This is one more bit of Mongrel Verse inspired by Esther Newton!
I don’t know what she does to me, but out it pops!
Fear not fear, but fear thyself; You must not run, nor hide. Your lies will catch you in the end, And hurl you into your private Hell.
To look inside, we always fear; We hate to lose our myths so dear. Who shall meet us at The Gate? It’s not St Peter who seals our fate.
When the Doors of Death open wide, You’ll find there is no place to hide. No God, no Devil are in their place, All you see is your true face.
You fear Yama by the riverside; You fear his smiling face. He sees your soul, his eyes see all; They pierce you like a fiery ball.
Fear not fear, but fear thyself, You have tried to run and hide. Yama shows you your True Face, You seek redemption, and Death’s embrace.
Yama goes back to Vedic times. He sits by the Vaitarna River, and listens to the stories of dead souls. Their fate is then decided.
I found this poem unique maybe because it has the Yama as a character.Yama the mythological god of death who is feared by all.You have beautifully penned it..the emotions are also in sync with the flow of words.I was suddenly reminded of all those scary tales of Yama on reading this one.! Whoo..now that I m done with the reading..I guess I can relax 😀 Great post 🙂
Well, thanks. First of all!
I use Indian mythology. Not too many people know about our mythology, and it is fascinating
It surely is fascinating.I like both Indian and Greek mythology.Learning them side by side is fun.You can find lot of similarities too,for example,Lord Shiva with Dionysus .:)
That is true!
powerful Raj!
Thanks!
That’s scary Raj.
Come now! You are a brave young lady!
Hmm…kinda. 🙂
I like that. I like how you draw in Yama from the Vedic times.
Leslie
You are one of the few Western people who know Yama!
Tells us more, Rajiv.
Leslie
More about Vlad The Bad?
yes.
Leslie
Okay.. But.. Gimme a day. My internet has gone bugger up.. And I am not good on the IPad..
No problem. I ‘ve been so busy myself I haven’t had a chance to post anything yet myself.
Leslie
Well, in my case, the service provider seems to have decided that snail’s pace service is warranted. It is taking me, what seems to be years, to download my programmes again
The heat wave in India was on the news here. They said there were power outages that must affect the internet. The rainy season should be here soon.
Leslie
The rainy season is delayed by a week.. The Internet, for some reason, is not even a crawl.
In Bombay, I love the rains. In Delhi, it is not nice at all
Okay! I am going to tell you about Vlad the Bad on this comment.
It was initially called The Fables Of The Shah Of Blah, but I discovered that Salman Rushdie has a character called The Shah Of Blah!
In this, three companion travellers – the Gypsy, Esmerelda and Bismillah travel together, and find themselves on the banks of the Vaitarna, where they then start to relate their lives and travels to Yama
In the story, Vlad the Bad, relates the fables to a crowd of listeners, amongst whom are The Gypsy, Esmerelda and Bismillah!
So, at a very simple level, I am using an old Indian technique of story telling – a story within a story within a story. I, however, am only going to level 1 – a story within a story
this technique has been used very skilfully in the Pancatantra and the Katha Sarit Sagar …
Thanks Rajiv, I’ll be waiting to hear more.
Leslie
Yeah…
But I will resume this when I am ready. It’s a tricky one to write
Take your time.
Leslie
In fact.. The project on the Shah of Blah ( now, Vlad the Bad) features Yama at the Vaitarna..
But, this project has been put off by a year
Tell us more.
Leslie
Beautiful and amazing.. Yamraj is always portrayed scary .. 👏 A bow to you , and the best part you described yam going back to vaitarni .. I am always attracted to Hindu mythology and relate it to my daily life .. If you have read Devdut Patnayak’s mythological briefing is amazing ..
That’s…..absolutely brilliant!
Hey! Thanks!