Jan-April, 2013 - kafla intercontinental

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ISSN 2278 - 1625
RNI No. CHA-ENG/1994/235
(An International Tri-annual journal of Art, Literature & Culture)
Jan-April, 2013, Vol. XX, Number 1
Contents
Fiction :
Gurdev Chauhan/ The Nest/ 4, Shyamal Bhattacharya/ Bonrui/8
Articles
Biplab Majee/ Vietnam - A Land of Poetry/ 12
Dr. S. M. Rizwan Ahmad/ Literature and World Peace/ 15
Shreedevi Hiremath/ Contribution of saintly poets for universal brotherhood/ 18
Dr. Arti Kumari/ Kabir Poetry - A Road to Universal Brotherhood/ 22
Dr. A. Anuradha/ Folk Music of Andhra Pradesh/ 27
Aditi Banerji/ Folk Music of Bengal/ 36
Nikita Bhardwaj/Publishing & Internet:A curious alliance of Technology with Literature/44
Dr. Prasanta Kumar Panda/An Account of Anti-Aesthetics Working Against Indian Teachers/ 48
Prof. Bais Sunita Manoharrao/ Teaching of English in Multilingual Indian Classrooms.../ 53
R.T. Bedre & M.M. Giram/ Plays of Girish Karnad............/ 57
Dr. Bhasker A. Shukla/ Julia Kristeva and Feminism / 61
Dr. D. M. Bhadresariya/ The Last Decade of Gujarati Dalit Literature/ 67
Intercontinental
Book-Review: Knots by Anuradha Bhattacharyya/ Reviewed by Gurdev Chauhan/ 71
Poems
Rizvana Parveen/7, Ljupce Zahariev/11, Vihang A. Naik/14, Shivakumar U Ganachari/26,
Luis Benitez/35, C. P. A Boobacker/52, Riza Lahi/52, L. B. Gayakawad/66, P. Vijayalakshmi
Pandit/66, Aadil Mohd. Afzal Sheikh/70, Ljubomir Mihajlovski/72, Harish K. Thakur/73,
Tidolis Snaitang/73, S. Ayyappa Raja/74, Mosam Sinha/74, Ahmet Yalcinkaya/75, Anne Skov/75,
Arunachalam Angappan/76, Hadaa Sendoo/76, Anjali Dewan/77 & Parnashree Kundu/77
Edited, Printed & Published by: Dev Bhardwaj, # 3437 Sector 46-C, Chandigarh-160047 (India).
Ph. ++91-98728-23437 <[email protected] www.kaflaintercontinental.com
Executive Editor (Honrary): Harish K. Thakur (Shimla-H.P.)
Ph. ++91-94180-08900, <[email protected]>
Editor at Large : Gurdev Chauhan (Canada). email: [email protected]
Subscription Rates: Rs. 200 (for One year), Rs. 500 (for Three years)
Life Membership: Rs. 2000 (includes webpage on www.indianwriters.org)
Copyright: The copyright for all material published in Kafla Inter-continental belongs to the respective
authors, unless otherwise stated.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this journal are those of the contributors and not of the publisher/editor.
Printed at : Mona Enterprises, Naveen Shahdara, Delhi, Phone. 98100 80542`
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Kafla Intercontinental / Jan.April. 2013/ 1
Kafla Intercontinental Writers Festival in Bhubaneswar
The eighth Kafla Intercontinental Writers Festival
was held at Red Cross Bhawan, Bhubaneswar
in Odisha in collaboration with Pakhighara
Prakashani and Shruti - the School of Music
on 24th. and 25th. November, 2012. During
the festival 42 writers from India and abroad
presented their papers on different aspects of
modern and postmodern discourse. About
70 poets from India and abroad recited poetry.
Poets and writers from different countries like
Nigeria, Uzbekistan, South Africa and
Bangladesh came to attend the festival. The
contingent of Uzbekistan was the largest one.
