Poems by Indian Women - Forgotten Books

THE HERITA GEOF INDIA SERIES

The R ight Reverend V . S . AZ A RIA H ,

LL .D . Bishop o£ - Dornakal .

J . N . FA R! UH A R , M .A D .Litt.

A lr eady publis/zea'.

The Heart of Buddhism . K . J . SAUNDERS , M .A .

A soka . J . M . MACPHAIL , M .A . , M .D .

Indian Painting . PRINCIPA L PERCY BROWN , Calcutta .

Kanar ese L iterature , 2 ud ed . E . P . R ICE , B .A .

The

D

S

I

ar'

nkhya System . A . BERR IEDALE KE ITH ,

itt .Psalms of Marathi Saints . N ICOL MACNICOL , M .A D .Litt.

A H istory of Hindi Li terature . F . E. KEAY ,M .A . , D .Litt.

The

D

K

Iarma-M imamsa. A . BERR IEDALE KE ITH ,

itt .Hymns of the Tamil Saivite Saints. F . K INGSBURY , B .A

and G . E . PHILLIPS , M .A .

Rab indr anath Tagore . E . J . THOM PSON , B .A . , M .C .

Hymns from the R igveda . A . A . MACDONELL , M .A Ph .D

Hon . LL .D .

Gotama Buddha . K . J . SAUNDERS , M .A Berkeley , Cal i fornia .

The Co ins of India . C . J . BROWN , M .A . , Lucknow .

Subjects p r oposed and volumes under pr epar ation.

H I STORY AND THE HERITA GE .

The Maurya Period .

The Scytho-Parthian and Kushana Period.

The Gup ta Period.

The Mogul Period . DR . S . K . DUTTA .

THE PHILOSOPHI—ES .

A n Introduction to H indu Philosophy . J . N . FAR ! UHA RPRINC IPAL JOHN MCKEN Z IE , Bombay.

The Philosophy of the Upanishads .

Sankara ’s Vedanta . A . K . SHARMA , M .A ., Patiala .

Ramanuja‘

s Vedanta .

The Buddhist System . DR . V . LESNY , Prague .

The Bhagavadgita .

F INE ART A ND MUS IC .

Indian A rchitecture .

Indian Sculpture.

The M inor A rts . PRINC IPAL PERCY BROWN , Calcutta .

Burmese A r t and A rtistic Crafts . PR INCIPAL MORR IS ,Insein , Burma .

B IOGRA PH IES OF EMINENT INDIA NS .

Ramanuja .

A kbar . F . V . SLACK , M .A . , Calcutta .

VERNA CULA R LITERA TURE .

The Kur r al. H . A . POP LE v , B .A . , Madras , and K . T . PAUL ,B .A . , Calcutta .

Hymns of the A lvars . J . S . M . HOOPER , M .A Nagari .Tulsi Das ’s Ramayana in Miniature . G . J . DANN ,

M .A .

(Oxon . Patna .

Hymns of Bengali S ingers . E . J . THOMPSON , B .A . , M .C

Oxford.

K anarese Hymns . M ISS BUTLER , B .A ., Bangalore .

H I STORIE S OF VERNA CULA R LITERATURE .

Bengali . C . S . PATERSON , M .A . , Calcutta .

Gujarati .Marathi . NICOL MACNICOL , M .A . , D .Litt. , Poona .

Tamil .Telugu. P . CHENCH IA H , M .A Madras , and RAJ A BHUJANGA

RA O , Ellore .

Malayalam . T . K . JOSEPH,B .A . ,

L .T . , Trivandrum .

Urdu . B . GH OSH A L , M .A . ,Bhopal .

Burmese . PROP . TUNG PE , Rangoon .

S inhales e .

NOTA BLE INDIA N PEOPLES .

The Rajputs .

The Syrian Chr istians . K . C . MAMMEN MA P ILL A I , A lleppey .

The S i khs .

VA RIOUS .

Class ical Sanskrit Literature . A . BERR IEDALE KE ITH ,

D .Litt.

Prakrit Li terature . PR INC IPAL A . C . WOOLNER , Lahore .

The Indian Drama . PROP . M . WINTERNIT Z , Prague .

The Languages of India . PROF. R . L . TURNER , London .

The Universities of India .

Indian A stronomy and Chronology. DEWAN BAHADUR L . D .

SW A M IK ANNU P ILLAI , Madras .

Indian Temple Legends . K . T . PAUL , B .A Calcutta .

Indian Village Government .

EDITORIA L PREFA CE

F inally,brethren , whatsoever things ar e

true , whatsoever things ar e honourable ,whatso

ever things ar e just , whatsoever things ar e pure ,

whatsoever things ar e lovely , whatsoever thingsar e of good report i f there b e any virtue , and

i f there b e any p rai se , think on these things.

”

NO sect io n O f the popul ati on of India can afford to

neglect her ancient her i tage . In her li terature , ph ilo

sophy,art , and regulated l i fe there i s much that i s

worthle s s , much al so that is dis t i nctly unheal thy ; ye t

the treasure s of k nowledge , wisdom , and beauty whi ch

they conta in are too precious to be los t .” Every citizen

of India needs to use them , i f he i s to be a cul

tur ed modern Indian . This i s as true of the C hr i s t ian,

the Muslim , the Zoroas tr ian as o f the Hindu. But,

while the her i tage of I ndia has been largel y expl or edby schol ars , and the r esult s of the ir toil are laid out for

us in the ir books , they cannot be said to be real ly

ava ilable for the ordinary man . The vo lume s are in

most case s expens ive , and are o ften technical and

diffi cult. Hence this ser ie s of cheap book s has been

pl anned by a group of Chr is tian men , i n order that

every educated Indian , whe ther ri ch or poor,may be

able to find his way into the treasures of India’

s past .

Many Europeans , both in India and elsewhere,wil l

doubtle ss be gl ad to use the ser ie s .

The utmost car e is be ing taken by the General

Edi tor s in selecting wr i ters , and in passing manus cr ip ts

for the pr e ss . To every book two te st s are r igidly

appl ied : ever y th ing mus t be s cholarly , and every th ing

must be sympathe tic. The pur pose i s to br ing the

be s t out of the ancient treasur ies , so tha t i t may be

k nown , enj oyed , and used.

RUPAMA’

H A ND BA Z BA HA DUR.

From the Or iginal Pa inting in the A r t Sec tion of

The Indian Museum , Calcutta .

THE HERITA GE OF INDIA;

POEMS BY INDIAN

WOMEN

Selected and Rendered by Var ious Translators

AND EDITED BY

MA RGARET/

MA CNICOL, a. S.E. ,

POONA .

AS SOC IAT ION PRESS

5 , RUSSELL STREET , CA LCUTTA

LONDON : OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRES S

NEW YORK . TORONTO , MELBOURNEBOMBA Y , CALCUTTA AND MADRA S

PREFA CE

IN thi s book an attempt has been made to br ing

together some specimens of the work of Indian

Poe tesses , women who sang or wrote in many different

age s and under ve ry vary ing cir cumstances . The field

is a very wide one , and no claim is made that a full y

r epr esentative sele ct ion of the work done i s given here .

I t ha s proved imposs ibl e to include poems from al l o feven the leadi ng vernacular s , no t alway s because such

poems_ do not exis t , but somet ime s becau se of the

difficul ty of obtaining acce ss t o . them , and sometimes

because of the difficul ty of having them suitably

trans lated . S er ious omissions may , for s imi l ar reasons ,

have occurred even in those vernaculars that are

represen ted .

The book is the work of many authore sse s and of

many tran sl ator s . The ideal i n v iew was that the

translati ons as well a s the poems should be the work of

women . This , however, has not proved pract icable in

al l cases . One person , or more than one— sometimes

Indian , some time s European— was re sponsibl e for each

vernacul ar . He o r she obtained such other help as

seemed advisable , and sent in a se lect ion of such trans

lations as were deemed suitable . I f these were too

numerous to be al l included , a fur ther sel ect ion was

made . In a few cases the selections are f rom trans

lations al re ady publ ished in Engl ish .

The mater ial obtainable i n different vernacul ar s

var ied consider abl y in i t s poe t ic value . While some

4 POEMS BY IND IAN WOMEN

contained profound thought or beaut iful expre ss ion,

other poems were of a much more commonplace order .

Consequently the translations are nece ssar il y some

what uneven in qual ity . All have,however

,the

interes t O f showing with what the hearts and minds o f

India’

s women have been occupied dur ing many stage s

O f her l ong his tory .

The separa te intr oduction to each vernacular has

been compil ed , e i ther wholly or par tially , f r om mater ial

sent by the tr ansl ators .

The Editor s of the S er ie s j o in with me in expres s

ing gra teful thank s to the follow ing wr iters for leave

granted to pr int i n th i s volume original poems or

translations publ ished by them :

Mrs . Rhy s Dav ids , n ine select ions from Psalms of

Me S ister s ; S i r George Gr ierson and Dr . L . D . Barne tt ,

tr ansl a tio ns o f poems by Lal Ded from Lalla Vakyanz'

;

Mrs . Sar ojini Naidu , three poems from T/ze Golden

Tkr eslzold Miss Ellen Goreh , one sel ect ion from Poems .

We are al so grate ful to the fol l owing publ i sher s for

arranging to allow us to print poems publi shed by

them

Mr . Wil l iam Heinemann , three poems f rom Mrs .

Naidu’

s Golden T/zr es/zold Messr s . Trnbner Co . , two

poems from T oru Dutt’

s A ncient Ballads and Legends

of H industfian The Royal Asiat ic Socie ty , poems by

Lal Ded from L alla Vakyam'

.

Our thanks are al so due to Mr . J . C . Dut t , of Ram

Bagan,Calcut ta

,the l iv ing repre sen tative of Toru Dutt

and Aru Dut t,for leave to reproduce Toru Dutt

’

s

poems already mentio ned , and A r n Dutt’

s S till Barred

Thy Door .

”The lat ter poem fir s t appeared in A S lzeaf

Gleaned fr omFr enchFields, publ ished in Cal cutta in 1 876.

PREFACE 5

The volume contai ns one hundred and ten select ions ,

wr itten by fifty-s ix women , in four tee n dis t inct langu

age s . Almost ever y part of India is represented by those

wr iters,and all the important rel igion s except J ain ism

and Zoroas tr iani sm . Twen ty -five tr anslator s have done

the ir very bes t to make the volume succes sful . The

tables which foll ow thi s Pre face are intended to place

vividly be for e the reader the main fact s about the

writers and the ir poems .

As the idea of this l i t tl e volume or iginated with

Dr . Farquhar , so i t i s due to hi s unspar ing e fforts that

i t ever took shape . He di scovered su itable peopl e to

under take the var ious sections of the book , enl is ted the ir

interest and help , and in every way fur thered the

mater ial is at ion of that promised help . To my husband ,too, I am greatl y indebted for much ass is tance of many

kinds .

MA RGA RET MA CNICOL .

CONTENTS

TA BLESPA GE

THE POETESSES , IN CHRONOLOG ICAL ORDER , W ITHTHE LANGUAGE IN WHICH EACH WROTE !

THE LANGUAGES , IN A LPHABET ICAL ORDER , W ITHTHE POETESSES WHO USED THEM , AND THE IRPOEMS PUBLISHED IN THIS VOLUME

THE LANGUAGES , IN A LPHABET ICAL ORDER , W ITHTHE TRANSLATORS AND THE POEMS TRANSLATED . 1 2

GENERA L INTRODUCT ION

POEMS BY INDIAN WOMEN

I . VED IC IND IA

I I . EARLY BUDDHIST DAYS

I I I . MED IE VAL IND IA

IV . MODERN IND IA

INDEX

The Po e tesses, in Chr onological O r de r , with the

Language in wh ich each w r ote

C . 1 000 B C . Ghoshé Vedic Sanskrit

VthCent.B .C .

Mother

A vvai ( date unknown )A ndal ( date unknown )

XIIth Cent . Mahddev iakka

XIIIth Cent .Sultan Raz iyyaBegamMuktaBai

Chokha’s wi fe MarathiGangadevi Classical Sanskrit

XIVth Cent . S11 5. (date unknown ) Classical Sanskr itVikatanitamb d ( date unknown ) Classical SanskritLal Ded Kashmir i

MarathiXVth Cent . Bengal i

H indiandGujarati

XVIth Cent . 41Pr iyamb addBah inaBai lThe Emp ress Nur Jahan

XVIIth Cent . Princess Z eb -nu-NissaPrincess Z inat-nu-NissaSrungar ammaHonnamma

Class ical Sanskr i tMarathiPersianPersianPersianKanareseKanarese

1 0 POEMS BY IND IAN WOMEN

Shekh Rangr ez inSahajo BdiDayé. Bdi

XVIIIthCent . Gavri BaiA nandamayi

ShirinNawwab Bahu Begam

D ivali BdiKuttikkufifia TankacchiMei nkumdr i

XIXth Cent . A r u DuttTor n DuttPankajini BasuBahu Begam

Ellen GorehHemantabalaDuttKamini RoySar ojini NaiduP r iyamb ade

‘

i Debi‘

Sr i Saraswati DeviSar ojab alei (Dds Gupta )Ni r upamd Debi 1Dhar endr ab dla S inghLakshmi Bai T ilak

XXth Cent .

The Language s , in A lp hab e t ical O r de r , w ith the

Po e te sse s who us ed them and the Po ems

pub lished in this volume

A nandamayi , LXXI .Dhar endr ab dlé Singh , LXXXV .

Hemantab dla’

i Dutt , CI .

Kamini Roy, XCI , CII , CI I I .Madhab i ,

1 LVI I I .Bengali Me

'

mknmér i , XC .

Ni r upamaDebi , 1 LXXXVI , LXXXVII I , XCI I I .Pankajini Basu , LXXXVI I , XCVI II .P r iyamb ada Debi , 1 XCI I , XCIV , XCV .

Rami , LXVII I .Sar ojab dld (Dds Gup ta ) Sen , CVI , CIX.

Devi and Mad/moi become Deb i and Mad/moi in Bengali .

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A ndfil, XLII I , XLV , XLVI , XLVII I , L ,LI I

,

Tamil LV .

A vvai , LX , LXI , LXI I , LXVI .

Nawwab Bahu Begam , LXXX .

Urdu lBahu Begam , XCVI I .

Vedic Sanskrit Ghoshd, I .

The Language s , in A lphab e t ical O r de r , with the

Tr ans lator s and th e Selec tions Tr anslated

MissWhitehouse , Calcutta , LXXXV , LXXXVI ,LXXXVI I , LXXXVII I , XC , XCI ,_ XC I I ,

‘

XCI I I , XCIV , XCV , XCVII I , CI , CII , CI I I .Bengal i Edward J . Thomp son ,

B .A M .C . ,Ox ford ,

CVI , CIX .

J . N. C . Ganguly, M .A Calcutta , LVII I ,LXVI I I , LXXI .

M . K r ishnamachar iar , M .A . , M .L . , Ph .D

Bapatla , K istna District , LXIV , LXX ,

Classical Sanskri t LXXVII , LXXVI I I .J . N . C . Ganguly,M .A . , Calcutta ,XLI .

EnglishM r s . Taylor and Mr s . Ramanbhai M . Nilkanth,

Gujarat i B .A . , A hmedabad , XIV , XXXI I , XLIV ,

XLVI I , XLIX .

Mr s . F. E . Keay , Meerut , XXXII I , XXXIV ,

XXXV , XXXVI , XXXVI I , LI , LI II , LIV ,

H indi LVI , XCVI .S ir George Grierson, Camberley , XLII .Major-General Cunn ingham , LXXV .

Miss Butler and Mr s . Dasappa, B .A BangaKanarese lore , LXII I , LXV , LXVII .

S ir George Grierson , Camberley , and L . D .

Kashmiri Barnett, D .Litt. , London , XII , XVI I I , XX ,

XXII , XXI II , XXV , XXVI I , XXVII I ,XXXIX , LIX .

Malayalam T . K . Joseph, B .A . , L .T . , Trivandrum , LVII .

Mr s . Macnicol , Poona , and D . K . Laddu , XI ,

MarathiXII I , XV , XVI , XVII , XIX , XXI , XXIV ,

XXVI,XXIX , XXX , XXXI , XXXVI I I .

Rev . B . K . and M r s . Uz gar e , Bombay, CVI I .

Persian

Tamil

Vedic Sanskrit

TABLES 1 3

Mr s . Rhys Davids , London , I I , I I I , IV , V , VI ,VII , VII I , IX , X .

Professor Barakat Ullah , Lahore , LXIX ,

LXXI I , LXXIV , LXXIX , LXXXI , LXXX I I ,LXXXII I , LXXXIV .

Mr s . Sar ojini Naidu , LXXVI .

Miss A braham and the Rev . J . S . Masilamani ,B .D . , Madura , XLII I , XLV , XLVI , XLVI I I ,LII , LV , LXI I , LXVI .

The R ight R everend the Lord Bishop of

Dornakal , LL .D . LX , LXI .

M . Hedayet Ho sa'in , M .A . , Ph .D . , Shams-u]Ulama , Khan Bahadur , Calcutta , LXXX,

XCVII .

H . D . Griswold, M .A . , Ph .D . ,D .D . , I .

GENERA L INTRODUCTION

A s we stand on the thre shold of a new era in th el ong l i fe of India, we needs must ask our se lve s manyque st ions a s to what new and strange developments i tmay br ing . One such que st ion , for ced upon us by thetrend of recent e v ent s , i s , What par t wil l India

’

swome n play in the new world to be Even to guessat an answer we must consider what par t they haveplayed in the pas t and to what tha t past has mouldedthem in mind and soul . This l i t tl e volume , i t i shoped , may help in some measure to reveal the outlookof women at differen t s tages of I ndia

’

s hi stor y , toshow with what the ir minds were fi l led , what the irdeepest l ongings were , and what the Chie f concerns of

the ir daily l ives . I t may simpl i fy our task to div ide theimmemor ial age s of I ndia

’

s h is tory in to cer tain roughl ydefined periods , characterised by cer tain movements or

influence s which quickened anew the spir it of poetry inthe l and .

1 . In the dim antiquity when the Rig Veda had i tsbirth , women are said t o have had a share i n the creat ionof tha t grea t l i ter ature . From the perusal of some O fthe few poems at tr ibuted to them it appear s that theboons invoked from the gods are mainly mater ial .There i s no hin t in the se poems of the bondage of bir thand rebir th , no cravi ng for release from i t , such as isso prominen t in the rel igious poems of l a ter age s .E s trangement from a husband , the fear of l iving un

marr ied , the desi re to be qui t of a r ival wife , such arethe motives that produce from these poete sses the irprayer s and thank sgiv ings . Of the hymns that tradit iona ttr ibute s to women singer s one onl y has been includedin thi s col lection . Ghosha,who is be l ieved to have beenthe au thor of this, as wel l a s of another hymn in the

GENERAL INTRODUCT ION 1 5

Rig Veda , was the daughter of a king named Kakshivan,

who was al so a r is/z i , i .e. seer ,”or author of hymns .

Indeed he i s the eponymous r is/z i of one of nine group so f hymns which toge ther form the second hal f (hymns5 1 - 1 9 1 ) of the fi r st book of theRig Veda , hi s group be ing1 1 6- 1 2 6. Ghosha i s thus the ear l ie s t example o f whathas occurred very f requentl y i n India S ince her daysthe bel oved daughter of a scholar t ra ined as a scholarby her father . Compare Pr iyamb ada and Kuttikkuiifiu

Tankacchi below , pp . 2 4 a nd 2 6.

2 . The ce ntur ie s fol lowing the t ime when thehymns of the Rigveda were composed saw the e arl yrel igion gradual ly de v eloped by Brahman prie s ts into avas t sacr ificial sy stem , which is m irrored for u s inthe Samaveda , the Yaiar veda , and the Br i hmanas .

Then , probably in the seventh century B .C. ,there

arose a Spir i t of dissatis faction wi th ext ernal pr ie s tl yr i te s , accompanied by an eager search by the awakenedSpir i t for the truth abou t the universe , suffering , sin ,and man

’

s deepes t rel igious needs . The fi r s t outcomeof th i s per iod of inquiry was the doctr ine of transmigrat ion and karma ; and short l y af te rwards came thespecul at ive movement wh ich created the philosophy of

the A tman and the order ofwandering ascetics who l ivedby i t. From them came the great work s which we knowas the Upani shads . The ferment of the t ime s soonproduced many other a scetic teachers , each wi th hisdoctr ine and his following of monks . Amongst the sewas the great sp ir i t who was Called the Buddha

, i .e. theenl igh tened one , by hi s fol l owers , and Whose sys tem isthere fore known to-day as Buddhism . Like al l t heother philosophic schools of the times , t he system of

the Buddha sought Rel ease from transmigratio n andkarma , and prescr ibed an asce t ic l i fe as e ssen t ial in thegrea t que st .

In the large and var ied l i te rature produced by earlyBuddhism there i s a good deal o f noble poetry whichgive s expre ssion to the highe st aims and attainmen tsof Buddhis t seeker s ; and one of the col le ctio ns i s aser i e s of poems , bel ieved to be the work of nuns of the


ear l ies t per iod, and cal l ed Tlier Z-gatlza. This work hasbeen translated by Mr s . Rhy s Davids , under the titl ePsalms of the S ister s ; and , through her cour te sy , wear e able to reproduce nine o f these s tr ik ing ut terances .L imit s of space forbid anything l ike an adequatere prese ntat ion of th i s school o f thought , but the poemschosen may help to illus trate cer ta in general charac teristics Of these cr ie s of the human hear t . They areascr ibed to women who had l e ft the world, i ts cares ,j oy s and restrictions , to become B uddhist nuns . Whatwas the motive that inspired them As we have sa id ,a desi re for Rel e ase predominate s , but the bondage i snot alway s the same . S ome of the poe tess e s sound astrangely modern note — somewha t akin to the

‘

sp i r it o f

the present-day feminis t— ln the ir exul ta tion over theOppor tuni ty for sel f- exp re ssion , the breaking loosefrom the cramping bonds Of an irksome domest icrout ine , the j oy o fdeveloping the ir se para te per sonal ity .

In this they differ great l y from later p oe te sse s , withthe ir longing to lose per sonali ty al toge ther . Perhaps.we may say tha t the impre ss ion l e f t by reading thesePsalms is of a craving for comple te mental poise ,and Of re sentment agains t l i fe

’

s uncer tain t ie s andsor rows , because they h ave power to overthrow the ircalm . Like Wordswor th they

feel the weight of chance desires ,A nd long for a repose that ever is the same .

When they win that repose , they exult . I tsin tel l ectual character s tr ikes .a Westerner . The calmthat come s from a unify ing of the inward nature , neve rto be broken or l os t by fr e sh r ebir ths— th i s seemsthe ir goal . Re lease from cramping cir cumstances ,from overmuch sor row , from the impermanence O fthings

,such are the motive s tha t drove out these O ld

nuns but of release f r om sin as we understand it thereis l i t tl e hin t .

“C0 0 1 i s the adj ect ive most often applied

to the state they have attai ned , i n which the fi reso f desire are quenched , a s tate according wel l wi th thefresh breeze of the mountain tops to which they lovedt o cl imb .


3 . There are a few women who have found eachfor her sel f a n iche in the statel y temple of Cl assicalS an skr i t l i terature . Historically , the ch ie f in terestattach i ng to the select ions given is that one of theauthores se s

, Gangadev i , was connected wi th the ancien tkingdom of V i j ayanagar , being the wi fe of Pr inceKampana , son of one of the founders of the Empire .

4. Throughout the mediaeval per iod nearly all thebe st re l igiou s poe try of India belongs to‘ what is cal ledthe b bakti school. The word means affection

,

”but

in connection with rel igion i t i s probably best translatedby the word devotion .

”I t denotes al l the rich feel ing

wh ich wor sh ippers shower on the god they adore . I tcovers faith to some ex ten t, but coincide s more cl ose l yw i th love , p assionate adoration and serv ice . I t i s almos talway s connected with a personal V iew of God. In our

anthology S anskr it , Marathi , Kashmi ri , Guj arat i , Hindi ,T amil and Malayalam sel ect ion s il l ustra te thi s re l igiousa ttitude , so that almost ever y part of India i s r ep r e

sented . The emotional and the ph ilosoph ical ut terance sO f b izakti seem sometime s str angel y at var iance . The

passion expe nded on special Shr ines and image s , thel ingering love wi th which they are descr ibed

,contrast

s trongly wi th the concepti on of the One Grea t Void.

”1

I t is easy , however , to dis tinguish in a‘

broad sensebetween the quie t and meditative b izaIeti which marksmos t of the l it era ture , and the very passionate andv ar ied fee l ing which gather s r ound Kr ishna

’

s l i fe a tGokul and Brindaban .

V itthal or V ithoba'

; the god of Pandharpur , theobject of the prai ses and prayer s Of Mak ta Bai , J anaBéi

,and other women devotee s who wro te i n Marathi ,

i s reall y Krishna ; ye t their b izakti i s in the main o fthe qu ie t

“

and medi tative type , very diff erent fromthe rapture s and complaints o f the nor ther n school

,

re presented by M i raBdi and othe rs.One poe te s s whom we may convenientl y cons ider

al ong wi th this group is Lal Ded , of Kashmi r . She was

1 Selection XI .


a Saivi te Yogini , but may have been influenced by hercontemporary , Sayy id Al i Hamadani , who did much towin Kashmi r to I sl am. Her ver ses have no t race O fpassionate devotion to any Special Shr ine or idol , nothingof the passion of M ira or Jand. o r Andal , ye t they dospeak of a fr iend able to hel p and of a search afterunion wi th God , such as we find in singer s of the b izaktischool .On it s philosophical s ide blmleti i s concerned with

release , as due to the real isat io n of the onene ss of theuniver sal spir it , the recogn ition that worsh ipped andwor sh ippe r are one . S ome times the real i sat ion of th i sun ity seems more pure l y intell e ctual , some times moresp ir itual . The del iverance sought i s f rom bir th andr e -bir th a nd bondage to action and its fru i t s— not del ivera nce f rom sin as the Christian unders tands i t . I t i s on

the emotional side that i t i s at once most akin to , andmos t diver se from , the Chri s t ian fai th . Akin in itspas sionate search for a God who can hear , for a Fr iendwho w il l hel p , for a Giver o f peace and forgive nessakin , too , in i ts vary ing moods , i t s he ights O f consciouscommunion , i t s per iods O f bewildermen t and darkne ss ,i ts r eal i sation of the narrowness of the road that leadsto the goal . But far apar t in i ts sensuous devotionlavished on a symbol . A Chris tian reader is forcibl ys truck w i th the r esemblance be tween th e pas siona teoutpourings of the se Old Indian seeker s and those of

the wr i te rs o f the Old Te stament . Again and again aver se fr om the Psalm s might be a fre e par aphrase ofsome l ines from a Marathi hymn .

5 . In the poe try of Zeb-nu-Nissa we may find a l inkbe tween the ar t ificial love songs of the Cour t and there l igious outpour ings of the b/za/eti singer s . She is saidto have been a Sufi and a deepl y rel igious woman , whoseexper ience found express ion in a devot ion not diss imil arto tha t O f M ira Bdi . Whoever was the au thor of theD iwan - i-Makhfi (Mr . S irkar den ie s the possibil i ty Of i t shaving been Zeb) , thi s collect ion Of songs , as e v idencedby M r s . Westbrook

’

s tr anslation , contain s much of thepassionate devoti on to the divine beloved that we find ,

2 0 POEMS BY IND IAN WOM EN

influenced some of the s ects of the nor th,such as that

of Kabir and of the Charan Dasi s . I t is noteworthytha t the b izakti expre ssed i n the ir poe try turns not onl ytowards the div ine , but finds a secondary centre in the irguru .

7. The eighte en th cen tury was on the wholecomparatively barren of poe try of the h ighe st order ;and we pass from it to consider what may be consideredthe Modern Period . We may perhaps define th is per iodas that during which India has bee n awake to the impactof the We st , both for good and evi l , and may date i troughly as commencing about 1 800, al though , of cour se ,the West had touched Indian l i fe in many way s farearl ier than th is . But i t was not unti l England ceasedto regard India mainly a s a happy hunting ground forfo r tune seekers , and, with dreams of empire , sawvisions of higher respons ibil i ty to those under herrul e , and Chri stian missionar ies won ful l freedom tobring the ir me ssage to the l and , that the true Contr ibu

tion of Europe to India’

s development began .

General i sation s are alway s dangerous , requiringmodification

,and i n a country so vast , so varied , as India ,

i t i s pe cul iarly diffi cul t to make any statement as to thedistinctive l i terar y fea tures of any given er a ; butperhaps it may be fair t o draw attention to the fol low ingas the main character is t ics of the Modern Per iod

(a) The immense impetus given to the use of

prose— in s ome vernaculars the creation of what Mr .De 1 call s a prose -of-all-work ,

”sui tabl e for educational ,

scientific and journalist ic pur pose s .

(6) The extens io n of the range of subj ect s cons idered sui tabl e for poetical treatment.

(e) The l oving and accurate des cript ion of nature .

(d) A note of romanticism— l ove poe try , which isne i ther rel igious symbol ism

,nor wr itten in p raise of

cour tesans nor i n prai se o f marr ied l ove .

(e) The insi s tence on the service of humanity as anaccompaniment of re l igious devo tion .

H istor y of Bengali Liter atur e in the N ineteenth Centur y , byS . K . De , M .A . , D .Litt.


How far are these trait s due to the impact o f theWest ?

_M r . De , in his intere s t ing book , points out what

an amount of hard spade-work requ ired to be donebefore the flower of modern Bengal i l iter ature couldhope to blossom . I t i s to th i s ' spade-work that thecivilian and. missionary scholar s of the earl i e r par t ofthe per iod con tributed so r ichl y . Very l i ttl e , i f any , O fthe ir wr itings in the vernacular will r ank as l i terature ,but they gave an impetus to the scie ntific study of thevernacular s , to the rediscovery of the ir ancient li terature ,and to the use of the vernaculars as a liter ary veh icl e ,tha t was of immense serv ice to tho se who were de st inedto use i t in verse or prose l ater on. The study of Engl ishand of Engl ish l i terature hel ped in this deve l opment ofprose wr it ing and in the cul t ivat ion o f a s impl er s ty l e .

Westerner s are“

struck with the limi tations in the subj ectsof the older Indian poetr y . R e l igion , in some form o r

other , i s overwhelmingly i t s pre-occupation ; but in theMode rnP er iod we fi nd a much Wider range of subjectsdeal t wi th

,and mor e of the Western feel ing O f in tere s t

in human be ings as such .

As regards the th ird character istic noted above , wefind that re ference s to nature in the older poe try usual lytake the form of cer tain s tock me taphor s ; The r e arecer tain birds and flowers wi th my tho l ogical quali t iesascr ibed to them that mee t u s again and again . Doforeigner s fee l the E ngl i sh r ose to be as heavilyoverworked as the Indian lotus ? When we turn fromth is to the poe try o f Rab indr anath Tagore and thoseinfluenced by him, we feel as i f we had passed from anexhibi tio n of ar t ificial flower s in to the pure breath of

the garden and the woods . Here , clearl y , Westerni nfluence has proved creative .

Finall y , there i s a new insistence on the service o fhumanity . At many time s in the hi s tory of Indiarel igious re former s have ar i sen , and of the se the nineteenth century also ha s had i ts share . But Wha tdifferen tiate s these la tter from the ir predecessor s i s theplace tha t social re form and serv ice have in the ir p r ogramme . Here it i s that the influence , not of the West ,


indeed , but o f tha t which has come to India th rough theWes t , Chr istianity , is most marked . The b izakti movement , while wel coming the outcaste to tread the path Of

b izakti to final deliverance , was l i ttl e concerned with hissocial condi tion in thi s world of maya, bu t tho se whoowe eve n a por tion Of the ir inspirat ion to the spir i t o fChri s t

,find that att itude impossibl e ; and in the poe tr y

insp ir ed by the se movement s the spir i t of s ervice i sl atent in the spir it of devot ion .

I . BUDDH IST POETESSES

In the General Intr oduction we have re fe rred to themotives which l ed the au thor s of the se poems to abandonthe ir ordinary l i fe and seek rel ease . Here we shallmerel y add a few note s on some of the reputedauthores ses of the se le ct ions given . The in formationis taken from the translation O f the Chronicle fromthe Commentary by Dhammapala, as tha t i s given inMrs. Rhy s Davids

’

volume . The commentary was notwr i t te n t il l the fi fth century A .D . (be ing founded on

three olde r commentar ie s ) , while the Buddha , whosecontemporar ies mos t of the poe tesse s claim to be ,flour i shed about 5 2 0-480 B C. The l anguage in whichthey wrote i s Pal i , a l i terary dial ect , founded on thev ernacular of the t ime . The

”Psalms

”themselves

were not commit ted to wr iting ti l l about 80 B C . Bear ingthese facts in mind , and al so the fact that var iousBuddhis t scr ip ture s do not always agree in the poemsassigned to var ious author s , M r s . Rhys Davids wr i te s ,I t i s only for a very l imited section of the Psalms thatwe can , with any fract ion of confidence , associate a givengatha with a putative poe tes s for whom somethingapproaching h is tor ical per sonal ity can be Cl a imed .

It i s ve ry pos sibl e— nay , probable — that in al l bu t.

thepoems of a S ingl e Sl oka , and in some of two or threeSlokas , l a ter work of compila tion may have bee nwrough t on br ie f rune s handed down from the beginn ing as the utterance o f contemporar ie s of the founder ofBuddhism . Under social condit ions such as pre


vailed where and when Buddhism took its r ise , that i sto say , where there was considerable in te l l ectua lact ivity but where wr it ing was not used to r egis ter it sproduct s , there would be a tendency to conver t w ithl i ttl e del ay all ut terance s deemed wor th memorial i s ingi nto metr ica l form . S ome of these metr i cal memor ialutter ance s appear as the common pr oper ty of sever a lS is ters ( se e below ) . Once composed , i t i s qui te con

ce ivab le that cer tain S ister s may have made f requentuse of them in teach ing and preaching .

”1

I n the commentar y attached to each poem a r etr osp ective biography of the authore ss i s given , contain ingmuch informat ion about her previous bir ths and exis tences , along with the

‘

special inciden t wh ich led to hera ttaining A r ahantship . The poem is u sual l y the versein which she exul ted on th i s attainment .Mut ta, heaping up good under former Buddhas ,

was , i n this Buddha-dispensation , born in the land of

Kosala as the daughter of a poor Brahman , namedOgh

’

ataka. Come to proper age , she was given to ahunch-backed Brahman , but she told him she could not

continue in the l i fe of the house , and induced h im toconsent t o her leaving the world . She s troveaf ter in sight til l she won A r ahantship ; then exul t i ng ,She repeated the l ine s as cr ibed to her .

2

Mettika. Heaping up meri t under former Buddhas ,she was born dur ing the t ime of S iddhar tha , the Exal ted One , in a burgess

’

s fam il y , and wor sh ipped at hisshr ine by Offer ing there a j ewel l ed girdl e . Af ter manybir th s in heaven and on ear th , through the mer i tthereof she became , in th is Buddha-dispensa tion , thech ild of an eminent Brahman at Rdjagaha.

” 3

Patachar a. Her story , as given by the commentator ,i s too l ong to repea t in full . A succe ss ion ofmis for tune sdepr i ved her in one day of husband , children , parentsand brother , and le ft he r crazy w i th gr ie f . A S shewandered , hal f naked and mad, she came to where theBuddha was teach ing. The congregation sa id , Suffer

1 Psalms of the S ister s ,Introduction .

2 VII I . 3 X .


not that l i ttl e lunat ic to come hither . The Exal tedOne said, Forbid her not ,

”and, standing near as she

came round again , he said to her , S is ter , re cover thoupre se nce of mind . S he recovered her s ense s and toldh im her sorrows . His l ine of comfor t was ,

Less ar e the waters of the oceans four,Than all the waste of waters shed in tearsBy heart of man who mourneth touched by ill.Why waste thy l i fe brooding in bitter woe ?

And fur ther he said , O Patachar a, to one passing t oanothe r world no Child or other kin i s abl e to be a shel tero r a hiding-place or re fuge . No t here , even , can theybe such . There for e l e t whoso is w i se pur ify h is own

Conduct and accompl ish the Path l eading even toNib b dna.

”She eventuall y won A r ahantship , and was

abl e to comfor t o ther women who had al so lost children .

1

II . SA NSKRIT POETESSES

We have al re ady deal t (p . 1 4) with Ghosha, whowrote in Vedic S anskr i t . O f the four ladie s whosework in Class ical S anskr it i s repre sented in our coll eet ion , Si la and V ikatanitamba are qui te unknown ; butGangadev i was a p rince ss of V i j ayanagar in thefour teenth century ( p . whil e Pr iyamb ada l ived i nthe dis tr ict o f Far idpur , in Eas t Bengal , seemingl y soona fter A .D . 1 600 . She was the daughter of one scholarand the wi fe of another , and was , l ike Ghosha, trainedby her father , so tha t she helped both fathe r andhusband in the ir l i ter ary work .

III . TA M IL POETESSES

A vvai , or A vvaiar , i s one Of the mos t popular , i f no tthe most popular , of al l the p oe ts and poetesse s of S outhIndia . S o great i s the re spect and love fe l t for her tha tin some par ts of Sou th India she i s wor shipped on Tue sdays . Her poems are so freque ntly quoted tha t theyhave become household words .

VI I .


Tradi tion say s that she was the child of Bhagavan

( god ) and Adi ( the fi r s t ) , two wander ing pil gr ims , wholeft their ch ildre n whe rever they were born . ThusA vvai was le ft i n an inn at War iyur , an ancien t capi talnear Tr ichinopol y . She was br ough t up by the peopleo f the ne ighbourhood, and, though they do not appearto have given her any educat ion , she developed poe ticgi f ts and began to sing .

She i s said to have l ived t o a great age and t o haveled a wander ing l i fe , begging her food . The . peoplecall ed her fondl y , and other poets i n j e s t , A singer whosings for a cup of porr idge . I t was her special pr iv ile ge to come in contact with people of all grades , and tohel p them in the ir time of need .

Andal was the daughter of a pr ie st in a notedVaishnava temple in South India . As her earl y associat ions were with the templ e and its r i tual , she developeda

'

reveren t love for the god Kr ishna , who was wor shipped there . This devot ion devel oped into an ador i ngpassion for the god , so tha t when she reached marr iageable age she re fused to marry any one but him .

S ubseque ntly , according to the l ege nd , with the approvalof the god she was marr ied to h im i n the temple o fSr ivilliputhur .

Andal i s sa id to be the author of two books , Ti r upavai and Ti r uvaimala i , which are i ncluded along w ith thework s of otherVaishnava saints in Nalayi r a P r aband/zam.

This_collection probabl y date s from about A .D . 1 000 ,

and Andal is sa id to hav e been the ninth of the twelveAlvar s , who were Vaishnav ite sa int s and singers , andflour ished betwee n the seven th and ten th centur ie s A .D .

IV . KA NA RESE POETESSES

Mr . R i ce , i n hi s Kanar ese L i ter atu r e, div ide s thi sl i tera ture into four per iods : ( 1 ) Jaina, ( 2 ) L ingay at , ( 3 )Vaishnava, and (4) Modern . The fir s t Kanare se p oe te ss ,Kanti , belongs to the J aina p er iod (b or n and seemsto have been a quick-witted and highly -tale nted lady

,but

unfortunately we have no specimen O f her poe try toinclude he re .


Mahadev iakka was born a t Udatadi in 1 1 60 . KingKansiku wanted to marry her , but she chose ra ther tolive as a nun among Lingéyat sannyési s. (The L ingayatsar e a sect of s tr ict Siva worshippers , who give greatreverence to the guru , and worship and medi tate on alinga , which they ca rr y on the ir per son. They camei nto prominence in th e twel fth century . )Sr ungar amma and Honnamma were both poe tesse s

at the cour t of Chikka Deva Raya O f Mysore ( 1 672Thi s king was himsel f an author , and a great patronO f l i terature . He col lected a valuable l ibrary of histor ical works . which , unfor tunately , was subsequentlyde s tr oyed by Tipu . Sr ungar amma was a Sr i Vaishnavite poe te ss , and wr ote Padman ikalyana , a descriptio nof the marr iage o f Sri nivasa and Padmani . I t is wri ttenin sangatya , a form of compos it ion mean t to be in tonedto the accompaniment of a musical i nstr umen t .Honnamma is the most famous of Kanarese poe tess

e s . Her n ick-name was Sanchiya Honni (Honni Ofthe betel bag ) . Her teacher was Singar éya, brother Of

the min ister ofChikka Deva Raya . He told the king tha tshe was most gif ted in ver se of al l sor ts. Tell her towr ite me a poem , said the k ing to the queen . InObedience to the r oyal command , Honnamma wro teHadioaa

’

eya D /zar ma, a poem on ideal w ifehood.

V . MA LA YA LA M POETESSES

The onl y sel ect ion from the wr i t i ngs o f poete sse s inthis l anguage i s fr om a poem by Kuttikkuii iiu Tankacchi

( 1 82 0 the e ldes t daughter o f Rav i Varmman

Tampi,the famous poet l aureate O f T ravancore , f rom

whom she r ece ived her education . The extract givenbelow is from one of her earl y poems , the S t/zalapur anam of the royal temple at Tr ivandrum. The poem i sbased on the sect ion of the Sanskri t B r a/imandaPu r anam,

which deals with the same legend. The authore ss wrotemore than a dozen other works of co nsider abl e l engthin almos t al l the var ie tie s of Malayal am metr icalcomposi tion .

2 8 POEM S BY IND IAN WOMEN

moods of re l igious el ation and depre ss ion with muchbeauty and also much frankness . Her ab/zangs ( i .e.

hymns ) are very popular , e special ly among‘

women,

and are much sung by the devotees o f V ithoba. Namde v

’

s exact da te i s a matte r of much dis pute , someschol ar s making h im a late contemporary of JfianeSvar ,o thers consider ing that he flour i shed abou t 1 400- 1 450 .

We cannot , there fore , say wi th certainty when J anaBaiwrote , excep t that she was l a ter than MuktaBai .

BahinaBai was a follower o f Tukar am , and belongsto the seventeenth cen tury . The se l ection given i s herde scr ip t ion in her autobiography O f her devo tion to al i t tl e cal f. She was at tha t t ime a child of about el even ,marr ied to a man more than three t ime s her age , whoseems to have treated her very badl y . She had led awander ing l i fe with h im and her paren ts , who wereBrahmans , some financial trouble having br oken upthe ir home . Her hu sband was angry at her love forher cal f , and beat her on i ts accoun t . The death of the

cal f brought home to her the conviction O f the trans itor iness of al l mor tal th i ngs , and she turned fo r

consol at ion to the teach ing of Tukar am, who appearedto her in a

- dream . A severe il lness brough t herhusband to a better s ta te of mi nd ; and both husbandand wife we nt to Dehu , where the poet Tukar am l ived ,and became hi s fol lower s .One other po etes s of the b lza/eti school deserves

men tion , namel y Chokha Mela’

s w i fe . Chokha Melawas a Mahar , one of the outcaste s , but a devout worshipper O i Vithoba and a poet . His wife , too , composedsome verse s

, of which we quote one specimen , in orderthat the outcas te s of India may be repre sented in thisanthology . We print al so a poem by Rami , thedaughter O f a Bengal i washerman . Chokha i s said tohave died about 1 3 3 8 ; so h is wi fe probably come sbetwee n MuktaBai and J anaBai in poin t of t ime .

Our final se lection is from a poem by Mrs . Lak shmi

Bai Tilak , widow of the late Naray an vaman T ilak , so

wel l known as a poet throughout Maharashtr a . I t i sintere st ing as il lu strat i ng one of the great Indian


vir tue s,the devot ion of a wi fe to her husband ; but ,

perhaps , because i t i s the work of a Chr istia n wr iter,i t

pre suppose s a s imil ar devotion on the par t O f thehusband , and emphasize s the incompletene ss of e i therman or woman apar t from the other .

VIII . H INDI POETESSES

Of the six Hindi poe tesses , example s of whosepoems are given below, M i ra Bai is by far the bes tknown . She i s famed for her compos it ions

,both in

Hi ndi ( the Braj dial ect of Western Hindi ) and inGuj arati ( see introduction to Gujarati poete s ses ) ; andher songs are st ill widely sung by the women of

Gujarat . There has been some confus ion as to the

facts of her l i fe , but the following , taken from Mr .Keay

’

s H indi L i ter atu r e, i s based on the late s tre searche s. She was a pr ince ss of Raj putana

,who was

marr ied to Bhojr aj, heir apparent of Kumbha Mahar anaof Mewar . Her husband died be fore he came to thethrone , and Kumbha was put to death by ano ther son,

Udekar an, who se ized the throne in 1 469 . M i ra Bai

was a devotee of Kr ishna from childhood, and she hadalready offended her husband

’

s family by re fus ing toconform to the ir particul ar form of worsh ip and by herlavi sh expendi ture on the enter ta inment of sadhus .S o , when Udekar an succeeded to the throne , he per secuted her so much that she fled from Chit or and becamea disciple of Raidas , a Chamar discip le o f Ramananda .

This probably took place about 1 470.

M ira belonged to the Mia/eti school o f poe ts ; but ,unl ike the Marathi poe tesses of the same school

,her

de votion was called f or th by the Radha-Kr i shna s tory ,and she helped by her songs to popular i s e this form ofKr ishna wor sh ip . To M iraBai is due the introduct ionof the fur ther idea of mutual l ove be tween Krishna andhis worsh ipper . I t i s no tewor thy that at t imes M i raBai addre sses her god as Rama . Pos sibly th is may bedue to the fact tha t her guru was Ra i Das, a foll ower ofRamananda , who was a worshipper of Rama.


Our nex t poete ss , Ranamati , has a romant ic s tory .

She was aH indu l ady .of the age ofAkbar , andwas the wifeo f Baz Bahadur , the l a st independen t Muhammadan rulerof Malwa .

1 She spent seve n happy years with her lord ,who was pass ionately fond of mus ic, while she composed del ightful songs . In 1 560 Akbar sen t a force ,under Adam Khan , to occupy Malwa . Baz BahadUI

collected t roops to Oppose him , but they de ser ted thei rl eader , who , finding himself thus betrayed , fled. Theaccoun t s of Rfip amati

’

s death vary . One is that sheconsented to rece ive Adam Khan , and at the hourappointed she was found dre ssed in her bes t, l y ing deadupon her bed , having taken poison to avo id dishonour .Another is tha t Baz Bahadur gave orders that thewomen of his h arem should be slain in the even t of hisde feat . The soldier s s tabbed Rfipamati with the re st ,as directed , but though wounded she was still al ivewhen Adam Khan came . She al lowed her wounds tobe dressed , thinking she was to be sent to Baz Bahadur ,but when she found that Adam Khan meant to keep her ,she took poi son . Ye t ano ther account-s ays she s tabbedhersel f . Baz Bahadur fled to the mountains, but a fte ra Whil e wen t to Delhi t o Akbar , and was graciouslyrece ived and g iven mil itary command . There is no

known col le ct ion o f Rfipamati’

s songs , though they arevery popular in Malwa. The select ion given i s fromCunningham

’

s A r chaelogical Repor t ( 1 864 Vol . I I .

The next H indi poe tess f rom whom a select ion i sgiven is Shekh Rangr ez in, who

"

flour i shed about 1 70 3 .

Her poe try , such of i t as ha s survived , i s of a verydi fferen t type from M i ra Bai

’

s , being in the form of

detached ver se s , chiefly l ove poems. She wrote in theBraj dial ect o f Wester n H indi . Her story i s a roman ticone . She was a Muhammadan , and a dyer by trade , butnothing_is known of her parentage . A Brahman poet ,named A lam , sent h is turban to her to be dyed , and , bymistake , l e f t in the folds a sl ip of paper on which he

had wri tten hal f a verse of poe try as follows :“Why

SeeFr ont isp iece .


has the waist of a woman , l ike a golden st ick , becomethin ? When he rece ived the turban back he foundthe paper wi th the verse comple ted th is wayHaving taken away the gold of the wa is t , the Creator

has , .put i t on the bosom .

”Be ing surpr i sed , he went to

the dyer to ask he r who had Comple ted it . On findingthat she had done i t , he gave he r one anna for dy ingthe turban and a thousand mudr as for the hal f ver se .

An acquaintance sprang up , with the re sult tha t Alambecame a Muhammadan and marr ied Shekh.

Sahajo Bai and Daya Bai bel ong to the se ct o f

Charan Dasi s , and are said to have been sis ter s . TheDayaBod/z of DayaBai was composed in 1 75 1 . CharanDas was a Baniya by caste , and founded at De lhi , abou t1 73 0 , _

a se ct which s ti l l exis t s . His teaching laidemphas is on the grea t impor tance of the gur u and of

the Word— al so on medi ta tion on the Name (o f Har i orRama) as the means o f sal va tion . He discouragedidolatry and was s trongl y e th ical i n hi s teach ing, whilehe l aid great stre s s on the use of the vernacular forre l i gious wr it ing and preach ing. The poems givenil lus trate several of these special tene ts of the se ct .There have been a considerable number of more

modern poete s se s in Hindi , some“

of whom are s t il ll iving. One of these is Sr i Sarasvati Devi , thedaughter of a poe t i n the di s tr ict o f Azamgarh .

IX . GUJA RATI POETESSES

F ir s t and foremost among these i s M i raBai , bu t wehave al ready deal t with her l i fe in the in troduction tothe Hindi selections .Af ter the per iod in wh ich M i ra Bai flour ished— the

fi ftee nth century— there seem to have been no Guj aratipoe te sses u ntil the l atter par t of the e igh teenth centuryand the firs t hal f of the n ine teenth , when D ival iBai and Gavri Bai flour ished , a s wel l as two o r thr eeothers .Dival i Bai was the daugh ter of a Brahman l iv ing i n

Dabhoi. Befor e the gr eat famine of 1 79 1 she had


become a widow and re turned to her father’

s house .

Her father, not be ing able to provide for her , le f t herin charge o f a sadhu

,whom she calls Dada Guru

Bhagwan. This sadhu , be ing a devotee of Rama,

taught her the whol e of the Ramayana . Hence p r actical ly al l her poetry— about 500 shor t poems— has fori t s theme incide nts in the l i fe o f Rama . As herepresents the ideal Of pur i ty and of simpl icity of l i fe ,her poems are much purer and are couched in simplerl anguage than the poems Of those who had Kr i shna forthe ir ideal .Gavr i Bai stands ou t prominently as the only

Vedantic poe te ss O f Gujarat . She was a NagarBrahman l ady of Dungarpur , where she was born in1 759 . She l ived there for a good many years , a ttractingby he r asce ticism the pr i ncess of Dungarpur and Jaipurbut she eventuall y le f t Dungarpur and took up herre s idence in Benare s , where she ended her day s . Shewas marr ied when onl y five or six years O ld , and wasw idowed w i thin a few months ot her marr iage . Ins tead

,

howe v er , of being in any way crushed by widowhood , shemade i t a s tepping-s tone to wha t she deemed an ideall i fe . She e v entually at tained to the practice o f samad/z i ,that is

,a trance resul t i ng from the restra i nt O f the

acti v e powers of the mind . She composed about 650

padas , i n a lmos t al l o f which she teache s that thesupreme Brahman pervade s the unive rse .

X . BENGA LI POETESSES

Rami , so far as our pre se nt knowledge goes , i s theear l ies t of al l Bengal i poe te sses . She l ived in the fi r sthal f of the fi ftee nth century . S ee the note to her poem

,

number LXV I I I .Madhab i (S anskr it Madhav i ) was an Or iya and l ived

in Puri . She rece ived a good educa t ion and was forsome time in charge of the account s of the templ e ofJ agannath . When Chaitany a, the Bengal i Kri shnai tel eader

,went to Puri i n 1 509 , Madhab i became one of h is

di scipl e s. Chaitanya Was a sannyasi , a nd would not


look at a woman bu t , on account of Madhab i’

s l earningand deep devot ion , he seems to have relaxed the rul e insome degree i n her ca se . S ince she was thus , in asen se

,accep ted a s a man , she some t imes S igned her se l f

Madhab i Das (masc . ) instead of Madhab i DasiA nandamayi was born a t V ikrampur , East Bengal ,

in 1 752 , and was marr ied at the age of nine to a schol arnamed Aj odhya Ram . She is s a id to have becomemore l earned than her husband . Her poems , which ar es tr ik ing in sty le and ornate , bu t occas ionall y ratherpedantic

,are found scat te red th rough Har i li la, a famous

work by her uncle , Jaynarayan.

Mankumar i was born at sagardar i , in the dis tr ict ofJessore . She was a niece of the famous Chr is tianBengal i poe t , Michael Madhusfidana Datta , and mustthere fore have been born in the middle of the n ine teenthcentury . She los t her husband , and thereaf ter , probablyas a resul t .of gr ie f, her poe t ic genius unfolded i tself .Her most notable works ar e Kavyakusuman

'

iali andK anakaniali .

Pankajini Basu was born near Dacca in 1 884. Shehad no Engl ish education . She died in 1 900, and herpoems were publi shed shor tly af terwards .

Pr iyamb adaDebi was born in Bengal in 1 872 , and isa graduate . Her husband , M r . Taradas Banerj i , died in1 895 , and the ir onl y child in the following year . S incethen she has l ived in Calcutta and devoted her se l f tosocial service , par t icular ly to educational work amongl adie s l iving in the re tirement of the zenana .

Nir upamaDebi i s the daughter O f a bar r i s te r , and isrel ated on her father

’

s s ide to Keshub Chundr a S en .

She marr ied Pr ince V ictor o f Cooch Behar . Herpoems , publ i shed in the book called D izzi p ( Incense )deal with nature , l ove , religion and other subj ects. Sheis a Brahmo .

Mrs . Kamini Roy was born in 1 864, in the Backer ganjdis trict . She graduated in 1 884 fr om the BethuneCol lege , where she became a teacher . When she wastwenty -fiy e she publ ished ano nymousl y a volume of

poems , A 1 0 0 C/zaya (Li gh t and Shade ) , which i s exceed


ingly popul ar . After the death of h er husband, Mr .Kedarna th Roy , she se ttled i n Calcutta and publ ishedseveral o ther volumes .

Dhar endr abala S ingh. In the pre face to her book ,A sr uéana , i t i s s tated that she wrote these poems af terthe death of her husband in 1 91 4, and that they wereedited by her brother- in- l aw afte r her death .

Mrs . Sar ojabala (Das Gupta ) Sen is the daugh terof Dr . B rajendr anath S eal . B asanta P r ayana (ThePassing of S pring ) was wr itte n under the cloud of gr ie fcaused by the loss o f her husband.

Hemantabala Dutt , s ister of J ib endr a Nath Dutt , apoe t res ident in Chi t tagong , publ ished in 1 91 0 a groupof poems ent itl edSisi r , and i n 1 91 6 a volume of re l igiouspoems cal l ed Madhab i .

XI . PERSIA N POETESSES

O f the five poe tes se s from whose poems se lectionsare given below four are royal ladie s . The Moslemkings , both of the earl ier and l ate r dynast ie s , wereusual ly notable patrons of l i te ra ture ; and, as Pers ianwas the Court l anguage , the many maj or and minorp oets who fr equented

‘

the Cour t natural l y wrote in i t .Ver si fy ing was an e l egant accomplishment , and mucho f the wr it ing must have bee n of an ephemeral andvery ar tificial character . But in some instances i t wasthe expres sion of deep emotion (ei ther ear thly l ove o r

mystic spir itual year nings ) , and was wor thy to beranked as true poe t ry . Sul tan Raz iyya Begum was aremarkable woman . She was the daughter of Shamsud-din A ltamsh, one of the S l ave k ings . Whenabsent fr om the capi tal on mil i tary expedi tions , herfather pre ferred t o leave the government in her hands ,r a ther than in _ those of her brothers , having greatconfidence i n her s trength of mind and judgement.She succeeded her bro ther , Rukmiddin— a dissolu teprince who onl y reigned seven months— in 1 2 3 6, and

showed her sel f a v igorous rul er . She appeareddail y i nthe durbar , dre s sed l ike a man , and car ried on thegover nment her se l f . But she had -

one weakne ss , a


in 1 62 7, her influence depar ted , and she was kept underrestr aint by her brother until her death in 1 646.

Zeb-nu-Nisa Begum was a daughter of the EmperorA ur angz ib and was born at Daulatabad in 1 63 8 . Hermother was a Persian . She was a very talentedpoe tess and a great patron of poe t s and schol ars ,carry ing on thus the tradition of mo st of the Mogulemperors , though not of her father , who regardedpoe t s as flatte r e r s . Her pen name was Zeb . S omehave ascr ibed to her the collectio n of poems called theD i van- i -Makafi , but th is is most probably i ncorrect .S o al so in re gard to many of the love adventure sattr ibuted to her . She seems to have been a deeplyre l igious woman , but a Sufi , o r mystic, unl ike he rsternl y or thodox f ather . Fo r some year s she wasimpri soned by him i n Delh i— possibl y because Ofcompl ici ty in he r brother Prince A kb ar

’

s rebel l ionand was depr ived O f her revenue in 1 68 1 . She remained in res traint and Obscur ity unti l her death in 1 702 .

Zinat-nu-Nisa was another daughter o f A ur angz ib .

She buil t the Z inat -ul-Masj id in Delhi , in which hertomb is . Her epitaph , writ te n by hersel f , i s givenbelow .

A differ en t type of poetes ses were wome n belonging to the cour tesan and dancing girl clas ses . Most o fthe ir ver ses are immoral , but Shir in , who was a Lucknow dancing girl , forms an honourable excep t ion . Shewrote in both Urdu and Per s ian . The se l e ction givenis from her Per s ian ver se s .

XII . URDU POETESSES

Nawwab Bahu Begam , known in poe try as Dulb ah ,

was the queen o f Nawwab Asi f-ud-Dawl a Bahadur , Kingof Oudh from 1 775 t o 1 797, and founder o f the city o f

Lucknow .

Bahu Begam,known in poetry as Bahu , was th e

queen of Nawwab Yusuf Al i Khan , ruler of the Rampur

State fr om 1 855 to 1 865 . He helped the Br itish duringthe Mut iny . His great- grandson is the pre sent ruler o fthe s tate .


XIII . POETESSES WHO WRITE IN ENGLISH

We have included a few specimens of poe try wr ittenby Indian ladies in Engl i sh . They

‘

ar e from the work sofAru Dut t , Tor n Dut t , E llen Goreh and Sar ojini Naidu .

A m and Toru Dut t were the second and thirdchildren of a family of three , al l de st ined to die young .

Their parent s were high caste Bengal is , convert s to

Chr ist iani ty . Their brother died i n 1 865 , and the irfather brought hi s two gir l s to Europe in 1 869 , firs t toFr ance and then to I taly and England . I n November ,1 873 , they re turned to Bengal , and the las t four year s ofToru

’

s l i fe were spent in her old home , her father’

sgarden house i n Calcut ta . During this t ime she wroteher transl a tions from the French , her or iginal poems ,and a Fre nch romance , and studied S anskr i t . Hersi s ter died in 1 874, and she her sel f succumbed toconsumption in 1 877, a t the age o f twenty -one . Herknowledge of French and Engl ish was as tonishing .

Miss E l l en Goreh is a Deaconess of S t . Fai th’

s ,All ahabad . She was bor n in India , but educated i nEngl and

,and her re l igious poems have nothing dis

tinctively Indian abou t them . M i s s Goreh had somecorrespondence with Frances R idley Haver

’

gal, and herpoems , in their s tyle , express ion and range of subj ects ,somewha t sugge st the w r i t ings Of that lady . Theybreathe a fervent Chr is tian de votion , but the r eader hasno reas on to suspect them of an Indian or igin .

M r s. Sar ojini Naidu , while writing in Engl ish , seek s tofi l l her ver se w ith the atmosphere of India . One feel s ,in reading it , what a for tunate thing it was that Mr . Gossedirected her youth ful ambit ion

,kindly but very fi rmly ,

towards expre ssin g the l i fe of India and not that of

Engl and. L ike Toru Dut t, sh e was a pre cocious genius .Mr . Gosse wr i tes of her

,that when she came to London

fir st , at the age of s ixteen , She was al ready marvel l ousi n he r mental ma tur i ty

,amazingly wel l re ad , and far

beyond a Western ch ild in al l her acquaintance with theworld . But , unl ike Toru Dutt , she was des t ined to

s ing and work for the land she love s,and to taste the

joy s and care s of marr ied l i fe and motherhood.

VEDIC INDIA

I. A PRA YER TO THE A SVIN S‘

GHOSHA VED IC SANsxRIT

Your car , the swif tl y-roll ing , cir cumambient ,To be s alu ted day and night by worshippers

,

A SVII‘IS , that car of yours we he re invoke ,Just as the name o f father , eas y to e ntreat.

Arouse the lovel y hymns and make our thoughts toswell ,

S t ir up abundant r iche s , — that is our de s ireMake glor iou s our heri tage

,ye A Sv in pair ;

Yea , make u s for our prince s l ike the S oma dear.

Ye are good luck for her who growe th Old at homeThe sl ow— yea even the slowest one— ye help him on ;

Ye two are cal led phy sician s , healer s Of the bl ind ,Yea of the feeble and the one with broken l imbs .

I call to you , O Asv ins , l i s ten to my cry ,And give your help t o me as pare nt s to a so n ;Friendle s s am I , bere f t o f relat ive , and poor ,S ave me , O save me fr om the curse which re sts on me .

Upon your char iot y e did br ing to V imada,To be h is con sort , Pur umitr a

’

s l ovely maid ;Came to the weak l ing s wi fe in answer to her call ,And to Pur ar

'

ndhi gave the boon o f motherhood .

T/ze A s’

vins , two riders connected with early dawn, ar e the

Vedic p arallel to the Twin Horsemen of the Greeks and Romans .

They ar e light -bringers , healers and helpers .

VED IC IND IA 3 9

Unto the s inger Kal i , who had reached O ld age ,Ye gave anew the boon of fresh and y outhful strength’

Twas you that l i f ted Vandana f rom out the pi t ;Ye gave to Vis

’

pala the power at once to walk .

On Pedu,Asvin s , ye be s towed a snow-white horse ,

Whose s trength from force s nine ty -nine compounded is ,A steed , prai sewor thy , b ear ing r ider at ful l s peed ,Bl is s-y ielding , Bhaga- l ike , to be invoked o f men .

Come on that char iot wh ich is speedier than thought ,That char iot , As

’

vins , which the Ribhus1

buil t for you ;On yoking wh ich the daugh ter of the sky 2 is born.

A nd from Vivasvat the auspicious day and night .

Th is pra ise-song have we made for you, O Asvin s ,Have fashioned i t as Bhr igus

8 build a wagon ;Have deck ed i t as the br ide i s for the br idegroom ,

Pre sen ting i t to you as our own o ffspr ing.

‘

Tr . H . D . Gr iswold.

1 The Ribhus ar e the ar tificer s of heaven .

3 That is Ushas , the dawn .

3 Name of a tribe among the early A ryansThese n ine stanz as ar e taken from Rigveda, X , 3 9 .

EA RLY BUDDHIST DA Y S

PEACE AND FREEDOM

II . THE BUDDHA 'S WA YVASITTHI PALI

VASITTHI had become dis traught w i th gr ief at thedeath of her son. Mee ting the Buddha

,she , through

h is influence , regained her sanit y and was admi tted toth e order . She soon at tained A r ahantship ;

1 and ,reflect ing on her at tainment , She exul ted thus :

Now here , now there , l ightheaded , cra z ed withMourning my Child , I wandered up and down ,Naked , unheeding , s tre aming hair , unkempt ,Lodging i n scour ings o f the streets, and whereThe dead lay s till , and by the char iot- r oadsSo th ree year s long I fared , starv ing , athirs t .

And then at l a st I saw Him , as He wen tWith in that ble ssed ci ty M ithilaGreat Tamer of untamed hear ts , yea , Him ,

The Very Buddha , Banisher Of fear .

Came back my heart to me , my errant mindFor thw i th to H im I went low wor shipping ,And ther e , e

’

en at H is feet , I heard the Norm .

For of His great compassion on us all ,’

Twa s He who taugh t me , even Gotama .

1 A r ahantship , the state of the ar ahant,”the man who in

this li fe has reached ni r vana , in Pal i nibbana , i .e . release from all

bonds .

EARLY BUDDH I ST DAYS 41

I heeded all He said and le f t the wor ldA nd al l i ts cares behind , and gave my sel fTo follow where He taught, and real iseL if e in the Path to great good for tune bound .

Now all my sorr ows are hewn down, ca st out,Uprooted , brought to utte r e nd ,In that I now can grasp and understandThe base on which my miser ie s were buil t .

Tr . C . A . F. Rhys Davids .

III . SEEK LIFE NO MORESUMANA PAL I

Hast thou not seen sorrow and il l i n al lThe Spr ings of l i fe Come thou not back to bir thCas t out the pas sionate desire aga in to Be .

S o shal t thou go thy ways calm and serene .

1

Tr . C. A . F. Rhys Davids .

IV . MY HEA RT IS HEA LEDUBBIRI PALI

She lost her daughter J Iva, which means Al ive .

The Buddha seeing her weeping near the Charne l -field,said to her , Bur nt in th i s cemetery are some ofthy daughters . For which of them dost thou weep ?

”

He is the speaker of the fi r s t hal f o f the psa lm .

O Ub b ir i , who wailest in the wood ,Cry ing , O J iva ! O my daughter dear I

”

Come to thyse l f I LO in thi s bury ing-groundAre burnt full many a thousand daughter s dear ,A nd al l of them were named l ike unto her .Now which of all those J Ivas dost thou mourn

Ponder ing th i s teaching , she reached A r ahantshipand s poke the se cond hal f o f the psalm .

1 This is the Buddha ’s Message to Sumanaput into verse bythe S ister herself .


Lo ! from my hear t the hidde n shaf t is gone !The shaf t that nes tled there hath He removedA nd th at consuming gr ie f for my dead child ,Which poisoned al l the l i fe of me , i s dead .

TO-day my hear t is healed , my yearning s tayed ,A nd al l wi th in i s puri ty and peace .

Lo ! I fo r re fuge to the Buddha goThe only wis e— the Order 1 and the Norm .

Tr . C . A . F. Rhys Davids .

V . THE WINN ING OF FREEDOMSAMA PA LI

Four time s , nay. five , I sall ied from my cel l ,And roamed afie ld to find the peace of mindI sought in vain , and governance of thought sI could no t br ing into captivi ty .

To me , even to me , on that e ighth dayI t came : al l craving ousted from my hear t .Mid many sore affl i ct ions , I had wrough tWith passiona te endeavour and had won !Craving was dead and the Lord

’

s w il l was done .


VI . COOL A M I NOWSANGHA PALI

Home have I l e f t , for I have l e f t my wo rld !Child have I le f t , and all my cher ished herds !Lus t have I le f t , and I l l -will , too , is gone ,And I gnorance have I pu t far fr om meCraving and roo t of Craving overpowered,Cool am I now , knowing Nib bana

’

s3peace .


1 .e . the Buddhist ascet ic order .1 .e . the dhamma , the whole rule of Buddhist l i fe .

See I , note 1 .


VIII . FREEDOMMUTTA PALI

0 f ree indeed ! O glor iously freeAm I in fr eedom from three crooked thingsFrom quern , from mortar , fr om my crookbacked lord IA y , but I

'

m free fr om rebir th and from death,

And al l that dragged me back i s hurled away .

Tr . M r s . C. A . F. Rhys Davids .

IX .

’TIS WELL WITH ME

SUM A NGA LA’

S MOTHER PALI

O woman well se t free ! how free am I ,HOW thoroughly free fr om ki tchen drudgery !Me stained and squal id

’

mong my cook ing-potsMy brutal husband ranked as even l e ssThan the sunshades he s its and weaves alway .

Purged now of al l my former lust and hate ,I dwell , mus ing at ease beneath the shadeO f s preading boughs— O , but

’

t i s wel l wi th me !

Tr . M r s . C . A . F. Rhys Davids .

X . THE BREA TH OF LIBERTYMETTIK A PALI

Though I be suffer i ng and weak , and allMy youthful spr ing be gone , ye t have I come ,Leaning upon my s ta ff , and clomb alo f tThe mounta in peak .

My cloak thrown off,My l ittl e bowl o

’

er tur ned : so Sit I her eUpon the rock . And o

’

er my Sp iri t sweepsThe breath of L iber ty ! I win , I winThe tr ipl e l ore I

1 The Buddha’

s wil l i s done !

Tr . Ai r s . C. A . F. Rhys Davids .

Three marvellous powers which the wise arahantmight win.

MEDIE VA L INDIA

THE SEARCH FOR THE ABSOLUTE

XI . ON E GREA T VO IDMUKTA BA

‘

I’

MARATHI

Where bu t the One wi thout another dwell s,

And never whisper of this world may come,

There al l i s one great vo id , al l bu t one voidF ind y ou your own means thi ther to atta in .

MuktaBai say s , Son of VateSvar , seeThou eve r bind thysel f to tha t great truth

,

That Thou ar t He .

’ " 1

Tr . Mar gar et M acnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XI I . GUIDA NCE OF THOUGHTLA L DED KASHM i Ri

Put thou thy though ts upon the path of immortal i ty .

If thou leave them withou t guidance , in to evil statewil l they fall .

There , be thou not fear ful , but be thou ver ycourageous .

For they are l ike unto a suckl ing child,th at to sseth

re stl es s on i t s mother’

s bosom .

Tr . Gr ier son and Bar nett.

XIII . THE A LL-PERVA DINGMUK TA BAi MARATHI

Within mater ial forms he who is voidO f qual i t ie s l ie s s tored . But wealth of formHe owns not , though h i s devoteesAscr ibe i t to him for such yearn ings r ise

1 sakhr e Samvad , 1 6.


With in the unreleased soul,though everywhere

The I nfinite l ie s h id within our hear ts .Nivr itti,

1who has tor n from out his soul

All seed of passion , cer tainly decl are sThat all are one and MuktaBai ,With mind fi rm fixed upon the roadTo fr eedom

z— road that ne

’

e r can weary oneAttains the knowledge of the Endless One ,

Who fi l l s finite and infinite al ike .

