Speaking Of Siva is not a book that I intended to read. I was looking for Thich Nhat Hanh’s Cry of Vietnam in the library, and while scanning the shelves, I came across this little-known book of Hindu poetry. I must confess that I don’t know a whole lot about Hinduism. The closest thing to Hindu literature I’ve read in my lifetime was Mohandas Gandhi’s autobiography. Through this book of poetry, I had hoped to understand something or another about the Hindu religion. After all, India is the most populated democracy in the world, to not know about their beliefs would be a mistake, especially in today’s interconnected day and age.
Speaking Of Siva is a poetry collection translated by A.K. Ramanujan. The poems in question are called vacanas which means, “what is said.” Ramanujan described them thusly,