Oladipo Kehinde Paul from Nigeria, Jacob
Isaac from South Africa, Ms. Salyamova
Kamola, Abdusamatov Abduraim, Boymirov
Tursunqul, Ms. Suyunova Zaringor &
Allayarov Asror from Uzbekistan, Prof.
Mustafizur Rahman, Dr Binoy Barman, Ms.
Lovely Yesmin & Ms. Anjuman Ara from
Bangladesh and others came to participate in
the festival with all enthusiasm. The poets and
writers from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh,
Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Uttrakhand and West Bengal attended the
festival. Many young poets and writers attended
the festival along with the veteran writers. Thus
the festival was a dialogue between the two
generations--- young and old. The young came
with their poems and papers loaded with the
imagery from the world of technology--internet, social sites etc.
The inaugural session of the festival formally
begun with the Welcome Address of Mr. Dev
Bhardwaj, Director, India Intercontinental
Cultural Association, Chandigarh. The guests
were welcomed in a traditional way of Odisha.
Mr. Ramakanta Rath, a renowned poet of India
and Jnanpith awardee lighted the inaugural lamp
and declared the festival open. Mr. Rath in his
address expressed serious concern over the two
emerging trends gradually encompassing the
realm of international literature i.e. the gradual
decrease of literary books with the advent of
market economy after globalization and efforts
at establishing the superiority of certain
languages over the others. He pleaded the case
of the vernacular literature and paying attention
to the regional languages and literature.
Dr. Parinita Goswami, Director, Shruti-the
School of Music, Guwahati, and co-organiser
of the Festival highlighted the aims and
objectives of the Festival. Dr. Goswami also
narrated the journey of Kafla Writers' meet
every-year right from the beginning at
Chandigarh & Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) in
2004 followed by the ones at Kurukshetra &
Yamunanagar (Haryana), Agra (Uttar
Pradesh), Ambala Cantt. (Haryana), Jaipur
(Rajasthan), Chennai (Tamilnadu), Wardha
(Maharashtra) and then reaching at
Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) this year. She
expressed satisfaction over the overwhelming
response of the poets and writers and the
increasing number of participants every year.
This is not only a casual meet of the writers,
held Goswami, but is a congregation that aims
at spreading the message of Vasudhev
Kutumbhkam (the whole world is one family)
and global peace through literature.
Mr. Banoj Tripathy, the young and
dynamic CEO of Pakshighara Publishing
House, Bhubaneshwar and Dr. Lipipuspa
Nayak, an academician, translator and literary
critic based in Bhubaneshwar were the key
persons behind the success of the event who
worked quite hard in organising this Festival.
Mr. Harish Pradhan, General Manager, Nalco,
Bhubaneshwar, an eminent poet was also an
instrumental in getting the support of
NALCO for the Festival.
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In all there were four sessions each day.
Poets, writers and researchers presented poetry,
fiction and papers in different sessions. The
papers of Dr. Abhilash Nayak (Odisha), Prof.
Apara Tiwari (M.P.), Dr. Arti Kumari (Bihar),
Mrs. Bhumika Goswami (West Bengal), Dr..
Chittaranjan Mishra (Odisha), Mr. Deepak M.
(Uttrakhand) Mr. G. C. Varma (New Delhi),
Dr. Gangalaxmi Patnaik (Odisha), I. S.
Thingom (Assam), Dr. Itishri Sarangi (Odisha),
Mr. Jnardhan Pathania (J & K), Dr. Jayant Kar
Sharma (Odisha), Dr. Mohan Lal Mahato
(Jharkhand), Mrs. Nandita Bhattacharya (W.B),
Mrs. Nibedita Jena (Odisha), Ms. Nikita
Bhardwaj (Rajasthan), Dr. Parinita Goswami
(Assam), Ms. Parvati Vakare (Karnataka), Ms.
Patil Sangita Sharnappa (Karnataka), Parvati
Bhakre (Karnataka), Dr. Prabha Bharadwaj
(Rajasthan), Radhu Goswami (W..B.), Ms.
