A Girl Named Kumari

A girl named Kumari,

perched on the shore of the eternal sea,

savored the whisk of the winds along her face,

and relished the music of the magical waves.

Connected to the environment was she, as the women of today should be,

she loved nature as if her son,

spent hours in her lap, being her daughter.

Look, there goes the maiden who prefer the waters over the Gods,

said the friends, neighbors, and the village bods. ------- (1)

A girl named Kumari,

unwilling to plunge into the sacred shrine,

located herself outside the consecrated gate.

She dispensed the holy aliments among the ravenous children,

fed it to them with her caring compassionate claws.

Generous was she like the woman of today should be.

Upon being asked the reason, she nods her skull in denial,

to express her incredulity towards the showy allegiance.

She was skeptical about her feelings,

towards the divine supreme being.

Look, there goes the maiden who prefer the hungry kids over the Gods,

said the friends, neighbors, and the village bods. ------- (2)

A girl named Kumari,

whose dubious legs one occasion,

lurched into the temple with an uncanny passion.

Her eyes gazed at the divine black Shiva-Linga,

her mouth gaped at its beauty,

all her thoughts vanished like the streams in the summer,

her body became lifeless as if without the soul.

Beside asked a voice, ‘Who art thou, girl?’,

introduced himself as Jagannath, beneath the shade of peepal’s bough.

Upon being interrogated, he exclaimed with a wrinkled brow,

‘Hath been staying in the temple here and now.’

‘Kumari is the name people know me by.’, said the girl with a wonted shy.

‘I asked thine identity and not thy name’, cried the man,

making the damsel’s face have a tinge of wan.

Confused was she, like most of the adolescent girls, might be,

o’er the unsettling quest of discovering the true meaning of life.

‘Close thine eyes, forget all thoughts,

and listen to what thy conscience speaks.’,

quoth he who stood beneath the peepal tree.

She did as he spoke and could listen to what her mind said,

“Shiv” was the only sound that her inner voice made.

She understood the implication and thanked the wise person,

her mind addressed Mahadev with an unusual love and devotion.

Look, there goes the maiden who reformed her thoughts about the Gods,

said the friends, neighbors, and the village bods. -------- (3)

A girl named Kumari,

who now was enlightened about her purpose of life,

devoted herself wholly to her Mahadev,

stubborn to have him as her better half.

She sat on the shore of the majestic sea,

vowed to marry the divine till the dawn of the morrow.

Her mind didn’t think of anything yet her lord,

she had no qualm for the one, she adored.

Throughout the aphotic, she chanted the name,

of someone who had become her aim.

She shut her ears for the society,

that thought her to be a daft damsel.

With the passing time, her jitters grew,

drops of tear across her face,

fell like the Adam’s ale of the mighty blue.

Looking at her grief, the mother cried,

which the pouring sky and the squall implied.

Filled with despair, she beseeched her lord,

to reach her place, before the red sun soared.

To compel her God to show up in her abode,

she made a Shiva-Linga out of the wet mud.

Determined was she like the girl of today should be,

to achieve her ambitions overcoming the limits set by the society.

She sat throughout the dark waiting for her lord,

keeping alive her flame of hope despite all odd.

Look, there goes the maiden who desire to marry the Gods,

said the friends, neighbors, and the village bods. ------- (4)

A girl named Kumari,

oblivious of her destiny,

chanted out her love throughout the night,

for it to reach to the God of Gods,

in the paradise above the limitless sky.

She howled behind the idol,

as the daybreak was near,

she paved her mind with courage,

even if it was filled with fear.

Behind asked a voice, ‘Who is thou waiting for?’,

it was the same fellow who made it all clear.

‘Ye asked my identity and I found it in my God’,

said the distressed damsel, looking for the Lord.

‘Oh! Thou dimwitted maid, anticipating mighty,

watch round thee and find the divinity,

for he who you await is present in,

the air, the soil, the sea, and the tree.’

‘Very well know I, omnipresent is he,

but want my groom only in the form, which I see.’

Looking behind the idol, was no man seen,

 as if vanished somewhere in nature, it seemed.

The sun had risen o’er the sea,

bringing despair for the bride to be.

Broken was she, like the girls of today, might be,

facing the valley in the land of the life,

that seems quite a plane but full of hilly terrain,

that comprises balanced climbs and falls,

for the millions of people, one and all.

Filled with agony, she shouted the name,

of the one who was at the center of all game.

Look, there goes the maiden who was rejected by Gods,

said the friends, neighbors and the village bods ------- (5)

A girl named Kumari,

behind the Shiva-Linga, beside the sea,

sat with her bowed head between the knees.

Incognizant of the impending peril,

she chanted the divine name,

for broken was she but not her devotion flame.

Approached the demon somewhere from the fore.

‘I am Banasura, the mightiest of the mighty,

so, ye are the maiden to demolish me.

Foolish girl, thou don’t know me,

I am the one who killed millions, you see.’

The girl was afraid but her courage didn’t break,

‘Stay away from my holy place, you demon.’, she said.

‘I will slay you and close the chapter of my death,

eternal I will be.’, said the demon in a single breath.

‘Kill me if you wish, but don’t touch my lord,

for I won’t tolerate scars on my divine love.’,

gathering all her strength said she.

‘Then, I would break thine idol,

before thee.’, exclaimed the demon with glee.

As he approached the Shiva-Linga,

her fury increased to a manifold,

for her hands turned black and,

she roared with rage.

She ran towards the demon,

as the fire broke out.

‘Ye sinner, thy end is near.’, declared she at a glance,

beheaded him with her sword, swiftly at once.

Powerful was she, as the women of today, should be,

who could protect herself and her loved ones, at the time of need,

without the help of any supposed strong he.

One who is Kumari can also be Bhadrakali,

when subjected to atrocities, taught she.

Look, there goes the maiden who is counted in the Gods,

said the friends, neighbors, and the village bods. -------- (6)

The poem is based on the story of Devi Kanyakumari who was an incarnation of Devi Parvati. She took birth on the earth to kill Banasura who had got the boon of dying only at the hands of a young unmarried girl. Banasura’s tyranny had spread disharmony across the 3 worlds(lokas). So, the Devas requested Devi Parvati to help them by ending his tyranny. Devi Kanyakumari is worshipped in the Bhagavathi Kumari Amman Temple is located in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, at the southern tip of mainland India, thereby located on the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean.