“It is the month of Markali / the moon is full and the day auspicious. / Come to bathe / you precious girls, richly adorned / dear to Ayarpati, / land of abounding prosperity. / The son of Nandagopa / fierce with his sharp spear, / the youthful lion-cub of Yasoda / woman of matchless eyes, / dark-hued and lotus eyed / his face, is both the sun and the moon / that Narayana alone can give us the parai-drum. / Undertake this vow / And the whole world will rejoice. / el or empavay.”
Eat your heart out Divine Praises.
Who needs the Pieta and the generous deposit of Christian images to reflect upon when you have this…um..woman with the tail of a serpent.
Hello? Anyone home???
We are learning many things by reading these lovely, powerful songs, and have hard but frutiful discussions of how to read mystical poetry, how to learn from it critically, with a sense of historical and cultural difference, with a critical eye toward gender sterotypes — and yet with open hearts.
America Magazine, Catholic My Eye 