Lice are among the most tenacious parasites that human beings have been forced to share their lives with since time immemorial. Sanskrit has a rich vocabulary for talking about lice and their relation to their hosts: The most common words for 'louse' are utkuNa (उत्कुण) and yUka (यूक) or its feminine form yUkA (यूका); a nit i.e. the egg of a louse is called likSA (लिक्षा) – variants such as लिक्ष, लिक्षिका, लीक्षा, लिक्का, लीक्का, लिख्य, लिख्या, etc. are recorded in various lexicons – which is also a measure of weight! Other names of lice, some of which can refer to other bugs as well, include vArakIra (वारकीर), pAli (पालि)/pAlI (पाली), uddaMza (उद्दंश), koNakuNa (कोणकुण). In particular, the head louse is also called kezakIta (केशकीट), kezata (केशट), kiTibha (किटिभ), okaNa (ओकण)/okaNi (ओकणि), ApAli (आपालि), or bAlakRmi (बालकृमि), the body louse lomakITa (लोमकीट), and the eyelash louse pakSmayUkA (पक्ष्मयूका).
I hope you enjoy the not-so-lousy uses of lice in literature that follow... unless, of course, you are a tireless nit-picker :)
Devanagari script:
स खलु सुकृतिभाजामग्रणीः सोऽतिधन्यो
विनिहितकुचकुम्भा पृष्ठतो यन्मृगाक्षी|
विनिहितकुचकुम्भा पृष्ठतो यन्मृगाक्षी|
बहलतरनखाग्रक्षोदविन्यस्तमार्गे
शिरसि टसिति लिक्षां हन्ति हूंकारगर्भम्||
शिरसि टसिति लिक्षां हन्ति हूंकारगर्भम्||
sa khalu sukRtibhAjAmagraNIH so(a)tidhanyo
vinihitakucakumbhA pRSThato yanmRgAkSI|
vinihitakucakumbhA pRSThato yanmRgAkSI|
bahalataranakhAgrakSodavinyastamArge
zirasi Tasiti likSAM hanti hUMkAragarbham||
zirasi Tasiti likSAM hanti hUMkAragarbham||
– Anonymous
Loose translation: He is verily the foremost among doers of good deeds and an exceedingly fortunate man whose doe-eyed (ladylove), with her pitcher-like (full and round) breasts pressed against his back, carves out several paths (through the hair) on his head with the tips of her nails, and (then) nips off a nit with a tss as she (herself) utters a (triumphant) hmm.
Source: Subhashita Ratnakosha Verse 495: Verse 31 of Chapter 18 (अनुरागव्रज्या, "the chapter on love"). D. H. H. Ingalls' scholarly translation (with क्षोद rendered as 'grindstone'):
Source: Subhashita Ratnakosha Verse 495: Verse 31 of Chapter 18 (अनुरागव्रज्या, "the chapter on love"). D. H. H. Ingalls' scholarly translation (with क्षोद rendered as 'grindstone'):
He indeed is a captain of the blessed,
a multimillionare,
whose pretty one sits with her plump breasts set against his back
and, tracking his head with the grindstone of her nails,
grunts as she nips the lice.
a multimillionare,
whose pretty one sits with her plump breasts set against his back
and, tracking his head with the grindstone of her nails,
grunts as she nips the lice.
Notes: I have interpreted बहलतरनखाग्रक्षोदविन्यस्तमार्गे as an adjective of शिरसि (and बहलतर and नखाग्रक्षोदविन्यस्त as adjectives of मार्ग within the compound), and हूंकारगर्भम् as an adverb of हन्ति. The onomatopoeic टस् and हूं, although descriptive of a generally disgusting act here, undoubtedly have erotic connotations too.
(2) This profoundly philosophical and motivational couplet tackles philophobia and pediculophobia at the same time!
Devanagari script:
Devanagari script:
प्रिये कर्णेजपत्रासात्प्रेम त्यक्तुं किमिच्छसि|
कोऽपि लिक्षाभयत्रासाज्जहाति वसनं जनः||
possible error: see notes
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
priye karNejapatrAsatprema tyaktuM kimicchasi|
ko(a)pi likSAbhayatrAsAjjahAti vasanaM janaH||
– Anonymous
Loose translation: Darling! Do you want to give up on love just because you are afraid of gossipmongers? Who ever gives up wearing clothes for fear of nits (of body lice)?
Source: 19th century Vidyakara Sahasrakam Verse 616. Possibly not very old.
Notes: The words bhaya (भय) and trAsa (त्रास) are synonyms meaning 'fear'/'terror', so putting them next to each other makes little sense; however, my guess is that this is a scribal error and the original had caya (चय), "collection/multitude", instead of भय. My suggestions for the second hemistich are कोऽपि लिक्षाचयत्रासाज्जहाति वसनं जनः||/कोऽपि लिक्षाचयत्रासाज्जहाति वसनं न हि||/कोऽपि लिक्षाभयान्नैव जहाति वसनं जनः||
This is not the only instance in Sanskrit literature of the clothes-and-lice trope being used to encourage someone to ignore haters. Take, for example, Rudrata(रुद्रट)'s Shringara Tilaka (शृङ्गारतिलक) Chapter 1 Verse 3:
काव्ये शुभे विरचिते खलु नो खलेभ्यः कश्चिद्गुणो भवति यद्यपि सम्प्रतीह।
कुर्यां तथापि सुजनार्थमिदं यतः किं यूकाभयेन परिधानविमोक्षणं स्यात्।।
(variant: काव्ये शुभेऽपि रचिते ...)
Translation by A. A. Ramanathan (Mahasubhasitasangraha Verse 9930): "A good poem, finely composed, will have no merit for the wicked; none the less I now compose this poem, but it is for the good. Should one give up his (woollen) clothing for fear of lice?"
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