A poem by the Mongolian scholar-poet Zava Damdin  (b. 1976).

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WALKING AMONGST THE FLOWERS

(English Translation)

Walking amongst the flowers
Each unfolding is consummate beauty
Guiding me on the path of poetic harmony

Walking amongst the flowers
As though your heart has become a youthful bee
Gathering pellucid grains of jewelled pollen
Causing me to inscribe verses upon a tablet of lapis

Walking amongst the flowers
As though setgel, your heart’s mind,
Has transformed into a myriad of butterflies
Fluttering from every direction
In the form of pages and notebooks
Reminding me to bring brush and ink together

Walking amongst the flowers
As though your dreams have arrived as birds
Hovering over the mountains of inspiration and wisdom
Urging me to unfurl
The broad wings of the heart

Walking amongst the flowers
Seeking the lead vocals
within the chorus of a billion blossoms
how could I find it
Without becoming lost
Beneath the forest of melodic wisdom
Leading me as though a companion
To the wellspring at the centre of a lake

Walking amongst the flowers
Your voice resounds
Like the call of a ruddy shelduck beyond the hills
Delighting the ears of ten thousand flowers
Entertaining me upon the strings of a celestial bivaa ¹Sarasvati’s celestial lute — whether named through the Sanskrit vīṇā, the Mongolian bivaa, or by comparison with the East Asian pipa — may be understood less as a decorative attribute than as a sign of ordered knowledge made audible. In South Asian iconography, Sarasvati is consistently associated with learning, eloquence, poetry, music, and refined speech; her instrument signifies the disciplined harmony through which wisdom becomes sound rather than noise (Johnson 2009, cf. “Sarasvatī”; Kinsley 1986, cf. discussion of Sarasvati and the arts). ²The lute may therefore be imagined as played with composure, clarity, and restraint. It is not an instrument of display or aggression, but of attunement. The right hand gives the plucked sound its articulation; the left hand shapes continuity, ornament, and inward feeling. Each tone may be allowed to resonate, as though speech, memory, and melody were being brought into balance. In this sense, Sarasvati’s lute embodies the principle that knowledge is tuned before it is expressed (Rao 1914–16, cf. iconographic descriptions of Sarasvati; Banerjea 1956, cf. sections on goddess iconography and attributes).

Walking amongst the flowers
Though unacquainted
You invite me to a tryst upon a hill of flowers
Without request, you call me by the morning sun
And command me to compose poetry
Without deliberate intention

Walking amongst the flowers
Your sphere of being
Becomes a flowering open grassland
As though presenting before me a grand hall of artistry
Where creations truly unfold within the weightless realm of air

Walking amongst the flowers
As though your breath has veiled the surroundings in violet hues
Nourishing body, speech, and mind
Immersing me in the atmosphere of a heroic ballad

Walking amongst the flowers …

Written by the humble boy who bears the brush and inkstone of the maiden
Sarasvatī. ³When this image is extended into the Mongolian figure of Yangjinmaa, the same celestial symbolism is localised in a Mongolian religious and artistic idiom. Yangjinmaa may be treated as a Mongolian form of the goddess of eloquence, music, learning, and artistic inspiration. ⁴The bivaa in her hands does not simply repeat the Indian vīṇā; it translates Sarasvati’s function into a sound-world familiar to Mongolian visual and musical culture. Ideally, its voice may be spacious, luminous, and meditative: a music of intelligence, grace, memory, and ethical refinement. Mongolian Buddhist art regularly adapts inherited Indic deities into local visual forms, and Yangjinmaa’s lute can be read in that spirit as a Mongolian articulation of Sarasvati’s wider association with wisdom, speech, and the beautiful ordering of sound (Moses and Halkovic 1985, cf. Mongolian religious-cultural adaptation; Bawden 1989, cf. Mongolian religious and cultural history; Heissig 1980, cf. Mongolian Buddhist iconographic culture; Atwood 2004, cf. entries on Mongolian Buddhism and religious art). ⁵In this light, the celestial bivaa is best approached as an offering of disciplined attention. Its sound need not be hurried or ornamental for its own sake. Its ideal tone is clear, resonant, and inwardly balanced, suggesting that true knowledge is not merely possessed but performed with grace  ⁶Translation is always an interpretation into another culture and one of its languages. In this translation, it is understood as an interpretive practice rather than a simple exchange of words. As a text moves into another cultural and linguistic setting, its meaning is carried through the registers, idioms, tonal expectations, poetic conventions, and conceptual associations available in that language. The translator’s choices therefore shape the work, even as those choices remain answerable to the original text.  Any errors in this regard are entirely my own, and for these I humbly apologise.