Shreedevi Hiremath (Karnataka) and Mr.
Siddagangaiah Holathal drew attention of the
audience. Debtanu Majee a young writer from
West Bengal also read a paper on Face Book
vs Book. Many poets got their books released
during the festival. The Portait of Africa by
Oladipo Kehindoe Paul, Common Fate by
Shashibhushan Rath, My Favourite Short
Stories and Blessing by Farida Hossain,
Khoaber Deshe by Lovely Yasmin, Stone
Forest by Harish Pradhan and a bilingual
magazine Resurrection edited by Debtanu
Majee were some of the major releases.
Kafla organises the festival in the cities of
India every year and provides a platform to
the poets and writers to share their thoughts
and exchange their views. A special session Kavya Sandhya was held on the evening of 24th
November at the hall of first floor of Red
Cross Bhavan. Many poets including Dr. Arti
Kumari, Mrs. Amarjit Kaur Hirdey, Dr.
Abhilash Nayak, Balram Karke, Biplab Majee,
Balaji Palamaneru, Dr. C. D. Singh, E. B. L.
Nagwanshi, Ghanshyam Sharma, Hrudananda
Panigrahi, Ishwari Yadav, Khajamoinuddin,
Mahesh Kumar Sharma, Nibedita Jena, Nikita
Bhardwaj, , Parvamayee Samantaray, Perugu
Rama Krishna, Dr. Prasand Kumar Panda,
Ram Kumar Verma, S. B. Shrichandan Singh,
S.M. Rizwan, Sabbani Laxminarayana,
Samarendra Patra, Santosh Kashyap,
Sashibhushan Rath, Satish Kumar Singh, Suresh
Paigwwar, Sukumar Bhoi, recited poetry. Vijay
Rathour, Manjit Indira, Siri Ram Arsh, Arti
Kumari, Dayanand Gopal, Dev Bhardwaj,
Parinita Goswami & some others enamoured
the audience by presenting ghazals and geets
in singing. Some participants recited poetry in
their regional languages i.e. Telgu, Assames,
Odiya, Punjabi and Bangla.
The valedictory function of the Festival was
chaired by Mr. Santanu Kumar Acharya, a
renowned Odiya novelist. Mr. Acharya
lamented that how literature has become a
commodity in this market economy and loss
of significance and appreciation of Indian
Literature. Many powerful, innovative and
competent writers and poets remain unheard
and unknown. They are lost in the darkness.
The young generation is also showing little
interest in literature. In the last Mr. Santanu
Kumar Acharya conferred honours and the
certificates of appreciation to all the
participants in the festival. The festival ended
with a splendid song by Mr. Dev Bhardwaj.
Dr. Lipipuspa Nayak while presenting Vote
of Thanks expressed her satisfaction over the
great success of the Festival. She also desired
that more such events are organised in
Bhubaneshwar for the benefit of the writers
and artists of the region.
Most of the participants also visited the
holy city of Jagannath Puri and the World
Heritage site of Konark Sun Temple which are
located at a commutable distance from
Bhubaneshwar. The festival was sponsored by
NALCO, a Navaratna Company.
Biplab Majee & Dev Bhardwaj
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The Nest
Gurdev Chauhan
I usually sit by the widow looking out. My
work is registering and booking customers
for stay at the motel. When no customers are
around, I just sit here doing nothing.
Yesterday morning, two robins came and
sat on the windows bars. They appeared in a
hurry. They wanted to fix a nest on the flat
bar holding window sunshade cover. The
birds' flurries this morning attracted my
attention. They brought twigs and blades of
grass in their bills taking turns at nest-making.
Sometimes one robin just sat on the magnolia
branch, watching.
They seemed to have a clear idea of
what best suited their purpose and took
three four days to finish. They set their nest
at far corner close to wall for protection
against predators, wind and rain. I saw them
at work at different day times. Back home
in India, I remembered how we hauled
abandoned nests of weaverbirds, the best
homemaker from treetops to hang on our
drawing room walls.
