Tongue

Authors

  • Srinjay Chakravarti Independent Writer

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.16.2.2017.3607

Keywords:

Khona, poetry, violent punishment, female voice

Abstract

A poem for Khona. Khona (or Lilabati) was a legendary poetess and astrologer of Bengal, sometime between the ninth and 12th centuries AD. Married to the son of Varahamihira, one of the greatest mathematicians and astronomers of all time, her predictions were said to have surpassed even her father-in-law’s in their precision. The envious Varahamihira (and his son), according to the legend, severed her tongue to silence her, but her vatic rhymes acquired oracular status and are widely recited in Bengal even today.

Author Biography

Srinjay Chakravarti, Independent Writer

Srinjay Chakravarti is a writer, editor and translator based in Salt Lake City, Calcutta, India. He was educated at St Xavier’s College, Calcutta and at universities based in Calcutta andNew Delhi. University degrees: BSc (Economics honours), MA (English). A former journalist with The Financial Times Group, his creative writing, including poetry, short fiction andtranslations, has appeared in over 100 publications in 30-odd countries. His first book of poems Occam’s Razor received the Salt Literary Award from John Kinsella in 1995. He has won first prize (US $7,500) in the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Poetry Competition 2007–08.

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Published

2017-12-15

How to Cite

Chakravarti, S. (2017). Tongue. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.16.2.2017.3607

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2017): Special Issue: Bold Women Write Back

Section

Poetry

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