Yakshi – Translated Excerpt

Very very first draft. I am translating a portion of chapter 18. The hero is completely demented after his accident and his rejection by his lover at this point. Reminds you of Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland after years of substance abuse. It is very nice.

Glossary

Yakshi — female supernatural beings and nature spirits in Hindu mythology associated with fertility, exaggerated sexual attractiveness and the ability to emasculate and castrate men, render them sexually impotent

Yaksha — their male counterpart, nature spirits that protect lakes, trees, cities

Gandharvas– male supernatural beings, nature spirits known for their ability to please gods with music

Paala — popular tree in southern India, especially Kerala, with intensely fragrant flowers, markedly associated with yakshis

Cast bronze — an alloy of five metals; statues of gods and goddesses in Hindu temples are made of this panchloham

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Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, *Yakshi,* Kottayam: SPCS, (1967).

Chapter 18: The Test

“Thus it was that  lying down I saw the world of yakshis.

If asked, most people will say that the sky is blue in color. But there are skies that are not blue. Look closely into that blue sky, you will see the opening of a red tunnel. But you must look carefully.  The red tunnel opens out into a red sky.

White clouds that change their shapes blow past the entrance to the red tunnel. Sometimes they look like small pomeranian dogs. Now and then they push themselves up like paala trees with torn barks. Cut across these clouds and you see the world of yakshis through the red tunnel.

Soaring music there! The rising clamor and crescendo of drums there!

All around inside you see plants you have never seen before growing.  Flowers made of sapphires, emeralds, garnets, and topazes bloom on them.  A small stream, just like the ones you have seen, dribbles by with a song. But it is not water that is flowing in it, but molten silver. The grass thicket bending into the brook is not green but crimson in color. Huge dragonflies, each about six feet long and with golden wings fly above the stream. Young yakshi children cross the stream on the back of these dragon flies.

A big path covered with the most beautiful carpet sewn with the skin of golden fish starts at the edge of the stream.  This carpet will never get dirty, its colors will never fade because yakshis do not walk on them. They glide and float over it.

Sometimes yakshis visit the solar system.  They grab hold of shooting stars and climb on their tails to visit the galaxies.  You can see several yakshis riding on the tail of a single shooting star. Somewhat like a bus overcrowded with passengers. They play ball with the smaller planets which sometimes slip from their hands. Newspapers on earth report these mishaps as changes in planetary orbits.

A blue sun lights their world. Yakshis scoop out some blue from their sun and line their eyes with it.  Their eyes are a deep blue. They pound the stars into a fine powder and paint their faces with it. This attracts the yakshas and gandharvas who immediately come running towards them. Yakshas will show off their muscles. Gandharvas will sing their songs. They do this to attract the yakshis. The yakshis respond by picking their mates.

Huge drums made from the hearts of mortal women on earth are arranged everywhere. Minor yakshis beat on these drums with the thigh bones of those who died from unrequited love. The drumming begins with a slow tempo that gradually becomes louder and faster.  Yakshis and their paramours dance to the rhythm of these drums.  You can hear the sound of every sobbing breath taken by mortal women on earth when they do this dance. The yakshis’ dance turns into an orgy now that stretches on for days. Finally the yaksha and gandharva paramours will fall down in a feeble stupor. They get on their knees and beg the yakshis,” take me, accept me, take me forever!”  They don’t know that most yakshis do not believe in eternal bonds.

Yakshis have a test, a rite of passage into adulthood.  The candidates have to climb up and slither down a black palm tree made out of cast bronze standing under their blue sun, in the nude, three times. Blood must splatter from their peaked nipples the third time. With this test they become mature yakshis. The queen of yakshis will pronounce the winners into mature yakshis in front of all their peers. The queen will dip her finger in the blood of kings and emperors of the earth stored inside diamond-studded crowns and anoint the adult yakshis.

Milk from the milky way is the staple diet of yakshis.It is stipulated, an unbroken law, that  once a year, mature yakshis descend into earth to drink the blood of mortal men.  If they break this law, their feet will trip over the golden carpet made out of shiny scales.

I witnessed this strange and magical world two or three times from my bed.

***End of translation***