Robins were new to me as was their nest
making, and rearing of their young. When the
nest was done, the lady bird sat the nest for
some days to lay eggs. Whenever I looked, I
found female or the male robin sitting the nest,
huddled. After few days, she robin laid the
eggs, four to be sure, as would be revealed
to me later.
A small magnolia tree that stood in the
front of the motel was now in full bloom, its
flowers light pink and white- rimmed. The
entire tree looked just flowers and no leaf.
When the she robin sat brooding, the he robin
kept a vigil, sitting somewhere hidden in
magnolia branches.
Obviously the lady bird knew beforehand
that she was soon to lay eggs. Some invisible
hand must have given her this understanding.
The two made perfect mates. Unlike us
humans, the father assisted the ladybird in the
nest fixing, and after the eggs were laid, to sit
on them on turn hatching them. After the
chicks came out, the he-bird brought
earthworms for the young.
The father and mother robins both fed
their chicks. They both knew all along how to
feed the chicks and the chick knew how to
receive the feed opening their beaks wide. The
mother usually spent time with the chicks but
they both socialized with them and made their
affection known through ways of touching
and cajoling. They stayed almost silent during
their hugging and body warming acts. They
were quiet birds.
I got more curious as more days passed.
Daytimes, I kept a watch over the chicks in
the nest. Small as the nest was, the chicks
had difficulty adjusting their growing bodies
and wing spans. But now the mother spent
less time babysitting. She made fewer visits
to let chicks have more time, room and
mobility. Often, the mother didn't visit them
during night. It was difficult to say that her
interest in her chicks dwindled as they began
to be more on their own. Her love equaled
to their need.
Daily, the father and mother brought earth
worms caught in their beaks and put them
deep into the wide recesses of their mouths
when open. Before feeding the father or the
mother partly swallowed and softened the
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I sat fiddling with the TV remote, my heart
not much into it. I had taken tea. The longneck
sat at the mouth of the nest, sniffing the air. It
looked surprised and gawked at things of
varied shapes and colors outside. It was his
first look at the outside world. His little
brothers and sisters were still asleep and his
mother had flown foraging for food. Colors,
smells and shapes of the outside world were
very different, very exciting and very inviting,
especially the magnolia tree and its flowers
blowing about the wind.
I tried to dig into the book but couldn't.
My mind was not into it. I longed to be in
Toronto with my friends who were too
many and had time for me. Here not a soul
could be found. There were people but none
to talk to.
All of a sudden, I saw a raven dashing
near the nest. Startled, I looked at it and it
flew with the speed of lightening,
disappearing in the fraction of a second. I
could not see where it had gone. I headed to
the front office through the dining room and
from there to the front door to gain a better
view of the nest after the flying visit of the
raven. What I saw left me chilled. It was a
black mountain crow and it already had the
longneck chick caught in his beak. The long
neck fell off his beak but the raven again
caught it in its beak and flew west over a
block of roadside shops. The mother and
father robins tried to chase the crow to a
distance but they could not as the crow was
too strong for them. I don't know what
distance they chased him and to what result.
But the result was clear to me. I came back
to the room and found no sound or
movement in the nest .It made clear that the
crow had succeeded in killing and eating their
chick. I was worried that the crow might have
worms. The mother or the father, whoever
passed on the feed gave a kind of shake to its
body and kind of shivered till the dead worm
rammed right into their mouths.
My curiosity was what happened to the
chicks' shit? How did they manage to keep
the nest clean? I saw the mother usually
engaged in a task that had nothing to do with
feeding. It must clearly be a janitor's task. My
curiosity lasted for a few days. Activities in
and around the nest became less regular and
brief. My eyes grew used to looking the nest
that now brimming with chicks. I took notice
of each change of scene. My imagination
worked overtime. Only one clear bird neck
I had seen till then. Others were just hints,
one or two at the most. So in all there were
three chicks to be sure. One was more smart
and strong than others. It always got the
maximum share of food. Other beaks got
only what was left over. The weather was
turning. Daylight lingered on right up to eight
o clock in the evening. Trees started sporting
new leaves, some green, some red- necked.
