Pingla, Pingla, What Have You Done That…? Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Pingla, Pingla,
What, what have you done so that the king has turned into a renouncer
Leaving the reign of royalty,
The palace and the assets,
Turned he into a wandering saint,
Singing the song on a makeshift instrument?

What, what did you do, queen that broke it the heart of Bhartrihari
And turned he into a renouncer,
Laving the kingdom and the palace,
The courtiers and the robes,
Say you, say you,
Keep not mum?

The hearsay says it that the prostitute got an immortal golden fruit
And she gave it to him
As for making his elixir of life lengthened
As for the good citizen’s duty
And he in return gave it to his beloved queen
As for perennial beauty’s sake
And thereafter she gave it to the courtier stealthily,
Perhaps the horse-keeper
Who but returned it to his master.

And on finding the golden, immortal fruit from the courtier,
He took the decision,
Changing the course of life,
Breaking the bindings of maya-moha
And without saying it to,
He came out of the palace
And turned into a renouncer
Singing the songs of the renouncing
Of the world of maya-moha
And its realization.

It is said that the king in the attire of a changed dress
Would have come to take the alms from,
Even a handful of rice foodgrains
From Pingla
As for his deliverance,
Dismissive of maya-moha,
Without introducing himself
The bairagi, the renouncer,
The house-abandoner.

Just for infidelity, infidelity’s sake,
Marking the change in heart and loyalty,
King Bhartrihari,
Turned into a renouncer
Leaving his palace and court
Just for your infidelity,
For being untruthful to love
And went about wandering place to place
In search of deliverance.