RELICS

 

RELICS

 

Immersive devotees praying,

Divine mother Durga worshipped,

Picture perfect Indian woman,

Extraordinary beauty portrayed,

Fare complexions, long nose,

Red lips and black eyebrows,

Dark eyes, third on the  forehead,

Ornaments painted golden,

The crown on the head, ten hands,

Hands wearing weapons to fight,

Indian silk saree design fabric,

Feet small, one on a lion standing,

Another foot on a demon's chest,

A trident pierced oh his chest, killed,

Portraying an Indian village woman,

A fair-complexioned young woman,

Saree covered her head face white,

Dark hairs in the back, up to knees,

The bracelets, anklets, and earrings,

A necklace, nose ring in chains,

Glass bangles in color sparkling,

Ornaments, gold, silver or bronze,

But surprised as Mother is wearing,

Dark, loosen hair, wavy behind her back,

Starkly matches with Mother,

Neither ten hands nor crown golden,

Works hard in grain fields day long,

Maintains clay house thatched roof,

Polished cow dung floor walls clean,

Decorated with chalk white and red,

The art can fascinate the  artist's heart,

Cows in the back yard in a shed,

A balcony with an earthen oven,

Her life deals with earthen pots,

Cooks rice, keep drinking water,

In summer, ponds, village-well, dries,

She walks for miles to collect water,

The river provides water as her source,

Drew picture thus a village woman,

Divine Mother, how similar to her,

Children from her village prosper,

Today's baby tomorrow, youth,

Thousand years of generation tilling,

Village farmers feed the country,

Strong presence impresses females,

Wonderfully beautiful like a wildflower,

Relics of an ancient tradition of females,

Service equivalent to ten hands,

Instead of weapons, domestic tools,

Accomplishes victory kills poverty,

Poverty is as if the demon is killed,

Overwhelmed me the comparison,

The wrinkled face of aged women,

Still covered her head with a saree,

Revered as mother or grandmother,

Children take care of her duly respect,

Her advice is obeyed by her family,

Respect her much like a divine mother,

I was standing before the idol of Mother,

Owed to the face of an Indian woman,

She was a reality in cities, villages,

Hindu customs still live in homes,

Hindus worship Mother, believe,

She is the procreator, signs prosperity,

Matches with Hindu family females,

Worship senior women, their advice,

Relics to Hindu culture are perfectly seen,

Unchanged little through millennia.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra