Excerpts from the सुन्दरकाण्ड - pt. 1
Can we learn enough Awadhi to understand this chapter from Tulsidas' epic poem, the Ramcaritmānas?
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I have been intrigued by Tulsidas’ Rāmcaritmānas ever since hearing a live recitation of the Sunderkand chapter at a satsang at a family friend’s house. Even when I didn’t understand it, I think what struck me was its rhythm and rhyme - it is extremely satisfying to listen to, even for over an hour. Since then, I’ve wanted to learn the language of the poem, in order to simultaneously appreciate the combination of sound and meaning without the mediation of English translation.
Tulsidas (1511-1623) was one of the most renowned poets of India, and was based in the cities of Varanasi and Ayodhya (both in modern-day Uttar Pradesh). He began writing his most famous work, the Rāmcaritmānas, in 1574 (for context, this was during the reign of Akbar). It’s an epic poem - an adaptation of the Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa of Valmiki, one of the two major Indian epics.
The language of the Rāmcaritmānas is Awadhi, which was a prestigious literary language associated with the Awadh region (eastern Uttar Pradesh) until the 19th century, when it was gradually replaced by Modern Standard Hindi (apparently, there are still ~40 million speakers of Awadhi today). While many people may consider Awadhi to be “dialect” of Hindi, it is in fact quite distinct grammatically. My copy of the Rāmcaritmānas has a translation of each stanza into Hindi and English, suggesting that even native Hindi speakers are not expected to understand the language without additional study (analogous to native English speakers using a Modern English translation to read Middle English texts such as the Canterbury Tales).
For a long time, I was unable to find a good book (or website) for systematically learning Awadhi. That was until last year, when Rupert Snell and Neha Tiwari published a book that was exactly what I was looking for: Reading the Rāmcaritmānas: A Companion to the Awadhi Ramayana of Tulsidas. In my opinion, this is a pretty pedantic book, getting into a lot of grammatical nuances - and yet it’s also extremely fun to read. The authors’ passion for the Rāmcaritmānas is quite infectious. Rupert Snell is a professor of Hindi at UT Austin who also wrote Complete Hindi for the Teach Yourself language learning series (that book is also great, and is how I taught myself Hindi grammar).
In this series of posts, I’ll be writing up an annotated word-by-word (later phrase-by-phrase) translation of selected stanzas from the Sunderkand, which is the most popular chapter for recitation. I will be relying heavily on Reading the Rāmcaritmānas, drawing on its grammar section (pp. 17-74), glossary (pp. 435-497), and translation of the Sundarkand up to Doha 17 (pp. 364-389), which I am essentially freely copying in this post, with some alterations here and there. I’m not going to get into the details of the various poetic meters used (Chaupai, Doha, Soratha, and Chhand), but you can read about them in Snell’s book and also get a sense of them in the audio recitations linked below.
My imagined audience is someone who knows basic Hindi grammar but is unfamiliar with Awadhi (i.e. myself before I bought Snell’s book). My somewhat ambitious goal is to explain the grammatical features as they arise, so that by reading through this post, one can get a “running start” in learning the language. Of course, my real goal in writing this is mainly just to force myself to do a close reading of the chapter and consolidate my understanding of Awadhi.
Some abbreviations that will be used:
cf. = confer, i.e. “compare to”
Skt. = Sanskrit
perf. part. = perfective participle (ex. Hindi गया from the verb जाना; if you don’t understand how this conjugation works in Hindi, you won’t understand when I’m trying to explain the Awadhi version of it)
imperf. part. = imperfective participle (ex. Hindi जाता from जाना)
abs. = absolutive (ex. Hindi जाके from जाना; again, review how this works in Hindi first)
dir. = direct case (in Awadhi, like Hindi, nouns are declined in either direct or oblique case)
obl. = oblique case
Lastly, before we start, I highly recommend listening to a recitation of the Sunderkand before/while reading the post. This is metrical poetry, after all! See the versions on YouTube here, here, and here.
OK, let’s begin!
