Tyajia Ashol Dhon

1. Forsaking true treasure

1.1.

Forsaking true treasure, why, my heart, are you drawn to the interest?
Giving up the true thing for mere usury, I know, is the sign of a fool.
Shun the interest, cling to the true, then will your business succeed.
Know you not that from truth springs all gain, in this world?
Then why shirk the true, sing praise of usurious gain, wander in folly?
He who keeps with quiet care his true treasure is truly rich.
Adding cockleshells of interest, like lentils in a kedgeree mix, is wise, they say.
In the ocean, says Phikirchand, finding a true pearl quenches the burning soul.
That true treasure not seeing, I look to turn usurer.

This text is an English-language translation of the original version:
Original

This is a selection from the original text

Keywords

famine, food, hunger, natural dye, oral narrative, patachitra, scroll, starvation

Source text

Title: Tyajia Ashol Dhon

Author: Kangal Phikirchand

Editor(s): Ayesha Mukherjee

Publisher: University of Exeter

Publication date: 2021

Place of publication: Exeter

Digital edition

Original author(s): Kangal Phikirchand

Language: Bengali, English

Responsibility:

Texts collected by: Ayesha Mukherjee, Amlan Dasgupta, Azarmi Dukht Safavi

Texts transcribed by: Ayesha Mukherjee

Texts translated by: Ayesha Mukherjee

Texts encoded by: Shrutakirti Dutta

Encoding checking by: Charlotte Tupman

Genre: India > poetry

For more information about the project, contact Dr Ayesha Mukherjee at the University of Exeter.

Acknowledgements