Songs of the Ganga by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra

By King Meera -
I


I am Ganga
Snow from the mountains
birth in the glacier
The keeper of water
contains water
I am the plains
I am the foothills
plains and foothills is where it goes
Note the commonness that the Ganga brings to the mountains, plains and foothills
I carry the wishes of my streams
Wishes = prayers; streams -> where it comes from
To the sea

I am both man and woman
No gender to achieve commonness
I am paper boats for children
entertainment
I am habits for the fisherman
livelihood
I am a cloud for shaven monks
mysticism
I reflect all movements
does not stand for any one particular activity
omnipresent
I am the bridge
unifier, transport
I am the fort and the archer
protects, like in Narnia
Taking aim
I am the great dissolver of men
two meanings - either it renders all differences obsolete
or, it is a morbid reference to the ashes of the dead
I give life and I take it too.


II

I go out into the world
I am the world
As Ganga runs its course along its tributaries it becomes one with the landscape and the lives of the people along these tributaries
I am nations, cities, people
I am the pages of an unbound book
One cannot bind a river
My room is the air around me
I am dressed in water
I am naked as water
I am clarity

A friend comes along
offers me a flag
and says a government has toppled

I am going to catch rain, I say
and spread out a net

The total irrelevance of the above two stanzas shows how Ganga does not care - it will go on, regardless of governments
I am poison


EXPLANATION OF PART III

no cohesion
camels and goats must return the river
contribution to life cycle
billy goats part of Himalayan landscape
Ganga associated with serenity, inner peace
camel with its great capacity compelled to come to the Ganga
water claiming to be everyone's but people attempt to take ownership - contemporary example of the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu clash over the Kaveri
divides and unites people - cuts across borders
but by itself, no prejudice about where to flow
secret of walking - walking in all directions at once (imagine that)
I kill fire


EXPLANATION OF PART IV

smoke, evaporation - nobody can see it but it happens - it disappears, like smoke
available for all
birds' necessity to be constructive, leopards' ability to cover the sun with spots mimicked by sunlight dancing over moving water (like in The Brook:

"I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows."

summer- remnants of water bodies seen in fruit like watermelon
flood - postman's job
beggar - dependant (everyone takes from the Ganga, but Ganga must beg for conservation and protection)
clown - amusement and recreation at Ganga's own expense
shadowless - intangible idea, cultural phenomenon (so, no shadow)


EACH PART A NEW SET OF IDEAS

importance of a river to a culture
the sanctity associated with Ganga
Anomalies of life and nature
mysticism in description

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