| Author Quoted | Anne Marie Esnoul |
| Title Quoted | Ramanuja et la mystique vishnouite |
| Date (Year/Month/Day) | 1968/10/15 |
| Imprint | [Paris] : Editions du Seuil. [1964] |
| Quotation | Hrishikesa, destroyer of Titans, ogres and canailles [scoundrels], [Note 1: It appears that Merton was reading Ramanuja et la mystique vishnouite by Anne-Marie Esnoul (paris: Editions du Seuil, 1964) on the airplane between San Francisco and Hawaii. In this volume he found quoted some unpublished French translations by J. Filliozat of devotional hymns written by the ninth-century Tamil poet Periyalvar. Using the parodistic technique he had developed several years earlier for his last major poetic work, The Geography of Lograire he composed this and the following poem, which are partly Merton's translation of Periyalvar's text and partly his own interjections of images drawn from his immediate experience.] Slaves flee the old group, embracing the feet of Hrishikesa, flying from Wallace, Free champagne is distributed to certain air passengers "Ad multos annos [For many years]," sings the airline destroyer of ogres and canailles In the sanctuary of the lucky wheel Blazing red circle in the fire We are signed between the eyes with this noble crim-Son element this Asia, The lucky wheel spins over the macadam forts Showering them with blood and spirits The thousand bleeding arms of Bana Whirl in the alcohol sky Magic war! Many armies of fiery stars! Smash the great rock fort in the Mathura forest Baby Krishna plays on his pan-flute And dances on the five heads Of the registered brass cobra Provided free by a loving line of governments. |
| Quotation Source | The Other Side of the Mountain: The End of the Journey. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 7, 1967-1968.; Edited by Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1998, p. 206 |
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| Notes | |
| Link to Merton's Copy |
42888
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