8

Tr . M ar gar et Macnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XIV . THE MYSTERY OF BRA HMAGA VRi BAi GUJARATI

Only one who has had the exper ience can understandthe mystery of Brahma .

4

Without the k nowledge of th is Inyste r y error cannot bedone away with .

Unti l er ror p asses away, tell me , how can har ma bedone away with

And , unle ss kar ma be done away with , one ca nno tat tain the great mystery .

Only one who has had the exper ience can under stand the

myster y of B r ahma.

Without l earning th is secret , doubts cannot be removed,And without the remov ing o f doubts al l is uncer ta in.

By the tell ing of a story one grasps its full meaning .

How can I attai n to the true level w ithou t l iv ing up toth is mystery


myster y of B r ahma .

I f one doe s not grasp the secre t meaning of the greatTruth .

Then,through not under standing it , the meaning i tsel f

can avail no thing .

The brother and gur u ,i .e . rel ig ious teacher, ofMuktaBai .

2 Freedom , i .e . Release .

3 sakh r e , 1 8 .

Brahman , or Brahma , is the A b solute of Hindu ism.

MEDIZEVA L IND IA 47

Not by mere l y discr imina ting be tween a good spir i t anda bad one

Can the mark of the impress of previous act ions bee ffaced.



Be i t known to you tha t one who, having exper iencedBrahma

,has nothi ng le f t bu t the e ther eal body ,

That one al one has at ta ined to the per ception tha t therea l nature _oi the human sou l i s one and the samewith the Divine Sp ir i t animating the universe .

Gavri has real i sed that spir i t and Supreme S pir i t areone , and ye t some will no t rel inqu ish the bel ie f thatthey are two .



Tr . M r s . Taylor and Ai r s . Ramanbai M . N ilhanth .

XV . THE HOME OF THE HEA RTMUKTA BA

‘

I’

MARATH I

Where never darkness comes my home I’

ve madeThere my del ightsome lodging ever find .

Tha t perfect shel ter cannot fail our needGoing and coming trouble us no more .

Beyond al l vi sion and ab ove al l sphere s ,He , our del igh t , our inmos t soul indwells .

He , Mukta says , i s our hear t’

s only home .

1

Tr . Mar gar et M acnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XVI . HIS GLORY SH INES RESPLENDENT'

MUKTA BA‘

I‘

MA RATH i

Though he is void of form,ye t have mine eye s

Beheld him , and h is glor y shinesRe splenden t on my sight .

(

Do thou , my mind ,Gr asp then that i nner , secre t form of hi s ,

1 Var /zar i Sant Sangr ab a, 81 .P. 3 7


Worthy to be conce ived of by the soul .That which transcends our mind

,no at tr ibu tes

S hould l imit, for in i t our sense s findThe ir ending . Mukta says , Though words canno tContai n him , ye t i n h im all words exis t .

”1

Tr . M ar gar et M acnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XVII . WHA T THEN IS JOY , WHA T GRIEF ?

MUK TA BAI MA RATH i

After our j oy i s fin ished , sorr ow come sTo mee t us

,and , that mee ti ng o

’

er ,She tarr ie s not . What then is joy ? What grie f ?For both al ike ar e I gnorance , beyond whichPass we .

MuktaBai call s , Awaken, ChangaAnd

,a t he r call , the E ssential Se l f

Hears and awake s with in h im .

3

Tr . Mar gar et Macnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XVIII . A M IND FREE FROM DUA LITY

LA L DED KASHM i Ri

He who hath deemed another and himself as the same,

He who hath deemed the day (of j oy ) and the n ight (ofsor row ) to be al ike ,

He whose mind hath become free from duali ty ,He

,and he alone

,hath seen the Lord of the chie fe s t O f

the gods .


XIX . NON -DUA LITYMUXTA BAi MA RATH i

S leep calm and sa fe , my child , where , far beyondA ll talk of form or forml essne ss ,Thy cradle ha s been swung with inThe very lotus of the hear t i t sel f .Muktaat hand cal l s to thee lovingly .

Ib id. , 80, p . 3 6.

2 Changdev , see note 1 , p . 49 .

3 sakhr e San’

avad, 1 5 .


Prais i ng adva it, they give it name s o f Peace ,Calm resignation , fr eedom fromThe body

’

s chain. Thus , too , VateSvar’

s son ,Changa ,

1 i s s tr ipped bare of de s ireAnd Mukta calms him , showing wisdom

’

s l ight .2

Tr . M ar gar etM ae-nicol and D . R . Ladda .

XX IMPERMA N ENCE OF EVERYTH ING M A TERIA L

KASHM i Ri

For a momen t saw I a r ive r flowing .

For a momen t saw I no br idge or means of crossing .

For a moment saw I a bush al l flowers .For a moment saw I nor rose nor thorn .

For a moment saw I a cook ing hear th abl aze .

For a momen t saw I nor hear th nor smoke .

For a moment saw I the mother of all the Pandavas .3

Fo r a moment saw I an aunt O f a pot te r’

s w i fe .


XXI. DEFILEM ENTCHOKH A

’S WIPE MARATHI

The flesh is defiled, — so they al l de clareBut the Spir it is pure , cl early di scern ing .

Without defilement i s no fle sh crea ted ,Anywhere in all the world .

The defilement Of flesh i s in the flesh i t se l f , of a sure ty .

SO say s the wi fe of Chokha, the M ahar .4

Tr . M ar gar et Macnicol and D . R . Laddu .

Changa , or Changdev , is said to have been a follower of yoga,

who was converted to bha/zti and became a disciple of MuktaBai .Various names ar e g iven in the abhanga to advait ( the state of

final union ) , in the same way as a mother , wh ile swing ing the

cradle , calls her baby by different names .

3 sakhr e Sarhvad , 7.

8 The Pandavas and their mother , Kunti , disguised as mendicant Brahmans , found refuge in a p otter

’s house . They a r e the

legendary heroes of the great Indian ep ic , the M ahabhar ata .

4 The M ahar s ar e a tri be of outcastes found in most parts of

the Maratha country and Central India .


XXII . TRUE RELEA SELA L DED KasHM i Ri

S ome , though they be sound asleep , are ye t awakeO n other s , th ough they be awake , ha th slumber fal len .

Some , though they bathe in sacred pool s , are ye t unclean ;O ther s , though they be ful l of household cares , are y e tfree from action .

Tr . Gr ier son and Bar nett .

XXIII . TOO LA TE , TOO LA TELA L DED KasHM iRi

By a way I came , but I wen t not by the way .

1

Whil e I was ye t on the midst o f the embankment,with

i ts craz y br idge s , the day fa il ed for me .I looked with in my poke and not a cowry was there .

What shal l I give for the ferry fee

Tr . Gr ier son and Bar nett .

THE WAY TO GOD

XXIV . BLIND ONE A M IJANA BAi MA RATH i

Bli nd one am I , and he that was my staff ,Where hideth heI n what s trange woodland tarries t thou

,my hind ,

While I , thy dumb fawn, s tray l os t and seek myhome i n va in ?

Apar t fr om thee what can I do ?How l onger hold to l i fe0 l e t me meet my mother !

2 Such the prayerThe servant , J ani , pours be fore the saints .

Tr . M ar gar etMaenieol and D . K . Laddu .

1 The highway is birth as a human being capable of gainingsalvation .

” The soul must cross the river Vai tar ani , and needsmoney in the mouth for the ferry fee .

"The moral is that ,

inasmuch as birth in a human body is the only chance that asoul has of be ing saved , when it is fortunate enough to obtainsuch a birth it should sp end its l i fetime in gaining a knowledgethe Supreme Sel f

”( Gr ier son and Bar nett) .

2 That is , Vitho ba.


XXVIII . GOD ’ S CA RELA L DED KASHM i Ri

Ah , re stle ss mind ! have no fear w ith in thy hear t .The Beginningle ss One H imsel f taketh thought for thee ,(And considere th ) how thy hunger may fal l from thee .

Utter , there fore , to Him alone the cry of salvation .


XXIX . STRA IT IS THE GA TEJANA BAi MA RAr H i

Hard is devotion , — l ike a pit O f fi re .

To enter such a whirlpool , i s tha t no t hardHard i s de vot ion , —hard as a poison draughtI t seems the soul must e

'

en despair of i t .Hard is devotion , hard indeed is it ,As the sword s sharpened edge , which who may bearHard is devo t ion , — such has J ani pro v ed i t .Ye t through devotion and the fel lowshipO f sa intly soul s the goal may be attained .

Tr . M ar gar etM acnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XXX . THY FEET , MY PA RA DISEJANA BAi MARA '

r H i

May I but cl ing to thy dear fee t ,NO other Paradise crave I.

With heart o f fai th th y name I’

l l sing ,O A tmaram ,

1 tru e fr ie nd indeed .

Befor e thy fee t I bow for ayeThen being and i t s ill s depar t .I’

l l feast mine eyes upon thy form ,

A nd ut ter thus my hear t’

s ful l j oy .

Thou who dos t help the helple ss one ,And in thine hand the discus hear

’

st ,J ani

,the servant

,ever holds

With in her hear t the thought o f thee .

Tr . M ar gar et Macnicol and D . K .

A tmaram , Joy Of the soul .


XXXI . THE POWER OF HA RI ’ S NA ME

MUKTA BAi MA RATH i

Above beginning and beyond continuanceThe wor shipper of Har i r i se s free .

Within , withou t , for him Har i alone exists .

Why,then , should he now seek the holy shr ine s

The invocat ion of the all- power ful NameContains the vir tue of al l s acred texts .By this name dull-witted man i s fr eed .

Through i t the stones themselves float on the sea .

Muktaby Hari’

s name i s freed for ayeNe ither rebir th nor dea th r emain s for us .

l

Tr . M ar gar et M acnicol and D . K . Ladda .

XXXII . CA LL UPON RAMAD IvA Li BAi Guj A RATi

The trouble s O f all exi s tence are removed , i f we callupon Rama .

Tod ay you wil l rece ive happine s s , i f you cal l upon Rama .

I , though a widow , have obtained ( the j oy of ) div inecontempl ation I cal l upon Rama .

I , th is w idow , wil l cons tant ly cal l upon Rama .

Le t D ivali alway s pray to thee and call upon thee , Rama .

Tr . M r s . Taylor and M r s . Ramanoai M . N i lhanth .

XXXIII . RESTLESS TILL WE REST IN THEE

DAYA BAi H INDI

0 great Lord , the source o f happ ine ss ,Beloved Of al l , prai se be unto thee .

Thou that knowes t the secre t of the hear t , thou oceanO f mercy .

Daya bows to thee .

Thy impersonal form is l ike the ocean of immortal ity ,

Which is very deep and unfathomable .

1 sakhr e , 1 0 .


The w aves of j oy are constantl y r ising ,But my hear t i s re stless .

Thy real form is such that al l de sire s o f my mind arefulfi ll ed

Having seen the marvel , Daya wor ships with grea tfeel in g.

Tr . M r s . Keay.

XXXIV . HA RI 'S NA MESA H A JO BAI H INDI

The name of God i s as valuable as the philosopher’

sstone ,

And it i s found only in the house o f weal thy per sons .A poor man does not know the value of i t,And there fore Sahajo say s he l ose s i t .

Sahajo s ay s , I n the hear t in wh ich God’

s name is ,there is alway s j oy .

Without His name even the beauti ful , the r ich andkings are cur sed .

”

Sahajo i s flowing away on th e water o f the ocean O fthi s world

There i s darkne s s, and the rain i s fall i ng heavily ;But the boat in the mids t Of i t i s the name of Har i ,Which carr ie s men to the o ther side O f the ocean .

Sahajo s ay s, S i tting on the mountai n one may per formpenance

He may endure the rain , the cold and the heat o f thesun ,

But the name of Har i i s gr eater than all the se .

Tr . M r s . Keay.

XXXV . THE TRUE GURUDAYA BAi H INDI

Charan Das , a grea t gur u , i s l ike Brahma , a dwell i ngpl ace of joy ,

A remover of al l t rouble s , a giver of happ inessDaya bows down to thee .

MED IE VAL IND IA 55

Daya, under the influence of actions , had f al len in t o thedark wel l o f thi s world.

My gur u , by giv ing me the r Ope of knowledge , took meout whe n I was drown ing .

He is fi l l ed with j oy , the whole day circl in g round in i t.He is wonder fully beautiful .Therefore Dayahas se t he r mind on him .

In th is world there is no one so generou s as the true

gur u ,

Because he give s such wonder ful teaching ,Which bear s a soul sa fe to the othe r S ide of the ocean ofthe world .

Those who serve the lo tus fee t of their gur u for the irown wel fare ,

Daya s ays , they for ge t the dream of thi s wor ld and gostraight to the immortal world .

The true gur u i s l ike Brahma h imself

Do not cons ider h im to be only a man.

Daya say s , those who con s ide r him to be only a man ,They are l ike beas t s .

“

Always worsh ip your .gur u and b ow down your head toh im .

Daya say s he wil l alway s give them real happiness b yshowing them the real form of Hari .

Tr . M r s . Keay.

XXXVI . THE FA LSE GURUSA H A JO BAI H INDI

Sahajo say s , many gur us walk to and fro ,But the y have not knowledge , medi ta tion and remembrance .

They catch many people by the arm ,

But they are not abl e to send one man across to fi ndsalvation .

Tr . M r s . Keay .


XXXVII . H INDRA NCESSA H A JO BAI H INDI

Sahajo say s , He in whose hear t dwell s illus ion,

His hear t i s impure , his body wastes away .

He does not lo v e Har i,

And there fore he is always unhappy .

I f i l lus ion dwell s in the body l ike a deer in a fie ld,

T hen how can the field grow ?Whatever i s sown is eaten up

,

And the mind i s no t se t on Hari .

A proud man who want s pr ais e for himselfH is face is ful l of dust ,He is puffed up with vani ty ,And he i s not a fraid O f s inning .

He wan ts to have the lordship ,But he doe s not want the Lord .

Sahajo say s , A proud person’

s hear t i s veryIt cannot be l i f ted up .

XXXVIII . THE VISION OF GOD

MUKTA BAI MARATHI

Our destiny and those pa st deeds o f our sThat call ed for payment , al lAre au spici ous now . S o se t we forthTo seek that fur ther bank , Release .

That which , erst sprung from the E s sential Source ,Would merge itse l f with in that Source again .

We turn a deaf ear to the wor ld’

s entanglement .

! uickly we learned to s i f t the fal se and trueFor al l our hear t was fi l l ed with Hari , Lord .

From out the formless came the embodied for th ,Now Infin ite and Fin ite , j oined , are one .

Those mo tions of the mind that hold des ir e ,And those that feel i t not , alike must beThe sport O f V ishnu . Muk taBai , whose hear tI s se t on Freedom

,and who , free her sel f ,


S tands on the bank , Release , she , sir , can seeVaikunth

1 himsel f in all things through and through .

Tr . M ar ga r et M acnicol and D . K . Laddu .

XXXIX . I GA Z ED UPON HIMLA L DED KA SHMIRI

I , Lal la, wear ied mysel f seek ing for him and searchi ng .

I l aboured and s trove even beyond my stre ngth .

I began to look for him , and lo , I saw that bol ts were onhis door

And even in me , as I was, did longing for him , becomefixed ;

And there , where I was , I gazed upon Him .

3


XL . BA H INA A ND HER CA LFBAHINA BAI MARATHI

I t was I Who l oosed the cal f ,When she went to dr ink her milk

To the mil king, too , she came a l ong wi th me .

I t was I who gave he r water ,I t was I who brought her gra ss ,

And apart fr om me her mind was i l l a t ease .

When I wen t to draw the water ,Tha t cal f came l ow ing af te r ,

As if I’

d been a cow wi thout a tail .

I f that cal f were once but free ,Then she had no wish to stayBeside her mother cow , you may be sure .

Vaikuntha is the heaven of V ishnu , b ut is used here of the

god himsel f .sakhr e , 3 9 .

In her unregenerate days Lalla had stri ven to find God .

Then , b y God’s grace , she was p ermitted to see that the door of

approach to H im was barred to all human effort , and tha t nostrivings of hers were of avail . So she stood there , outside thedoo r , full of naught b ut long ing love , and He revealed H imself toher , for she found Him in herself ( Gr ier son and Bar nett) .


By night upon my bedShe would quiver a s she lay

The Purana when she heard , she would sob.

When I went to hear the lkatfia,

1

She too would come al ong ,And stand l is tening to that [eat/la tranquill y .

In the by re we’

d l e ave the cowAnd to the feat/2a wend

And when I went t o bathe , then too she came wi th me .

Thus i n many ways that cal fR e fused to part from me ,

And I too found my joy i n be ing wi th her .

Were I grinding , were I pounding ,Or were I fe tch ing water home ,

I found the world but dul l i ndeed without her

Whil e nigh tly a t the ka llzaThe l ove we bore each o ther

My pare nt s saw,for she and I went wi th them .

Then that swamz'

, Jayaram,

By the witne ss of h i s s pir i t ,Fel t the presence of a soul wi thin that cal f

Sa id, Bring the cal f in hi ther,

I f i ts soul ye arn s for the [eat/2a.

Beast we may not deem i t , for it s Spir i t Hari knows .

Then he had the ca l f brought in ,And he gave it there a place

,

And felt s ati sfied to see i t r e sting there .

Then through fate , tha t i s the mer i tO f my former l i fe , me too

He called wi th k indly , gracious words .

His gaze fell ful l upon us ,His hand care ssed u s both ,

With no heed to what the people migh t be sayi ng.

Kat/1 a"

, a legend of a god related with music and singing.

