Poetry at Sangam
Poetry at Sangam showcases poetry in English and translations as well as essays on poetics and news of new releases.
Your golden voice was a curse
beauty for you was fatal
then your insistence to submit
only to one who surpassed your beauty
and you fell in love with the dark one
Chandrabhaga was witness
you returned the royal gifts that came from Bidar
then the Badshah sent in his soldiers
you asked for one last meeting with your lord
who stands on a brick as Chandrabhaga is witness
no, my lord, no, don’t put me to this test
life seeks to flow away from me
the tiger has the deer’s child
in his teeth so is my state
even in the three worlds
there is no place for me save at your feet
hurry, mother Vithabai, hurry
I lose hope, I grieve
shelter Kanhopatra within your heart [1]*
there at his feet
as Chandrabhaga is witness
you became a tree
another temple by the Ujh river
in the high mountains another fawn
–the eight year old daughter of a nomad —
in the fiendish jaws of predators
a child who went searching
for her pony that hadn’t come home
as river Ujh is witness
as Chandrabhaga is witness
rivers flow dark
rivers flow deep
they witness
as do we
***
When you wedded yourself to the one who stands on a brick
he sent a garland of tulsi beads that fell around your neck
since then you remained at his door
dancing and singing his praises
the tarati tree testifies
as wife you had rights and you knew that well
you could protest, complain, beseech, demand
you called in evidence the Vedas and Shastras
that spoke of Krishnai, Kanhai, Vitahai
as protector and saviour of the powerless
you demanded he vindicate their claims
Shripati, I implore you, don’t deliver
my weakness into the enemy’s hands
the Vedas establish and
the six Shastras claim
you are him, the saviour,
the protector of the helpless
now at your feet your dasi Kanhopatra
repeats your definition to you [2]*
nearest to my soul, my Krishnai, my Kanhai,
my dark one, let your eyes hold some mercy!
at the hint of scandal, people rush to protect their reputation
my dark one, let your eyes hold some mercy!
the shastras declare you the saviour of the defenceless
prove them right, my dark one, let your eyes hold some mercy!
again and again Kanhopatra surrenders before you
my dark one, let your eyes hold some mercy![3]*
you call yourself a saviour of the downtrodden
then why is this affliction the lot for your devotee?
I am wedded to you and you, to me
if another man asserts rights over me
then who is found lacking, tell me this?
when the jackal steals the lion’s prey
it is the lion that is put to shame
says Kanhopatra, if she is to maintain
the sanctity of this commitment
she must give up her body [4]*
as the tarati tree testifies
you heard him call
as the tarati is witness
you saw him remove his hands from his waist
and spread them out for you
and you rose to become one with the dark one
who stands on a brick
as the tarati is witness
overnight in our very own backyard
the trees in the forest are massacred
automatic weapons of mass destruction
make them lie lifeless on the ground
as the bare and bleeding stumps are witness
an enormous cloud rises to the sky
kites and egrets, bulbul and parrot
all seventy species of bird
darken the sky over the city
as the tree stumps are witness
their cries fill the sky like a storm
they are not chirping they are not singing
they are calling to their fledgelings
that have not yet learnt to fly
they are crying for their nests
buried under the debris
and their cries resound in echoes
like thunder that seems to rise from earth
as these tree stumps bear testimony
as these rings on them bear witness
there was a pact
between root and earth
seed and water
bird and tree
animal and insect
Kanho and the dark one
there was a promise
that they would bear testimony
the tarati has borne witness, the rings
on the tree stumps have borne witness
so must we.
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