Softly O softly she floated ashore
On the waves of his dream to his mind's very core
Like the dew on the grass from the soul of the breeze
In the still of the night with the greatest of ease
On the waves of his dream to his mind's very core
Like the dew on the grass from the soul of the breeze
In the still of the night with the greatest of ease
Smoothly O smoothly he etched in her shape
For devas to gasp and manushas to gape
Firmly O firmly he hammered the stone
'Til rock came alive as flesh blood and bone
Her lips promised love, her breasts spoke in rhyme
Her hips gently prodded her anklets to chime
She smiled with her eyes and laughed with her heart
As he breathed into her the essence of art
Her hips gently prodded her anklets to chime
She smiled with her eyes and laughed with her heart
As he breathed into her the essence of art
On the return from Jhansi after January 2025 THT Site Seminar in northern Madhya Pradesh, this sculpture popularly known as Gyaraspur lady, now kept in the Gujari Mahal museum in Gwalior fort, inspired this poem above. "Gyaraspur lady" is the sculpture of a shaala-bhanjika from a place called Gyaraspur near Vidisha, which is south of Gwalior. In 2019, THT site seminar was conducted in areas around Bhopal including Vidisha and Gyaraspur. That's when we came to know about it, when Vallabha Srinivasan gave a preparatory lecture about it. Mr Venkatesiah, retired Regional Director of ASI, accompanied us as an expert, and informed us that this statue was under high security, behind a barricade, because of several attempts at stealing it. While some were waxing eloquent about the grace, beauty, allure, posture and other aspects of this sculpture, I was reminded of an apsara sculpture from Nageshvaran temple in Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu - one of four such beautiful apsara figures in that temple. This particular apsara, west of the Dakshinamurthy shrine, is soft, supple, demure, enchanting. When I mentioned this, Sowparnika, who was nearby showed it from her photo collection in her phone. The Gyaraspur lady photo is by Suresh Priyan, who was also on the Site Seminar.
Phrases and the tune of Sarojini Naidu's poem, "The Palanquin Bearers", which I had read in school, and loved for the very Indian sounding chandas/yaappu (prosody) of this English poem, floated into my thoughts. On the return journey by train on January 27, I wrote this poem - it applies to both sculptures and the shilpis who sculpted them.
Phrases and the tune of Sarojini Naidu's poem, "The Palanquin Bearers", which I had read in school, and loved for the very Indian sounding chandas/yaappu (prosody) of this English poem, floated into my thoughts. On the return journey by train on January 27, I wrote this poem - it applies to both sculptures and the shilpis who sculpted them.
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| Gyaraspur lady - photo by Suresh Priyan |
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| Apsara at Kumbakonam Nageshvaran temple - photo by Sowparnika |
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