The Ghosts Dance Toward the Wedding
Bala Kanda, Doha 93
Doha 93 · Movement 3 of 3
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Ghosts and spirits dance along the road with complete abandon. Their songs carry no concern for measure or refinement, only the overflowing joy of travelling with Shiva.
Their appearances contradict every expectation of a wedding procession, and their voices produce speech as strange as their bodies. Yet no shame enters the company.
Devotion has made room for the bizarre without turning it into spectacle from outside. The ghosts celebrate from within the sacred household, riding the highest wave of happiness toward Parvati. Their strangeness has become wedding music. The road welcomes them all.
Wild voices roll down the mountain road, and the ghosts dance at the heart of the baraat.
Read the passage from the Manas
नाचहिं गावहिं गीत परम तरंगी भूत सब। देखत अति बिपरीत बोलहिं बचन बिचित्र बिधि।।93।।
All the ghosts and spirits dance and sing, supremely carefree. They look utterly bizarre and speak in the most peculiar ways.