Manikarnika - Death Becomes Her

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Image Courtesy: TripAdvisor

Kashi, The Ganges flows North here 
Creating a whole world here
Shiva is the Chief Deity  here
Parvati dropped her earrings here

Kashi, People come to die here
In the hope of attaining Mukti here
By breathing their last here
And to be committed to the pyre here

Manikarnika, the funeral pyres burn here
A person is nothing but a body here
Placed on a pile of logs here
To be set alight by a person once dear

Manikarnika, the Doms rule here
Their kitchen fires lit by the pyres burning here
Doms are the sacred keepers of the flame here
Being an 'Untouchable' and a 'King' is the greatest paradox here

Manikarnika, the skull of the body is cracked here
Bodies turn to ashes here
Ashes sieved for valuables and immersed in The Ganga here
May I also have the fortune to ascend the cycles of life and death and burn here

An ode to my recent visit to Kashi


Comments

Anoopama Mukerjee Lohana said…
Ooooffffff! Echoes every breath of Kashi in my soul. My wish too.... ������������
6:22 PM
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