Is it an offence to be born here?
Telugu Original: Dr Darla Venkateswara Rao
English rendering: Dr V.V.B. Rama Rao
If anyone is talking about birth
Down my spine runs a shiver
As to how many theories are extant,
About the birth of the universe, I don't know
But there is just one for my birth here
Hereditarily, those of my very caste
Being wives of god,
I becoming an item of luxury of the land owners,
Titillating and enchanting the proprietors' heart-minds
Becoming prey to their consuming passion
Being crushed and crumpled as a 'matangi'
While all go on reciting myths about their birth
I too, dragging some Poleramma or some Pochamma
To the village court on the stone dais
I feel like making those deities stand testimony
As to who fathered me: who fathered each of my offspring.
I feel like making those deities give testimony
As to who was born to whom.
Even so, it's my doubt:
Except those born of the feet of those great males
Youth of others wouldn't be palatable for those gods?
(Note: Purusha Sookta, a description of Virat Purusha, the Supreme Being has this:
braahmaNOya mukhamaaaseet bahoo rajanya kritah
uuruu tadasya yadvysyah padbhaagyagam shudrO ajayata
The poem questions as to why the youth of matangis, stated as born from the feet of God, alone would be palatable to those gods and landlords. Poleramma and Pochamma are folk deities. )
IS IT AN OFFENSE TO BE BORN HERE?
Telugu Original: Dr Darla Venkateswara Rao
English rendering: Dr J.Bheemaiah
I feel a shiver down my spine
If any comments on my birth
I don’t know how many theories exist
To show the birth of the universe
But, there exists single premise
It is the women of my caste folk
Who are hereditarily made
To be their mistresses
For the feudalists
I am a sexual object
I am destined
Only to amuse their heart
I am a prey to their sexual thirst;
I have been crushed as Mathangi for centuries
About their birth
The puranas are piously recited
I too feel like dragging pochamma or poleramma[1]
On to the racchabanada[2]
To grill them to declare
To whom I was born, and
Who was born of me through whom.
For one thing I am in doubt:
Except those born of the feet of the gentry
Will not those gods taste the ‘youth’ of others?
Notes:
(1. Poleramma/Pochamma: The village deities worshipped by the dalits
2. Racchabanda: A round platform constructed in the heart of the village
where disputes resolved
Mathangi: A woman from a lower caste is also known as Mathangi, Basvini or Jogini . In the name of the village deity, she is thrown open for marriage with anyone coming forward to take her in marriage. Already married dominant upper castes use her satisfy their sexual thirst. They never treat them as their wives of their own caste. Rather they keep as mistresses. In that way almost all people take advantage of the nature her marriage and sexually exploit her.
‘I’ in the poem personifies as Mathangi. No gender confusion here as you expresses at one of the places.)
తెలుగు మూలం:
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అంతా తమపుట్టుక గురించి
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