मूल संस्कृत पद्य
स्मितेन भावेन च लज्जया भिया
पराङ्गमुखैरर्धकटाक्षवीक्षणैः ।
वचोभिरीर्ष्याकलहेन लीलया
समस्तभावैः खलु बन्धनं स्त्रियः ।। २ ।।
मूल संस्कृत पद्य
स्मितेन भावेन च लज्जया भिया
पराङ्गमुखैरर्धकटाक्षवीक्षणैः ।
वचोभिरीर्ष्याकलहेन लीलया
समस्तभावैः खलु बन्धनं स्त्रियः ।। २ ।।
मूल संस्कृत पद्य
भ्रूचातुर्यात्कुञ्चिताक्षाः कटाक्षाः
स्निग्धा वाचो लज्जितान्ताश्च हासाः ।
लीलामन्दं प्रस्थितं च स्थितं च
स्त्रीणामेतद् भूषणं चायुधं च ।। ३ ।।
A special piece on the occasion of India’s 68th Independence Day that is being celebrated today, August 15, 2014.
Some people, both within and outside India, tend to argue that India is not a historic entity and that the Indian nation is rather a creation of the British. While this claim has been refuted – in my opinion convincingly – elsewhere, see e.g. articles by Sankrant Sanu (“Why India Is A Nation“) and Prof. Makkhan Lal (“Is India Not a Nation?“), I recently came across a very interesting piece of information in a book called “India: A Sacred Geography” by Diana L. Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard. Prof. Eck narrates how Alexander the Great actually discovered from people about the land called India that was not limited to a kingdom and that in its geographic dimensions was pretty close to what we know as India today. She writes (p. 68 f.):
तस्वीर बनाता हूँ तेरी, ख़ून-ए-जिगर से
देखा है तुझे मैंने, मुहब्बत की नज़र से
ज़माने का दस्तूर, है ये पुराना
मिटा कर बनाना, बना कर मिटाना
ज़माने का दस्तूर, है ये पुराना