Scholarly squabbles 3: Father-son correspondence

In the early part of the second millennium CE, the Sena dynasty [see also this], originally from the Karnataka region, established a powerful empire in what is now eastern India and Bangladesh, and maintained it for well over a century. The two preeminent monarchs of this dynasty were Ballala Sena (बल्लालसेन) and his son-and-successor Lakshmana Sena (लक्ष्मणसेन); the former is traditionally held responsible for the genesis of several caste and sub-caste identities peculiar to the Bengali Hindu community. If the following anecdote is to be believed, this father-son duo also had a flair for (passive-aggressive) poetry! 

(1) In all biographical accounts of Ballala Sena, it is recorded that, late in life, he got involved with a much younger and exceptionally beautiful low-caste woman. In Vallalacharita (वल्लालचरित), completed in 1510 CE and authored by Ananda Bhatta (आनन्दभट्ट), a descendant of the "Deccan Brahmin" Ananta Bhatta (अनन्तभट्ट) who was "induced to settle in Bengal by the grant of a village" by Ballala himself [Haraprasad Shastri], this woman introduces herself as a चर्मारकोरितनया, i.e. a woman of Chamar and Kori lineage. I have also found her being described as a member of either the Chandala (चण्डाल) or the Hari (হাড়ি; हड्डिक) community; sometimes she is given the name Padmini (पद्मिनी) or Shilavati (शीलावती). But what all sources do agree on is that this indiscretion on part of the self-proclaimed Brahmakshatriya (ब्रह्मक्षत्रिय) sovereign did not go down very well with many high-caste men in his kingdom, including his adult son Lakshmana Sena. In at least one telling of the story, the crown prince was away on a military expedition when he learned that his father had brought his new bride (or betrothed in some accounts) to live with him in his royal palace. Lakshmana immediately sent a letter to the king containing the following verse .... addressed to water!

Devanagari text:

शैत्यं नाम गुणस्तवैव सहजः¹ स्वाभाविकी स्वच्छता
किं ब्रूमः शुचितां भवन्ति शुचयः² स्पर्शेन यस्यापरे|

किं चान्यत् कथयामि ते स्तुतिपदं यज्जीविनां जीवनं³
त्वं चेन्नीचपथेन गच्छसि पयः कस्त्वां निरोद्धुं क्षमः||
variants: ¹तदनु; ² भजन्त्यशुचयः;
³किं चातः परमं तव स्तुतिपदं त्वं जीवनं जीविनां / किं वातः परमस्ति ते स्तुतिपदं यज्जीवनं देहिनां / किं वातः परमुच्यते यज्जीवनं देहिनां

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

zaityaM nAma guNastavaiva sahajaH svAbhAvikI svacchatA
kiM brUmaH zucitAM bhavanti zucayaH sparzena yasyApare|

kiM cAnyat kathayAmi te stutipadaM yajjIvinAM jIvanaM
tvaM cennIcapathena gacchasi payaH kastvAM niroddhuM kSamaH||

Loose translation: Coolness is, verily, one of your innate attributes, and clarity is just as natural to you. And what is to be said about the purity of that which purifies others by its (mere) touch? What other (/ higher) words of praise could I offer you? For you are the very source of life for all creatures. O Water! If (in spite of these virtues,) you (choose to) take a downward course, who has the power to stand in your way?

Notes: स्वच्छ is, primarily, "transparent" or "clear", but can also mean "clean" or "pure". 

(2) Ballala had the following reply sent to Lakshmana. Remember that this is a father talking to his son. 

Devanagari text:

तापो नापगतस्तृषा न च कृशा धौता न धूलिस्तनो-*
र्न स्वच्छन्दमकारि कन्दकवलः का नाम केलीकथा|

दूरोत्क्षिप्तकरेण हन्त करिणा स्पृष्टा न वा पद्मिनी
प्रारब्धो मधुपैरकारणमहो झङ्कारकोलाहलः**||
variants: *धूली तनो-; **झाङ्कारकोलाहलः

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

tApo nApagatastRSA na ca kRzA dhautA na dhUlistano-
rna svacchandamakAri kandakavalaH kA nAma kelIkathA|

dUrotkSiptakareNa hanta kariNA spRSTA na vA padminI
prArabdho madhupairakAraNamaho jhAGkArakolAhalaH||

Loose translation: Neither has his body heat abated, nor is his thirst quenched, nor has the dust been washed away from his frame; he is yet to indulge in mouthfuls of root tubers [here, lotus rhizomes, presumably], let alone frolicking about (in the water). Alas! The bull elephant has not so much as touched the lotus-clump with his long, extended trunk; and lo! Without rhyme or reason, (these) honeybees are (already) causing (such) a stir with their bombilations!

Notes: What do bees have to do with an elephant, you ask? In Indic literature, honeybees are said to swarm the heads of musth bull elephants, lured in by the scent of the temporin oozing from the latter's facial glands, and are celebrated by some authors as adventitious ornaments for the majestic beasts, and denounced by others as a nuisance (as here).

Note that the word used for "an elephant's trunk" here is कर which can also refer to a human hand, and पद्मिनी, literally "a clump of day-blooming lotuses", is also the technical term for the foremost of the four categories of women recognized (mainly) in treatises on sex. 
[P.S. I have a feeling that this verse is the reason why the name पद्मिनी has come to be applied to this wife of Ballala.]