60 POEM S BY IND IAN WOMEN

XLIII . WE SHA LL SING HIS PRA ISESA NDA L TAM I L

O people who l ive in the wor ld,

Would you hear what we are going to do to our God ?We shal l s ing the praise s of our heavenl y God,

who madethe ocean o f milk h is bed .

We shal l ne ither take ghee nor dr ink milk,

We shal l not paint our ey es a fte r our morning bath,

We shal l not wear flowers . Fur ther,

We shal l no t do what we ought no t to do .

Bad words we shal l not ut ter .We shal l give alms and l ive un to Him .

Tr . M iss A b r aham and J . S . Masitamani .

XLIV , THE NA ME RADHA KRISHNAMimi BAT GUJA e i

Utter not , utte r not , utter not any word but Radha1

Kr ishna.Do not for sake the swee t taste of sugar and sugar caneand mix i t with the bitter l ime .

Do not for sake the l igh t o f the moon and the sun andse t your affection on a glow-worn .

Do no t give up diamonds , rubie s and j ewels , nor we ighreal gems agai ns t pewter.

M iran say s , The Lord who holds up the mountain hasgiven you an equipoi sed body .

"

Tr . M r s . Taylor and M r s . Ramanbaz’

M . N ilkanth .

XLV . A LA GA R 2A rmin . TAMI L

I s i t not true tha t bl ack birds in innumerabl e fl ightwake up the dawn , s ing the praise s of the God andgree t the coming of the sun ?

1 R21 t is Krishna ’s mistress in the early legends ; his

consort in the later sects.

3 A fo rm of Krishna bel ieved to haunt the b i lls to the northwest ofMadura.


They s ing the words of the great God whose bed is thebanyan leaf and who l ive s in the fores t cl ad hills .

Tr s.. M iss A br aham and J . S . M asz'

lamazz z'

.

XLVI . RELEA SE FROM SINA NDAL TAM I-L

What happens when we throw hol'

y flowers on the god,and worship and sing to him wi th our l ips andmedit ate on h im , th is V ishnu the son who come sfrom Vadamadur a,

1

The one who l ives where the great and holy Jumnaflows ,

The beautiful l igh t tha t sprang from the tr ibe o f

shepherds ,The one who made h is mother happyThe sins tha t we committed in the pas t , and those thats till wait to ass ail us ,

All become l ike dus t in the fire .

Tr . M iss A br aham and J . S . M asz'

tamam'

.

XLVII . GOVIND IS MY LIFEMm BAI GuJ ARRr i

Govind i s myl i fe the world tas te s bi tter to me .

I love Rama and Rama alone l e t my eyes see no other .In M i ran

’

s pal ace dwe l l Har i’

s s a in ts ; Har i dwe ll s farfrom intr igue with h is sain ts .

Tr . M r s . Taylor and M r s . Ramanoai M . Nttkant/z .

XLVIII . YE SHA LL EA T OF THE FA T OF THE LA ND

Anna . TAM IL

If we bathe and garland our god and s ing un to the name

of thi s r ighteou s god regular l y ,There shall be no bad days i n the landThere shal l be rain , — three showers a month .

1 Vadamadur a , the northern Madura, as Mathura (coloquially Muttra ) is called in South India .

3 In MiraBai ’ s poems Krishna is often ident ified with Rama .

5

62 POEM S BY IND IAN WOMEN

R i ce fi elds wil l be r ich and swarm with fi sh .

Blossoms wil l be fi l led with honey and attr act al l ki ndsof in sects.Cows w il l be fat and big and give pots and pots ofmilk .

Thus the countr y wil l enj oy increas ing r iche s.


ldmam'

.

XLIX . THE JEWELS OF THE SA INTMIRA BAI GUJ ARAT I

I , a woman , have a vas t e state ; true j ewel s are mypor tion .

1

I fashion my nose-r i ng of V i tthal2 and the wrea th of

Har i i s on my hear t .My though ts are a str ing of pearl s and my bangles areV ishnu . Why should I go to the goldsmith ?

My fe tter s are of the Lord of L i fe , Kr ishna my goldand si lver ankle ts .

My silver ornaments are Rama and Narayan my ant/at3

i s the one who discerns the hear t .Le t me make Purushottam my casket ; T r ikam thename of the padlock .

Le t me make the key of compass ion and j oy , and in i tkeep my j ewel s .

Tr . M r s . Taylor andM r s . Ramanbhai M . N ilkant/t .

L . WILT THOU NOT COME UNTO ME P‘

A NnAL TAM I L

I garl and thee wi th holy flowers and b ow at thy fee tand wor ship and praise thee thr ice a day .

Much Krishnaite poetry seeks to find help ful rel igioussymbols in common things .

2 A ll the names in these l ines ar e names appl ied to Kr ishna .

8

\A nvat is a ring furnished with s i lver b alls , worn on the

great toe .

”

The sequence of p oems from thi s point belong to the clas sin which the longing of the soul fo r Krishna is represented underthe symbol of the w i fe separated from her husband, or the

mistress from her lover. Frequently , the verses ar e full of

rel igious feeling ; sometimes they seem to b e almost altogethererotic


I f thou wil t not see that I l ive with and serve wi thoutblemish the god who slept on the sea o f milk ,

I shall w eep and mourn and thou wil t fi nd i t hard tocomfor t me .

My suffer ing wil l be l ike tha t‘

of the ox tha t i s unyokedfrom its team and re fuse s to eat any th ing and p ine saway because of the separat ion .

Tr . M iss A br abam and J . S . M asz'

ldmam'

.

LI . THE BELOVEDMIRA BAI H INDI

I am fascinated by the beau ty of Mohan :1

In the bazar and by the way he teases me .I have not l ear ned the swee t de sire of my beloved .

His body i s beauti fu l and h is eye s are l ike lo tus flowers .His glance i s very pleasing, and hi s smil e is very swee t .

Near the bank of the r iver Jumna he is gr azing the cow s ,And s ings a sweet song to the flute .

I surrender mysel f body and soul and weal th , to theM oun ta in-holder .

M i ra cl asp s h is l o tus feet .Tr . M r s . Keay .

LII. WILT THOU LEA VE ME ?A NDAL TAMI L

Dost thou enter into the house and come to the innercourtyard where we have come to play ? Dost thoushow thy sel f and smile at us and break our hearts a swell a s our houses ?

30 Gov ind,

4 thou didst oncemeasur e the whole ear th wi th one s tep and heaven w ith

A name of Krishna .

K r ishna is said to have held up Mount Govardhan above thepeop le of Braj to save them fr om a deluge .

3 When g irls in South India build houses of sand ,boys o ften

come and break them down .

Govind , t.e . K rishna , is an incarnation of Vishnu , whomeasured the earth with one stride and heaven with another .


another . I f the l ove thou hast for me should change ,o r i f we were to quar rel , what would peopl e say whohave seen u s toge ther

Tr . M iss A b r a/1 am and J . S . M asz'

lamam'

.

LIII . SEPA RA TIONMIRA BAI H INDI

The clouds , dr iven to and fr o , have come ,But they have not brought any news of Hari.The frog, the peacock and the sparrow hawk utte r the ircr i es ,

And the cuckoo, calls aloud .

In the bl ack darknes s the l ightning i s fla shing ,A nd ter r ifies the women whose husbands are away .

The p leasant wind produces a sound l ike music ,And the rai n i s streaming down continuallyThe co il of separation is l ike that o f the cobra w ith i tshissing sound ,

But M i ra 5 hear t i s se t on Har i .

For lack of the vis ion o f him my eyes are achi ng .

Ah , my Lord, eve r s ince thou has t been separated fromme my hear t has found no re s t .

Hear ing thy voice , my hear t begins to trembl e .

Thy words are ver y swee t to me .

My eyes are fixed on the way of thy coming .

One n igh t seems to me l ike six months .

0 my companions , to whom shal l I tel l the pain o f

separat ionThe whole night is pas sed by Mira i n re stle ssness .

O my Lord,when shall I find thee ,

S o that thou may s t remove my pain and give me happiness ?


Liv . THE RESTLESSNESS OF LOVE

MIRA BAI H INDI

I am true to my lord.

O my companions,there is nothing t o be ashamed o f

now ,

S ince I have b een seen dancing Openly .

In the day I have no hunger .

I am always re stle s s‘

and sleep doe s no t come in thenight.

Leaving tr ouble s beh ind,I shal l go to the other s ide ,

Because hidde n knowledge has taken hold of me .

All my re latio ns have come and surrounded me l ikebees .

But M ira i s the servant o f her beloved , the M ountainholder .

A nd she cares not though the peopl e mock her .

LV . HE HA S M A DE ME SUFFERANDA L TAMIL

O cuckoo , who s ingest merr il y , pl ay ing with thy beak inthe Shenbaka flowers , l aden with honey ,

The god , who holds a whi te conch -in hi s le ft hand , hasnot shown his form to me , bu t

‘has en tered in to myheart and has made me suffer sorel y .

Wil t thou s ing , but not too loudly , so tha t he may cometo me


lamam'

.

LVI . LONELINESSMIRA BAI H INDI

Apar t from Rama , sle ep does no t come to me .

Through the suffe rings of separat ion no s leep comes,

And the fire o f love i s k indled .

Without the l ight o f my beloved,the temple i s dark

The lamp doe s not please me .


Apar t from my beloved , I fe el very l onel yThe nigh t is passed in wak ing.When will my beloved come home

The fr og , the peacock and the spar row hawk ut tercr ies ,

And the cuckoo call s aloud .

The clouds gather together ,A nd the flash of the l ightn ing ter r ifies me .

My eyes are burn ing to see him .

0 . my companions, what shal l I do and where shal l I goThe pain of my hear t i s in no w ise removed.

The pang of separa tion has s tung me l ike a cobra .

My l ife ebbs away like a wave .

Prepare the herb a nd bring it to me .

Who wil l br ing my beloved back to me,O

,my

companions ?O , my lord , when wil t thou come to see M i ra?Thou art pl easing to my hear t .When wil t thou come and talk and laugh with me

LVII . THE HOLY M A N A ND THE LITTLE LA Dl

Kur r I K KUNNU TANK A CCH I MALAYALAM

Now , i n days o f yore , a sannyasi call ed Divakar a ,2

Foremos t among the devotee s o f V ishnu’

s fee t ,Free from the fil th (of sin ) , a Yogi , very pure in sp irit ,S e t up wi th in himse l f th e Kr i shna form of V i shnuAnd passed hi s days wor sh ipping him with bhahtz

’

every day ,Constan tl y renouncing attachment to o ther objec ts .

To him , twice-born, who wor shipped in his hear tThe e ternal Lord of al l the world ,

Krishna ’s boyhood at Gokul holds a large p lace in the earlystories and in the worship .

2 A Brahman samzyas'

i , ascetic , belonging to Travancore , who

was a devotee of Krishna .


Forbade the Lord with a movement of his hand .

What man indeed is there , even among sage s ,Who has not been involved i n the darkne ss of angerNotwiths tanding the Yogi

’

s bhahtz’

, a t thi s h is act ,V ishnu i n the lad

'

s form fe igned anger and said,

I f you want to see me any more,

Cas t away all unb el ie f from your mind and to Ananta’

sfore s t

Come . There in an instant I shal l r eveal myse l f to you .

With these wor ds ..V ishnu disappeared.

When , l ike a j ewel - l amp blown out be fore one’

s eye sBy a mighty w ind ,When , l ike re sple nden t l ightn ing , i nstantl y disappearedTha t lovely l ad of the lotus ey e s ,The sannyasz

‘

was sorr y who can tel l hi s grie fWhat can indeed be said of the Lord

’

s Spor tive deedsL ike a picture in colour s on canvasS tood the samzyasi in dej ected mood.

O , my V i shnu , enoug h of the se spor ts, enough !Manife s t thy sel f be fore me , O Lord .

Although I have wronged thee a l it tl e ,Forgive me and de ign to save me .

Thus the great Yogi (afte r coming to Ananta’

s fore st )to the wish-granting Lord

Pr ayed . And as he stood in al l eagerne ss ,There was heard close by the mingled, j ingling soundOf bracele ts , l ittle b ells and ankle ts .Instantly the Y ogi

’

s curi os i ty was arousedAnd he stood bewildered .

Then to his j oy there appeared be fore himThe l i t tl e lad , absorbed in pl ay .

The Yogi , see ing the l i ttl e fellow ,

Was overj oyed in hi s hear t ,As a peacock at the s ight of a dark cloud ,And drew near in all eagernessTo take h im up tender l y and embrace him.

But on the ins tant Lakshmi’

s ble ssed lordFled sw i f tly from the p lace .

K . Joseph.


LVIII . A TRA NCE 1

MADHA BI BENGALI

From Nilachal,2 t o see Gaur 3 mother Sa chi ,

Has come the pandi t , Jagadénanda named ;A nd, f rom a knol l , on Nuddea hi s eye s are fixed ,As i t wer e Gokul , Kr i shna

’

s bir thplace .I may '

— I may not— see her once againS o , s truck with fear , hi s anxious glancePerce ives , on all s ide s , trees and creepers greenShedding the ir l eave s untimely , the gl owing

- sunHis ray s up shr ouding , and the milk-white cloudsChangi ng to rusty ; birds with closéd eye s ,Car el es s o f flower and berr y and sparkl ing stre am ,

S i t loud lamen ting , shr iek ing to the sk ies ,Call i ng , i n sympathy , Gauranga 5 name ;While by the ways ide dumb the ca t tle s tand ,Herd af te r herd and Madh

’

b i’

s pandi t fe l lFul l - length upon the ground .

Tr . J . N . C. Ganguly.

GNOM IC VERSES

LIX . THE VA N ITY OF GOOD REPUTELA L DED KA SHMIRI

Integri ty and high repute are but water carr ied in abaske t .

I f some mighty man can grasp the wind with in his fi st ,Or i f he can te ther an el ephant wi th a hair of his h ead ,Only i f one be skilled i n such feats as thes e wil l he besuccessful ( in re ta ining integri ty and high repute ) .


1 Chaitanya and his followers p ra ctised trances . Hence asudden access of emotion might readily induce the condition .

1 Nilachal ,“The blue hill ,” is the site of the temp le of

Jagannath at Puri .Chaitanya ( 1 485 also called Gaur and Gauranga , the

Bengali K rishnaite leader, who was held by his followers to b e anincarnation of K rishna , took ascet ic vows , and thereafter sp entmost of hi s time at Pur i . H is mother Sachi was now old. S incehis vows kep t him from visiting his birthplace , Nuddea, where hismother sti ll lived, he sent hi s disc iple Jagadananda to ask for her .


LX . THE WORTH OF VIRTUEA VVA I TAM I L

I f the vir tuous are ruined , the vir tuous are sti l l v ir tuousI f the wicked are ruined , of what use are theyI f the golden pot is br oken , i t i s s t ill goldI f the ear then pot i s broken , of what use wil l i t be ?

Tr . V. S . Dor nakal .

LXI . OUR TYRA NT BODYA VVA I TAMIL

We slave , we beg , we cross the seasWe revere , we rule , we compose , our songs we raise ,All to feed thi s wretched body of ours ,Which torture s u s for a measure of r ice !

Tr . V. S . Dor nahal .

LXII . FRUITLESS TOILA VVA I TAM IL

Ye that toi l hard to seek r iches , foolish men !And bury i t under ear th to save it from harm , l i s ten !When y our spi ri t fl ie s away from its cage at las t ,Who will enj oy al l th i s vast weal th of yours ?

Tr . M iss A b r aham and J . S . Masz'

ldmam’

.

LXIII . EVERY ROSE HA S ITS THORN

MA H ADEVIA K K A KANARESE

I f y ou build your house on a hil l , how can you fearw ild beas ts ? I f you build i t by the sea , how can youfear the wave s ? I f y ou build i t in the pettah,

1how can

1 The pettah, the village .


you fear no ise ? In this world we must bear praise andblame equall y

,withou t anger and w ith patie nt mind.

Tr . M iss B utler andM r s . Dasapba .

LXIV . A LOW ESTIMA TE OF WOMEN

GANGADEVI CLASSICAL SAN SKR IT

S hady place s where all evil blossoms ; s nar es thattrap , a s a deer is trapped, minds bl inded with passio n ;weapons wielded by the dece iv ing emi ssar ie s of Desir e— how can the wise have confidence i n women ?

Tr . M . K r ishnamachar z'

ar .

LXV . THE VA LUE OF WOMA N

HONNA M M A KANARE SE

The mother who br ought them for th (bl ind foolsi s she not a woman ? And i s not the per son who rear edthem a woman ? Alas ! Why do shor t- sighted foolspour for th ridicul e , cry ing , Woman , WomanWhat boot s i t i f the ch ild be a son, and what los s i f

she be a daughter ? Happiness,worldl y or other

worldly , is confer red by tha t indiv idual who prospers ,son or daughter , i t matter s no t .The mas ter

’

s he ir is no blessing to the famil y unle s she be well -bred and well-behaved too . The daugh terwho goe s for th from one honourable famil y to another ,pos ter i ty wil l cal l her bl e s sed .

Tr . M iss Butler andM r s . Dasapba .

LXVI . IN PRA ISE OF A GOOD WIFE

A VVA I TAMI L

A home wants nothing when i t has a good wife .

I f such a woman i s no t found in the house ,Or i f she i s a woman who use s hard words ,The house i s l ike a den where a t iger dwell s .

Tr . M iss A br aham and J . S . Masz'

ldmam'

.


LXVII . LITTLE PA DMA NI1

SRfJNGARAM M A KANARESE

Her hands and feet were l ike the lotus,her eye s and

her face l ike the l otus pe tal. So she was called Padmani .

She clapped her l i t t l e hands,she toddled about .

People , hear ing the swee t words of the chubby child ,adored her . She and her fr iends chattered l ike parrots

,

and they walked in s tately style l ike swans or struttedlike peacocks , the swee t , inquis i t ive , l i t tle folks .

