INFIDELITY
Theme Of The Week #9 (July 9-15, 2023)
Welcome! This week's theme is anything related to INFIDELITY - fickle affection, broken promises, loss of faith, adultery, cuckolding, treachery and so forth.
Jayadeva's Gīta-Govinda and plenty of Hindustani classical songs express the deserted lover's anguish, but there's also the cheater's thrill, the rival's determination to remain in favour, the cuckold's righteous indignation, the hypocrite's exaggerated vows ... How many different points of view of INFIDELITY can we represent in this topic?
Feel free to share songs in any language and tell us about them, giving credit to the lyricist, music composer, singer, and anyone else who deserves it. I will compile a list of songs in the next post.
I'll begin with this Prākṛta verse in Aparavaktra metre, sung off-stage by Haṃsavadi'ā (or Haṃsapadikā) at the beginning of Act 5 from Kālidāsa's play AbhijñānaŚākuntala. King Duṣyanta understands that the singer is reproaching him for not resuming their affair after his return from the forest, but having no memory of his newest love Śakuntalā, he believes that the singer's rival is Vasumatī, his queen.
अहिणवमहुलोलुवो तुमं
तह परिचुम्बिअ चूअमञ्जरिं ।
कमलवसइमेत्तणिव्वुदो
महुअर विम्हरिओ सि णं कहं ।।
Ahiṇava-mahu-loluvo tumaṃ
Taha paricumbi'a cū'a-mañjariṃ
Kamala-vasa'i-metta-ṇivvudo
Mahu'ara vimhari'o si ṇaṃ kahaṃ
You are greedy for fresh honey
So, after you fully kissed a mango blossom
A mere sojourn with a lotus contents you
Honeybee! What a manner for you to forget us!
For his Marathi adaptation of the play in 1880, Balavant Pandurang (Aṇṇāsāheba) Kirloskar set the song to Rāga Byāhāga, Tāla Dādarā. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a performance of it.
अभिनवमधुलोलुप हे मधुकरा अशी
भुक्तवस्तुविस्मृति तव जाहली कशी
रसभरिता आम्रकली
लुब्धपणें चाखियली
मिळतां मग कमलावली
तेथें तव मति गुंगली
तव विरहें झुरणारिस पाडलिस फशीं
Abhinava-madhu-lolupa he madhukarā aśī
Bhukta-vastu-vismṛti tava zāhalī kaśī
Rasa-bharitā āmra-kalī
Lubdha-paṇeṃ çākhiyalī
Miḷatāṃ maga kamal'āvalī
Tetheṃ tava mati guṅgalī
Tava viraheṃ zhuraṇārisa pāḍalisa phaśīṃ
Oh honeybee greedy for fresh honey!
How can you forget the object you enjoyed?
The mango blossom full of juice
You greedily savoured
Then finding a row of lotuses
Your thoughts fixated there
You ensnared her who frets with separation from you
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