Ayyanar Waits For A Year Poem by Ramesh Iyengar
Ayyanar Waits For A Year
Ayyanar waits for a Year
God Ayyanar stands with a sickle and spear,
right outside the village limits.
Each Aadi Tamil month,
a set of pilgrims throng there.
Men, women and young adolescents.
sacrifice a goat, make sweet pongal,
break a coconut, show camphor flame
decorate Ayyanar with coloured, unscented flowers,
men chat money matters,
women spread rumours,
children play hide and seek under banyan tree,
till dusk brings darkness, telling them to leave,
packing up every tiny thing, they leave in a hired vehicle,
men leave garbage, leave unclean wastes.
Now, God Ayyanar is alone, uncared, unattended
looking at nothing, to wait for another Aadi month,
to bring his devotees again….
- - S. Ramesh
the two extremes of human attention.. one of complete devotion, attention, presence, cleanliness, offerings and the other of forgetting the minute the back is turned, neglect, littering, garbage .. seen in most temple gatherings in rural India.. but I didn't know that goat sacrifices are still done.. I thought sacrificial ceremonies were more more symbolic.. thanks for sharing
It is human tendency to worship god and promise a lot of offerings as if to barter some specific favors in return. It is with this mindset people throng to worship Ayyangar on specific days and dispersing there after leaving the deity alone. But how the God, creator of the universe can be left in solitary condition by mortal human beings? Nice poem, throwing light on human tendencies/psyche. Thanks for sharing.10 points.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/26/2024 9:47:37 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Thought provoking poem.How lonely is the God who got so valuable offerings and left alone after people have gone? This feeling of being left is rally painful.Thanks for sharing the beautiful poem.- - - - - - - -10