Which you know not, I know not,
But there is history hidden in them,
The small-small terracotta temples
And the miniature painting done into them,
The terracotta design and building.
The terracotta temples, small-small but beautiful
Made of small-small bricks and lime stone powder
With the terracotta work all around
Telling of history, art, culture and tradition,
Myth, motif and mystery,
The faith which once held them all,
Faith, ay, blind faith,
As it had been then.
The terracotta plates stuck into and fitted on as borders
Around the entrance, decorative of,
With sculptures so prominent and remarkable
That ancient art speaking,
But the makers, sculptors and builders
Know I not,
There is nothing to tell about,
Everything but mythical, mythical and legendary.
Hindu gods and heroes,
Tales and narratives symbolical and epical
Drawn from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana,
The Bhagavad-gita,
The diagrams and motifs to be embossed upon
And the gate-keepers guarding the temple gates,
Mustached, semi-divine or may not be,
I do not know them.
The small-small temples,
The Vishnu temple, the Siva temple, the Ma Manasa temple,
The Shitala temple, the Mahaprabhu temple,
Picture and photograph I,
The archaeological and archival aspects,
The architectural beauty of the small temples,
Built long ago, long-long ago
Following some lost and forgotten tradition.