28.05.2026

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ЦЭЦГЭН ДУНД АЛХАМУЙ

(Original Mongolian)

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний бодрол цэцэгс дунд шингэсэн мэт
Бүгд л үзэсгэлэн төгөлдөр дэлбээлж
Намайг яруу зохистын жимээр хөтлөмүй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний зүрхэн идэрхэн зөгий болсон мэт
Тунамал эрдэнийн хорголжин тоосыг цуглуулж
Намайг номин самбар дээр шүлэг бичүүлмүй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний сэтгэл олон эрвээхэй лүгээ хувилсан мэт
Зүг бүрээс дэвтэр болон нисэлдэн ирээд
Намайг бийр бэхээ нийлүүлэхүйг дурдмуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний мөрөөдөл шувуу болон нисэн ирэх мэт
Урам зориг ухаан билгийн уулыг ивээн зонхилж
Намайг сэтгэлийн жигүүрээ агуужим дэлгэхүйг сануулмуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Тэрбум цэцэгсийн найрал дууны гоцлол алин буй хэмээн хайваас
Яахин олох болоод дуун ухааны ой шугуй дор төөрөх мэт авч
Намайг нуурын төв дор оргилох булгийн охь лугаа ханьцуулах мэт болгомуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний хоолой толгодын цаахна ангирын дуу мэт ганганаж
Үй түмэн цэцэгсийн сонорыг мялаан баясгаж бүрүүн лүгээ
Намайг хувилгаан бивааны чавхдасаар наадуулмуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Таних үгүй атлаа цэцэгт толгод лугаа болзоон дор урин
Дуудлага үгүй бээр өглөө нарнаар урин дуудаж бүрүүн лүгээ
Намайг зоригдол үгүй найраг туурвихуйг зарлигдамуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний орчил нэгэн цэцэгт нуга лугаа болж
Над дор урлалын тэнхим өргөн барьсан лугаа сэлт
Бүтээлийг жин үгүй агаар дор үнэхээр талбиулмуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй
Чиний амьсгал орчныг нил дор бүрхсэн мэт
Бие, хэл, сэтгэлийг нэвчин тэтгэж
Намайг баатарлаг дууллын агаар дор умбуулмуй

Цэцгэн дунд алхамуй …

үүнийг Сарасвадь охины бийр, янтай түшигч өчүүхэн хөвгүүн бээр бичив.

