Shav-Vahini Ganga | Ganga, The Carrier Of Corpses
शव-वाहिनी गंगा- By Parul Khakhar
Shav-Vahini Ganga | Ganga, The Carrier Of Corpses शव-वाहिनी गंगा- By Parul Khakhar“Harmony makes small things grow, lack of it makes great things decay. — Sallust”: The Tribune, Chandigarh
Highlights By: Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch
Shav-Vahini Ganga | Ganga, The Carrier Of Corpses शव-वाहिनी गंगा- By Parul Khakhar
‘Shab-vahini Ganga’ (‘Ganga, the Carrier of Corpses’) written in Gujarati by the Amreli-based poet Parul Khakhar.
India is going through a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this second wave was long predicted by medical and scientific experts, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under Prime Minister Modi boasted of how India had conquered the virus.
The stories from the first wave—of thousands of migrant wage workers who had to flee India’s megacities when the BJP announced a nation-wide lockdown with only four hours of notice, of thousands among them who lost their lives walking hundreds of kilometers back to their villages in the scorching heat, of hundreds of followers of a Muslim sect who were falsely accused of launching a “Corona Jihad” and persecuted—were all erased within this triumphalist narrative.
The ongoing second wave of the COVID pandemic, with a more virulent strain, has added a million more stories of loss, desperation, and hopelessness to this saga of blatant state violence and apathy.
Having exported millions of vaccine doses after it had supposedly conquered the virus, India’s people are now dying due to the lack of basic care—oxygen, medication, and hospital beds. As of May 2021, some 25 million cases have been recorded, with over 200,000 reported deaths.
But those of us living through this nightmare—losing countless family, friends and community members due to the state’s refusal to prepare for this inevitable resurgence of the virus; watching heartbreaking images of hundreds waiting outside hospitals for a bed or a whiff of oxygen—know the numbers to be much, much larger. The poor, Muslims, Dalits, and Adivasis, who continue to disproportionately bear the brunt of this catastrophe, are hardly being counted in the statistics.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of corpses have been seen floating in the Ganga— the holy river of the Hindus, but also a life source for many who do not identify as such. Many more were “discovered” buried in shallow graves on the sandy banks of the river.
Just last month, ignoring all common sense and the pleas of medical experts, the ruling BJP allowed millions to gather on its banks for the Kumbh Mela—a religious festival, claiming that Mother Ganga would protect her devotees.
Needless to say, Ganga is powerless against the virus.
That same Ganga is swollen with corpses whose identities and origins remain unclear:
The National Mission for Clean Ganga was a pet project of the BJP government since it first came to power in 2014. That same Ganga is swollen with corpses whose identities and origins remain unclear. Even those Modi-bhakts (ardent devotees of Modi) who have denied state negligence and the true extent of the pandemic cannot unsee this.
The country-people to strip its rulers of their lies:
The poem, ‘Shab-vahini Ganga’ (‘Ganga, the Carrier of Corpses’) written in Gujarati by the Amreli-based poet Parul Khakhar, responds to this horrific scenario, while challenging her fellow country-people to strip its rulers of their lies.
Upon publication, this poem went viral and Khakhar—once regarded as “the next big icon of Gujarati poetry” by right-leaning litterateurs in the state—has been facing immense backlash, trolling, and abuse from BJP supporters.
Some in the Gujarati literary community have remarked on how the poem echoes the sentiments of not one poet but of all Gujaratis, and the cruel transformation of democracy into repression that these attacks represent.
AGITATE! AGITATE Stands in solidarity with Parul Khakhar and with people of India who are facing ongoing deaths and devastation.
Below we share with our readers the poem in the original Gujarati and its translations in English, Hindi, and Marathi. These translations are republished
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Readings of the poem in Gujarati by Mubina Qureshi, the Hindi translation by Richa Nagar, and the Marathi translation by Siddhant Pusdekar are also included. The Telugu translation and reading are republished from Saranga books. The Malayalam translation appears here for the first time. The Bangla translation A Punjabi translation by Jaswant Singh Zafar set to music by Sukhpal Darshan can be viewed on the Black Bee Music channel.
BJP Furious as Top Gujarati Poet Blames 'Naked King' Modi for Corpses Floating in the Ganga: Parul Khakkar poured out her distress in a powerful 14-line poem. Now, even as she is praised by writers and people at large for voicing the nation’s suffering, she is a target for the ruling party's troll army.
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Shav-Vahini Ganga | Ganga, The Carrier Of Corpses शव-वाहिनी गंगा- By Parul Khakhar
https://thewire.in/the-arts/
https://agitatejournal.org/
English Translation by Rita and Abhijit Kothari
The corpses spoke in one voice : “All is well, sab kuchh changa-changa”
Lord, in your ideal realm the hearse is now the Ganga
Lord, your crematoriums are too few; fewer the wood for pyres
Lord, our pall-bearers are too few, fewer yet the mourners
Lord, in every home Yama performs the dance macabre
Lord, in your ideal realm the hearse is now the Ganga
Lord, your smoke belching chimneys now seek respite
Lord, our bangles are shattered, shattered are our hearts
The fiddle plays while the towns are ablaze, “Wah, Billa-Ranga”
Lord, in your ideal realm the hearse is now the Ganga
Lord, your clothes are divine, divine is your radiance
Lord, the town entire sees you in your true form
If there be a real man here, come forward and say
“The emperor has no clothes”
Lord, in your ideal realm the hearse is now the Ganga.
Hindi Translation by Ilyas Sheikh
हिंदी अनुवाद
इलियास शेख़
एक साथ सब मुर्दे बोले ‘सब कुछ
साहेब तुम्हारे रामराज में शव-वा
ख़त्म हुए शमशान तुम्हारे, ख़त्
थके हमारे कंधे सारे, आँखें रह
दर-दर जाकर यमदूत खेले
मौत का नाच बेढंगा
साहेब तुम्हारे रामराज में शव-वा
नित लगातार जलती चिताएँ
राहत माँगे पल-भर
नित लगातार टूटे चूड़ियाँ
कुटती छाती घर-घर
देख लपटों को फ़िडल बजाते, वाह
साहेब तुम्हारे रामराज में शव-वा
साहेब तुम्हारे दिव्य वस्त्र, दै
काश असलियत लोग समझते, हो तुम प
हो हिम्मत तो आके बोलो
‘मेरा साहेब नंगा’
साहेब तुम्हारे रामराज में शव-वा
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Is It True And Truly Or What? Observed By: Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch
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The returning of peace and the politics of morality may end hypocrisy! Highlights By: Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch
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Highlights Forwarded By: Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch
http://www.sikhvicharmanch.
First Posted On: June 10, 2021, 13:49 IST
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