The Priest –
Arun Kolatkar
An offering of heel and haunch
on the cold altar of the culvert wall
the priest waits.
Is the bus a little late?
The priest wonders.
Will there be a puran poli on his plate?
With a quick intake of testicles
at the touch of the rough cut, dew drenched stone
he turns his head in the sun
to look at the long road winding out of sight
with the eventlessness
of the fortune line on a dead man's palm.
The sun takes up the priest's head
and pats his cheek
familiarly like the village barber.
The bit of betel nut
turning over and over on his tongue
is a mantra.
It works.
The bus is no more just a thought in the head.
It's now a dot in the distance
and under his lazy lizard stare
it begins to grow
slowly like a wart upon his nose.
With a thud and a bump
the bus takes a pothole as it rattles past the priest
and paints his eyeballs blue.
The bus goes round in a circle.
Stops inside the bus station and stands
purring softly in front of the priest.
A catgrin on its face
and a live, ready to eat pilgrim
held between its teeth.
Analysis: Sets up an expectation of sanctity, ritual, and spiritual authority. The poem will systematically subvert each of these expectations.
Stanza 1
Line 1: An offering of heel and haunch
Summary: The poem begins with the priest's body described as a sacrificial offering ("heel and haunch" – parts of an animal).
Analysis: Immediate subversion. The priest is not the officiant but the offering itself. The vocabulary is visceral and physical, not spiritual. It evokes a butchered carcass, suggesting exploitation and depletion.
Line 2: on the cold altar of the culvert wall
Summary: The place where he waits (a culvert wall) is metaphorically called a "cold altar."
Analysis: The "altar" is man-made, utilitarian, and cold—devoid of divine presence or warmth. The sacred ("altar") is displaced onto the mundane and neglected infrastructure of the village/roadside.
Line 3: the priest waits.
Summary: A simple, stark statement of his action.
Analysis: Establishes the central condition: waiting. His passivity is highlighted. He is not praying or performing rites, just waiting, likely for the bus.
Stanza 2
Lines 4-5: Is the bus a little late? / The priest wonders.
Summary: His internal monologue is revealed—a practical, mundane concern.
Analysis: The focus is temporal and logistical, not eternal. The bus, a symbol of modern connectivity and schedule, replaces God as the object of anticipation.
Line 6: Will there be a puran poli on his plate?
Summary: He wonders about his next meal, specifically a sweet, festive bread (puran poli).
Analysis: Reduces the priest's concerns to basic, bodily needs. The question implies scarcity and dependence on the offerings of others. His priesthood is a means of sustenance.
Stanza 3
Lines 7-8: With a quick intake of testicles / at the touch of the rough cut, dew drenched stone
Summary: He reacts physically to the cold, rough stone against his body.
Analysis: A strikingly intimate and vulnerable physical detail ("intake of testicles"). It emphasizes bodily discomfort and animalistic reaction. The "dew-drenched stone" contrasts with the "cold altar," adding a layer of damp, earthly reality.
Line 9: he turns his head in the sun
Summary: A simple movement, shifting his gaze.
Analysis: This turn initiates a shift in perspective, both literally and figuratively, from his immediate discomfort to the distant road.
Stanza 4
Lines 10-11: to look at the long road winding out of sight / with the eventlessness
Summary: He looks at the empty, uneventful road.
Analysis: The road symbolizes time, fate, and the future. Its "eventlessness" mirrors his own stagnant life.
Line 12: of the fortune line on a dead man's palm.
Summary: The road's emptiness is compared to the fortune line on a dead man's palm.
Analysis: A powerful simile. A dead man's fortune line is meaningless; his fate is sealed, his future non-existent. This suggests the priest's life is similarly fated, static, and devoid of future promise. It's a crushing image of existential nullity.
Stanza 5
Lines 13-15: The sun takes up the priest's head / and pats his cheek / familiarly like the village barber.
Summary: The sunlight on his face is described as the sun "patting his cheek" with the familiarity of a barber.
Analysis: The sun, often a divine or life-giving symbol, is rendered as a commonplace, slightly intrusive figure. The "barber" suggests a routine, professional intimacy that is neither respectful nor reverential. It underscores the priest's lack of elevated status.
