Ode on Nangeli*

The bitter, twisted lies of history,

Can't annihilate her valourous sacrifice:

Against a cruel Brahminic patriarchy

A subaltern spoke in action amplified!

Visceral waves of loss and sorrow

For the Avarna woman denied justice,

Surge within and soon overflow--

Oh, crushed was the blossom full of promise!

Yet her soul invictus seeking honour

Makes her an incarnation of valour.

The feudal days soaked in barbarism:

Lower caste women suffering public shame--

Forced to move without covering their bosom

None but upper caste was to blame.

Heinous breast tax under law was imposed,

Women worked unable to break the cages

As men gazed at their torso naked

Unfolding sagas of utter helplessness. 

However, the unknown dark horizon

Awaited a grim volcanic eruption!

Pretty Nangeli, feisty and fierced-willed

Despised the disgusting men leering

At the bounce of her breasts, and dared

To cover without the tax paying:

Public commotion gathered momentum

As the woman walked and toiled

Fearlessly in protest with covered bosom,

Unfettered by the consequences that lurked:

Ah, on a technicolor summer sunset

She didn't know that the day was her last!

Out came Nangeli from her mud cottage,

The revenue collector was demanding tax money:

The obnoxious ogle and the monstrous visage

Gnawed through her human anatomy---

The ensuing pain and fit of rage

Made her act like a flash of lightning:

She cut off her breasts men in daze,

Stunned and speechless by the act frightening!

Instead of tax breasts on a plantain leaf,

All my senses shake with the load of grief!

* Nangeli was an outcaste woman who cut- off her breasts to protest caste- based breast tax in the early nineteenth century. She belonged to Cherthala (Kerala). Many historians classify her story as legend or folklore rather than a documented historical fact.

Dr. Ranjana Sharan Sinha is a recipient of many awards at national and international levels for her contribution to poetry. She is a distinguished poet, fiction-writer, academic and retired professor of English. She received an accolade from the former President of India,  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam for her poem 'Mother Nature' contained in her Collection 'Spring Zone'. Her poems are included in Postgraduate Syllabus, Purnea University and B.A. (Major), RTM Nagpur University. She has authored and published 10 books in different genres. She is a bilingual poet and writes in Hindi too.