28.05.2026

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NOTES

• 1
  Sarasvati’s celestial lute — whether named through the Sanskrit vīṇā, the Mongolian bivaa, or by comparison with the East Asian pipa — may be understood less as a decorative attribute than as a sign of ordered knowledge made audible. In South Asian iconography, Sarasvati is consistently associated with learning, eloquence, poetry, music, and refined speech; her instrument signifies the disciplined harmony through which wisdom becomes sound rather than noise (Johnson 2009, cf. “Sarasvatī”; Kinsley 1986, cf. discussion of Sarasvati and the arts). ↩︎
• 2
  The lute may therefore be imagined as played with composure, clarity, and restraint. It is not an instrument of display or aggression, but of attunement. The right hand gives the plucked sound its articulation; the left hand shapes continuity, ornament, and inward feeling. Each tone may be allowed to resonate, as though speech, memory, and melody were being brought into balance. In this sense, Sarasvati’s lute embodies the principle that knowledge is tuned before it is expressed (Rao 1914–16, cf. iconographic descriptions of Sarasvati; Banerjea 1956, cf. sections on goddess iconography and attributes). ↩︎
• 3
  When this image is extended into the Mongolian figure of Yangjinmaa, the same celestial symbolism is localised in a Mongolian religious and artistic idiom. Yangjinmaa may be treated as a Mongolian form of the goddess of eloquence, music, learning, and artistic inspiration. ↩︎
• 4
  The bivaa in her hands does not simply repeat the Indian vīṇā; it translates Sarasvati’s function into a sound-world familiar to Mongolian visual and musical culture. Ideally, its voice may be spacious, luminous, and meditative: a music of intelligence, grace, memory, and ethical refinement. Mongolian Buddhist art regularly adapts inherited Indic deities into local visual forms, and Yangjinmaa’s lute can be read in that spirit as a Mongolian articulation of Sarasvati’s wider association with wisdom, speech, and the beautiful ordering of sound (Moses and Halkovic 1985, cf. Mongolian religious-cultural adaptation; Bawden 1989, cf. Mongolian religious and cultural history; Heissig 1980, cf. Mongolian Buddhist iconographic culture; Atwood 2004, cf. entries on Mongolian Buddhism and religious art). ↩︎
• 5
  In this light, the celestial bivaa is best approached as an offering of disciplined attention. Its sound need not be hurried or ornamental for its own sake. Its ideal tone is clear, resonant, and inwardly balanced, suggesting that true knowledge is not merely possessed but performed with grace ↩︎
• 6
  Translation is always an interpretation into another culture and one of its languages. In this translation, it is understood as an interpretive practice rather than a simple exchange of words. As a text moves into another cultural and linguistic setting, its meaning is carried through the registers, idioms, tonal expectations, poetic conventions, and conceptual associations available in that language. The translator’s choices therefore shape the work, even as those choices remain answerable to the original text.  Any errors in this regard are entirely my own, and for these I humbly apologise. ↩︎

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FURTHER READING

Mongolian Poetry 62: “Think Well” in Five Stanzas   contrasts the open, fluid and sensory engagement with nature in Walking Amongst the Flowers with a more structured approach to inner cultivation.

Mongolian Poetry 43: Do Not Pluck the Flower!  frames the transient nature of “bloom” as something to be experienced rather than possessed, suggesting that beauty is a flow to enter into, not an object to be harvested.

Mongolian Poetry 21: From the Landscape of the Mind, I Seek You  frames the Mongolian Poetry series on CPinMongolia as a unified exploration of how the Mongolian landscape can attune a person’s sense of self and place. In Walking Amongst the Flowers, “flowers” is read as suggestive of thoughts or realisations that arise through such an engagement with place.

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REFERENCES

Atwood, Christopher P. Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York: Facts On File, 2004.

Banerjea, Jitendra Nath. The Development of Hindu Iconography. 2nd ed. Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1956.

Bawden, Charles R. The Modern History of Mongolia. London: Kegan Paul International, 1989.

Heissig, Walther. The Religions of Mongolia. Translated by Geoffrey Samuel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.

Johnson, W. J. A Dictionary of Hinduism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Kinsley, David. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.

Moses, Larry W., and Stephen A. Halkovic Jr. Introduction to Mongolian History and Culture. Bloomington: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, 1985.

Rao, T. A. Gopinatha. Elements of Hindu Iconography. 2 vols. Madras: Law Printing House, 1914–16.

End of transcript.

Please refer to the INDEX for other poems and articles that may be of interest.

© 2013-2026. CP in Mongolia. “Mongolian Poetry 63: Walking Amongst the Flowers” is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Posted: 16 August 2026. Last updated: 26 August 2026.