Once or twice it rained but not much, just
enough to soak the leaves on the trees
and the grasses below. Work in factories
picked up a bit, a reminder of spring on
the door.
The long-beak was today very restive.
Maybe he needed more food right in the
morning. It was up very early. The mother has
got the hint and has feds him. It was cloudy.
Suddenly it turned colder than expected. Robins
were not prepared for this sudden turn of
weather, the wind making it worse. Day was
drab and trees swayed alarmingly. Few people
turned up for breakfast or coffee at the
McDonalds's. A girl in the blue uniform stood
outside the McDonald's with a broom in her
hand. She put garbage bags into the bin.
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chick but by now I stood guard and again
shouted it away and also threw a stone flying
at him. Then it flew away and did not come
back. After a while I saw that some chicks
were still left in the nest. After an hour or so
the mother flew to the nest and furtively sat
upon the chicks feeding them each from her
beak. She, then, flew out of sight. Now it
was the father's turn to feed. When one robin
flew scurrying for food the other sat in the
magnolia branches to keep watch. When the
father hunted the mother kept an eye on the
nest or sat on the chicks. This went on for
some days and the crow made two or three
sorties but every time luckily I was there to
abort these. After some time the crow
presumably busied somewhere else and did
not come back. In the meantime, the chicks
started making movements outside their nest.
They came one by one to the edge of the
nest and attempted to unfurl their wings. One
more day passed and in my absence two
chicks made good their escape. The only one,
perhaps the weakest among them all was left.
Now the mother concentrated on him. It fed
it earthworms of which there were many
due to newly fallen rain that moistened the
earth and the worms came out and robins
picked them. I saw that the robin would bring
the worm caught still alive in their beak. Then,
it perched on a particular spot on the railing,
the worm in his beak waiting for the worm
to completely end its struggle for life. Then
the mother would feed the dead worm to
her chick because the chick would have
trouble swallowing a live worm.
The next day in the morning when I was
sitting in the front office reading my emails
on the laptop I saw a crow once again. I
shouted it away and soon it flew out of sight.
That very day I when went for a glass of
taken all the chicks because now thick silence
engulfed the nest and none of the robins was
in sight. Were they silently buried in sorrow?
Or did they not know what had happened
to their brothers and sisters. I couldn't see
the father and mother of the chicks anywhere
near the nest. How could they be so
indifferent not to have come even once to
see the fate of others? In fact their nonvisiting for over a good part of the day was
not in keeping with the loving relationship
they had with the chicks. Was this the way
they went about mourning? Did not their
young needed parental encouragement at
such a tragic hour?
It made me sad but curious to know why
they behaved in a manner that showed callous
neglect and indifference totally unexpected of
them at least at such a tragic happening. What
must be behind this sudden show of
indifference? Towards the evening, a bird
came just paying a superficial visit. It stayed
for a fraction of a second and then flew back.
Really it was a riddle why they kept so much
silence, so much lack of love.
This went on like this till dark fell. I didn't
see any movement, not even the prying of a
tiny chick neck out of the nest. Perhaps the
mother had asked them not to behave
adventurously in her absence. I thought the
reason for their feigned silence was that the
other chicks had seen the crow preying on
their elder brother so they huddled frozen in
fear and feigned dead. The early next day as
I opened the door I saw the same crow again
diving close to the nest. I shouted it away
and it was gone. Then, it crossed the street
and perched on the overhead wires and
started cawing and looked disturbed and
kept peering towards the nest. He, then,
made another dash to the nest to snatch the
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Two poems by Rizvana Parveen (UAE)
water I saw the last chick sitting at exactly
the same spot where his mother used to sit
waiting for the worm in her beak to die. I
had not seen any of the other chicks flying
out of the nest. I simply guessed that they
did so. The sight of the last chick reassured
me; it seemed the bird knew of my worry
and wanted to make me happy showing that
it could now fly and take care of itself. The
little bird just waited till I had seen it and
reassured that I had seen, it flew with the
speed I could just admire. It made me stop
worrying for them.
