Swapna Sundari
(First Draft.)
Jeddah
Was it when standing by the
low granite wall
bordering the Red Sea
watching the sun set
orange
with my friends and beloved family
and hearing the waves lap gently against the shore
or sitting on the floor alone
after they had left
in my room
with only the naked tubelight and the internet for company
that I knew
I would never be able to escape my only strength and weakness
you, yakshi and devatha
as without you
I could not write
poetry
having nothing and no one else to turn to
to inspire me
always, again and again
afresh and anew
bordering the Red Sea
watching the sun set
orange
with my friends and beloved family
and hearing the waves lap gently against the shore
or sitting on the floor alone
after they had left
in my room
with only the naked tubelight and the internet for company
that I knew
I would never be able to escape my only strength and weakness
you, yakshi and devatha
as without you
I could not write
poetry
having nothing and no one else to turn to
to inspire me
always, again and again
afresh and anew
Street in Old Jeddah [two views] -- Spencer W. Tart
The yakshi were courtesans at Indra’s court, but those of Kerala were women who had died unnaturally and dwelt nocturnally in palm trees. Appearing as beautiful women, usually clad in white and emitting the fragrance of jasmine, they targeted lost travelers by asking them for some lime to chew with betel leaves. If the victims relented they would follow the yakshi back to their palace for carnal enjoyment. When the spell lifted the palace would be revealed as a palm tree and the traveler would be devoured except for a pile of hair and nails at the bottom of the tree. Scholars who offered the lime on the tips of their ezhuthani (iron pens used to write on palm leaves) would be immune to the spell, and sorcerers were able to nail them to kanjiram (Strychnos nuxvomica) trees; however, if the nail were removed the yakshi would be freed. In other contexts, a yakshi is a female earth spirit, accepted as a symbol of fertility, usually portrayed as a wide-hipped, voluptuous woman who can cause a tree to bear fruit simply by touching it with her foot.
ReplyDeleteEvery human activity has its devata, its spiritual counterpart or aspect, a minor deva that serves some narrow purpose. Vanadevatas are forest spirits, gramadevatas are village gods, and other examples are devatas of river crossings, caves, mountains, etc., and the guardians of the cardinal directions. Gandharvas are heavenly musicians, and apsaras are female spirits of the clouds and waters, sent by Indra from Svarga Loka (the heavenly realm above Mt. Meru, where the righteous who have performed good deeds but are not yet ready to attain moksha live in paradise until their next incarnation) to seduce meditating ascetics.
Jeddah’s name is derived from “jaddah,” the Arabic word for grandmother, because the city contains the tomb of Hawwa (Eve), the grandmother of humanity. In 1928 Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah wrote that Hawwa “must have been a lady of formidable proportions, for the original grave, I was told, was some eight feet long. It was as well, therefore, that she had not survived to welcome us in the flesh, for although it is rumored that we Muslims have an eye for ladies of heroic proportion we draw the line at the titanic. But I was told that the grave had mysteriously extended itself by the time I arrived to its present gigantic proportions” (which geographer Émile-Félix Gautier estimated to be about 130 m long in 1931.) After Allah created Adem from a handful of earth taken from the entire world (which explains why the various peoples are of different colors) he made "one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women" (Surah Al-Nisa 4:1). Hawwa was not blamed for enticing Adem to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Immortality in Jannah since both of them “ate of it” and were equally to blame (Qur’an 20:121-122) and equally forgiven. Allah sent Hawwa to al-Marwah and Adem to al-Safa, 2 hills within Al-Masjid Al-Ḥaram (The Sacred Mosque) in Makkah (Mecca), as his representatives. Adem repented after weeping for 40 days, and Allah sent down al-Ḥajaru al-Aswad (the "Black Stone" set into the eastern corner of the Kaaba) and taught him the principles of the Hajj. Afterwards Adem and Hawwa reunited in the plain of ʻArafat, near Makkah, and had 1400 children. Since Jannah was in heaven, and obedience and disobedience are possible only on Earth, the Shia claim that Adem and Hawwa did not even sin.
ReplyDeleteDue to religious objections against pilgrims praying at tombs, Aun Ar-Rafiq (Hajazi emir from 1882–1905) tried to demolish Hawwa's tomb but let it stand due to public opposition. However, the Hejazi viceroy (the future Saudi king Fayṣal ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Al Su‘ud) destroyed it in 1928, and religious authorities sealed it with concrete in 1975.