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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE ABODE OF THE LORD is a translation of “Laxmi Purana” by the 16th century saintly Odia poet , Balarama Dasa, who was the eldest and revered member of ” Panchasakha” comprising Jagannatha , Yashovanta , Achyuta , Ananta and himself . Literarily they were friends and literature-wise they were exemplary friends . They fine-tuned the ” Bhakti ” cult , Bhakti movement in Odia that sprouted from and stuck to Odisha soil . Jagannatha Dasa translated Vyasa Bhagavatam into Odia , while Balarama rendered Valmiki Ramayana in Odia. Laxmi Purana is a unique creation of Balarama Dasa that tells the saga of domestic conflict and conflagration in the abode of Lord Jagannatha , the pristine presiding deity of Puri . The Bhakti poet Balarama in this divine domestic dissension finds gender disparity, caste system and weakness of the weaker sex as social evil . He narrates the injustice, torture that Lord Jagannatha inflicts on Laxmi , his consort . In stead of submission , Laxmi responds vindictively , punishes the Lord plenituously . In the end , the Lord realises and reconciles to the truism that woman can overwhelm and vanquish man , if and when she so likes. The original is 750 lines , while the translation is 1247 lines . While the original is metrical , the translation is blank verse .