Poem by Sudhakar Gaidhani
SIXTEEN YOGINIS OF KHAJURAHO
An excerpt from epic poem
“SHADOWS OF YOGINIS DREAMS”
Shunning sixteen pleasures, juicy like dates,
Depicted in Khajuraho sculptures,
They were bathing in a sacred pool
Wearing holy strings of tulsi beads
Their shadows charged with
The vibrancy of youth
Their bodies ever agile
With the fluttering of newness
Those luminous foreheads
That make a full moon night jealous
Those curves of bosom
That can madden the moon
Those pink flushed lips
Smeared with fragrance of roses
Those beauteous daughters of spring
Adorned with hermit’s glory
Those swan-like beauties clad in white
Wearing wooden shoes of ascetics
Reliquaries tied to their waists
Their kohl black hair untied.
Fair complexioned, smiling faces
Foreheads smeared with blessed ash
The modesty of these enchantresses
humbles the wood devoted to Shiva.
These female ascetics have turned away
From the worldly attractions
Starting a journey from human union
In search of Divine union, a non-place.
These tender women like new stars
Carry begging bowls in their hands
These seductive sculptures of Khajuraho
sing solemn hymns of initiation.
In the evening, holding brass lamps alit,
Aiming to capture attention of restless lasses
Someone blows Shiva conches
Some other plays a single string instrument.
The women pass through a wood of attractions
dense in Spring’s waxing moon night with seedy layers
They swiftly rebuke such attempts
to seduce them and walk away .
(Translator’s internationally published poetry works-
POETRY AND PRECINCTS
Blurb-by Sergio Julian De Oliveira,American Actor-theater activist and Spanish Poet, USA.
(Three Marathi poetry collections)
Translated from original Marathi by internationally published poetess BHARATI BIRJE- DIGGIKAR (India)
ATUNIS GALAXY POETRY 