Where Even Saraswati Falls Silent
Bala Kanda, Chhand 14
Doha 100 · Movement 2 of 3
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Crores of mouths could not describe the splendour of the Mother of the world. The Vedas hesitate. Shesha with his countless tongues and Saraswati, source of eloquence, reach the boundary of speech.
Tulsidas places his own limited voice behind their silence. Praise becomes truest when it stops pretending the immeasurable can be contained.
Bhavani, treasury of beauty, moves to the centre of the mandap where Shiva waits. Modesty keeps her eyes lowered, but her mind flies like a bee to rest upon the lotus of her husband's feet. Silence completes the praise.
Speech falls silent while Parvati's mind reaches Shiva before her footsteps do.
Read the passage from the Manas
AI-created devotional illustration · Chhand 14
Bhavani's bashful arrival at the marriage pavilion; Shiva and companions outside close portrait, mind-bee retained as simile.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 116, 117 · printed pages 114, 115. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chhand-014. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- The world-mother's great beauty cannot be described even by countless mouths.
- Vedas, Shesha and Sarasvati hesitate to describe it; Tulsidas asks what he, of limited understanding, can say.
- Bhavani, the mother and mine of beauty, went into the pavilion where Shiva was.
- Because of bashfulness she could not look upon her husband, while her mind was like a bee at his lotus feet; the mind-bee is a comparison, not a literal insect or Vishvarupa allusion.
Artistic choices
- Approved imaginative young-adult Uma appearance reused; close portrait selects arrival and bashfulness while Shiva/companions remain outside crop. Exact age, pose, veil and ornament details, pavilion and garden are artistic; no physical mind-bee or historical beauty certificate.
- Complete source facts retained in metadata; source and existing translations unchanged.
- Lowered gaze is left, exact pose/standing versus seated lower-body status not certified from crop. Small gold forehead ornament, pearl strand/pendant counts, flower clusters, pillars, mountain garden and distant pavilion are artist choices.
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
कोटिहुँ बदन नहिं बनै बरनत जग जननि सोभा महा। सकुचहिं कहत श्रुति सेष सारद मंदमति तुलसी कहा।। छबिखानि मातु भवानि गवनी मध्य मंडप सिव जहाँ।। अवलोकि सकहिं न सकुच पति पद कमल मनु मधुकरु तहाँ।।
Even with tens of millions of mouths, one could not fully describe the surpassing beauty of Jagadamba, the Mother of the World. The Vedas, Shesha, and Sarasvati themselves hesitate to speak of it. What then can the slow-witted Tulasi possibly say?