Tejore Kamalapati (a Borgeet by Madhavdeva) : trans by Krishna Dulal Barua

Quit your slumber Kamalapati, wake up, it’s dawn
Rise Govinda, let me behold your moonlike face
The eastern horizon is softly glowing alive
Sunlight emerges piercing the fading darkness

The lotus blooms with bees hovering around
The curd-churning women of Braja sing your paeans
Dama and Sudama keep calling you aloud
Look there, even Balarama has woken up and arrived

Nanda has gone to the pen, the drovers for the tending
Surabhi needs the grazing-ground, wake up Gopal
Get ready with cream and butter, the cane and the flute
The calf has to be untethered, the cow moos

Madhava exclaims, “What devotion has bestowed you, Mother
With the Lord of the Three Worlds as your protector !”

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Madhavdeva (1489–1596) is an important preceptor of the Ekasarana Dharma known for his loyalty to his guru, Srimanta Sankardev as well as his artistic brilliance. Initially a sakta worshipper, he was converted to Ekasarana Dharma by the Sankardev and became his most prominent disciple. He became the religious as well as artistic successor of Sankardeva after the later’s death in 1568. He is known particularly for his book of hymns, the Naam Ghoxa, as well as a large selection of songs called Borgeets.

Krishna Dulal Barua is a teacher of English language and music. He has been consistently translating poetry, fiction and non-fiction from Assamese to English. His translations have appeared in the Sahitya Akademi’s bi-monthly journal, Indian-Literature, Chandrabhaga, Indian Review, poetryinternational.org, the UK- based literary journal ‘Modern Poetry in Translation’, nezine.com and others. His published books of translation includes Selected Poems of Nilmani Phookan, The Sword of Birgosri (novel), Blossoms of Harmony (lyrics of Dr Bhupen Hazarika) all published by the Sahitya Akademi, Select Poems of Lakshminath Bezbaroa, published by the National Book Trust etc. He has to his credit two books on music, a collection of articles, ‘Contours’ and a collection of poems, ‘On and on’. He received the Katha Award for Translation in 2005.