Poems & Paintings
original manuscripts
Sravan
The sky shivers with the swing of rains
the rain drip-dropdrenching the visionary world
O grace . O thunderous grace, quench the cosmic thirst
In the rice field, the festival song is on
In the roots, the swing of the rains
Towards their rock the pilgrims move
their shoulders heavy with the sacrosanct water
Pouring water - Sravan takes a shower
Once again the song of desire for grain
The rock has been washed by many monsoons.
translated from Bengali by Amlan Dasgupta
Sravan is related to harvest and fertility. In this month, a large section of people do some ritual- carrying water on their shoulders & travel for 45/50 KM to pour the water on the god Shiva. Shiva is the god of fertility and harvest, his image the elongated, round black stone called "Linga". In the poem, I thought to put it like the grains have hardened & taken the form of the stone or"Linga".
There are many songs on Sravan - classical, folk & modern, some of them continuing for ages as part of rituals.
Diana Magallon, Mexico
Stop you traveler
Stop you traveler
If you were born in Gourabanga
If you've heard padavali mangala
Panchali prasadi Madhu Rabindra
Stop for a moment
If you were born in the land of floods, drought and good
harvest
You'll say language is all around you. . .
Language is simmering inside you
Bangla bhasha
Whenever you want to say my Bhasha
You're losing voice hands and tongue
Stop, traveler, stop for a moment
Say, hope is the mother tongue.
translated by Khandokar Ashraf Hossain
"Darao Pathik" [Stop you traveler].
Notes: Gourabanga= Ancient Bengal ; Bhasha=language ; Padabali, Mangal, Panchali = medieval poetic forms of Bengal ; Prasadi=Originated from poet Ramprasad Sen, 18th century ; Madhu=Poet Michel Madhusudan Dutt 19th century.
original manuscripts
Paintings
Anjan Sen (born 1951) is a poet and painter living in Calcutta, India. He writes poems and essays in Bengali, edits a Bengali journal of literary theory, "Gangeo Pottro" and is a casual painter in tempera.
He has 7 collections of poems and 7 collections of essays in Bengali.
