Prosperity

Part I: Happy Birthday

Bonu, my love, my sister, Aritri,

Soldier, maker of your own destiny,

You have grown and gained prosperity,

With house and home, friends and family

All the comforts of life at your feet

 

May you enjoy these and more,

May every year have bounties in store,

May you always help those who are in need,

May you never succumb to greed,

May your wisdom ever increase.

 

You can stop reading here seriously,

عيد ميلاد سعيد (Eid milad saeid), may you be happy,

But if you want to read, I have a story,

Whose meaning I hope you can see,

And live your life accordingly.

 

Part II: Kubera

 

Long ago in the Vedas it is told,

How all creation came to unfold,

There were Gods and Demons, but Bonu did you know?

That apart from these, there were the Others also?

Who were to the humans neither friend nor foe.

 

They were thieves and tricksters, prostitutes and spies,

All useful in their own way, but universally despised,

Which is why they were categorised,

As the amitra jana, the unfriendly ones,

Neither loved nor hated, merely utilized.

 

By those who wanted money, but did not want to earn,

They turned to these outcasts in order to learn,

How to get rich quick at others' expense,

And thus thrived an underworld so dense,

That the wealth of society accumulated in their dens.

 

That is how the king of their secret society

A creature named Kubera, came to be,

The epitome of opulence, the master of stealth,

Even before Lakṣmī became a Goddess,

Kubera was Dhanada, the (original) giver of wealth

 

Stories were written about him, he was invoked,

At coronations, births and weddings, so he'd be stoked,

And grant boons of power and of course hard cash,

But that did not last, and his stocks crashed,

He was replaced by a new Goddess at last.

 

Part III: Lakṣmī

 

Some say she is the daughter of the sea

Others say she was born of a muni

We know her as the Goddess Lakṣmī

Seated on a lotus, decked in finery

Worshipped always by all and sundry

 

But why does this powerful Lady,

Bow always at her husband's feet?

Why when we say 'Lakṣmī has come',

(At the birth of a daughter)

We mean it sarcastically?

 

Before she was known as a Goddess you see,

She was just the representation of money,

To be owned and used at others' mercy,

Just like a woman under Patriarchy.

(And that's why she's a 'she' not a 'he')

 

Wealth circulates, luck is unpredictable,

But she is blamed and called चञ्चला (Chanchalā) the fickle,

Men ruin themselves trying to possess her,

When they fail they call her जया (Jayā) the indomitable,

And proceed to weave an elaborate fable.

 

Of how Vishnu tamed her, made her his wife,

Raped her as Tulsi, made her take her own life,

Because in the end, even the most precious prize,

Is but an object, to be used or abused,

That's why Bonu I hope you realize.

 

Neither the pursuer nor the pursued be,

Lead your life with equanimity,

I know you're the champion of frugality,

This is just a reminder, queen; Forgive me,

For being worried sometimes, as your Didi

Once more on your annual coming of age,

Didi has this special message,

Happy Birthday sister, may you have many more,

May you visit and be welcome at any shore,

May sorrow and woe be gone from your door.