Why does the lamplight flicker?

Lesser mortals might say that it is just the wind. But the poet knows best :)

(1) Devanagari text:

बालां कृशाङ्गीं सुरतानभिज्ञां गाढं नवोढामुपगूढवन्तम्|
विलोक्य जामातरमेष दीपो वातायने कम्पमुपैति भीतः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

bAlAM kRzAGgIM suratAnabhijJAM gADhaM navoDhAMupagUDhavantam| 

vilokya jAmAtarameSa dIpo vAtAyane kampamupaiti bhItaH||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: (The flame of) this lamp in the window shudders in fright as it witnesses the son-in-law wrapping himself tightly around (his) young and petite new bride inexperienced in the art of lovemaking.

Source: Vidyakara's Subhashita Ratnakosha Verse 757: Verse 4 of Chapter 26 (प्रदीपव्रज्या, "the chapter on the lamp"); Verse 1213 (Verse 3 of Chapter 148, the chapter on the lamp) of Saduktikarnamrita (सदुक्तिकर्णामृत), "good sayings that are ambrosial to the ear", compiled by Shridharadasa (श्रीधरदास) in Bengal in 1205 CE.

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(2) The following verses are uncannily similar, and plagiarism cannot be ruled out.

(2.1) Devanagari text:

तरुण्या नीयमानोऽसौ दीपोऽञ्चलपटावृतः|
न दत्तौ विधिना हस्तौ धुनोतीति मुहुः शिरः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

taruNyA nIyamAno(a)sau dIpo(a)JcalapaTAvRtaH|
na dattau vidhinA hastau dhunotIti muhuH ziraH||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: As the damsel was carrying this (oil-)lamp, shielded by the loose end of her sari, the lamp started shaking its head again and again (in frustration), as if complaining that it had not been given hands by the Creator.

Source: Vidyakara Sahasraka Verse 612.

Notes: The wordplay works because दीप, the word used for lamp here, has the masculine gender. Why does the lamp want hands so badly? The next verse sheds some light on it. 

(2.2) Devanagari text:

दीपो वातभयान्नीतः कामिन्या वसनान्तरे|
निरीक्ष्य कुचसौन्दर्यमकरः कम्पते शिरः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

dIpo vAtabhayAnnItaH kAminyA vasanAntare|
nirIkSya kucasaundaryamakaraH kampate* ziraH||
*grammatical error; see notes below

– Anonymous

Loose translation: As the pretty lady shielded the (oil-)lamp with her scarf (or the loose end of her sari) fearing that it might be blown out by the wind, the lamp saw the beauty of her breasts, and started shaking its head (in frustration) for having no hands.

Source: 17th century Anyokti Muktaavali Section (परिच्छेद) 6 Verse 100.

Notes: The early 20th century Subhashita Ratnakara provides a version (Verse 6 of the chapter dedicated to female breasts) in which the second half has its grammar corrected but has no reference to the lack of hands: दृष्ट्वा तु कुचसौन्दर्यं शिरः कम्पयते मुहुः|| (. . . shakes its head repeatedly on seeing the beauty of the breasts). See this post for a less metaphorical snippet in the same vein.

(2.3) Devanagari text:

मन्दानिलहतविलोलशिखः प्रदीपः कक्षान्तरे विनिहितः सभयं तरुण्या|
तस्याः समस्तकुचकुम्भयुगं निरीक्ष्य बाहुं विनेव विदधाति शिरःप्रकम्पम्||

– भानुकर

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

mandAnilahatavilolazikhaH pradIpaH kakSAntare vinihitaH sabhayaM taruNyA|
tasyAH samastakucakumbhayugaM nirIkSya bAhuM vineva vidadhAti ziraHprakampam||

– bhAnukara

Loose translation: As the lamp, the flame of which was flickering in the gentle breeze, was shielded in the bend of her arm (or taken into another room) by a young lady who was afraid (that it might be blown out), it kept shaking its head as if for being devoid of arms, after it got a full view of her pitcher-like breasts.

Source: Padyaracana (पद्यरचना), "compositions in verse", Chapter (व्यापार) 15 Verse 17. This anthology was compiled by Lakshmana Bhatta Ankolakara (आङ्कोलकरश्रीलक्ष्मणभट्ट) between 1625 and 1650 CE.

Notes:  I have quoted the verse just as I found it in the above anthology, but I think the first quarter should read मन्दानिलाहतविलोलशिखः प्रदीपः, assuming that the meter is vasantatilaka (वसन्ततिलक).

The compiler cites this couplet as one of several specimens of Kavya Samasya Purana (काव्यसमस्यापूरण), "solution to a poetic enigma", a recreational exercise in constrained writing that can take on many forms and is one of the sixty-four classically recognized art forms of South Asia; here, I think, the poet was just asked to come up with a fanciful explanation for the quivering of the flame of a lamp, and perhaps versify it in a given meter. I have no information on the author Bhanukara.

Spectacles

The use of optical lenses to correct defects of vision dates back many centuries in South Asia. In fact, a few scholars have made the (highly controversial) claim that eyeglasses were invented in Southern India rather than in Italy, based on a small amount of linguistic and literary evidence. Regardless of whether this claim is true, Indic languages have long had several interesting words for spectacles (see this paper for a short account) including any Sanskrit word for eye such as नेत्र (netra), लोचन (locana), नयन (nayana), or चक्षुस् (cakSus) prefixed with उप- (upa-) which denotes "nearness, . . ., resemblance , [or] relationship, but with the idea of subordination and inferiority" (Monier-Williams). The following is the only example known to me of glasses being used as a metaphor in Sanskrit poetry.