Tr . M iss Butler and M r s . D asappa .

LOVE AND BEAUTY

LXVIII . BA LLA D OF THE DEA TH OF CHA NDIDAS’

RAMI BENGALI

Where has t thou gone , fr iend ChandidasMy thirs ty eye s are never s laked ,L ike rain -birds when the clouds are dry .

What did the k ing , the Lord of GaurHis l ove-u nl igh ted l ife is vain lHe kil l ed the darl ing of my hear t .

Why didst thou go to cour t to singLo v e

’

s pr ide i s shat tered in the dust ,Be fore heaven , earth , hel l , beas t and man .

1 From the Padmanihalyazza, the marriage of Srini vasa and

Padmani .

Chandidés , a famous Bengal i poet of the early dec ades of thefi fteenth century , was , by tradition , a worshipp er of the goddess ,as his name impl ies and he inherited from his father the p ositiono f p riest of the goddess Basul i ( Sanskrit Vifaldhs/zi , w ith w ideop en eyes” ) in h is birthplace , Nannur , in the Birbhum distr ictb ut all his p oems a r e Va ishnava and in p ra ise of Radha-Krishna .

Though a Brahman , his mistress was a washerman’s daughter

named Rami . He was therefore outcasted . Finally, he vis itedGaur , the cap ital of Bengal , which was then under a Muhammadandynasty, and was put to death by the king , as narrated in the

p oem . The ballad is by Rami , and is in very rough , early Bengali .Selections , which tell the whole story , ar e here translated .

MED IE VAL IND IA

She heard the song , the Pad'

shah’

s ! ueenHer secre t pain she could not hide ,Bu t told her Lord her inmost hear t ,

My soul wi th in i s al l aflame

With bur ning love for Chandidas .

For l ove she sacr ificed her all !

The king cal l s up his minister

! uick , br ing the stou te st e l ephant ,And give the bard h is guerdon due !

Upon the great brute’

s burl y backWi th s tout rope s bind our cur sed foeTr ansfix him and ge t r id of him

The ! ueen cr ied , L i s ten , 0 my Lord ,He is the embodiment of LoveWhy then des tr oy hi s mor tal frame

He whose swee t song has pierced my hear tIs not a man of common clayWithin h im Love e ter nal re igns !

Away the beas t rushed fur iously !A nd see ing thee , my love , no more ,Heaven

’

s bo l t fe l l crashi ng on my head !

Hard holding by the creeper’

s s tem,

Lord of my I cried aloud,

Le ft am I l ordles s and al one

The ! ueen cr ied loudly , Leave me notAnd eve n then her spir i t fledAnd those two l ive s did mee t in death .

With thoughts fixed deep on Chand-idas ,The ! ueen no l onger clung to l i fe ,And death brought ease to her di stre s s.

S truck w i th the s ight , then Rami r an ,And , at the roy al l ady

’

s fee tThe washe r-maiden swooning fe l l .

Tr . J . N . C . Ganguly ,

73


LXIX . LOVE MYSTERIES

PR INCESS Z EB-UN -NISSA PERSIAN

T hough I am l ike Laila ,1 ye t my heart loves like

M aj nun .

1I wish to keep my head towards the de ser t ,

but modesty chains my feet down .

The nightingal e came to sit i n the company of theflower in the garden , because she was my pupil . I aman expert in l ove matter s — even the moth is our

pupil .Tr . Bar ahat Ullah .

LXX . LOVE M ISERIES

CLASSICAL SANSKRIT

Now that I am for lorn of my be loved, Anxiety2 has

got into my heart ; and , because o f my brooding thereon , S l eep

2has de ser ted me : wi th the disloyal who wil l

abideTr . M . K r ishnamachar iar .

LXXI . THE LONELY WIFEA NANDA M A Y I BENGALI

Come and see with your own eyes— your Sunetr a nowwears no j ewel s ; s he is al l undecked , her cheeks pale ,her ha ir wild and di shevel l ed. My dear Lord , do comehome and see he r miserable plightBemoaning thi s dreadful separat ion , my mind has los t

i t s gr ip , but my eye s are not upon your path . 0 ,I think

I must follow you as an ascetic wherever you may be ;for I can no longer bear the consuming fi re of yourabsence .

Thi s body , of ten perfumed w ith y our own hands withpowered kumkum

,I besmear wi th ashes fo r y our sake

1 Laila is the lady and Majnun the love r in the most famous of

Persian romances.

2 In the Sanskrit , ehintd ( anxiety ) and nia’

r a ( sleep ) , b eingboth feminine , readily take on personal ity . S ince the lover hasallowed Ch intato take the place of his beloved , Nidrahas le ft himin disgust .


I t seems , as one looks at her , that youth is flowingfrom her .

Those eye s are moving to and fr o , intox icatedwith love .They are cast down , being heavy with sleep

,and

sometime s they are wide open .

0 A l am , s ome new beauty i s seen in the se eyes .They appear l ike a bee hovering over a lotus flower .

ShekhRangr ez in r eplies .

Those eye s tha t are l ike a bee want to fly away,

when they behold the face of the moon .

But knowing that i t is n igh t , they r emai n i n the lotusflower .

LXXIV . LOVE ’ S FULNESS

THE EMPRESS NUR JA E A N PERSIAN

Thy l ove has mel ted my body and it has becomewater . Any antimony that migh t have remained hecame the ant imony of the bubbl e

’

s eyes .The bud may open by the morning breeze which

blows in the garden , but the key to the l ock of my hear ti s the smil e o f my beloved.

Tr . Bar ahat

LXXV . LOVE 'S CERTA INTYREP A M ATP H INDI

Fr iend le t other s boas t the ir tre asureM i ne

’

s a stock of true love’

s pl easure ,Safel y cared for , every part ,’

Neath tha t trusty l ock , my heart ;S afe from other women

’

s peep ingFor the key

’

s in mine own keep ing .

Day by day it grows a l itt l e ,Never l oses e

’

en a ti ttl eBut through l i fe w i ll ever go ,With Bi z Bahadur , weal or woe .

Tr . Maior -Gen . Cunningham.

1 See Front isp iece , and page 3 0 .

MED IE VA L IND IA 77

LXXVI . THE SINGER 'S OWN BEA UTY

PR INCESS Z E B-UN-NISSA PERSIAN

When from my cheek I l i f t my ve il ,The rose s tur n wi th envy pal e ,And from the ir pierced hear ts , r ich w i th pa in ,

S e nd for th the ir f ragrance like a wai l .

Or i f perchance one per fumed tres sBe lowered to the W ind

’

s care ss ,The honeyed hyacinth s complain ,

And langu ish in a swee t di s tre ss .

A nd, when I pause , st ill groves among ,(Such l oveliness i s mine ) a throngOf nighti ngal e s awake and stra in

Their soul s i nto a quiver ing song .

Tr . M r s . Sar oi in'

i

LXXVII . CON SC IOUS A UTUMN

GANGADEVI CLASSICAL SANSKR IT

With eye s l ike full-blown lotuses , eager to beholdhe r own countenance , ver ily did Autumn draw out ofher bodice o f clouds the mirror o f the sun .

Tr . M . K r ishnamachar iar .

LXXVIII . THE TORMENTING BEE1

VIK A r AN Ir A M BA CLASSICAL SANSKR IT

Divert now your r ambl ing mind, 0 bee , to otherflower ing Shrubs such as can bear your pre ssure . Whydo you, for no end , and thus unseasonably , tormen t thedouble j asmine

’

s sprouting bud, in which as ye t nopol len has been formed ?

Tr . M . K r i shnamachar iar .

1 Often used as a symbol for the torments of love .

6


LXXIX . BEA UTY ’ S A DORNMENT

PR INCESS Z EB-UN -NISSA PERSIAN

I am the daughter o f an emperor , ye t I have set myface towards poverty . This i s what adorns my beauty ,and my name is Zeb-nu-Nis sa ( the ador ner of women ) .

Tr . Bar ahat Ullah .

LXXX . THE HEA RT ’ S BITTERNESS

NAWWAB BAHU BEGAM URDU

To whom shal l I goTo tell the compl aints of my hear tThe hear t

’

s judgement is with in i tsel f ;But i ts bl is ter has burst

,

And has flowed out through the eye sI t s caravan i s passingBy the pathway of tears .

Tr . M . H edayetH osain .

LXXXI . JOY A ND SORROW

THE EMPRESS NUR JAHAN PERS IAN

The cre scent of Id has at las t appeared in the face ofthe heavens . The key of the wine - shop had been l ost ,and at las t i t has been found .

My eye s have no other work but to shed tear sYes , what other work can people wi thout hands andfee t do


LXXXII . A CONFESSIONSHIR IN PERSIAN

Do not coun t me among good people . I know whatI am . Do not enter tain good thoughts of me . I am apr i soner of my treacher ous pass ions and am full of sin .

This is. no l ie . I know what I am .


I do not t re ad the path of pr ide . I repeat th is tomysel f again and again . I am bad and my actions areevil and I know what I am .

I f people praise me , O Shirin , I am not transp or tedw i th j oy . Hidden from al l eye s , a lone by my sel f , Iknow what I am .


LXXXIII . EPITA PH

THE EMPRESS NUR JAHAN PERSIAN

On the tomb o f us poor people there wil l be ne ithera l ight nor a flower , nor the wings of a moth, nor thevoice of a nightingale .

Tr . Bar ahat

LXXXIV EPITA PH

PR INCESS Z INAT -UN -NISSA PERSIAN

I n my grave the grace of God is my only help . It

i s enough if the shadow of the cloud of mercy cover smy tomb.


MODERN INDIA

ON MAN , ON NATURE , AND ON HUMAN

LIFE

LXXXV . IN LIFE ’ S MA RKET

DH A RENDRA BALA S INGH BENGALI

The rain s have fi l led the marshlands , ye t the ricehas not been cut capi tal and intere st , al l a re l os t ; onl ymy l i fe remains . All men

, one by one , cut the ir r i cein time , fi l l ed the ir barns and so gladdened the ir hear ts .But I , l uckl e ss one , I alone was alway s about to cutmy r ice , ye t remained si t ting idle ; and oh , Har i ! ther ice was not cut . I n l ife

’

s early spr ing , al as ! I spentmy day s in play ; in spr ing I devoted mysel f t o theservice of pl easure . Thus in vani ty I have pas sed solong a time , and to-day in l i fe

’

s rains I posses s no th ingat al l . I nto thi s grea t marke t

,the world , the money

lender sen t me , giving me capital , in order that I mightgain some profi t ; now li fe

’

s ra ins have de voured al lmy r ice ; and far from gaining aught , I am near tol os ing my capital . The money lender i s harsh— howshal l I explain t o him ? Exce ssi v e r ain s have ruinedme , alack A merchant am I coming into thi s marke to f the world , I have lost both cap it al and intere st , andI go to my own l and. I know not with what face I canappear before the moneyle nder I know not what Fatehas wri tten on my brow .

1

Tr . M iss Whitehouse.

1 From the A s’

r uhana .

MODERN IND IA 81

LXXXVI . THE OCEA N

NIRUP A M A DEBI BENGALI

O thou ever changing , O re s tle ss , 0 ever dist raught ,stre tch ing out a hundred arms , dashing and breaking ,what seeke st thou

,unsatisfied What weal th hast thou

los t that thou dost search afte r , whil e thy untr anquilbreast r ise s and fal l s , break s asunder and ga ther stoge therThe litt l e ear th of cl ay rolls at thy fee t , yet, 0 fur i

ous one , thine anger foaming swells ! Lured by whatflute has Basuk i r isen from the under -world Obedie ntto what magic spel l doe s that mad one roll on in dance ,rush and breakFree from all bounds , in toxicated , royally generous ,

O thou ever free T hou wer t ever r enowned in the songof poe ts from the beginn ing. Wast thou the pr imals peech

,the fir st-born ut terance , in the world o f poetry , of

the Wor ld-Poet ? Pul sing with re s tle s s l i fe , u nceasingsounds the rain of thy migh ty utterance .

In the wor ld of the world’

s Lord ar t thou the greatfor ce that br ings to nought ? When one look s upon thee

,

as wave s break,so devotion breaks in the hear t . Deep

,

deep sounding throbs thy drum by day and nigh t .Thousands of pilgr ims come hast ing to hear tha t sound .

Ah ! at the embrace of thy wide arms they forge tdifference s of caste , and ki ss w i th great happiness andj oy . Lo ! thy love i s world-wide thou ar t l ove -drunken .

Dost thou give to mankind thy example to mingle w i thgreat loveWell- shapen i s thy youth ful form , re stl es s th y

hear t . The end o f thy dark blue s’

ar i1 gleams with a

border of whi te foam . V ishnu and Lakshmi with mir thhold fes tival in thy j ewelled pal ace . The j oy of thefe stival overflows and fi l l s thy body .

0 ever new , ever unquie t , thy wanton ge s ture s dragme al so near and make me par tner in thy dance . Covermy gloom with the stainle ss foam that my pain~wear iedhear t may enj oy the peace of heaven .

1 A n Indian lady ’ s robe .

82 POEMS BY x INDIA N WOMEN

O dear one , 0 great friend , 0 thou who ar t ever myfr iend , l e t me pain t thy p icture , fa ir and ful l of colour .I wil l weav e in to two ver ses the happine ss o f twodays ; and they , til l the hour of my death , wil l br ing tomy heart great j oy o f the Everl as t ing.

Tr . M iss Whitehouse.

LXXXVII . BA SA NTA PANCHA MP

PANK A J INI BASU BENGALI

To-day , after a year , on the sacred fi f th day ,Nature

has flung away her worn raiment,and wi th new j ewel s

,

see , with fresh buds and new shoots She has begemmedhersel f and smile s . The birds wing the ir way , s ingingwith j oy ; ah , how lovely ! The black bee hums as i f ,w i th sound of Ulu ! ulu ! he wished good for tune

‘

toNature . The s outh breeze seems to say as i t fl its fromhouse to house , To-day Binéipani

2 come s here toBengal .

”Arrayed in gu ise that would enrapture even

sage s , maid Nature has come to worship thy feet , 0prop itious one ! S ee , 0 India , at this time all pay noheed to fear of pl ague , famine , ear thquake al l put awaypai n and gr ie f and gloom ; to-day al l are drunk withpleasure . For a year Nature was waiting in hOp e forthi s day to come . Many folk in many a fash ion nowsummon thee , O white-armed one ; I al so have a mindto wor ship . Thy two fee t are red lotuse s ; but , s ay ,with wha t gi f t shal l we wor sh ip thee , 0 motherBinép

'

ani ? Ever sor rowful , ever ill - starred are wewomen of Bengal , al l of us . Yet i f thou have mercy ,thi s ut terly dependent one will wor ship thee wi th thegif t o f a s ingl e tear of devo tion shed on thy lotus fee t .Graciousl y accept that, and in mercy , O white-armedone

,grant thi s ble ss ing on my head on thi s propitious,

1 “ Sp ring fi fth is the fi fth day of the l igh t fortnight of the

month of M i gh, when Sarasvati , the goddess of letters and w isdom ,

who loves the Vi na, lute , is worshipped . The month of Mfighcorresp onds to Jannary-February .

the goddess who carries the Vina, or lute, in her hand,

POEMS BY IND IA N WOMEN

LXXXIX . PA LA N ! UIN BEA RERS

SA ROI INI NAIDU ENGLISH

L ight l y , O l igh tly we bear her along ,She sway s l ike a flower in the wind of our songShe skims l ike a bird on the foam of a s tream ,

Gaily , O gaily we gl ide and we sing,We bear her along l ike a pearl on a s tr ing.

Sof tly , O soft l y we bear her along ,She hangs l ike a star in the dew of our song ;She spr ings l ike a beam on the brow of the tide ,She fal ls l ike a tear f rom the eye of a br ide .L ightly , O l igh tl y we gl ide and we sing,We bear her along l ike a pearl on a s tr ing .

XC . THE DEVOTEE 1MAq mARI BENGALI

I seek the lo f ty hear t of the grea t . Give me nottreasure of pearl s and j ewel s , O God . I desi re not dominion in thi s wor ld , nor honour . I f I gain the hear tI des ire , I wil l pou r out my l i fe , worth le ss though it be ,a nd wil l be g manhood , the greates t th ing of al l . I

worship a hear t , a hear t wor thy of worship .

I seek a hear t simple as a l ittle child’

s . Hi s lips arefi l l ed with guile les sne ss . Artless are hi s words . Heknows not how to humour men with var ious device s .Open is his hear t , open his mind . Forgetful of sel f ,hi s l ove well s up from his whole hear t . I seek a simpleand heavenly hear t .

I seek a hear t en trancing and beauti ful , pure as thesun at dawn , sof t a s bl ossoms , swee t as the breeze ofspr ing or the pap iya

’

s song ; in joy l ike the autumnmoon ; profound as the fa thomles s sea ; ful l as a l akethat i s fi l led to the br im in the rains . I seek a hearten trancing and beauti ful .

I s eek the l oving hear t of one who love s ; whoalway s love s other s , and in the hope of others

’

happine ss

1 From Kai/ya Kushumafiiali .

MODERN IND IA 85

ever den ie s himsel f and give s himsel f . When he thinksof a sufferer tear s s tream from his eye s, and a tempe stof love ever rushe s through h is hear t . He feel s al l menhis ki n ; the un iver se is hi s home ; by giv ing himsel fhe secure s the wel fare of the world .

Tr . M iss Whitehouse .

XCI. IN THE LIGHTMRS . KAM INI Rov BENGALI

We are indeed childre n of L igh t . What an e ndles smart goe s on in the L igh t . In the L igh t i s our S l eepingand wak ing

,the play of our l i fe and death .

