Mahishaa: A Love Story

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Everyone knows the epic story of the Devi killing Mahishaasura. Mahishaa's fault was that he was not prepared to fit into a conformist box. So, this cannot be a classic Good vs Evil tale. In the middle of the city, there was a dilapidated Kaali temple. Its condition was so because both the devotees and the priests were alien to love, although this was supposed to be the primary concept in places of worship. It was at such a time that a devotee decided to return the temple to its traditional practices of worship. This is accomplished in a pact with Kaali by the devotee becoming Mahishaasuramardini's Mahishaa. What happens next is a marvellous cascade, flowing from the pen of poet Lakshmi Bayi.

A tempestous child, poet Lakshmi Bayi found peace in the written word and ended up a student of English writings, only to discover that the present system of education kills all interest in literature. Shown the muse by poet and author Kamala Das, her mother-in-law, Lakshmi too, adopted poetry as her passion, and writing became as natural to her as breathing. Writing is her way of preserving her inner self. Kaali for her is as real as any of Kaali's myriad creations. In 2000, she published a book of poems called Madness.

The Composer King Swathi Thirunal, the artist Raja Ravi Varma, Maharani Sethu Parvathi Bayi, the strong and capable matriarch, mother of Chiththira Thirunal Rama Varma, the last Maharaja of erstwhile Travancore are her ancestors. On her husband MD Nalapat's side may be included Poet Laureate of Kerala Balamani Amma, philosopher Narayana Menon, Founder of the Malabar Quarterly Review C V Subramania lyer and satirist Aubrey Menen. Since childhood, Lakshmi loves travelling, and adores oceans, forests and elephants. Mahishaa, with its vivid imagery, is her second book.

From the very first day of Creation, there has been a conflict between what is commonly named 'good' and 'evil'. These are merely two extreme ends of the spectrum of Existence, and this is required to bring out the various shades of being in between. This book is about various shades of interpersonal greys; no one is Black or White, we are all Greys. It’s about an imperfect Devi who thinks she is meting out justice but realises how unfair she has been. It is about the mighty Mahisha king who realises despite his divine boons how vulnerable he is. This is a tale of loneliness and the meeting of two lonely hearts. It is a story of desire, unfulfilled and of perceived incompatibility, no one asks the protagonists what they want. The story is a reflection of society where love is never factored in, in any normal and rational discussion of any of life's processes. This story teaches us that there is no ABSOLUITE good or TOTALLY bad. We are what we are, shades of GREY.

Irrespective of ethnicity, economics, language, diet, skin pigmentation etc all human beings (as well as all living beings) have an extra-physical dimension to them. Ironically, this is most evident at the point of death! Unlike sleep, which will result in wakefulness at the end of the cycle, death is an activity from which the only possible future is physical decomposition, which is handled by the living 'disposing off the inert physical remains.

In simple biology we see the birth, growth, death and regeneration cycle in most creatures. Nature has her own method of dealing with Her own systems in a way that cannot be bettered.

Human beings worldwide have claimed for themselves a supremacy in Nature. One of the main reasons for this is that there are no other species yet, who can counter this. So far, human beings are the only group that can store and retrieve their collected knowledge that can be used at will. This gives them a definite advantage over the rest of creation.

This huge knowledge bank has led to a collection of marvellous narratives, whether they are 'myths' or history is a point for scholars to endlessly argue about!

Human beings are not merely mechanical entities whose existence consists of conception, birth, growth and death. Beyond basic childhood, with its largely physical needs of feeding and sleeping, human beings become aware of a more complex 'inner' world. It is this part of human beings which graduates them into being artistes and scientists. Merely physical survival becomes inadequate. This search beyond the plane which can be made evident by the use of the Five Senses, becomes a spiritual quest.