Amita Ray
Petrified in fateful curse
Ahalya withstood disembodied obscurity
Once a paragon of beauty
One among the five legendary virgins
Cringes in dust, a non-entity
Counting centuries, awaiting liberation
At the fabled touch of the Lord’s feet.
Crafted by Brahma, the epitome of beauty
Nurtured and tended in sage Gautama’s grace
She grew up to be wedded to the foster ascetic;
Seduced by lascivious Indra
The undue wrath of Gautama on her befell
Thousands of year’s ignominy biting earth’s crust
In malediction to bear-
An unfair patriarchal fissure came to the fore
None by her side to plead her guiltless.
The lava of agony smouldered in her feminine frame
Metamorphosed her to the core
A weather beaten faceless boulder she stands for ages
No saviour to liberate her
None pauses to her call for justice
Pulverized in eternal wait
Ahalya scorches in an epic curse.
Ahalya- In Hindu mythology she is the disciple and wife of sage Gautama. She was seduced by Indra and cursed by her husband Gautama to turn into a stone.
Brahma- One of the principal deities of Hinduism.
Indra- An ancient deity of the Vedic times in Hinduism.
Amita Ray is former associate professor in English of a college residing in Kolkata,India. An academic of varied interests she is a Translator, Short Story writer and Poet. She has published two volumes in Translations of noted Bengali authors into English. Her latest publication is a collection of short stories titled TRAIL OF LOVE AND LONGINGS. She has a passion for writing poems and has been widely published in various anthologies, journals and e-zines of national and international repute.
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