहनचालक: ।
>> करुणापूर्णहृदयोऽनयन्मां काङ्क्षितं स्थलम् ।।
>> "Let it be" said the driver to me and he, with a compassionate heart,
>> brought me to the desired place.
>>
>> केन मार्गेण नीतोऽहं कुत्रायात: कुतो गत: ।
>> न च किञ्चिद्विजानामि, गत्वाप्याकाङ्क्षितं स्थलम् ।।
>> Even after reaching the desired place, I still don't know by which roads
>> the driver took me there, how I came or went.
>>
>> न मां कोऽप्यभिजानाति नाभिजानामि कञ्चन ।
>> इति मत्वा सुखं यामि यत्र तत्र पुरोत्तमे ।।
>> No one recognizes me, and I don't recognize anyone. Thinking thus I
>> wander in this city here and there.
>>
>> कश्चिन्मामवदत्पार्श्वात्त्वं मित्रमिव भाससे ।
>> कुत्रत्यस्त्वं किं च नाम त्वदीयमिति पृष्टवान् ।।
>> Someone said to me from the side: "You look like my friend. Where are you
>> from and what is your name?"
>>
>> अनार्बरेऽमेरिकायां वसामि चिरकालत: ।
>> तव मित्रेण साम्यं मे भवेदापातत: खलु ।।
>> I said: "I have been living in Ann Arbor, USA, for a long time, and so my
>> similarity with your friend may be purely accidental."
>>
>> देशपाण्डे माधवेति मित्रं मेऽमेरिकां गतम् ।
>> पञ्चाशद्वर्षत: पूर्वं तत्समो भाससे कथम् ।।
>> He said: "My friend Madhav Deshpande went to America fifty years ago, but
>> why do you look like him?"
>>
>> तच्छ्रुत्वोक्तं मया “सोऽहं माधवोऽमेरिकाश्रित: ।
>> न तु त्वामभिजानामि, कस्त्वं, जानासि मां कथम्” ।।
>> Having heard that, I said: "I am Madhav Deshpande from America, but I
>> don't recognize you. Who are you, and how do you know me?"
>>
>> रे रे कथं न जानासि मां शालासुहृदं सखे ।
>> बण्डुरहं येन सार्धमखेलस्त्वं दिवानिशम् ।।
>> He said: "Oh Friend, how come you don't recognize me, your school-mate? I
>> am Bandu with whom you used to play day and night."
>>
>> परिष्वज्य तदा बण्डुं मया प्रोक्तमिदं वच: ।
>> नाभिज्ञातो मया त्वं हि खल्वाटो दृश्यसेऽधुना ।।
>> Having embraced Bandu, I said to him: "I did not recognize you, because
>> you now look totally bald."
>>
>> कथं त्वामभिजानीयां गते काले महत्तरे ।
>> तथापि दैववशतो मिलिताविति सुन्दरम् ।।
>> "How will I recognize you after such a long time. Still, by God's grace,
>> we did meet each other, and that is beautiful."
>>
>> इत्थमस्यां पुण्यपुर्यां सुहृदां मिलनं क्वचित् ।
>> जायते दैववशतस्तन्ममास्ति सुखावहम् ।।
>> Thus, in this Pune city, a meeting with friends does occasionally happen
>> by good fortune, and that makes me happy.
>>
>> --
>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>> Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
>> Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
>> 202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
>> The University of Michigan
>> Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
>> committee)
>> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
>> unsubscribe)
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jesse Ross Knutson PhD
> Assistant Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali, Department of Indo-Pacific
> Languages and Literatures
> University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
> 461 Spalding
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing
> committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or
> unsubscribe)
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20161019/097bbc5e/attachment.htm>