Monday, February 21, 2011
Poem by Mahadev
Sunlight made visible
By Akka Mahadevi
(12th Century)
English version by A. K. Ramanujan
Sunlight made visible
the whole length of sky,
movement of wind,
leaf, flower, all six colours
on tree, bush and creeper:
all this
is the day's worship.
The light of moon, star and fire,
lightnings and all things
that go by the name of light
are the night's worship.
Night and day
in your worship
I forget myself
O lord white as jasmine.
Mahadevi was a saint in ancient India. She was a worshipper of Shiva from an early age. According to legend she was married by arrangement to a King, but she rejected married life to devote herself totally to Shiva and the love of God. It is said that she even took off her clothes and roamed the countryside as a poet/saint (male devotees often did this, but it was frowned upon for women.) The tradition surrounding Mahadevi says she left the world in her twenties, in a flash of light.
(The above picture--found on Google-- is actually of Amma, well known contemporary Indian saint. Her look of ecstasy suggests what Mahadevi probably felt centuries before.)
