Kanyadaan (The Departure Of The Bridal Daughter) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Kanyadaan
(The Departure of The Bridal Daughter)

Preface

Actually I had no desire of putting the poems into an order calling them Kanyadaan poems, a poetical series dealing with the poems of this sort of filial love, sympathy, affection and bonding, but put it before for a wider readership as I could not resist them, as I had done earlier to most of my poetic corpus lying unpublished. Whatever be that the cause of inspiration, I am putting it before for your perusal if there is something in them to read. Some of the poems included in it, arranged and re-arranged are with both Hindi and English versions.

Though it is a poem of some Hindu wedding ritual done at the time of the marriage or may it about the kanyadaan of any other girl, be it of a Muslim tradition, a Christian tradition or an aboriginal tradition, be it a grand Indian wedding or a poor wedding, the daughter is but a daughter, the bride is but a bride, someone's daughter going to another one's home to adjust and live with whatever be the conditions and situations or whatsoever be it in destiny. Man proposes, God disposes is the thing. But without being attentive of all that, let us bless the daughter given to.

In my Kanyadaan one may find the undercurrent of my poems dealing with the dark daughter, girl bride, flesh trade, woman trafficking, domestic violence and bruise and dowry matters. There may be the pictures of Devadasis and Nautch girls, Nagakanyas and Vishakanyas; there may be something of statements made about the better halves of the great men which I have dealt with. Bharat Ki Garib Bitia is another set of poems. The pain of Patita I have not forgotten it. I have not also the Indian widow and her inhuman restrictions. Sabrimala too twitches me sometimes. There is something of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Sylvia Plath's Daddy and William Wordsworth's Lucy Gray in it.

My Bride

My bride
Dressed in a red Benarasi silk sari
Satin-brocaded
In sixteen make-ups, dress-ups
Will come to my house
My bride
In necklace, vermillion,
Ear-rings, nose-ring, bracelets,
Lockets, arm-bands, anklets,
Waist-band, sandals,
Myrtled, coloured
And with the jasmines
Into the braid of the hair
And perfumed
Will come,
Come to my house,
A celestial damsel,
A rose maiden,
A dream girl coming
To my house!

Just like a doll,
A painted lady,
A bespangled, bespectacled
Blonde, beauty
Standing before me,
A fairy!


The Small Girl You Are Taking Away As A Bride


The small girl you are taking away as a bride,
Showing the dreams of a better living and companionship,
Have you looked behind,
Where are they taking her to,
Taking the oath,
Promising a better life,
Have you thought about,
Are they not taking her away to sell out,
To ruin her blossoming life?

O, where are they, where are they taking away
The little daughter of mine,
To which village,
Sitting her on a bullock cart
And the cartman taking her away,
Away and away from her home,
Crossing the fields and fallows,
Woods and hamlets!

A small girl she is going in her own delight,
In the delight and dream of her own,
But she feeling sad and broken
As being separated from,
Growing homesick and nostalgic,
Tears drops welling up in
And falling down,
The collyrium of the eyes
Melting.

There comes a stage when the bullock cart traverses the river bed
Near the hamlets and thorps,
The small-small boys and girls half-clothed and half-fed
Continue to be after for a while,
All those clumsy and dirty village children,
With the tooth broken,
Somebody without the shirt,
Someone with the buttonless shorts,
Holding them and running.

The Girl Bride

On the bullock-cart
The girl bride is going
In sixteen shringaras.

Your Lovely Daughter

Call her not a debt or a burden,
She is but a gift of the replica of Lakshmi
By God.

Your lovely daughter who calls you with love papa
is but a God-gifted rarer gem
Which you have got in her.

Kanyadaan/ The Gifting Of A Daughter

Kanyadaan,
Mahadaan,
Ho jaanei diiye,
Vyavadhan mat kijiye,
Ek abalaa dana saman,
Jiski bhi kanya ho,
Kanyadaan,
Mahadaan.


The gifting of a daughter
A great dana,
Let it happen,
Do not disrupt it,
Just like the meek gifting,
Whoever's daughter be she,
The gifting of a daughter,
A great dana.


Kanyadaan--II/ The Gifting Of A Daughter--II

Kanyadaan,
Mahadana,
Ho janei dijiyei,
Baadha mat upasthita karei,
Kanyadaan,
Mahadana,
Esase bdhakar koi dana nahi,
E kabala ka dana hai.

The gifting of a daughter,
A great gift,
Let it take place,
Do not disrupt it,
The gifting of a daughter,
A great gift,
There is no greater gifting than this,
A meek and dumb creature's gift.

Kanyadaan (Ritual)

Kanyadaan ka samay hai,
Daan to ho jaanei dijiye,
Eka ladaki hai
Jo ja rahi hai,
Ghar se bida ho rahi hai.

It's now the time of kanyadaan,
Let the wedding ritual take place,
She is a girl
Who is going out,
It's the time to bid her farewell.

Kanyadaan (The Social And Matrimonial Gifting Of A Daughter)

Kanyadaan,
Mahadan,
Esase badhakar koi dana nahi,
The social and matrimonial gift of a daughter,
A greater gift,
There is no greater gift than this,
The father giving away his daughter
And she going as a newly-wed bride
To a new house
And now feel you what it is taking place
In her psyche,
How the condition of it?

How far is she going,
Leaving her home,
She is departing for a new man's house,
Leaving her kith and kin,
Near and dear ones,
Her blood relations,
She is departing,
Leaving for,
God knows, how will she adjust with,
How will she in her newly-found house?

Kanyadaan,
Mahadan,
The daughter is going to her in-laws' home,
Let it take place,
Do not disrupt it,
Do not disrupt it,
Kanyadaan,
Mahadan,
There is no greater than this,
The father giving away his daughter
And she going to the in-laws' house as a bride.

Kanyadaan

Kanyadaan,
The giving away of the daughter
Going as a bride,
Is there any daan like this;
Donation or gifting away?

There is no gift greater than this,
Than the donation of the daughter
Going as a bride,
Kanyadaan,
Mahadan.

Let the ceremony take place,
The negotiation be dealt with,
She is going as a bride
To her in-laws'...

The Bride

The bride in sholah shringars
Going to her in-laws' house
With tears into the eyes
Trickling down the cheeks
In the palki
And the kahars lifting
The palki
To take her away
With the band following.

Bharat Ki Gartib Bitia, Bharat Ki Garib Bitia

Bhart ki garib bitia,
Garib bitia,
India's poor daughter,
Poor daughter,
Going,
Going to her in-laws',
In-laws' home,
Bhart ki garib bitia,
Garib bitia,
India's poor daughter,
Poor daughter.

Kanyadaan

Kanyadaan,
There is no dana
Greater than this dana,
Let it take place,
Let it
After the saat feras,
Seven rounds
Around the Holy Fire,
The Holy Fire,
Let the fire be a witness
Of all that
Happening underneath
On this earth!

I Saw Her Going
I saw her
Going,
Going
With the tears falling,
Falling
From the eyes,
Collyrium-applied eyes
And she looking
Sadly,
Sobbing and wiping,
Wiping her tears
With her hands.