Many weeks have passed. The nest is still
there but no bird has visited it, not even the
chicks whose home it was only a season back.
Why is it so? Do the birds have no memory
or do they have more happy moments in
hand to attend to rather than ruing for the
bygone. They feel but they don't fret. The past
has no meaning for them. The past is gone
and dead for them. It seems they don't plan
for the next mating and laying eggs. They just
soak in the moment of now with no burden
of a past or a future nest. They fly in the
present, lay eggs and brood them in the
moment the present and mate and parent in
the moment of eternal now. The used- up
past and the used-up nest is always a Was for
them. They don't go back to Was or their
old nest. They build fresh homes and lay
fresh eggs.
LIFE HERE
Nothing speaks here, neither
men nor animals or trees
a piercing silence
a persistent vacuum
a desert in itself
How does one live here?
Laden with ornaments
women have a fake
ornamented smile,
aping their attire, they
look like living cadaver
their emotions charred
their hidden screeched screams
unheard piercing cries,
life has drifted away.
This meaningless struggle
suffocating and frustrating,
life's mundane routine
taking a toll on
every other soul.
TIME
Life is limited time bestowed
time lost is life lost untold.
Every moment, a precious moment,
a treasured and a lucky moment
to have lived the successive moment.
Vain talk, vanity, pride, snobbery
and ego, all weaknesses of
the heart and soul frozen;
ultimately making you fall
dreams broken and trampled once for all;
time conceals, reveals and heals in all
life is humbled by time and
ultimately perished by time.
***
email : [email protected]
***
<[email protected]>
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Bonrui
a short story
Shyamal Bhattacharya
Asstt. Editor : Sakalbela (Agartala Edition)
VIP Road, Gorkha Basti, P.O. Kunjaban
Agartala-799006 (Tripura)
Ph. 94367-67509, <[email protected]>
coloured clouds cover one corner of the sky.
The fog has cleared now. The wind has
stopped. Is it going to rain? If it rains then the
cold would become biting. He dresses listening
to the chirpings of crows and mynah as well
as other unknown birds on the Korui tree
which reaches almost the fourth floor balcony.
He calls Bratati and tells her, I will be back
after making a phone call. She opens her eyes,
surprised. Frowning she asks, where?
Home- will come back and tell you.
His hands and legs are in a great hurry.
Getting out of the house he climbs down the
stairs with speed. He has been climbing this
staircase for the last one and a half months
but has never counted the stairs. It is not that
he could not if he wanted to. Everybody gets
that much of time. Actually the thought never
struck him before.
Getting down he realize that he has
forgotten his scooter keys. His cycle keys are
in his pocket. But there is no time to go
upstairs. It is already 5:45am. Telephone rates
are going to change within the next fifteen
minutes. So he rides the cycle and starts
paddling. Faster and faster! The cycle runs on
the 80ft wide taxi track. The air base was
constructed by the Britishers. The concrete taxi
track also belonged to the British era. Later
on when the new war planes started arriving,
after the Indo-China War of 1962, the road
was widened, however, only with pitch-cover.
In those places the cycle as well as the cyclist
shakes. But it's a smooth ride on the old and
original concrete.
I can never decide whether my dreams are
the result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the
result of my dreams (D.H.Lawrence)
He wakes up crying. Not howling but
heartrending. It's yearning in his entire being.
Shivering he stands up. The make shift bed is
on the floor. Bratati and Riya are lying beside
him on the floor. The bed has not yet been
brought from the house of the elder brother
in law. Transferable job has made him
habituated to such inconvenience.
The dream keeps shaking him in the
bathroom too. But Hiren for the last few days
has not thought of Sweta even once. There
are so many bad dreams associated with her.
