He Gave Up a Kingdom, Not His Opinion of Fools — Bhartrihari's Nitishatakam

A king was given a fruit that could make a man immortal. He gave it to the woman he loved, and it came back to him. He gave up his kingdom. He kept his opinion of fools. Ten verses on fools from the Nītiśatakam of Bhartṛhari, with the story of the fruit, told as tholu bommalāṭa (togalu gombeyāṭa), the leather shadow-puppet plays of South India. Each verse is chanted in Sanskrit first, then explained. All translations are our own. CHAPTERS 0:00 "Shame on her… and on me" 0:47 The fruit of immortality 1:40 The verse of the circle · yāṃ cintayāmi 2:02 A crown given up, verses left behind 2:34 The complaint · boddhāro 3:06 Not even Brahmā can win him · ajñaḥ 3:57 A jewel from a crocodile's jaws · prasahya 4:51 Oil from sand · labheta 5:37 An elephant tied with a lotus thread · vyālaṃ 6:33 Silence, the cover for ignorance · svāyattam 7:18 "When I knew a little" · yadā kiñcijjñaḥ 8:21 The dog and the bone · kṛmikula 9:17 How Gaṅgā fell · śiraḥ śārvaṃ 10:41 No medicine for a fool · śakyo 11:42 A beast without tail or horns · sāhitya-saṅgīta 12:10 And people listened 12:47 What he said about poets · jayanti te THE VERSES The ten on fools are the mūrkhapaddhati of Rāmacandra Budhendra's text, the Subhāṣitatriśatī. yāṃ cintayāmi satataṃ mayi sā viraktā… (as Dhanasāra's commentary gives it, with the story) 1 boddhāro matsaragrastāḥ… 2 ajñaḥ sukham ārādhyaḥ… 3 prasahya maṇim uddharen makaravakradaṃṣṭrāntarāt… 4 labheta sikatāsu tailam api yatnataḥ pīḍayan… 5 vyālaṃ bālamṛṇālatantubhir asau roddhuṃ samujjṛmbhate… 6 svāyattam ekāntahitaṃ vidhātrā… 7 yadā kiñcijjño 'haṃ gaja iva madāndhaḥ samabhavam… 8 kṛmikulacitaṃ lālāklinnaṃ vigandhi jugupsitam… 9 śiraḥ śārvaṃ svargāt paśupatiśirastaḥ kṣitidharam… 10 śakyo vārayituṃ jalena hutabhuk śūrpeṇa sūryātapo… sāhityasaṅgītakalāvihīnaḥ… (the western recension, Telang 12) jayanti te sukṛtino rasasiddhāḥ kavīśvarāḥ… (Nītiśatakam) WHERE THE NARRATION COMES FROM 0:47 the fruit, the chain of lovers, "I ate it": Dhanasāra's commentary on yāṃ cintayāmi; the queen's name, Anaṅgasenā, and the brother, Vikramāditya: the Siṃhāsanadvātriṃśikā (southern recension) 2:11 three hundred verses in three books: Budhendra's introduction 2:54 "He spoke anyway": Budhendra on boddhāro ("tathāpi vakṣyāmi", I will speak all the same) 3:27 half-baked by a crumb of knowledge: Dhanasāra on ajñaḥ 4:41 atiśayokti: Budhendra on prasahya and labheta 6:18 nidarśanā: Budhendra on vyālaṃ 7:03 silence hides the dullard among the wise: the anonymous southern commentary (Kosambi 1946) on svāyattam 8:09 the cure is the company of the wise: Budhendra on yadā (citing Chāndogya 6.14.2, "one who has a teacher knows") 8:41 a donkey's bone: Budhendra's reading, kharāsthi 9:11 aprastutapraśaṃsā: Budhendra on kṛmikula 10:04 bhraṣṭa, fallen from a place or from good sense; "how much more the rest of us": Budhendra on śiraḥ śārvaṃ 11:04 a winnowing fan: Budhendra's reading, śūrpeṇa 12:16 the Hitopadeśa (4.99) quotes ajñaḥ; the Śārṅgadharapaddhati and Vallabhadeva's Subhāṣitāvalī gather his verses 12:25 Abraham Rogerius, De Open-Deure tot het verborgen Heydendom (Leiden, 1651), with the paṇḍit Padmanābha; later remade in German by Herder (1792) and Rückert Texts: Budhendra's Subhāṣitatriśatī, ed. V. L. Paṇśīkar (Nirṇaya Sāgara, 1922); Dhanasāra's commentary, ed. D. D. Kosambi (Singhi Jain Series, 1959); Śatakatrayam, ed. D. D. Kosambi (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1946); K. T. Telang (Bombay Sanskrit Series, 1874). CREDITS Sanskrit chant: Vāgdhenu — Prof. Prathosh A.P., IISc Narration voices: ElevenLabs. Also on udbhava: What Never Dies? Nachiketa and Death (Kaṭha Upaniṣad):    • What Never Dies? Nachiketa and Death | Kat...   Poems That Shouldn't Be Possible (Chitrakāvya):    • Poems That Shouldn't Be Possible — Chitrak...   The Two Birds (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.1):    • The Two Birds — An Ancient Upanishad Story...   Before There Was Nothing (Nāsadīya Sūkta):    • Before There Was Nothing — Nasadiya Sukta,...   #Bhartrihari #Nitishatakam #Sanskrit