Observations placeholder

POEMS OF SURDAS translated by Professor John Stratton Hawley

Hari has fashioned an offering of lights
Created in so utterly unusual a way
that language can hardly give it measure.

A tortoise provides him with a throne unexcelled,
while Sesa the snake makes a long, hooded handle
For its vessel, Island Earth; the seven seas are the butter-oil;
and the wick is as thick as a mountain.

The sun and the moon fill the world with their flame,
vanquishing the darkness of night,
And sparks fly up like stars, undarkened by a sky
spread black with the collyrium of clouds.

Siva and Brahma, Sanak, Prajapati
and all the host of gods and antigods and men
They rise and dance their dance of many parts,
each in a rhythm of its own.

The times, the deeds, the character
of those who love the Lord
are creatures of his wisdom and will,

For Surdas's Lord has fashioned it all-
substance and artifice-
an offering unexcelled.