He still remembers her childhood face when
he was returning to duty from his first leave
after completing his Air Force training, she was
crying holding on to his feet, "I will go with
you Dada, take me with you!" What a
desperate cry it was! Going back, Hiren had
cried for days thinking about her!
After wiping his hands and face, he goes
out into the balcony to find the early morning
Sun rising from behind the Charlie Hanger.
Rows and rows of fighter planes are waiting
to be repaired, an AN 32, two Chetak
helicopters and one Cheetah Helicopter
owned by the Army. At the end of the row
there is a MIG 21 with almost all its machine
parts opened. The bodies of the helicopters
are covered with tarpaulin except for the blade,
tail blade, wheel and the skid. Since the AN
32 is not covered it is got wet due to the mist.
The front screen is blurred. Vermillion
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Everyone gets connected. Hiren is frustrated.
Finally at 6:58 the phone on the other end
starts ringing. It continues to ring. He looks at
the wall clock. Each ring lasts for two seconds.
It's not an engaged ring. Then why isn't it being
picked up? The excitement increases. The
digital clock on the telephone monitor strikes
seven. The wall clock is three seconds slow.
He will be late for office. He looks at Imtaaz.
Imtaaz too stares back at him with the receiver
to his ears. He redials twice and says, bad luck
Dada, the telephone at your home is not
working. Hiren gets up. He has to go to work.
Noisy bus-truck-auto-rickshaws on the
National Highway emit smoke. Covering his
nose with one hand and balancing the cycle
with the other he covers the quarter of a mile,
enters the road to the Air force base and
inhales deeply.
The DSC guard at the entrance asks for
the identity card. Hiren bites his tongue.
Rushing out he forgot to bring his card. He
realize with a sorry face. He once again has to
apologise before the Warrant Officer of the
Air Force Police. The officer gives him a
familiar smile; alright you may go but
remember the next time.
Hiren nods like an obedient boy.
Embarrassment makes his ears hot. He was
that anxious! He continues feeling
uncomfortable within. He controls himself.
Rows of scooter, motorcycle and gypsys
stand on the taxi track. Hiren presses on the
paddle. A few people are staring at something
towards the lake. Two Central School students
are also there. One of them shouts, crocodile!
Crocodile here? He gets down from his
cycle and spots a one and half feet long
crocodile like scaly animal. This is Bonrui!
Although it looks like a crocodile its mouth is
comparatively shorter - almost like a
A fox crosses the road. There is scorched
grass on both the sides of the road. They were
burnt, pouring oil, because of an inspection.
Amidst the burnt yellow lifeless grass already
green grass have started sprouting! Beside the
lake around a freshly cut tree trunk a group
of monkeys are doing something. Hiren
paddles faster!
The STD Booth is beside the guard room.
Two retired army men look after it. Once he
enters the booth he finds it crowded with
people from all over India. A Tamil on the
phone was shouting happy New Year to
someone. Two Sikh youths are sitting on a
stool outside the glass room. Five-six people
were waiting outside. Instead of waiting any
longer Hiren paddles faster. But there are no
booths open on both the sides of the National
Highway. After traveling a long way he finds
a booth, beside a plastic manufacturing factory,
open. The factory has twenty-four hours shift
duty so the adjacent booth also remains open
twenty four hours. The boy's name was Imran.
He calls his brother or his colleague Imtaaz, in
Hiren's presence and tells him,-Come fast I
need to go to the loo!
Hiren smiles! Everyone is helpless when
nature calls. He dials the number. Doesn't get
through! He dials, redials but the satellite betrays
him. Hiren continues trying with renewed
vigour. Imtaaz asks him to add a code after the
number. He applies code before and after the
number and creates a digital train but to no
avail. When he redials the fourteen digits dance
in front of him and then stops before his eyes.
Now it is 6:45am. Even after trying
continuously for half an hour Hiren could not
get through to Agartala. In the mean time two
or three people have come into the booth to
make phone calls. Occasionally Imtaaz has
stopped him to let them make the calls.
h
- Of course I will! I will write a letter in
the office.
- You will write a letter in the office? Bratati
gives a crooked smile.