Beneath one great canopy , in the r ay of one greatsun

,sl owl y , very slowly , bur n the unnumbered l amps

of l ife .I n the midst of thi s unending L ight I lose mysel f ;

amidst th i s in tolerable radiance I wander l ike one bl ind .

We are indeed chi ldren of L igh t . Why then do wefear when we see the L ight ? Come , l e t u s l ook allaround and see

,here no man hath cau se for any fear .

In this boundless ocean of L ight , i f a tiny lamp goesout , l e t i t go ; who can say that it w il l no t burn again ?


XC II . THE VISIBLE

PRIY A M EA DA DEBI BENGALI

Dearest , I know that thy body is but trans i tory th a tthe k indled l i fe , thy Shining eye s , Shall be quenched bythe touch of death , I know that this thy body

,the

meeting -place of all beauty , in see ing which I count myl ife well - l ived , shal l become but a heap of bones

,I

know . Ye t I l ove thy body . Day by day afres hthrough i t have I sati sfied a woman

’

s love and de s ir eby ser v ing thy fee t and worshipping thee . On day s ofgood omen I have decked thee with a flower - gar l and ;on day s of woe I have wiped away with my s

‘

ar z‘

end thytears of gr ie f. O my lord , I know tha t thy soul is w i th


the Everl as tin g One , ye t waking suddenly some nigh tsI have wept in l oneline ss , think in g how thou dids t dr iveaway my fear , clasping me to thy breas t . And so Icount thy body as the chie f goal of my love

,a s very

heavenf

Tr . M iss White/muse.

XC III . A CKNOWLEDGEMENT

NIRUPA M A DEBI BENGALI

Thee among al l men do I honour ;Thee among all men do I know .

LO ! in the beau ty o f al l thee do I see .

In the mou th of al l I have heard,I have heard

The sweet voice of thy l ips .

Thee th is t ime I have sought and foundThee amongst all do I Wor sh ipLo ! I for al l have give n my l ife .

To the work o f all amongst al lI have devo ted my heart . 2

Tr . Al iss Whitehouse.

XC IV . REMEMBRA NCE

PRIY A M EA DA DEEI BENGALI

To-day I shal l no t indulge in lovers’

quarrel s .I shall not open the ledger and cal cul ate debit and credi t .Onl y , once again , I shall fi l l my hear t wi th remembranceof thee .

3

Tr . M i ss White/muse.

XCV . IMMORTA LITY

PRIY AM BA DA DEBI BENGALI

The union which remains incomple te in l i fe wil l becomple ted af te rwards in the unknown world. That i s

1 From the Patr alehha .

1 From the Kanyadhup .

1’ From the Patr alehha .

MODERN INDIA 87

the h0 pe with which I have made s trong my hear t ;and so , when the even ing sun se t s i n u t ter sti l lnes s , Isay to my hear t, worn wi th grie f of separa tion :

“O

gr ie f- s tr icken , take courage . Yonder has passed a daywithout un ion . S ee , i t has brough t s til l o ne daynearer the meetin g with my bel oved .

”1


XCVI . A WOMA N 'S BEA UTY

SRI SARASVATI DEVI H INDI

Round the black eyes are eyebrows l ook ing l ike a b ow .

They are not fr ightened a t all , and they shoo t the i rarr ows with cer ta i nty .

S ee ing the precious ear - rings wi th pearls and beauti fu lse t tings ,

Even the moon w ith al l the s tar s is fi l l ed with shame .

I cannot descr ib e the be auty of the lip s , cheeks , tee thand nose ,

Even S esh Nzilg ,

2 see ing the beauti ful ha ir , s ighsdeeply .

XCVII . A LOVER ’ S FEA R

BAHU BEGAM URDU

At night , when we me t ,I wished to gaze a t her

(She i s envied even by the moonAnd then thi s fear arose ,Ah , She is del ica te :

She may be crushedBy the burden of my ador ing l ooks

Tr . M . HedayetHosain .

1 From the Patr alehha .

The thousand-headed snake of heaven .


XCVIII . THE LIVING DOLL

PANK A J INI BASU BENGALI

Look , She i s a l iving dol l . As the fru i t of athousand bir th s , as reward for a thousand auster itie s , shehad favour on us at break of day and came . Towelcome her the dawn maide n with swif t hands madebl ossom and bud to flower ; when they heard that shewould come to ear th , the swee t S inging birds carol ledwelcome with dul ce t vo ice ; the morning breeze saidso f tly to al l men , Ther e comes to ear th a flower fromhea v en .

Look,she i s a l i v ing doll . Three months and s ix

day s ago She came to the dwelling of men ; and evento -day she i s we ighed down with ince ssant sl eep . Sheknow s not day and night ; tears , j oy , l ove , laughter areal l unknown ; the maid is wi thout consciousness , without error . Ye t her own folk come running to her eachmoment l ike bee s cove tous of honey . When sheburs ts in to laughter , al l laugh too . What l imitl es spower is in her l i t t l e hear t !What a l iving doll She is ! At the fragrance of

her body al l the world smile s ; Sephéliké and bakulflowers shower down abashed . In her baby babblewhat music pours for th ; in al l the world where i s i t sl ike When r i shi s

1 and sages see the moon of heavenshine upon her face , the ir hear ts are moved withi nthem .

Look,she is a l iving dol l . All day long with

fascinated,unbl ink ing eyes , I l ook , ye t the stin g of

unsa tis faction is wi thin me . Love or j oy she has takenaway

,poe try and memory too ; she has snatched away

my whole hear t . Whenever I go anywhere , in amoment I come back and l ook . In tru th she has mademe a mechanical doll . Without her the wor ld isempty ; vice and vir tue I forge t . Ble ssed is thypower

,and thy gl ory incomparable .


See p . 1 5 .

MODERN IND IA 89

XCIX . OUR CA SUA RINA TREE

TORU Dur r ENGLISH

L ike a huge Py thon , winding round and roundThe rugged trunk , indented deep w ith scar sUp to i t s very summi t near the s tar s ,

A creeper cl imbs , i n whose embrace s boundNo o ther tree could l ive . But gallan tly

The giant wears the scar f , and flowers are hungIn cr imson clusters al l the boughs among ,Whereo n al l day are gathered bird and bee

And oft a t night s the garden overflowsWith one swee t song that se ems to have no close ,Sung darkl ing from our tree , while men repose .

When fi r st my casement is wide open thrownAt dawn , my eye s del ighted on i t res tS ometimes , and most i n winter , - on i ts cre s t

A grey baboon s i t s statue - l ike aloneWatching the sunri se whil e on lower boughs

His puny offs pr ing leap about and playAnd far and near kokilas hail the dayAnd to the ir pas tures wend our Sleepy cows ;

And in the shadow , on the broad tank cas tBy that hoar tree , so beauti ful and vast ,The water -l il ie s Spr ing, l ike snow enmassed.

But not because of i ts magnificenceDear i s the Casuarina to my soulBeneath i t we have played ; though year s may

0 swee t companions , l oved w ith love intense ,For your sakes , shal l the tre e be ever dear

Bl en t w ith your image s,i t shal l ar is e

In memory , t ill the hot tear s blind mine ey e sWhat i s that dirge- l ike murmur that I hear

L ike the sea break ing on a shi ngle -beach ?

I t i s the tree'

s l ament,an eer ie speech ,

That haply to the unknown land may re ach .

Unknown , yet well -known to the ey e o f faithAh , I have heard tha t wail f ar , far away

90 POEMS BY INDIAN WOMEN

In di s tant l ands, by many a shel tered bay ,When slumbered in h is cave the water-wrai th

,

And the wave s gentl y k is sed the cl ass ic shoreO f France o r I taly , beneath the moon ,When earth l ay tranced i n a dreamle s s swoonA nd every time the mus ic rose

,— before

Mine inner v i s ion rose a form subl ime,

Thy form , 0 T ree , as in my happy pr imeI saw thee , in my own l oved native cl ime .

There fore I fa in would conse crate a l ayUnto thy honour , Tree , be l oved of thoseWho now in bl es sed Sl eep , for aye , repose .

Dearer than li fe to me , al as were they !Mays t thou be number ed when my day s are done

With deathle ss trees— l ike those in Bor rowdal e ,Under whose awful branches l inger ed pal e

Fear , trembl ing Hope , and Death , the ske le ton ,And Time the shadow and though weak the verseThat would thy beauty fain , oh fain rehearse ,May Love de fe nd thee from Obl ivion

’

s cur se .

C . SITATORU DUTT ENGLISH

Three happy children i n a darkened roomWhat do they gaze on with wide-Open eyesA dense , dense fore st , where no sunbeam pr ie s ,And in its ce ntre a clear ed spot — There bloomGigant ic flower s on creeper s that embraceT al l trees there , i n a quie t , lucid l akeThe white swans gl ide there whirr i ng from thebrake

The peacock spr ings there , herds o f w ild deer raceThere patches gleam with yellow waving grainThere blue smoke from strange al tar s r ises l igh t ,There dwel l s in peace the poet-anchori te .

But who is th is fai r l ady Not in vainShe weeps

,— fo r 1 0 ! at every tear she sheds ,

Tears from three pair s of young eyes fal l amain ,And bowed in sorrow are the three young heads .

92 POEMS BY INDIAN WOMEN

now far spent . Open thou thy door of mercy . My r af to f l i fe dr i ft s on the boundle ss ocean .

1

Tr . M iss White/muse .

C II. WILL YOU NOT LOOK BA CK ?

MRS . KAMINI ROY BENGALI

When they saw him on the road , many in scor npassed by on the other S ide some mocking pushed himwith the ir foot and went the ir way ; other s came nearand poured ou t abuse , and havin g added pain to pain ,departed .

What ! i s ther e not in th i s world One sorrow inghear t , a tear or two , for a human being fallen ? Him ,

fal len on the way and hel pless , they trample under footand go by . I s there none to stre tch out loving hands ?

I t i s true that his fee t s l i pped by his own faul t ;and so y ou wil l k ick h im on the head , and al l wil l bedea f to the sound o f h i s di stre ss , each going his ownway . Wil l y ou no t look back

Lamp in hand , he Wen t , not alone ; on the way thel igh t went out

,and so he fel l ; wil l you not in mercy

take his hand and ra ise h im up ? Wil l you not pause forhim one hal f moment , f r iends

Le t him kindle h i s lamp from your own l ights ; l e thim go forward holding your hands i f y ou pass , l eav ingh im i n the mud in darknes s , he will always remainplunged in the blackne ss o f n ight .


C III . CA LL A ND BRING HER

MRS . KAM INI ROY BENGALI

She went on th e wrong way ; she has come backagain ; afar off she stands , her head bowed down W i thshame and fear she does not s tep forward , She canno t

1 From the Madhab i .

MODERN IND IA 93

rai se her eyes , -

go near , take her hand, cal l her andbring her .

To -day turn not your face away in silent reproachto-day le t eye s and words be fi l led wi th the nectar o flove . What good will come from pour ing scorn on thepas t ? Think of her dark future , take her by th e handand br ing her .

Les t for l ack of love this shamed soul fl ing awayrepentance , br ing her , cal l and bring her . She hascome to give her se l f up ; bind her fas t with lov ing arms ;i f she goe s to-day , what i f She never comes again ?

By one day’

s neglect , one day’

s contempt and anger ,you will lose a l ife for ever . Do you no t purpo se to

give l ife ? Neglect i s a poisoned arrow with sor rowing pardon bring her , cal l and br i ng her .


CIV . THE TREE OF LIFETORU DUTT ENGLISH

Broad day l i ght , with a sen se of wear ines sM ine eyes were cl osed , but I was not aslee p ,M y hand was i n my fa ther

’

s , and I fel tH is pre sence near me . Thus we often passedI n s ilence hour by hour . What was the needOf interchanging words when every thoughtThat in our hearts arose , was known to each ,And ever y pul se kep t time ? Suddenl y there shoneA s trange l ight , and th e scene as sudden Changed .

I was awake — It was an open plain ,I l l imitable , — s tre tching , str e tching , — oh , so farAnd o

’

er i t tha t s trange l ight , a glorious l ightL ike that the stars shed o v er fie lds of snowIn a clear , cloudless , frosty winter ni gh t ,Only inte nser , in it s br i l l iance calm .

And in the midst of that vas t plain , I saw ,

For I was wide awake , - it was no dream ,

A tree w ith Spreading branche s and with l eave sO f diver s k inds , - dead silver and live gold,Shimmer ing in radiance that no words may te l l

POEMS BY INDIAN WOMEN

Beside the tree an Angel s tood ; he pluckedA few smal l spray s , and bound them round my head.

Oh , the del icious touch of those s trange leaves !No longer throbb ed my brows , no more I fel tThe fever in my l imbs And oh ,

"I cr ied ,

Bind , too , my father’

s f orehead wi th these l eav es .

One lea f the Angel took and therewith touchedHis forehead , and then gently whispered , Nay !Never , oh never had I see n a faceMore beauti ful than that Angel

’

s , or more ful lO f holy p ity and of l ove divine .

Wonder ing I l ooked awhile , — then all a t onceOpened my tear-dimmed eye s— when l o ! the l igh tWas gone— the l ight as of the star s wh en snowLie s deep upon the ground. No more , no more ,Was seen the Angel

’

s face . I onl y foundMy father watching patien t by my bed ,And holding in his own , close -pres t , my hand .

CV . STILL BA RRED THY DOORSA RU DUTT ENGLISH

St ill barred thy door s ! The far east glows ,The morning wind bl ow s fr e sh and free .

Should not the hour th a t wakes the roseAwaken also thee

A ll look for thee , Love , L igh t and Song,L ight i n the sky deep red above ,

Song in the l ark of p in ion s tr ong ,And in my heart , true Love .

Apar t we mis s our nature’

s goal ,Why str i v e to cheat our destinie s ?

Was not my love made for thy soul ?Thy beauty for mine eye s ?

No longer sleep ,Oh

,l is ten now !

I wai t and weep ,But where ar t thou ?

1

1 F rom A Sheaf C leaned in Fr ench Fields .


The relat ionship of husband and wife is full of love,

yea, i t is al l pure l ove . The fragrant , cool w ind o fl ove fi l ls the ir whole world .

Those are called husband and wi fe who have one

soul , though the ir bodies and feel i ngs be divided .

T hey are l ike two wheel s in the car t of l i fe ; andvainly wil l one tr y to draw i t w i thout the help o f theother .Where this i s not so , l i fe i s but wearisome . Apar t

from his wi fe , a husband is l ame ; and so is she apar tfrom him .

When o il and w ick combine , the flame leaps up ; so ,in the exper ience of the world , union al one i s po tent .

Tr . B . K . Uz gar e and Ai r s .

CVIII . C RA DLE SONG

SA ROJ INI NAIDU ENGLISH

From grove s of spice,

O’

er fields of r ice,

A thwart the l otus - stream,

I br ing for you ,Agl int with dew ,

A l i tt l e , lovely dream .

Swee t , shut your eyes ,The wild firefl iesDance through the fai ry neem

From the poppy -boleFor you I s toleA l i ttl e l ove l y dream .

Dear ey e s , good nigh t ,In golden l ightThe s tars around you gleam

On you I - pres sWith sof t care ssA l i t tl e lovely dream .

MODERN IND IA 97

CIX . THE EN LIGHTENER 1

SA ROJA BAL A (DA s GUPTA ) SEN BENGALI

Oh ! Who is th is , enwrapped in brooding night ,L ie s lul l ed asleep , ye t momently ap ar tRends the black vapours of His sea t , men

’

s hear t ,A nd thr il l s the dark with sple ndour , l ike the l ightOf hol y dawn

’

s far-roll ing char iot br ight

Who , ri sen out o f s l eep , with pi t y ing gazeLook s on the sense l es s comrade at hi s s ide

,

A pri soner in death’

s meshes trapped and t ied ?

Then— He , the passionle s s — from that amaz eSpr ings , with redeeming pass ion se t abl aze

He stoops , and with those burn ing l ips , whose k issEnl ightenment and s trength and hal l ow ing g ive s ,S tar tle s the sl eep ing form ! The dead one l ivesIn lov e ince ssan t , acti ve , Who is thisTha t make s the awakened dr ink of l i fe and bl iss ?

Unwear ied , but withou t des ireIns atia te , but w i thout the gnawing fir eO f hunger

,Him the wor ld

’

s vain mask enth rallsThe phantom noise of its il lusion cal l s not .

In Him no par ts are found ;No body locks Him round .

He by compul s ion draws none nay , nor oneThat s eeke th H im would shun.

Oppos ing none , re si s ti ng none , He sti l lBear s gi f ts for those who wil l ;I n l i fe on l i fe the E ter nal Witne ss s tands ,Enl ightenment and freedom in h is hands .

Tr . Edwar d J . Thampson .

1 This extract is really two poems , occurring in differentparts of Basanta P r ayana . The second part is the answer to the

first .


CX . BE NOT DISMA YEDELLEN GOREH ENGLISH

By love all others servi ngThough love

’

s reward be painFrom duty never swerving ,When Love

’

s commands are pl ain .

Look up in Love’

s Face only ,Le t thi s thy comfor t be ,Love will no t leave thee lonely ,Love g r eatly love th thee .

Thus upward , upward gaz ingWi thout a doubt or fear ,Live in His l ove amaz ingTo whom thou ar t so dear .

Love’

s yoke shal l never grieve thee ,Love

’

s burden i s so l ight .Love

’

s word cannot dece ive theeLove S hope wil l cheer thy sight .

Love’

s cross then bravel y bear ing ,Love

’

s crown upon thy head ,Love

'

s pre cious badge aye wear ing ,Love

’

s banner o’

er thee spread.

Go onward , onward s inging ,Upon thy j oy ful wayThy happy prai se s bringi ngTo Love

’

s h igh Thfone each day .

Poems by Indian Women - Forgotten Books

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