Bairagi

This is a letter I imagine Siddhartha’s wife would have written for him after he left her and their son behind to take up the life of an ascetic.

His wife has not been very actively explored by literature or mythology and I have always felt quite strongly about her abandonment.

This is not a criticism of Buddha or his actions. It’s just a different perspective, a human perspective.

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7 moons have taken birth and died,

Ships have returned from the world wide.

When will you return O Bairagi?

 

I am the princess whose prince ran away,

The world pelts stones in my way.

What penance is this O Bairagi?

 

My kumkum has turned to dust

O Bairagi, how is this just?

 

You enlighten your camp,

Yet you extinguished my lamp.

Come back if only to light it, O Bairagi.

 

It is the destiny of the river to meet the sea

My sea has run away from me

Do not deny this Sangam, O Bairagi.

 

I envy Sati who was mourned

I am the Sita who was spurned

What dharma is this, O Bairagi?