(3) Ballala might have been confident that this poetic retort would be enough to embarrass his son into silence, but Lakshmana proved him wrong: He continued to expostulate with his father, this time invoking cosmic phenomena [see notes for an explanation of the wordplay]:

Devanagari text:

परीवादस्तथ्यो भवति वितथो वापि महतां
तथाप्युच्चैर्धाम्नो* हरति महिमानं जनरवः|

तुलोत्तीर्णस्यापि प्रकटितहताशेषतमसो
रवेस्तादृक् तेजो न हि भवति कन्यां गतवतः||
*variant: अतथ्यस्तथ्यो वा

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

parIvAdastathyo bhavati vitatho vApi mahatAM
tathApyuccairdhAmno harati mahimAnaM janaravaH|

tulottIrNasyApi prakaTitahatAzeSatamaso
ravestAdRk tejo na ki bhavati kanyAM gatavataH||

Loose translation: Whenever a great personality becomes the subject of gossip, be it justified or unfounded, such public clamor erodes the reputation of the luminary; the Sun dispels darkness completely by his mere appearance, but once it has stayed in Virgo, it no longer has the splendor it had before, even after it passes through Libra. 

Notes: Lakshmana cleverly uses the relation between the zodiac circle and the change of seasons to compare his father to the Sun: The autumnal equinox falls within the Sun's transit through Virgo (कन्यां गतवतः), and after the Sun traverses Libra (तुलोत्तीर्णस्य), the next zodiac sign on the ecliptic, it gets dimmer and dimmer as winter sets in (in the Northern Hemisphere). Now, कन्यां गतवतः can also be translated as "pertaining to him who has been associated with (or has had intercourse with) a girl", and तुलोत्तीर्णस्य can be interpreted as "pertaining to him who has successfully accomplished being weighed on a balance", i.e. one whose true worth has been ascertained. Lakshmana's import is that, once a public figure has been embroiled in scandal, especially of the sexual kind, they can never return to their pristine glory, even (if and) after they are officially exonerated. The word uccairdhAman (उच्चैर्धामन्), "possessing intense effulgence", is an interesting word that completes the comparison of the powerful king to the Sun.

(4) Ballala closed the conversation with the following lines in his own defense.

Devanagari text:

सुधांशोर्जातेयं कथमपि कलङ्कस्य कणिका
विधातुर्दोषोऽयं न च गुणनिधेस्तस्य किमपि|

स किं नात्रेः पुत्त्रो न किमु हरचूडार्चनमणि-
र्न वा हन्ति ध्वान्तं जगदुपरि किं वा न वसति||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

sudhAMzorjAteyaM kathamapi kalaGkasya kaNikA
vidhAturdoSo(a)yaM na ca guNanidhestasya kimapi|

sa kiM nAtreH puttro na kimu haracUDArcanamaNi-
rna vA hanti dhvAntaM jagadupari kiM vA na vasati||

Loose translation: This tiny blemish that somehow appears on the Moon is the fault of the Creator (Brahma) and not by any means of that repository of virtues (i.e. the Moon); for is he (still) not the son of the sage Atri as well as Shiva's crown jewel? Does he (still) not destroy darkness, and live (high) above the world (of mortals)?

Notes: Ballala is, obviously, not quite denying (what he himself deems) his peccadillo, but is shifting the bulk of the blame to the vidhAtR (विधातृ), "ordainer / maker / bestower", of his kalaGka (कलङ्क), "stigma", i.e. holding his Maker (or Fate) responsible for the foibles of his flesh. At the same time, he is accusing his detractors of overlooking his long list of virtues. 

I will conclude by pointing out how apt I think Ballala's likening of himself to the Moon is, for the Senas claimed to be scions of the lunar dynasty. हरचूडार्चनमणिः may or may not be an allusion to the fact that Ballala was a devotee of Shiva; the allegorical significance of the last quarter is straightforward.

---

Source: This sequence of verses, along with the alleged historical context, is recorded in many late 19th-early 20th century anthologies printed in Bengal: Pandit Jibananda Vidyasagara in his Kavyasangraha (काव्यसङ्ग्रह) Part I, and Purnachandra De Kabyaratna Udbhatasagara, in his Udbhata Shloka Maalaa, quote this quartet as Verses 17-20 of a small collection titled Padyasangraha (पद्यसङ्ग्रह) and attributed to Kavibhatta (कविभट्ट). 

Variants of (1) occur as Verse 52 (anonymous) of Chapter 14 of the 17th century Padyaracana, as Verse 6 of the chapter on miscellaneous allegorical verses (संकीर्णान्योक्तयः) in Subhashita Ratnakara, and as Verse 14 of the chapter on miscellaneous allegorical verses (संकीर्णान्योक्तयः) in Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara which itself cites the treatise Alankara Kaustubha (अलङ्कारकौस्तुभ) as its source. Shaarngadharapaddhati (Verse 923) and Padyaracana (Chapter 14 Verse 68) both contain (3), and both attribute it to Lakshmana Sena instead of Ballala Sena! Subhashita Ratna Bhandagara includes (3) in its chapter on general morals (सामान्यनीतिः) as Verse 977, and (4) in its chapter on fate / destiny / chance (दैवाख्यानम्) as Verse 90.