Devanagari text:

दृश्यतेऽणुर्महत्त्वेन महानणुतया त्वया|
दिव्यदृष्टेर्न दोषोऽयं दोषोऽयमुपचक्षुषः||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

dRzyate(a)Nurmahattvena mahAnaNutayA tvayA| 

divyadRSTerna doSo(a)yaM doSo(a)yamupacakSuSaH||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: What is actually small appears large (or great) to you, and what is actually large appears small – this is not a defect of (your) divine vision but the fault of your eyeglasses.

Source: 1993 edition of Purnachandra De Udbhatasagara's anthology Udbhata Sagara (compiled in the late 19th - early 20th century), Part II (द्वितीयप्रवाहः), Verse 228.

Notes: If it was not clear already, the author is addressing a superior or benefactor who, he believes, is favoring someone unworthy ("small") and / or mistreating someone respectable ("large"). Quite cleverly, he starts by describing his addressee's innate perception as flawless with the word दिव्यदृष्टि (divyadRSTi, "divine vision"), and then attributes the latter's temporary indiscretions to the counsels of a trusted (but evil or stupid) underling who is like a lens that alters the sizes of objects in the wearer's field of vision.

I do not think this couplet is very old.  

Ten arms

Having been born and raised in an urban Bengali Shakta Hindu society, I have always envisioned Divinity as a three-eyed multi-armed lion-riding warrior princess impaling a buffalo-demon while rocking the most combat-unfriendly finery in the universe. Although the number of arms as well as the name of the buffalo-slaying form of the Mother Goddess varies across written scriptural sources, oral traditions, and artistic portrayals, her canonical depiction in Bengal has ten arms and is called Durga (based on near-identical descriptions in the Matsya and Kalika Puranas). Moreover, despite their starkly different appearances, Durga is often identified with Shiva's mild-natured wife Uma. But why does Durga have exactly ten arms? Obviously, mythographers and exegetes have come up with interesting answers to this question, but those answers are not what this post is about; this post is about a couple of mildly amusing 'fan theories' on the purpose that her ten arms are actually meant to serve.

(1) Devanagari text:

संगायन् यदशेषकौतुककथाः पञ्चाननः पञ्चभि-
र्वक्त्रैर्वाद्यविशालकैर्डमरुकोत्थानैश्च संनृत्यति|
या तस्मिन् दशबाहुभिर्दशभुजा तालं विधातुं गता
सा दुर्गा दशदिक्षु वः कलयतु श्रेयांसि नः श्रेयसे||

– रायगुणाकरोपाधिकभारतचन्द्र

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

 saMgAyan yadazesAkautukakathAH paJcAnanaH paJcabhi-
rvaktrairvAdyavizAlakairDamarukotthAnaizca saMnRtyati| 

yA tasmin dazabAhubhirdazabhujA tAlaM vidhAtuM gatA
sA durgA dazadikSu vaH kalayatu zreyAMsi naH zreyase||

– Bharat Chandra Ray-Gunakar

Loose translation: As the five-faced Shiva started dancing while singing amusing ballads non-stop to the accompaniment of the loud bangs of his double-headed drum, she appeared on the scene to clap (in appreciation or encouragement, or to keep time) with all ten hands of hers -- may that ten-armed Durga bestow welfare upon you 'in all ten cardinal directions' (i.e. everywhere you go), and hence upon us.

Source: Prefatory benediction of the unfinished multilingual play Chandi Nataka (চণ্ডীনাটক; चण्डीनाटक) by Bharat Chandra Ray-Gunakar (ভারতচন্দ্র রায়গুণাকর), the last medieval (or first modern) poet of Bengali literature. Although mainly remembered for his magnum opus Annada Mangal (অন্নদামঙ্গল), he also dabbled in poetry in multiple languages. Bharat Chandra's dates are 1712-1760, so it is safe to place this composition in the mid-18th century.

Notes: I think the author's import here is that Durga needed her five pairs of hands, one for each face of her husband. 

The last quarter suggests that this benediction was meant specifically for Bharat Chandra's patron Raja Krishnachandra -- the poet wishes the Goddess to be favorable to the unnamed person(s) to whom the snippet is addressed, which would, in turn, be conducive to the poet's own well-being.

(2) Devanagari text:

पशुपतेरखिलेषु गलेषु सा युगपदर्पयितुं कुसुमस्रजम्|
परिणये द्विभुजा हिमशैलजा दशभुजा किमभूदपि लीलया||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

pazupaterakhileSu galeSu sA yugapadarpayituM kusumasrajam| 

pariNaye dvibhujA himazailajA dazabhujA kimabhUdapi lIlayA||

– Anonymous 

Loose translation: Could it be that the two-armed daughter of the Snowy Mountains playfully assumed a ten-armed form on her wedding day just so that she could place a floral garland around each of the (five) necks of the Lord of Creatures (i.e. Shiva) all at once?

Source: 1993 edition of Udbhata Sagara (उद्भटसागर), "an ocean of epigrams", Part II (द्वितीयप्रवाहः) Verse 49: first verse of the chapter entitled zaktilIlA (शक्तिलीला), "the mirabilia of Shakti". This modern anthology was compiled by Purnachandra De Kabyaratna (1857-1946) over his lifetime.

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Notes: You could view each of the above snippets either as an allegorical tribute to a multitasker who somehow always manages to make things work with the hopeless eccentric she chose to marry, or as the product of a patriarchal society where every aspect of a woman's life must be attributed to or associated with her husband. In either case, the Durga in these snippets appears to me to act completely out of character because, in Bengali folk mythology, almost all stories about the Mother Goddess and her husband revolve around their quarrels which she invariably wins in the end.