The invitation
Translated from the शार्ङ्गधर-पद्धति by Octavio Paz:
The invitation
Traveler, hurry your steps, be on your way:
the woods are full of wild animals,
snakes, elephants, tigers, and boars,
the sun’s going down and you’re so young to be going alone.
I can’t let you stay,
for I’m a young girl and no one’s home.
Translated from the गाहा-सत्तसई (= गाथा-सप्तशती) by Andrew Schelling:
Mother-in-law
sleeps over there
so does the
rest of the household but
traveler
this is my bed
don’t trip over
it in the dark
The Lumber Room 
If you want more like this —
Both the above are single, free-standing poems from anthologies, the former from a Sanskrit anthology and the latter from a Prakrit anthology. Sources, originals, and alternative translations:
1. The first above is quoted from (page 180 of) A Treasury of Sanskrit Poetry in English Translation, compiled by A.N.D. Haksar, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, 2002. ISBN 81-7541-116-8.
2. The second is quoted from Dropping the Bow: Poems from Ancient India, translated by Andrew Schelling, White Pine Press (Companions for the Journey Series Volume 15), Buffalo, New York, 2008 (1991). ISBN 978-1-893996-92-2.
The first, translated by Daniel Ingalls from सुभाषितरत्नकोश — page 254 of An Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry: Vidyākara’s Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa, translated by Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Harvard University Press (Harvard Oriental Series Volume 44), 1965 — verse 810:
The original is in शार्दूलविक्रीडितम् metre — see page 149 of The Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa Compiled by Vidyākara, edited by D. D. Kosambi and V. V. Gokhale, Harvard University Press (Harvard Oriental Series Volume 42), 1957:
पान्थ स्वैरगतिं विहाय झटिति प्रस्थानमारभ्यताम्
अत्यन्तं करिसूकराहिगवयैर्भीमं पुरः काननम् ।
चण्डांशोरपि रश्मयः प्रतिदिशं म्लानास्त्वमेको युवा
स्थानं नास्ति गृहे ममापि भवतो बालाहमेकाकिनी ॥
pāntha svairagatiṃ vihāya jhaṭiti prasthānam ārabhyatām
atyantaṃ karisūkarāhigavayair bhīmaṃ puraḥ kānanam /
caṇḍāṃśor api raśmayaḥ pratidiśaṃ mlānās tvam eko yuvā
sthānaṃ nāsti gṛhe mamāpi bhavato bālāham ekākinī // VidSrk_24.4 *(810) //
The second, from page 154 of Poems on Life and Love in Ancient India: Hāla’s Sattasaī, translated from the Prakrit by Peter Khoroche and Herman Tieken, State University of New York Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7914-9391-5.
The Prakrit original from GRETIL:
ettha ṇimajjaï ettā ettha ahaṃ ettha pariaṇo saalo / HSS_669ab
paṃthia rattīaṃdhaa mā maha saaṇe ṇimajjihisi / HSS_669cd
From page 382 of the Sanskrit translation Gāthā Saptaśatī, with commentary, by Bhaṭṭa-śrī-mathurā-nātha-śāstri (published by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan):
एत्थ णिमज्जइ अत्ता एत्थ अहं एत्थ परिअणो सअलो ।
पंथिअ रत्तीअंधअ मा महँ सअणे णिमज्जिहिसि ॥
Sanskrit equivalent (like chāyā):
अत्र निमज्जति श्वश्रूरत्राहमत्र परिजनः सकलः ।
पथिक रात्र्यन्ध [क] मा मम शयने निमङ्क्ष्यसि ॥
And translation:
श्वश्रूरत्र निमज्जत्यत्राऽहं चात्र परिजनः सकलः ।
रात्र्यन्ध पथिक मा मा शयनीये नौ निमङ्क्ष्यसि हि ॥ ७.६७ ॥
The commentary you can click on the link and read for yourself.
S
Wed, 2011-06-22 at 00:45:33
Translation by Ingalls of the second (in his translation of Anandavardhana+Abhinavagupta):
S
Thu, 2014-06-12 at 01:19:59
love both piece.
Thanks for the heads up.
:)
Jingle
Thu, 2011-06-23 at 21:13:54
Heh. I’ve kept this post as “unread” on Reader and take a look at it once in a while. Stays just as trippy and as tantalizing every single time.
PS
Thu, 2011-07-07 at 01:28:20
Yes. :)
Perhaps that’s one working definition of “good art” — stuff you don’t get bored of.
S
Thu, 2011-07-07 at 06:52:09