...an ode to the setting sun...

Mavaltya Dinakara by B.R Tambe.

Music and voice again by the Mangeshkars. [As much as I love their music, I see now a necessity to diversify, explore, to just listen... perhaps sing too]. Anyway, I decided to sing this song for the poetry. It was written in the early 1900s (perhaps late 1800s?). The words, the imagery, the sentiment--all are so strange, so alien to today's times. I have tried to translate but I am not confident of my interpretations...

Aditi's Mavalatya Dinakara

mavalatya dinakara, arghya tuzha joduni donhi kara
[O setting sun, joining both hands i offer (my prayers?)]

jo to vandan kari ugavatya, jo to path firavi mavaltya
reet jagachi hi re savitya, swarthaparayanpara
[all worship the rising, all turn their back on the setting,
this is the norm in the world, the aims are self-serving]

upakarachi kuna athavan, 'shite to vari bhute' ashi mhan
jagat bharile tond-puje-pun, dhari pathivar shara
[who remembers past help, people stay until there is some benefit,
the world is full of sycophants, with arrows on their backs (?)]

aasakt pari tu kelis vanvan, diles jeevan he narayan
mani na dharile sana-thor-pun, samadarshi tu khara
[you strived even when you were tired, o narayan, you gave life,
with no reservations for small or big, you are the real impartial one]