The perfume of the sandal[1] is Thine incense; the wind is Thy fan;[2] all the forests are Thy flowers, O Lord of light.[3]

[1. Maliânlo, literally--the wind from the Malay tree.

2. In the original, chauri, a flapper made from the tail of the yak or Thibetan cow, and used in India to brush away flies.

3 The following is Dr. Trumpp's translation of these two verses:--

The dish is made of the sky, the sun and moon are made the lamps, the orbs of stars are, so to say, the pearls.

The wind is incense-grinding, the wind swings the fly-brush, the whole blooming wood is the flames (of the lamps).

While the present author was engaged in translating the sacred writings of the Sikhs at their request, one Bhâi Gurumukh Singh projected a rival translation, which was to surpass all others. His modus operandi was to alter Dr. Trumpp's words here and there, and thus produce what he perhaps deemed would be an original version. He circulated the following as his translation of these lines:--

The sky is for my plate (for arti); the sun and moon are for lamps; (and) rows of stars are as it were for pearls.

The air of sandal wood for perfumary smoke, the wind (for my) fan and all the rows of blooming forests (for flowers), O Lord of light.

]

{p. 83}

What worship is this, O Thou Destroyer of birth?[1] Unbeaten strains of ecstasy are the trumpets of Thy worship.

Thou hast a thousand eyes and yet not one[2] eye; Thou hast a thousand forms and yet not one form;[3]

Thou hast a thousand pure feet and yet not one foot;

Thou hast a thousand organs of smell and yet not one organ--I am fascinated by this play of Thine.[4]

The light which is in everything is Thine, O Lord of light.

From its brilliancy everything is brilliant;

By the Guru's teaching the light becometh manifest.

What pleaseth Thee is the real arati.[5]

O God, my mind is fascinated with Thy lotus feet as the bumble-bee with the flower: night and day I thirst for them.

Give the water of Thy grace to the sarang[6] Nanak, so that he may dwell in Thy name,[7]

[1. That is, or transmigration.

2. Thou hast man, spiritual eyes, but no material eye,

3. Thy manifestations are many yet Thou hast no bodily form.

4. Also translated--In this way Thou hast enchanted the world.

5. In memory of the circumstance recorded in the text the Sikhs repeat several prayers in the evening. The prayers are collectively called Ârati, and consist of this hymn and some others, which will be noted in their proper place. The word Ârati originally meant waving lamps at night before an idol.