Vdaystuti
A prayer on
V-day
(This poem is
obnoxious and not cleared by the Censor)
Namo pendulous boobs, O mother,
Devi of jack fruits, ripe as elephant heads!
Namo mountainous butts, O mother,
Devi of pumped up pumpkins, bursting clouds!
Namo thundering thighs, O mother,
Devi of marble minarets, quivering pillars!
Namo bush fire fire mouths, O mother,
Devi of magma quakes, lava saliva spills!
Namo Namo Namo Namo
Namo rosebud, brownbud, copperbud!
Namo Namo Namo Namo
Namo scarlet lips, sugar lips, pickle lips!
Namo Namo Namo Namo
Namo gold clipt, silver clipt, bronze clipt!
Namo Namo Namo Namo
Namo my noose, my leap, my serpent venom!
Namo Namo Namo Namo
Namo my jack knife, my net, my elixir vial!
Namo fat fat Namo blood blood Namo flesh flesh!
Ra Shaye Namo! Breathtaking still, censors are like a dry leaf before your whirlwind of expression.
ReplyDeletei thought Reena Prasad was hiding somewhere. thanks for the comments.
DeleteA devi is a goddess, “namo” is homage; a “stuti” (Praise to God) is a prayer.
ReplyDelete“V Day” in the West coincides with Valentine’s Day but is actually Vagina Day, established by “Vagina Monologues” author Eve Ensler to end domestic violence and sexual abuse of women. It is celebrated with performances of what vaginas could say if they could talk -- scenes from Ensler’s play or other stories dealing with orgasms, menarche, first sexual experiences, sexuality, molestation, rape, etc., with proceeds being donated to centers for domestic violence and rape preventions.
However, in India “V Day” is actually Valentine’s Day. Before Christianity was introduced, February 13 to 15 was celebrated in Rome as Lupercalia, during which, according to 1st century historian Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus [“Plutarch”] , “many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, … believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.” In 496 Pope Gelasius I established 14 February as a feast day for the 3rd-century martyr Valentinius (from the Latin “valens,” worthy, strong, powerful) of Interamna (modern Terni, Italy). The feast day was officially removed in 1969. Gelasius included Velentinius among those “whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” Nevertheless, over the centuries various legends about him came into being: While under house arrest for proselytizing , he restored vision to the adopted daughter of his judge, Asterius, who then converted his family and freed all his Christian prisoners. The emperor, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus (Claudius Gothicus II), made military duty compulsory and forbade soldiers to wed to force them to concentrate on their duty. Valentinius was arrested again for marrying them illegally, beaten with clubs, stoned, and beheaded. Before he died, he restored both sight and hearing to his jailer’s daughter and left her a note signed, “Your Valentine.” But Valentinius was not associated with romantic love until the 14th century, when Geoffrey Chaucer (in “Parlement of Foules”) and his circle began to develop his feast day’s connection to the subject, motivated by the belief that mid-February was when birds paired.
Like other Western traditions that had commercial aspects, Valentine’s Day eventually became an important custom in India, beginning around 1992 due to the influence of MTV and other channels, dedicated radio programs, and love letter competitions. At the same time, economic liberalization established the possibility of a successful Valentine’s card industry, and young couples increasingly chose their own partners rather than following their parents’ dictates. The customs of young couples dressing in fine clothing and dining out, displaying public affection towards one another, and presenting gifts of flowers and romantic letters, along with adopting Western kitsch symbols like red helium balloons, quickly caught on. However, leftists denounce the rituals as a front for Western imperialism, neocolonialism, and multinational corporations’ commercial exploitation of the working class, while Shiv Sena (the “Army of Shivaji”) [a Marathi nationalist political party founded in Mumbai by political cartoonist Bal Thackeray and led by his son Uddhav], the Sangh Parivar [Hindu nationalist parties affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)], and other rightwing organizations regularly organize protests against the unofficial holiday and the "public admission of love" as being "alien to Indian culture." Opposing interracial marriages has become a cornerstone of their agenda, and "love jihad," the idea that Muslim men are trying to marry Hindu women and forcing them to convert to Islam, has become a huge talking point for right-wing groups. Actions against the holiday include vandalism (mobs breaking tables and windows in restaurants), moral policing, calls to ban any celebrations, and threats of violence against couples who display public affection; in 2012, for instance, Subash Chouhan of the Bajrang Dal [the militant youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)] warned couples, "They cannot kiss or hug in public places. Our activists will beat them up." Chandra Prakash Kaushik, the president of the Akhil Bhāratiya Hindū Mahāsabhā (All-India Hindu Grand-assembly), announced that his group would monitor social media sites and request that couples professing their love online get married, and contact the parents of the couples who do not comply; they also hand out white flowers to couples seen in restaurants or shopping malls on Feb. 14. "We are not against love, as we are the country which has spread love all over the world, but we are against the Western influence on our society, and by offering white flowers we will be spreading the message of peace."
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, Kamadeva. the winged god of human love, was a prominent Hindu deity. The son of Sri, the goddess of prosperity, he was young and handsome, with green skin; his bow was made of sugarcane and strung with honeybees, and his arrows were decorated with fragrant ashoka, lotus, jasmine, and mango flowers. He first used his arrows against Brahma and his sons, the 11 Prajāpatis, the lords over procreation and the protection of life, who were all incestuously attracted to Brahma's daughter Sandhya ("Twilight-dawn/dusk"), who committed suicide. Shiva laughed at the humiliation of the other gods, causing Brahma to swear that Kamadeva would be destroyed by Shiva. The Prajāpatis trembled and perspired, and from the sweat of Daksha came Ratī, the goddess of love, lust, fertility, and devotion. The reincarnation of Sandhya, she was given to Kamadeva as his wife. Her name, derived from the Sanskrit root “ram” (“enjoy" or "delight in”) was synonymous with the arousal and delight of sexual activity, and many sex techniques and positions took their Sanskrit names from her (just as the Kama Sutra was associated with her consort Kamadeva). Kamadeva and Ratī parented two children, Harsha ("Joy") and Yashas ("Grace").
ReplyDeleteLater, as part of a plan Indra devised to defeat the demon-king Tarakasur, Kamadeva created an early spring and took the form of a southern breeze to evade Shiva’s guard. After Kamadeva shot Shiva with a flower arrow to awaken him from meditation, Shiva blasted with his third eye, incinerating him instantaneously. However, at Ratī’s insistence, Shiva resuscitated him in a disembodied form, allowing the spirit of love he embodied to be disseminated throughout the cosmos. Later Kamadeva was reincarnated as Pradyumna, in the womb of Krishna's wife Rukmini, but he was separated from his parents at birth. Ratī became his nanny, as well as his lover, and their son Kartikeya slew Tarakasur.