I cannot help writing a few words about a name from the text enunciating the 1,000 names (Sahasranāma) of the Goddess, Lalitā Mahā-Tripurasundarī, more commonly known as Lalitā Sahasranāma.
Generally speaking, she is the consort of Shiva, but this text creates an All-Encompassing figure, thus, she is also called
· Nārāyaṇī ( No. 298, consort or sister, of Nārāyaṇa, i.e. Viṣṇu, though the epithet Nārāyaṇa is applicable to Shiva too),
· Śrī-Mātā (No.1),
· Sāvitrī (No. 699),
· Brāhmī (No. 675) etc.
The name is 18th on the List.
It’s a very long, compound word, and if I were to break it up, it would be read as:
“Vaktra-lakṣmī-parivāha-calan-
which can been translated as:
“She whose eyes (locana) are like fishes (mīna) moving in the pool of the beauty of her face”.
A text available online, translated by an Indian author, most inadequately, translates as: “Thy eyes are most beautiful”.
You can see how much may be lost, in a translation!
Quite a large number of names delineate the awe-inspiring, enchanting beauty of the Goddess.
I found this particular name (& the idea underlying it) very lovely.
I doubt if this poetry can be surpassed.
In Indian literature, typically, as I’ve noted before, beautiful eyes are compared to the petals or leaves of a lotus {or to the lotus itself}, or the eyes of a gazelle/fawn (that of women, in particular) {the goddess is Mṛgākṣī – with the eyes of a she-deer or gazelle, No. 561}, or (less frequently) to fishes.
I’ve written a few words on this in a previous post.
“If a white flower were laid upon a young tender leaf, or a pearl were to rest on the richest (lit. spotless) coral, then only one could vie with the sweet smile that played about (lit. whose lustre was shed over) her rosy lip.
While she, who had a musical sound, spoke in a voice that distilled nectar as it were, even the koil {the cuckoo}...., was to the ears of the listeners full of jarring notes, like a harp out of tune, when played upon.
The timid (unsteady) glances which were not dissimilar to the blue lotus {nīlotpala} (tremulous) in a strong wind, did the female fawns borrow from her, or she with elongated eyes {“ āyatākṣyā”} from them?”
Thus, with consummate poetic mastery, is the beauty of Pārvatī described in Kumāra-sambhava {1.44-46} by the greatest poet of Ancient India {M.R. Kāle translation}.
Here the Goddess’s eyes – and the tremulousness of their glances – are compared to the blue-lotus & to the eyes of female-fawns.
Indeed, fish swimming in the water also convey the idea of tremulousness, so passionately admired, in the eyes of women, in Ancient Indian literature.
{In 1.40, she’s called utpalākṣī – lotus-eyed, or “the lily-eyed one”, as Mr. Kāle prefers.
I can’t resist pointing out that the Sanskrit original says “tāmra-oṣṭha” – i.e. {literally} lip which is copper-red – something which Kāle translates as “rosy lip”.}
I should add here that it’s not just that this simile is applied to the eyes of feminine figures.
We read, in the Śrīmad Bhagavatam {3.28.30 – from a translation available online, by Anand Aadhar Prabhu}:
“Then one should attentively meditate in one’s mind’s eye the elegance of His face adorned with an abundance of curly hair and His lotus eyes and dancing eyebrows {“ullasad-bhru”} that would put to shame a lotus surrounded by bees and a pair of swimming fish {“ mīna-dvayāśrayam”}.”
Here the eyes of the Lord, Hari or Viṣṇu {a Male figure}, are compared to a pair of swimming fish – or rather, they are said to be more beautiful than a pair of fish.
The original can be translated in various ways, but at least 2 translations, available online, clearly make this comparison.
The smooth, gliding, quick, and – in a sense – deft – movements of fish in water, reveal a lot about the images from nature which caught the attention of the Indian mind for their beauty, and captivated it.
Though I cannot recollect where, I think I’ve read that in Indian sculpture, the canon specifies that one of the forms, which the eyes of a statue may imitate, is that of a fish.
That is, the eyes must be shaped like fishes.
Indeed, the consort of Shiva, Pārvatī, is worshipped by the name of Mīnākṣī, “She with the eyes (akṣī) like fish (mīna)”, or fish-shaped/fish-like eyes, at one of India’s most famous & beautiful temples, the Mīnākṣī Temple, in the town of Madurai.
Here, she is considered to be the sister of Viṣṇu, who gives her in marriage, to Shiva.
This epithet describes, very imaginatively & poetically, why the eyes are compared to fishes, though a more literal analogy {i.e. the shape of the beautiful, expansive human eye may actually said to resemble the shape of the fish} – is simultaneously true.
Her face is like a lake of beauty.
In that lake swim the two fishes of her eyes.
Absolutely lovely.
As an aside, in Ancient Indian thought, it was believed that by her mere look alone, the fish could fertilize her eggs.
In the same way, the Goddess, Nitya-klinnā {No. 388 – the perennial source of compassion} through her glance of compassion, can nourish all her devotees.
I will come to the other epithets – some of them incredibly beautiful – and why they are important – sometime later.
