Here's a third chhekaapahnuti (छेकापह्नुति) or "say-and-deny" verse (the first two are here and here):
Devanagari text:
Devanagari text:
रागी भिनत्ति निद्रां तल्पं न जहाति निष्ठुरं दशति|
चतुरे किं प्राणेशो न हि न हि सखि मत्कुणव्रातः||
चतुरे किं प्राणेशो न हि न हि सखि मत्कुणव्रातः||
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
rAgI bhinatti nidrAM talpaM na jahAti niSThuraM dazati|
cature kiM prANezo na hi na hi sakhi matkuNavrAtaH||
cature kiM prANezo na hi na hi sakhi matkuNavrAtaH||
– Anonymous
Loose translation:
Woman 1: Passionate (see notes), disrupts (my) sleep, does not leave (my) bed, and bites (me) mercilessly.
Woman 2: Clever woman, would that be the lord of your life?
Woman 1: Not at all, dear friend. But a swarm of bedbugs!
Source: This couplet is preserved in multiple modern anthologies:
(1) Verse 2 of the chapter on chhekaapahnutis of Subhashita Ratnakara;
(2) Verse 3 of the chapter on apahnutis of Udbhata Shloka Maalaa (उद्भटश्लोकमाला), "a wreath of extraordinary verses", compiled by the eminent Calcuttan scholar Purnachandra De Kabyaratna "Udbhatasagara" B.A. (काव्यरत्नोद्भटसागरोपाधिकश्रीपूर्णचन्द्रदेव), second edition published c. 1937;
(3) Verse 7 of the chapter on apahnutis of Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara.
Notes: For an erotic reading, rAgI (रागी) must be interpreted as 'passionate' – from rAga (राग), "passion / romantic love". But rAga can also refer to any color (or dye), especially red. Hence, as an adjective of "a swarm of bedbugs", rAgI assumes the meaning "red-colored".
The wordplay here relies on the use of the masculine noun vrAta (व्रात) to denote a swarm or multitude.
Purnachandra Udbhatasagara provides the following Bengali verse translation of this distich:
Woman 1: Passionate (see notes), disrupts (my) sleep, does not leave (my) bed, and bites (me) mercilessly.
Woman 2: Clever woman, would that be the lord of your life?
Woman 1: Not at all, dear friend. But a swarm of bedbugs!
Source: This couplet is preserved in multiple modern anthologies:
(1) Verse 2 of the chapter on chhekaapahnutis of Subhashita Ratnakara;
(2) Verse 3 of the chapter on apahnutis of Udbhata Shloka Maalaa (उद्भटश्लोकमाला), "a wreath of extraordinary verses", compiled by the eminent Calcuttan scholar Purnachandra De Kabyaratna "Udbhatasagara" B.A. (काव्यरत्नोद्भटसागरोपाधिकश्रीपूर्णचन्द्रदेव), second edition published c. 1937;
(3) Verse 7 of the chapter on apahnutis of Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara.
Notes: For an erotic reading, rAgI (रागी) must be interpreted as 'passionate' – from rAga (राग), "passion / romantic love". But rAga can also refer to any color (or dye), especially red. Hence, as an adjective of "a swarm of bedbugs", rAgI assumes the meaning "red-colored".
The wordplay here relies on the use of the masculine noun vrAta (व्रात) to denote a swarm or multitude.
Purnachandra Udbhatasagara provides the following Bengali verse translation of this distich:
নায়িকা – সাতিশয় রাগী, দেয় ঘুম ভাঙ্গাইয়া;
কিছুতেই নাহি যায় বিছানা ছাড়িয়া;
এরূপ নিষ্ঠুর হায় না দেখি কখন;
দংশন করিয়া মোরে করে জ্বালাতন!
সখী – কহ লো চতুরে! ইনি তব প্রাণেশ্বর?
নায়িকা – না না সখি! তাহা নয়,– মৎকুণ-নিকর!
There are several risqué songs in Hindi and related languages where the bedbug (khatmal, खटमल) has been used as a metaphor for a stealthy male lover.
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