“Savitri!”
“Yama Dharmaraja!”
“I am delighted by your truthfulness…
Make a wish
It will be granted”
“Grant the liberation for women Swamy!”
“Aha! Impossible! Except that
Ask for another wish”
“Destroy the male dominance Swamy!”
“You feeble one, suffering from tuberculosis,
Forgetting that even I am a man
You are trying to insult me!
But still impressed by your courage
Ask for a wish to be granted
Other than women’s liberation…”
“Yama Dharmaraja!”
“What Savitri!”
“You who cannot grant liberation for women
I am granting you a wish
Take it”
“What is that Savitri?”
“My liberation Swamy!
“I am presenting you with my life…”
This poem is written as a tribute to Savitri, a proofreader at Deccan Chronicle who passed away in 1991 at the age of 42. She was famously known as ‘Bandipotla Savitri’ after her poem Bandipotlu (Bandits). Inspired by Ranganayakamma’s Ramayana Vishavruksham (Ramayana- Poisonous Tree) and Marxism, she broke away from her patriarchal family and became an active member of the women’s movement in Andhra Pradesh. She is known for being a great conversationalist. After her passing, her friends and colleagues wrote and compiled a volume titled Savitri, in which they wrote about various episodes of her life and her ideas. The poem translated above is taken from that book.
rishvanth.com 
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