जामवंत के बचन सुहाए। सुनि हनुमंत हृदय अति भाए॥ तब लगि मोहि परिखेहु तुम्ह भाई। सहि दुख कंद मूल फल खाई ॥१.१॥ जामवंत - Jambavan के - of बचन - word (cf. Skt. वचन, must be plural - see next word) सुहाए - pleasing (perfective participle of सुहा(व), plural due to -ए ending, used as an adjective, implying that the preceding noun बचन is plural) So far, we have the phrase: Jambavan's pleasing words. --- सुनि - having heard (abs. of सुन, cf. H. सुनकर/सुनके) हनुमंत - Hanuman हृदय - heart अति - very भाए - pleased (perf. part. of भा(व), plural ending -ए agrees with बचन, for some reason not with the logical object हृदय, unless I'm misunderstanding the grammar) In the first clause, the subject of the absolutive सुनि is हनुमंत, but the subject of the next clause is actually बचन. The Thus, this part means: When Hanuman heard [the words], they pleased his heart greatly. --- तब - then लगि - for मोहि - for me (cf. H. मुझे; the ending -हि indicates oblique case) परिखेहु - you (pl.) will wait (plural future imperative ending -एहु) तुम्ह - you (pl.) (second person plural direct pronoun - singular would be तैं) भाई - brothers (implied vocative case, also implied plural based on context) Together, तब लगि means something like "till then." Thus, this part means: Wait for me till then, brothers... --- सहि - having endured (abs. of सह, cf. H. सहकर) दुख - sadness कंद - bulbs मूल - root फल - fruit खाई - having eaten This means: Enduring sadness and eating bulbs, roots and fruits --- Putting this all together, the entire stanza reads: When Hanuman heard Jambavan's pleasing words, they pleased his heart greatly. Wait for me, O Brothers, eating bulbs, roots, and fruits... We have to continue on to next stanza to finish the sentence...
जब लगि आवौं सीतहि देखी। होइहि काजु मोहि हरष बिसेषी॥ यह कहि नाइ सबन्हि कहुँ माथा। चलेउ हरषि हियँ धरि रघुनाथा ॥१.२॥ जब - when लगि - for आवौं - I come (present-subjunctive of आ(व), cf. H. आऊँ) सीतहि - Sita (this noun is explicitly in oblique case, indicated by the ending -हि) देखी - having seen (absolutive, but ending vowel is lengthened from -इ to -ई) Until I come [back], having seen Sita. --- होइहि - will be (future of हो, with 3rd pers. sing. ending -इहि) काजु - work मोहि - to me (first person oblique) हरष - joy (cf. Skt. हर्ष) बिसेषी - special (cf. Skt. विशेष) The work will be [completed]. I feel a special joy. --- यह - he कहि - having said (abs. of कह) नाइ - having bowed (abs. of ना(व)) सबन्हि - everyone (we've already encountered -हि; now, -न्हि is the oblique plural ending) कहुँ - to (cf. H. को) माथा - head Saying [this], [Hanuman] bowed his head to everyone. --- चलेउ - he set out (perf. of चल, with 3rd pers. sing. ending -एउ) हरषि - joy हियँ - in the heart (in addition to the ending -हि, oblique case can be indicated by simple nasalization of the last syllable; locative sense is implied even though there is no postposition) धरि - having held (abs. of धर) रघुनाथा - Raghunatha (oblique case is implied despite no marker) He set out joyfully, holding Raghunatha in his heart. --- ...Until I come back, having seen Sita. The work will be completed. I feel a special joy. So saying, he bowed his head to everyone and set off joyfully, holding Raghunatha in his heart.
