Hello!

Haasyarasa (हास्यरस)¹, a word in Sanskrit and many other Indic languages, roughly translates to comedy. In this blog, I will quote humorous snippets from Sanskrit literature, and perhaps also from the literary corpora of a few other related Indic languages, for your reading pleasure. Although it is easy to find collections of profoundly philosophical and didactic Sanskrit quotes online, I personally feel that the genre of comedy has been seriously neglected by most lovers of the Sanskrit language. This is rather unfortunate, I think, because jokes, witticisms, satires, and parodies can provide insights into the way the authors and their contemporaries actually lived and thought like no other piece of writing. So, here's my humble attempt at bringing to light a more jovial, flippant, and sometimes shockingly vulgar side of a linguistic tradition that is generally known for its devotional, heroic, and romantic creations.

As an example of what to expect here, I present to you this lovely little gem, which is remarkable for its universal and timeless appeal.

Devanagari text:

सिंहनक्रगजभल्लपन्नगाः सन्दशन्तु बलिनो न दुःखदाः|

किन्तु मां व्यथयते पिपीलिका चाण्डकोशतलमध्यदंशिनी||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

siMhanakragajabhallapannagAH sandazantu balino na duHkhadAH|

kintu mAM vyathayate pipIlikA cANDakozatalamadhyadaMzinI||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: Let mighty lions, crocodiles, elephants, bears, and serpents attack² me. They cannot cause me any suffering. What really hurts me, however, is an ant³ sinking its pincers right into the middle of the bottom of my scrotum.

Source: Vidyakara Sahasrakam (विद्याकरसहस्रकम्), an anthology of 1000 Sanskrit couplets composed by several authors (mostly scholars from Mithila (मिथिला)), compiled mainly by Vidyakara Mishra (विद्याकरमिश्र) in the 19th century. Sadly, the author's name is not mentioned, and I have no information on the date of composition either.

1 From haasya (हास्य), laughter or amusement, and rasa (रस) which, in this context, refers to a sentiment such as passion, anger, fear, or suchlike (altogether nine are recognized) prevailing in a work of art or literature.^↩

2 The word used in the original verse is saMdazantu (सन्दशन्तु) which literally translates to 'let them all bite together or seize with their teeth' (Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary)^↩

3 pipIlikA (पिपीलिका) translates to 'a female ant' or 'the common small red ant' (Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary)^↩