Seven Hundred Elegant Verses. Govardhana

      Artwork by Robert Beer.

      Typeset in Adobe Garamond at 10.25 : 12.3+pt.

      XML-development by Stuart Brown.

      Editorial input from Adam Bowles, Ridi Faruque

      Chris Gibbons & Tomoyuki Kono.

      Printed and bound in Great Britain by

      T.J. International, Cornwall, on acid-free paper.

      Copyright © 2009 by the CSL

      All rights reserved.

      First Edition 2009

      The Clay Sanskrit Library is co-published by

      New York University Press

      and the JJC Foundation.

      Further information about this volume

      and the rest of the Clay Sanskrit Library

      is available at the end of this book

      and on the following websites:

      www.claysanskritlibrary.com www.nyupress.org

      ISBN-13: 978-0-8147-3687-6 (cloth : alk. paper)

      ISBN-10: 0-8147-3687-4 (cloth : alk. paper)

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Govardhana, 12th cent.

      [Aryasaptasati. English & Sanskrit]

      Seven hundred elegant verses / by Govardhana ;

      translated by Friedhelm Hardy. – Ist ed.

      p. cm.

      In English and Sanskrit (romanized) on facing pages;

      includes translations from Sanskrit.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN-13: 978-0-8147-3687-6 (cl : alk. paper)

      ISBN-10: 0-8147-3687-4 (cl : alk. paper)

      I. Love poetry, Sanskrit–Translations into English.

      I. Hardy, Friedhelm. II Title. III. Title: 700 elegant verses.

      PK3794.G62A813 2008

      II. Title. III. Series.

      PK3796.K7S58 2005

      891’.2100803543–dc22

      2008017030

      CONTENTS

CSL Conventionsvii

Prefatory Notexv

Introductionxvii

SEVEN HUNDRED ELEGANT VERSES

Prelude3

Seven Hundred Elegant Verses25

       Notes265

CSL CONVENTIONS

      Sanskrit Alphabetical Order

      Vowels:

      Gutturals:

      Palatals:

      Retroflex:

      Dentals:

      Labials:

      Semivowels:

      Spirants:

      Guide to Sanskrit Pronunciation

      but

      father

      sit

      fee

      put

      boo

      vocalic r, American pur-

      dy or English pretty

      lengthened r

      vocalic l, able

      made, esp. in Welsh pro-

      nunciation

      bite

      rope, esp. Welsh pronun-

      ciation; Italian solo

      sound

      anusvard nasalizes the pre-

      ceding vowel

      visarga, a voiceless aspira-

      tion (resembling the En-

      glish h), or like Scottish

      loch, or an aspiration with a faint echoing of the last element of the preceding vowel so that taih is pro- nounced taihⁱ

      luck

      blockhead

      go

      bighead

      anger

      chill

      matchhead

      jog

      aspirated j, hedgehog

      canyon

      retroflex t, try (with the

      tip of tongue turned up

      to touch the hard palate)

      same as the preceding but

      aspirated

      retroflex d (with the tip

      of tongue turned up to

      touch the hard palate)

      same as the preceding but

      aspirated

      retroflex n (with the tip

      of tongue turned up to

      touch the hard palate)

      French tout

      tent hook

      dinner

      guidhall

      now

      pill

      upheaval

      before

      abhorrent

      mind

      yes

      trilled, resembling the Ita-

      lian pronunciation of r

      linger

      word

      shore

      retroflex sh (with the tip

      of the tongue turned up

      to touch the hard palate)

      hiss

      hood

      CSL Punctuation of English

      The acute accent on Sanskrit words when they occur outside of the Sanskrit text itself, marks stress, e.g., Ramayana. It is not part of traditional Sanskrit orthography, transliteration, or transcription, but we supply it here to guide readers in the pronunciation of these unfamiliar words. Since no Sanskrit word is accented on the last syllable it is not necessary to accent disyllables, e.g., Rama.

      The second CSL innovation designed to assist the reader in the pro- nunciation of lengthy unfamiliar words is to insert an unobtrusive middle dot between semantic word breaks in compound names