Found yesterday on a trip to the British Museum

[annwfyn]

A Poem To Kali


Who is this,

Dressed like a crazy woman,

Robed with the sky?

Whom does she belong to?

She has let down Her hair,

Thrown off Her clothes,

Strung human hands around Her waist,

And taken a sword in her hand.



Extract from a poem by Kamalakanta Bhattacarya translated by Rachel Fell McDermott


Isn't it gorgeous?

Comments

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

It is rather nice :)

Do I get points taken off my total for failing to notice the title until the third reading, or added because I recognised Kali anyway?

[molez.livejournal.com]

It just reads as a bit odd to me, mainly because of a girl I knew called Kali.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I think the hindu goddess was called Kali first. :p

[adze.livejournal.com]

There was one poem I found in the Japanese section, that I really liked:

The fuselage shakes the body
Vibrations of the wall
The propeller hauls up the whole body
Piercing the air
Piercing the air
Intellect controls the impassioned will"

Annoyingly, the photo I took isn't clear enough for me to give the writer or translator.

[molez.livejournal.com]

I concede that point (though somewhat begrudgingly) the Kali I new was older than me though...

[astro-dust.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's so appropriate for a poem to Kali to sound so incredulously baffled but awed at the same time.. :P

[xambrius.livejournal.com]

Whom could I fear in the universe where my Mother is matriarch?
I live with perfect ease upon her estate,
indivisible awareness and bliss.
I am her direct tenant
free from formality and hierarchy.

There is no payment of rent for this sanctuary,
this garden of nonduality,
its value beyond assessment by the mind,
nor can my sacred abode be sold at auction
for there are no owners and nothing to own.

The manager of Mother's holdings, Lord Śiva:, transcends every limited conception and transaction.
There is no disharmony or injustice here for there is no division, no separation.
Mother does not impose the heavy tax of religious obligation.
My only responsibility of stewardship is constant inward remembrance,
eternally breathing Kālī, Kālī, Kālī.

This mad poet lover, born directly from Divine Mother,
cherishes one consuming desire:
to purchase her diamond paradise of delight
with the boundless treasure of pure love
and give it away freely to all beings.

Rāmprasād Sen, Bengali Poet (1718-1775)
--
Tim Harris
The Seeker
Time Lord

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

She represents the Mother of Wands in the Haindl tarot deck.

It's a gorgeous deck.

[cryx]

Yes, that is really gorgeous.