Clad in the black of detachment and indifference
They go climbing the hill winding towards the shrine and
Clad in the chains of beads and immersed in the chants of 'Ayyappa'
They climb the eighteen steps to the abode of the deity.
A season`s devotion and an euphoria of equations and oneness,
A deity of the tribals grown ten fold in name and fame.
A crowd, a herd apart bent upon a mission of all sorts and
A world here wakes up to redefine life and godliness.
Inducted into a spectrum of piety alluring and magical
They remain aloof from the evils of wine, wealth and women.
They kill the wants and desires for a phase a year and
Then bounce back to a life pattern often nasty as usual!
Ayyappa, the lord sees not, just like no Lord of any land ever does,
Ayyappa, the lord hears not, just like his peers don`t elsewhere.
Man re paints a deity`s expectations and restrictions
And make him live on a canvas of a season drafted apart.
When God in the upper abodes of greater castles of reborn faith
Struggles to let the masses to have a feel of His being,
Here is a deity taking by storm a stock of humans undivided
And he lives for a time and goes into deep slumber next!
The coffers of the temple authorities fill to the brim
And the sponsor Government thrives on the nickel for a time.
A crowd looks on confused unable to speak a word
As the chauvinistic spirits mantle a guardian`s role.
The pilgrims return to the lower slopes down ever
With the deity left alone till the next season to brood over
The duties of a lord in himself and he is bemused as to
Why the cult is not changing his very devotees for ever!
M.D DINESH NAIR
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-sabarimala-pilgrims/
