Ganesha's shlOka translation request

[avnipriya]

It's from Madanapala's Nighantu.

lubdhA kapolamadhuvAri madhuvratAlI kumbhasthalImadhuvibhUSaNalohitAngI |
mANikyamauliriva rAjati yasya maulau vighnaM sa dhUnayatu vighnapatiH sadA naH ||

:namaste:

[Pratyaksham Bala]

mANikyamauliriva - mANikyamauktiriva
sadA naH - sadA vaH

[aaaaabbbbb]

Lord of obstacles,His crest,adorned with a diadem of glittering precious stones,pearls

Who is decorated with the blossoms of the mahua tree,

while greedy black bees with red limbs ,flock around the cheeks,

[kumBhastala] for the honey

May He always endeavour to shake [away] the obstacles.

My amateurish attempt.

Hope Rajani will correct the mistakes..

[Rajani]

Savitriji - you have put it in a nutshell very well.

My attempt , phrase by phrase:
vighnaM sa dhUnayatu vighnapatiH - May he, Vighneshwara, destroy the obstacles,
sadA - always,
vah - of you all ( nah would not be wrong, it would mean "of us all")
yasya maulau - on whose head
rAjati - shines
mANikyamauliriva - like a ruby crown,
madhuvratAlI - a host of (reddish) bees,
lubdhA kapola mada vAri - eager for the rut (flowing) down the cheek,
kumbhasthalI madhuvibhUSaNa lohitAngI - red-bodied being decorated by the madhu(?) of (his) forehead, that resembles a pot

The raised forehead of an elephant is often called its Kumbha.
The Madhu on the forehead is probably some other word, meaning saffron etc. or may mean Mahua flowers, but such flowers are not mentioned as decorations for gods.

[aaaaabbbbb]

Rajani,
Thank you very much for the response.

The slokam has beautiful imagery and

your phrase by phrase translation enhances its beauty.

Regards

Savitri.

[the doubt still remains about the mahua flowers]

[avnipriya]

:namaste:

Many thanks to you all.

I would like to post a picture of this shlOka from Madanapala Nighantu (1902)
but the printing is unclear.





and another one but in Gujarati translation which I don't understand from Madanapala Nighantu (unknown year)

[Rsachi]

My two pennies.

The male elephant in rut secretes a thick liquid from the temporal lobes on the head..
Quote: Often, elephants in musth discharge a thick tar-like secretion called temporin from the temporal ducts on the sides of the head. Unquote

The bees are attracted to it like they are to honey pots.

The first two lines refer to the mounds on the head.
The next two make the prayer to Ganesha, connecting with the word yasya to the first two lines.

Thanks for letting me know this shloka, it looks like a dhyana shloka at the beginning of a treatise on Ayurvedic materia medica!

[avnipriya]

I think there are two subjects in this shloka :
the first is Vighnapati which is masculine .
and the second subject is madhuvratAlI (madhuvrata + Ali/AlI = a swarm of bees) which is feminine.

in my opinion the shloka is like...
A swarm of bees (madhuvratAlI) is greedy [lubdhA] for honey-like secretion (madhuvAri) on Ganesha's cheeks (kapOla).
which thier bodies become red (lohitAngI) that adorned (vibhUSaNa) by the red rut-fluid (madhu) oozing from those temples (kumbhsthalI), because the red swarm of bees gathers on whose head (yasya maulau)
so shines (rAjati) as if (iva) ruby-studded (mANikya) crest-ornament (mauliH).

Any correction welcome.
Avni