Lighting the pyre!

With due respect to traditions,

History and lived experiences,

The wheel of the nation will move on

To debate, question, re correct and understand

The nation gives us the freedom.

Garuda Purana, one of the eighteen puranas

Insists on the importance of the eldest son performing the funeral rites,

However the role of the daughter is nowhere mentioned

I highlight, nowhere are daughters forbided to do so

It is nowhere stated they cannot light the pyre

For, the purana says it yield fruits that are equal to making Parikrama or circumambulation of earth,

Such pure acts, the interpreters insist, should only be performed by the son!

Hypocrites that we are,

We despise and shout slogans against the poor man who prefer a son,

Who has killed three daughters already,

Foeticide he is blamed of committing,

This poor man is only scared of lying dead alone

With no one to free his soul from his body,

With no one to light the pyre.

With due respect to traditions,

History and lived experiences,

The wheel of the nation will move on

To debate, question, re correct and understand

The nation gives us the freedom.

I dream of a world,

Where the eldest son or daughter, irrespective of their gender

Will someday light the pyre!