Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy
A bonded labourer was my grandfather
Leaving the cattle at the tank bund
He gathered some water in cupped hands and drank
The news spread through the village
That the tank was defiled
Caste men threw him to the haystacks in flames
And burnt him alive
Unable to bear the burden of the burnt ashes
Mother earth sobbed in lightning and thunder
Then the Lord of the sky poured down as rain
And soothed her
Then was born my father
As cinder was covered in ashes
A bonded labourer was my father
Like his father, craving for a son like him
He prayed standing on his head and stretched his
Hands to the courtyard of the temple
The news spread through the village
That the God was defiled
Caste men lit fire to the hut
The skeleton of my sleeping father inside
Was burnt alive
Unable to bear the burden of the burnt ashes
Mother earth wept and cried, sobbing in earthquakes
The sea rushed in a deluge, soothing her and
Then was I born, a volcano
Now they can’t burn me,
They burn themselves trying to grab me
Because I have turned into
The letter that burns the ignorance,
A witness for the deathless truth
~~~
Translated from the Kannada original by the poet