Translated from the Gujarati by Rohee Dholakia
As kindling forms from twigs well laid,
So Sanskrit grows from speech folk make.
No fire till the twigs are burned,
No Sanskrit till folk speech is learned.
Traders set prices high, Akha;
Real trade needs local paisa.
False beliefs
Duty, religion and false beliefs,
without each other do not exist;
Acts from beliefs or beliefs from acts.
A witless cow licks her dead calf’s body.
He who glides through false beliefs,
Akha, will remain unaware of Hari.
Castes in India
Our world made of elements five,
a fool deems his caste best to thrive;
Hierarchies exist to run the world,
head, hands, waist or feet.
Brahma, Vaishnav, Shudra, Kshatriya,
Akha, what is inferior in Hari’s body?
Change is certain
Seeing through this world’s facets,
there are no births, nor deaths.
A sail stiff meets defeat,
the soul remains complete.
Birth, death: cycle of life,
but Akha, the world thrives.
Daughter of an outcast
Untouchability, the daughter of an outcast,
enjoyed by men of higher caste;
Day and night exploited by men,
whose homes she dwells in.
Akha, pariah do not exist knowing Hari,
or they remain rooted in thought, deed, and body.
Translator’s Note: Akha Bhagat’s verses, known as Akhana Chhappa, are written in the nirgun tradition of the Bhakti movement (a medieval religious reform movement across India). Chhappa (cha+pai), meaning six legs, is a form adapted by Akha as six-line verses or sestets from the Chaupai (four-line verses or quatrains) form, which was more popular at the time. The sestet in his verses typically features eight-syllable lines, a rhyme scheme of AABBCC, and the poet’s name in the last line. This was important for the oral traditions of that time and they have helped make these verses remain memorable and popular today.
Photo on Pexels by Ranjeet Chauhan.
