Sanskrit quote nr. 15 (Maha-subhashita-samgraha)
Sanskrit text:
अकण्ठस्य कण्ठे कथं पुष्पमाला विना नासिकायाः कथं धूपगन्धः ।
अकर्णस्य कर्णे कथं गीतनृत्यम् अपादस्य पादे कथं मे प्रणामः ॥akaṇṭhasya kaṇṭhe kathaṃ puṣpamālā vinā nāsikāyāḥ kathaṃ dhūpagandhaḥ |
akarṇasya karṇe kathaṃ gītanṛtyam apādasya pāde kathaṃ me praṇāmaḥ ||⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦¦
⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦⏑⎼⎼¦¦Meter name: Bhujaṅgaprayāta (or Aprameyā); Type: Akṣaracchanda (sama); 12 syllables per quarter (pāda).
Primary English translation:
“How to offer (in worship) on the neck a garland of flowers of one who is without a neck; how to offer smell of incense when one is nose-less, how to sing and dance when one does not have ears, how to prostrate (at one’s feet) when one has no feet to prostrate at?.”
(translation by Ludwik Sternbach)
Secondary translations:
“Was soll der Blumenkranz am Halse, da ich doch keinen Hals habe? Was soll der Wohlgeruch des Räucherwerks, da ich doch keine Nase habe? Was soll Gesang und Tanz dem Ohre, da ich doch keine Ohren habe? Was soll die tiefe Verbeugung zu Füssen, da ich doch keine Füsse habe? (Verspottung des Götzendienstes)”
(translation by Otto Böhtlingk)
