Kumariyaka Pa Salamba Saluna Lyrics by Amaradeva

A princess’s anklet jingled,
and my closed eyes fell open,
I, a young celibate prince in the hermitage,
my deep meditation, seated there, was broken

The thin veil of her garment that hid
the curve of her hips, her breast, her swan-like grace,
was parted, drawing the reins of my maddened, dazzled eyes,
those wanton, love-struck eyes
before me a Tusita heaven was conjured,
a blessed hour that could lull the very gods

Amid the still, austere forest of my life,
feeling snapped its chains and charged in like a rutting elephant,
crushing my mind and setting it trembling,
the tender vines, the buds, the flower-petals,
made me weep, my broken Tusita heaven,
the blessed hour that could lull the gods

This is a piece of classical Sinhala poetry set to music, a sensuous, inward drama about desire breaking through discipline. The singer is a young celibate prince living as an ascetic in a forest hermitage, deep in meditation, when a single sound, a princess’s anklet jingling, makes his closed eyes fly open and shatters his hard-won meditative absorption. In an instant the whole austere life is undone by one small, human sound.

The middle is frankly sensuous. The thin veil of her garment, parting to reveal the curve of her body and her swan-like grace, draws in his maddened, love-struck eyes; and before him a whole Tusita heaven, the celestial paradise, seems to be conjured, a blessed hour lovely enough to lull even the gods. Desire is not condemned here but rendered as something overwhelming, almost divine.

The last verse names the cost. Into the still, austere forest of his disciplined life, feeling charges in like a rutting elephant snapping its chains, crushing his mind and setting it trembling; even the tender vines and buds and petals move him to tears. What is left is a broken Tusita heaven, paradise glimpsed and lost in the same moment. Written by K.D.K. Dharmawardane and sung by Pandit W.D. Amaradeva, it is a refined, deeply human meditation on how easily longing can overturn even the most withdrawn and disciplined heart.