Massacre Of The Innocents Poem by Meena Kandasamy

indra, chief vedic deity and
inspirational hate-monger.

indra, who went to work
inside diti's womb, afraid
she would mother the other,
the demons...
indra who butchered
her fetus into forty-nine bits,
so that, as the legend goes, they
were reborn as wailing winds.

indra. indra. narindra.
the hindu god of war.

herod merely chopped up male kids
in bethlehem, hitler only gassed
jewish infants in germany, and
the peacekeepers just dipped
tamil babies in boiling tar
in eelam...
but indra indra narendra alone
perfected this science of slaughter,
killing children of the other
before they were even
born.

indra. indra. narendra.
the genocidal god of gods.