Where the doors are decorated with mango leaves
Where the houses are ornamented with little flaming oil lamps
In that country a woman is still a slave
Where Sita entered the fire to prove her fidelity
Where Ahilya was turned to stone for Indra's lust
Where Draupadi was fractured to serve five husbands
In that country a woman is still a slave
Where a woman's identity fades like nature's blossoms
Where delicate jewels of emotion are trampled under a heel
Where free birds of dreams are scorned
In that country a woman is still a slave
Where the sky-flowers of desire must be left to float down the river
Where the threatening force of a woman's mind must be buried in the earth
Where the silvery moonlight of happiness must be poured into a jar of darkness
In that country a woman is still a slave
Where a woman in her youth is dried up by tradition
she is confined all her life like a stunted tree
she remains in the shadow of someone else's light
In that country a woman is still a slave
In that country where women are still slaves
The conflagration starts in the house of flowers
The festival of lordship is celebrated with joy but
The stories of all that are recited with pain
To be a born a woman is unjust
To be a born a woman is unjust.
Hira Bansode is a major dalit poet whose famous poems include "Yashodhara". The above poem was translated by S.K. Thorat and Eleanor Zelliot. Source: Images of women in Maharastrian Literature and Religion.
Tags: Hira Bansode