Literary tobacciana 3

Disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of the consumption of tobacco in any form, but the documentation of a lesser-known sub-genre of Indic literature.

This is the third installment in my series on Sanskrit belles lettres on tobacco-related products; the first two are this and this.

(1) Just in case you thought that the nail-parer was the only thing that Sanskrit poets had (jocularly) likened to the most sacred of all rivers, here is a snippet where tobacco has received a similar treatment. Note that the Ganges has a slew of appellations (त्रिपथगा, त्रिपथगामिनी, त्रिमार्गगा, त्रिस्रोतस्, etc.) that mean "she who takes three routes", alluding to the three (major) streams of the river according to Indic mythology: the Milky Way in the heavens, the good old Ganges on the surface of the earth, and the enigmatic subterranean Bhogavati that flows past the capital city of the Nagas.

Devanagari text:

क्वचिद्धुक्का क्वचित्थुक्का क्वचिन्नासाग्रवर्तिनी|

एषा त्रिपथगा गङ्गा पुनाति भुवनत्रयम्|| 

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

kvaciddhukkA kvacitthukkA kvacinnAsAgravartinI| 

eSA tripathagA gaGgA punAti||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: Somewhere in the form of (vapors inhaled from) a hookah (क्वचिद्धुक्का=क्वचित्+हुक्का), somewhere in the form of quids (see notes), and somewhere (starting) at the tip of the nose (in the form of snuff) – this is how the goddess Ganga takes three routes (to enter the body), and (thus) sanctifies all three worlds.

Source:  Navarasa (नवरस), "the nine poetic sentiments", a Hindi treatise on poetics authored by Babu Gulabrai and published (second edition) in 1933, Chapter 4. Samayocitapadyamalika provides the variant (verse 27 of the chapter focusing on words that start with the consonant k (क्)):

तमालं त्रिविधं प्रोक्तं कलौ भागीरथी यथा| क्वचिद्धुक्का क्वचित्थुक्का क्वचिन्नासाग्रगामिनी||

which spells out that it is tobacco (तमाल; see this post) that is being compared to the Ganges.

Notes:  I have already discussed, in my previous couple of posts, the consumption of tobacco by the first and third means mentioned in the above verse. Many tobacco-addicts prefer to take it orally (chewing, dipping), one of the (less damaging) side-effects of this practice being excessive salivation causing them to spit repeatedly – this is probably why our author has denoted this form of tobacco consumption by thukkA (थुक्का), cognate with Hindi थूक and Sanskrit थूत्कार, "spitting"; I am not sure if the word थुक्का is used in this sense in any Indic tongue.

(2) The following is another interesting demonstration of how to use homonymous descriptors to engage in poetic mischief!

Devanagari text:

सुपर्णपरिसेवितस्तदनु साधुपूगान्वितो 
द्विजावनमहापटुस्तदनु सारसन्धानभाक्|
सदैव सुधयाशनं भवति यस्य विष्णोः सम-
-स्तमाखुरिति सेव्यतां भवति वै यतो*रागिता||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

suparNaparisevitastadanu sAdhupUgAnvito
dvijAvanamahApaTustadanu sArasandhAnabhAk| 

sadaiva sudhayAzanaM bhavati yasya viSNoH sama-
-stamAkhuriti sevyatAM bhavati vai yato*rAgitA||

– Anonymous

Interpretation: Tobacco (see notes below) should be enjoyed / served (the verbal root सेव् has both these meanings) for it is comparable to Vishnu in the following ways:

1. सुपर्णपरिसेवितः : suparNa (सुपर्ण), "one who has beautiful feathers / wings", is one of the names of the mythical being Garuda (गरुड), sometimes depicted as an eagle-like or vulture-like bird and sometimes as a bird-human hybrid, who serves as the mount or vehicle of Vishnu; so, when it applies to this deity, the word under consideration should be read as "served well by Garuda"; parNa does not just mean feather or wing, it also denotes a leaf in general and the betel leaf in particular (and, is in fact, the origin of the word paan), so, in relation to tobacco, the same word means "thoroughly enjoyed in conjunction with a good-quality betel leaf".
2. साधुपूगान्वितः : The two meanings of pUga (पूग) applicable here are "assemblage" and "areca nut", the correct interpretations of the adjective in this context thus being "accompanied by an assemblage of holy / virtuous beings" (Vishnu) and "mixed with  (pieces of) good-quality areca nuts" (tobacco).
3. द्विजावनमहापटुः : dvija (द्विज) is "twice-born", hence a fancy word for tooth and also for any man belonging to one of the castes in which the sacred thread ceremony, regarded as a second birth, is a compulsory rite of passage (in more recent times, its denotation has become restricted to an initiated / practicing / "good" Brahmin); the undeserved qualifier applied to tamAkhu (तमाखु), द्विजावनमहापटु, "adept at protecting the teeth", is based on the long-standing misconception in South Asia that tobacco is conducive to good dental health (the use of tobacco-laced "dental care" products is still a major problem in many Indian states) while Vishnu is "adept at protecting the twice-born" in most Indic belief systems.
4. सारसन्धानभाक् : -sandhAnabhAk (-सन्धानभाक्), "sharing a union (with)", should be interpreted here as "combined with" and (figuratively) "characterized by / associated with"; the editor of the anthology where I found this verse (see below) tells us that, in the case of tobacco, sAra (सार) refers to khadirasAra (खदिरसार), i.e. catechu (Hindustani: कत्था; Bengali: খয়ের) whereas, when characterizing Vishnu, it takes on its common meaning of "superior / essential / substantial entity" ('श्रेष्ठवस्तु मोक्षादि') since Vishnu is the giver of the best boons to his devotees.
5. सदैव सुधयाशनं भवति यस्य : sudhA (सुधा) can denote either slaked lime / limewater or amrita, the elixir or immortality which the residents of heaven are said to partake of. Hence, the clause under consideration means "which is always consumed in conjunction with slaked lime" when used to describe tobacco, and "whose meals always consist of amrita" when talking about Vishnu (there is no mention in mythology, to the best of my knowledge, of Vishnu consuming amrita; the description here is presumably based on words like सुधाभुज् / सुधाभोजिन्, "amrita-consumer", for heavenly beings).
6. भवति . . . यतो*रागिता : For Vishnu, the last couple of words should be read as यतोऽरागिता = यतः + अरागिता "who causes dispassion / equanimity"; for  tobacco, the reading should be यतो रागिता = यतः + रागिता "which imparts color (to the teeth, mouth and lips)". rAga (राग), among other things, means "affection / passion" and "color / dye".

Source:  Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara, Chapter on Tobacco (तमाखुः), Verse 5; Subhashita Ratnakara मिश्रप्रकरण, "chapter on miscellaneous verses", Verse 89.

Notes: It is evident that the particular tobacco product being glorified here is the zarda (ज़र्दा), a mixture of pieces of tobacco leaves with slaked lime and spices which is boiled, dried, and then blended with chopped areca nuts. It is a popular ingredient of the betel quid (paan), and produces "profuse red-colored" saliva called pIk (पीक) in Hindi –  the true culprit, however, is not tobacco but the combination of areca nuts and lime (and the catechu that is often thrown into the mix). There are several references in Indic literature, older than the appearance of tobacco in the Subcontinent, of women chewing paan quids and using the betel juice thus produced to paint their lips red.