We Are The Adivasis Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

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We are the adivasis,
Those Mundals and Santals,
Who had lived in India
Before Dravidians did,
Before Aryans came through passes.

We are the adivasis,
Who by Aryans were
Called Rakshasas,
Who by Aryans were
Slaughtered to their whims and fancy.

We are the adivasis,
Like Ekalavya,
Who by Arya Drona was
Disabled to their delight,
To glorifiy Arjuna to our plight.

We are the adivasis,
A chunk of whom
By Aryans were branded
As Bahujans and Dalits
To serve them without touching.

We are the adivasis,
Whose God is not divine,
Nor beyond our kin,
But our own ancestors,
Who were to them devils and evils.

We are the adivasis,
Where there lived
Democracy and solidarity
With no superiority,
With no Brahmin nobility and purity.

We are the adivasis,
Whose women were
Not pawns or on pyres,
Nor a gift with dowries
But ones who chose their own mates.

We are the adivasis,
Who by Hindu Aryans
Were polluted
And by Christian intruders
Were diluted in our values and principle.

We are the adivasis,
Who want back our throne
Usurped by the invaders,
And who want to undo wrongs
And avenge the Aryan chauvinism.
19.07.2000, Paralakhemundi
[Adhivasi = the aboriginal tribes of India]