Sahitya Sangita Kala Vihinah — Complete Lyrics
साहित्यसङ्गीतकलाविहीनः
Sanskrit text with English transliteration and translation
साहित्यसङ्गीतकलाविहीनः
साक्षात्पशुः पुच्छविषाणहीनः।
तृणं न खादन्नपि जीवमानस्
तद्भागधेयं परमं पशूनाम्॥
sāhitya-saṅgīta-kalā-vihīnaḥ
sākṣāt paśuḥ puccha-viṣāṇa-hīnaḥ।
tṛṇaṁ na khādann api jīvamānas
tad bhāgadheyaṁ paramaṁ paśūnām॥
A person devoid of literature, music and the arts is, in plain truth, a beast without a tail and horns; it is the supreme good fortune of the other animals that, though he lives without eating grass, he is still counted a man and not one of them. Bhartrhari wittily declares that the cultivation of arts and letters is what raises a human being above the brute.
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