Let’s skip over the next 4 stanzas, in which Hanuman sinks Mount Mainak with his foot. After that, the encounter between Hanuman and Surasa is described:
जात पवनसुत देवन्ह देखा । जानैं कहुँ बल बुद्धि बिसेषा ॥ सुरसा नाम अहिन्ह कै माता । पठइन्हि आइ कही तेहिं बाता ॥२.१॥ जात - going (imperf. part. of जा, cf. H. जाता, serves as adjective of the following noun) पवन-सुत - wind-son (i.e. Hanuman) देवन्ह - Devas (pl. obl. as indicated by -न्ह) देखा - saw (perf. part. of देख, masc. sing. to agree with पवनसुत in the ergative construction, but the logical subject/agent is देवन्ह) The Devas saw the son of the wind as he went. --- जानैं कहुँ - for knowing (oblique verbal noun of जान, cf. H. जाने को) बल - strength बुद्धि - intellect बिसेषा - special In order to know [his] special strength and intellect, --- सुरसा - Surasa नाम - name अहिन्ह कै - of the snakes (oblique + कै, a possessive postposition) माता - mother The mother of snakes named Surasa, --- पठइन्हि - sent (double agreement perfective participle/finite verb - see Snell p. 42) आइ - having come (absolutive) कही - said (perf. part. of कह) तेहिं - she (oblique) बाता - words (direct) Having been sent, came and said these words. --- When the gods saw the Son of the Wind sweeping along, they wished to try his mighty strength and wisdom. So they sent Surasa, the Mother of Serpents, who came and said...
आजु सुरन्ह मोहि दीन्ह अहारा। सुनत बचन कह पवनकुमारा॥
राम काजु करि फिरि मैं आवौं। सीता कइ सुधि प्रभुहि सुनावौं ॥२.२॥
आजु - today
सुरन्ह - the Gods (oblique)
मोहि - to me (oblique)
दीन्ह - have given (perf. part., agrees with अहारा)
अहारा - food
Today the Gods have given me food.
---
सुनत - hearing (imperfective participle)
बचन - word
कह - says (3rd person singular present-subjunctive can end with -अ/अइ/ऐ)
पवन-कुमारा - the son of the wind, i.e. Hanuman
Hearing these words, Hanuman said,
---
राम - Rama
काजु - work
करि - having done
फिरि - having returned
मैं - I
आवौं - I will come (present-subjunctive)
Having completed Rama's work, I will return,
---
सीता कइ- of Sita
सुधि - news
प्रभुहि - to the Lord (हि ending indicates oblique)
सुनावौं - I will tell (present-subjunctive)
I will relate news of Sita to the Lord.
---
"Today the Gods have given me food!" Hearing these words, Hanuman said,
"I will return after having completed Rama's work - I will relate news of Sita to the Lord...तब तव बदन पैठिहउँ आई। सत्य कहउँ मोहि जान दे माई॥ कवनेहुँ जतन देइ नहिं जाना। ग्रससि न मोहि कहेउ हनुमाना॥२.३॥ तब - then तव - your बदन - mouth (from Sanskrit वदन, not related to the Arabic-derived बदन=body in Hindi) पैठिहउँ - I will enter (in general, -इह- indicates future tense, and the full ending -इहउँ indicates first person singular future tense) आई - coming (absolutive) Then I will come and enter your mouth. --- सत्य - truth कहउँ - I tell मोहि - me जान - going दे - give माई - O Mother I speak the truth - let me go, O Mother!" --- कवनेहुँ - whatever (कवन=which, but I'm not sure what exactly the -एहुँ ending is) जतन - effort (=Hindi यत्न/प्रयत्न) देइ - gave (this perfective participle has Surasa as the logical subject) नहिं - not जाना - to go Whatever his effort, she did not let him go. --- ग्रससि - devour न - not मोहि - me कहेउ - said हनुमाना - Hanuman "Devour me not," said Hanuman. --- ...then I will come and enter your mouth. I speak the truth. Let me go, O Mother!" Whatever his effort, she did not let him go. "Devour me not," said Hanuman.
जोजन भरि तेहिं बदनु पसारा। कपि तनु कीन्ह दुगुन बिस्तारा॥
सोरह जोजन मुख तेहिं ठयऊ। तुरत पवनसुत बत्तिस भयऊ॥२.४॥
जोजन - yojana (a unit of length, apparently ~3 miles)
भरि - bearing
तेहिं - she
बदनु - mouth
पसारा - extended
She extended her mouth by one yojana.
---
कपि - monkey
तनु - body
कीन्ह - did
दुगुन - twice
बिस्तारा - extent
The monkey extended his body twice that amount.
