Who Are Those Dark Daughters, Jayanta? / Jayanta Mahapatra’s Dark Daughters Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Jayanta Mahapatra, who are those dark daughters
You tell of
At the end of Relationship
Asking them to tell
Their names and to reveal their identities?

Are they the poor and humble daughters of Orissa,
Labouring and toiling
Under heat and dust,
Are they the temple frescoes,
Scultptures and figurines,
Sevadasis, devadasis or nautch girls
Which decorate the temples
With a ‘swagatam’ (welcome) sign?

Who, who are they,
Are they the womankind itself?
Is she a nameless and tattooed woman
Unable to tell the name of her husband
Which will be a sin
To take the name of the lord?
Is she the missing person
Of your poem?
Is she a temple-builder unknown?
Who, who is she, Jayanta Mahaptra?