( Invocatory Verses )
Sanskrit poets often start their works paying obeisance to their chosen deities. An attempt is being made here to consolidate and present such verses with prose order in Sanskrit and translation in English. Notes are added where considered necessary. The name of the poet and title of the work is also given.
वागर्थाविव सम्पृक्तौ वागर्थप्रतिपत्तये ।
जगतः पितरौ वन्दे पार्वतीपरमेश्वरौ ॥ १ ॥
अ : वाक्-अर्थौ-इव सम्पृक्तौ जगतः पितरौ पार्वती-परमेश्वरौ वाक्-अर्थ-प्रतिपत्तये वन्दे ।
In order to gain correct perception of words and their meanings, I bow to Parvati and Parameshvara, who are the parents of the universe and whose association with each other is similar to that of a word and its meaning. [ Kalidasa; Raghuvamsam ]
Notes : The more one ponders on this famous verse the more one perceives its profundity. The association between the word and its meaning is as permanent as the association between Parameshvara and his consort Parvati. After all Paramesvara is Ardhanarishvara, who has assimilated his consort into his own body. Just as the divine pair has created this universe, the association of word and its meaning creates the universe of the spoken and written word.
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