Stanza 6
Lines 16-17: The bit of betel nut / turning over and over on his tongue
Summary: He is chewing betel nut (a common stimulant).
Analysis: A habitual, sensory act. It's what he does while waiting, replacing ritual chanting or prayer.
Line 18: is a mantra.
Summary: This chewing action is metaphorically called a mantra.
Analysis: The ultimate subversion. The sacred, recited mantra is replaced by a mechanical, bodily activity. His "prayer" is an automatic, possibly addictive, physical motion aimed at summoning the bus, not God.
Stanza 7
Line 19: It works.
Summary: A blunt, declarative statement. The "mantra" works.
Analysis: Ironic and bathetic. The efficacy of his "mantra" is measured in the material appearance of the bus, not spiritual gain. It mimics the structure of ritual efficacy but empties it of sacred meaning.
Lines 20-21: The bus is no more just a thought in the head. / It's now a dot in the distance
Summary: The bus materializes from a thought into a physical reality.
Analysis: Traces the process of anticipation becoming reality. The "dot" is a focal point that breaks the "eventlessness" of the road.
Stanza 8
Lines 22-24: and under his lazy lizard stare / it begins to grow / slowly like a wart upon his nose.
Summary: As he stares, the bus grows larger, compared to a wart growing on his nose.
Analysis: The "lizard stare" suggests a cold-blooded, fixed, predatory gaze. The simile "wart upon his nose" is grotesque and personal. The approaching bus is not welcome or exciting; it is an affliction, an ugly growth imposed on his field of vision, suggesting a parasitic relationship.
Stanza 9
Lines 25-27: With a thud and a bump / the bus takes a pothole as it rattles past the priest / and paints his eyeballs blue.
Summary: The bus passes him roughly, and for a moment, its color (likely blue) fills his vision.
Analysis: The bus is violent ("thud," "bump," "rattles") and disregards him. "Paints his eyeballs blue" is a surreal, almost violent image of perception being forcibly overwhelmed by this machine. He is passive, acted upon.
Stanza 10
Lines 28-30: The bus goes round in a circle. / Stops inside the bus station and stands / purring softly in front of the priest.
Summary: The bus maneuvers and stops, engine idling ("purring") before him.
Analysis: The "circle" suggests a ritual or habitual route. "Purring softly" is a potent anthropomorphism—the bus is like a cat, but the connotation is of a predator that is calm because it is in control. It now holds the power.
Stanza 11
Lines 31-33: A catgrin on its face / and a live, ready to eat pilgrim / held between its teeth.
Summary: The poem ends with the bus imagined as a cat with a grin, holding the priest (the "pilgrim") in its teeth.
Analysis: A shocking final metaphor. The priest is now the "pilgrim," but his pilgrimage is reduced to a wait for transport. The bus, a symbol of mechanized modernity, is the predator. The priest is its prey, "ready to eat"—consumed by the very system he depends on for mobility and connection. The "catgrin" is one of sly, predatory satisfaction. The roles are completely reversed from the title: the sacred Priest is the consumable Prey.
Teaching Points
Subversion of Sacred Imagery: Track how every term associated with sanctity (priest, altar, offering, mantra, pilgrim) is systematically re-contextualized within a mundane, mechanical, and often bleak physical reality.
Metaphor and Simile: Analyze the poem's startling comparisons (dead man's palm, village barber, wart, lizard, cat) and how they build a consistent worldview of absurdity, predation, and bodily existence.
Modernity vs. Tradition: The bus versus the priest. Discuss the poem as a commentary on the displacement of traditional spiritual roles by the impersonal forces of modernity and infrastructure.
Socio-Economic Critique: Explore the portrayal of the priest not as a spiritual guide but as a figure of economic marginalization, dependence, and stagnation within a specific Indian rural/semi-urban context.
Kolarkar's Style: Discuss how this poem exemplifies Kolatkar's ability to blend the stark, imagistic clarity of modernism with a uniquely Indian sensibility and visceral detail.
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