Rivers 01 - Shatadru Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Sage Vasishta, the venerable Brahmarshi
was in deep distress. Bereaved.
News had just reached him
that all his thousand sons were killed.

He could not bear the grief,
made himself a pyre and ascended it,
but in the stillness of his sorrow
winds died out and the fire perished.

He entered the ocean,
in the burning heat of
his free-flowing tears
it rose to skies in steam.

He jumped down the cliff
of the mighty Mount Himawan
the mountain simply held him
in his lap and tried to console him.

The sage entered the strong currents
of the Shutudri, the swift-flowing river,
in the white-hot fire of his tapasya
the river flew in a hundred directions,

and the Vedas paused
to call her "Shatadru",
the river that flowed
in a hundred channels!


Note: River Shatadru is today's R. Sutlej.

Words: (Both Sanskrit)
Shutudri: (the river) that flows in swift currents
Shatadru: (the river) that flows in a hundred Channels