---
सोरह - sixteen
जोजन - yojana
मुख - mouth
तेहिं - she
ठयऊ - set/established (3rd. pers. sing. perfective of ठा; the ending -एउ can become -यउ
for verb roots ending in a vowel; see Snell p. 58, item X 14.1 #6)
She set her mouth at sixteen yojanas.
---
तुरत - instantly (cf. H. तुरन्त)
पवनसुत - Hanuman (wind-son)
बत्तिस - thirty-two
भयऊ - became
Instantly, Hanuman became thirty-two.
---
She extended her mouth by a yojana. The monkey extended his body twice that amount.
She set her mouth at sixteen yojanas. Instantly, Hanuman became thirty-two.जस जस सुरसा बदनु बढ़ावा। तासु दून कपि रूप देखावा॥ सत जोजन तेहिं आनन कीन्हा। अति लघु रूप पवनसुत लीन्हा॥२.५॥ जस जस - as (cf. H. जैसे जैसे) सुरसा - Surasa बदनु - mouth (the optional -उ ending indicates direct case) बढ़ावा - expanded (perf. part. of बढ़ा "to increase"; verb stems ending in -आ add -व्- before the last syllable, which in this case ) As Surasa expanded her mouth, --- तासु दून - twice as much कपि - monkey रूप - form देखावा - showed (perf. part. of देखा "to show"again note the -व्- inserted; contrast with the stem देख which means "to see" ) The monkey showed his form twice as large. --- सत जोजन - one hundred yojanas तेहिं - she आनन - face/mouth कीन्हा - made She made her mouth one hundred yojanas. --- अति लघु रूप - very small form पवनसुत - Hanuman लीन्हा - took Hanuman took a very small form. --- As much as Surasa expanded her mouth, the monkey became twice as large. She made her mouth one hundred yojanas. Hanuman took on a very small form.
बदन पइठि पुनि बाहेर आवा। मागा बिदा ताहि सिरु नावा॥
मोहि सुरन्ह जेहि लागि पठावा। बुधि बल मरमु तोर मैं पावा॥२.६॥
बदन - mouth
पइठि - having entered
पुनि - again
बाहेर - outside
आवा - came (perf. ppl. of आ "to come")
[He] entered [her] mouth and came out again.
---
मागा - asked
बिदा - permission to leave
ताहि - to her (equiv. to तेहि)
सिरु - head
नावा - bowed
[He] asked permission to leave and bowed his head to her.
---
मोहि - me
सुरन्ह - the Gods (obl. pl.)
जेहि - for which (ob. sing., and so cannot be referring to सुरन्ह; plural would be जिन्ह)
लागि पठावा - sent
For which the Gods have sent me -
---
बुधि बल- intellect and strength
मरमु - secret/heart (dir. case - this is both the subject of previous line's जेहि and this
line's perf. part. पावा)
तोर - your
मैं - I
पावा - received
The secret of your intellect and strength, I have received.
---
He entered her mouth and, coming out again,
Asked permission to leave and bowed his head.
"I have received that for which the Gods have sent me -
the secret of your intellect and strength." राम काजु सबु करिहहु तुम्ह बल बुद्धि निधान।
आसिष देइ गई सो हरषि चलेउ हनुमान॥२॥
राम काजु सबु - all of Rama's work
करिहहु - will do (2nd pers. plural future - plural is respectful even though it's being a
addressed to a single person, i.e. Hanuman)
तुम्ह - you
बल बुद्धि - strength and intellect
निधान - reservoir
You will accomplish all of Rama's work, [for] you are a reservoir of strength and intellect.
---
आसिष देइ - having given blessings
गई - went
सो - she
हरषि - happily
चलेउ - went (3rd. pers. sing. perfective)
हनुमान - Hanuman
She gave [him] blessings and went away, and Hanuman set out joyfully.
---
"You will accomplish all of Rama's work, for you are a reservoir of strength and intellect."
She blessed him and went away, and Hanuman set out joyfully.That’s it for now! Stay tuned for future posts in this series, as we make our way through the Sunderkand and get better at picking up the Awadhi grammar.