Louis Hunt

Two Translations from the Sanskrit of the Shatakatraya (“The Three Hundreds”) of Bhartrihari

A vortex of whirling doubts,

a refuge for misbehavior,

a city of reckless deeds,

a basket of vices

woven of a hundred lies,

a field sown with distrust,

a bar to the gates of heaven

but entrance to hell’s citadel,

the abode of every illusion—

Who made woman the instrument

—poison and ambrosia at once—

to serve as snare for worldly men?   

No one, King, has reached the bounds of desire’s ocean.

Why seek out wealth when the body’s

youthful passions have trickled away?

Let us go home to our wives

before the insults of old age steal away

their beauty and shut the unfurled

flower of their lotus eyes.

Louis Hunt taught political theory at James Madison College, Michigan State University. He has published original poems as well as translations from Sanskrit in a variety of print and online journals including The Rotary Dial, Snakeskin, Lighten Up Online, Metamorphoses, The Brazen Head, Interpret, and The High Window. He is currently working on a volume of translations from the Sanskrit of Kalidasa, Bhartrihari, and Nilakantha Dikshita.