Politician-turned-litterateur, Bahujan thinker and theoretician Shri Motiram Shastri published a booklet of verses comprising 13 chapters – Ravan Lanka – in the 1980s. From the point of view of ideas the poem seeks to communicate, it is amazing poetry. He wrote in chapter “Tathagat” (a name for Buddha):
“Ravan ka putla mat foonko, ye Ravan nahi tathagat hain.
Das paarmita das baldhari, hain yehi ateet annagat hain.
Pragya data hain prabha punj, kotik jan man nayak hain.
Manavta ke aviral prateek, pooja archan ke layak hain.
Tap, Yagya, Bramha hare jis se, vishayi hai bhu pati nyare hain.
Hai yahi katha yedi Ravan ki, to bolo kisne mare hain?
Chalne par dhara hili kiski thi, tha trahi-trahi ghanghor kahan?
Kitna atpata mukadamma hai, jab mal nahi to chor kehan?
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: Tathagat Ravan in Bahujan-Shraman tradition
