Jayanta Mahapatra The Poet

Jayanta Mahapatra The poet taking of the lingam-yoni motif, The myth and mystery of creation, The yoga-yoginis And their attributes and denominations. Sitting in the temple complex, He keeps thinking of the windows, The door planks, The small doorways of the rock-built temples Telling of yore And its hoary days. The Konark Sun-temple Radiating in sunshine, With the Sun-god seated on a chariot Drawn by white horses Catches us aflame. The grotesque wooden crafted-gods and goddesses Of Jagannath Puri, Krishna, Balabhadra and Subhadra Ogling in his poetry And he deriving from the Ratha-yatra. The panda-danas continue on the sea beach, The asth-kalashas immersed being in, Rites and rituals continuing in With rains and summer-time And the choric chants coming from. In the form of the prayers in the temples, Rites and rituals continuing in Or the bodies being cremated on the sands Of Puri, the area adjacent to the temple and the beach, Surrounding the Swarga-dwara. Jayanta an Odia poet of Odisha Telling of the cartography and demography of Orissa, The place of his birth, nativity and roots, The ecology of it, The lakes, bird sanctuaries, hills and rivers. A poet of coastal Orissa Of rains and rites, summers and siestas, Mango groves and sun-burnt earth, Hamlets and thorps, He views life in his own way. The myths of the dark hamlets Standing against the backdrop of the hills, He tells of the darker myths, Superstition, backwardness, underdevelopment, Illiteracy, poverty and hunger. The tales of the dark daughters strike him, Holding the hands Tell they the story Of their toil, tears, sweat and blood, Their trouble and tribulation.