Embarrassed, Hiren smiles,- I have to
write the letter today.
- Tell me what's wrong.
- I dreamt
Bratati is taken aback,- a bad dream? You
are moved by a dream? But you never believed
in them.
Hiren says,- I dreamt we are going
somewhere. You people are there, so is Sweta.
The train slows down and we get in. Sweta is
carrying a bag, Ria has a camper, you have a
suitcase and I too have something.
Sweta opens the door and gets down once
the train stops. Moving forward through the
window I see it's a deserted station. It's not
our destination. Listen don't get down, the
moment I say this train starts moving. We keep
calling, -Sweta get in, Pishima get in! I rush to
pull the chain but it's very hard. I hang on to
the chain and its comes out. I fall on a seat
and looking through the window I see that
it's almost the end of the platform, and Sweta
is running with all her might. The train does
not stop. It leaves the Platform. Then it was
water all around till the horizon. The fields are
submerged in water-or is it darkness? I let out
an incomprehensible beastly cry and wake up.
For a while everyone is quite. Then the
sound of the school bus is heard from below.
Going out of the door Riya says, don't worry
we will be getting down at the next station.
So we will wait there and you can goBratati says, it's not that easy baby, you
never know what will happen. You won't
understand. This is India! She goes downstairs
to see Riya off. The balcony door bangs shut
by the strong wind. Hiren locks it and starts
mongoose. Its body and tail are scaly like that
of a rahu fish. During his childhood he had
seen such a Bonrui in the forests of Tripura.
He had got lost in the jungles of Jatanbari- he
had screamed looking at it. Like the Lord of
the jungle the old Jatankumar had picked him
up on his lap. Later on, he came to know that
Jatanbari was named after this legendary
forester. Today throughout the world
environmentalists are fighting against dams on
rivers. Their agitation has resulted in the
destruction of dams in many parts of the
world including America. In India too people
like Medha Patekar, Baba Amte had been
fighting against such projects and have
managed to gather public opinion against
them. But that day Jatankumar alone had
protested against the Dombur Dam Project.
No one listened to him. Re-naming a region
after him the clever government has fooled
this Adivaasi leader. Hiren sighs!
A fox sniffing the grass goes near the
Bonrui, licks it and that makes the Bonrui go
into the water. The fox too gets scared and
starts growling like a dog. Everyone starts
laughing. Just at that moment the siren starts
blowing making everyone conscious and they
get going with a start. Hiren too. The red cloud
turning black is covering half of the sky. Wind
is blowing hard. It seems that this taxi track is
a deck of a huge ship and the siren a warning
of an impending storm.
Counting and climbing up forty eight stairs
in totality Hiren sees that Riya is ready for
school. Bratati is putting her tiffin box in her
bag. Both of them at once ask him in unison,
what happened?
- It was ringing but no one is picking up
the phone. Got to write a letter!
- Try once again at night. Don't you want
to go to the office?
h
Three poems by Ljupce Zahariev
shaving. There is no point getting so emotional.
He has been running after his dream since dawn.
At that moment he is reminded of the bonrui.
It went into the water scared. But since it is not
an aquatic it has to get back to the land.
Hiren has not seen a bonrui after he grew
up. He has seen scales and bones of the
animals being sold on the pavements of
Agartala by herbal quacks. Since it lives on tiny
insects, ant holes and termites it has no armour
on its body to protect itself. That's why maybe
it's on the verge of extinction. Where did it
come from out here? There are factories and
settlements all around. That means in this
artificial sanctuary the animal has been there
for ages. Because of the inspection since the
grass was burnt it has been forced to come
out, then goes into the water when the fox
licks it. Once all the animals rose out of water
adding limbs to themselves. Man is its
outcome. But man himself is trying to destroy
the natural balance continuously. Has the bonrui
added any organ suitable to live in water?
What if ? Ouch! A sudden careless stoke of
the razor results in a nick on the chin. He tries
to concentrate looking into the mirror. Bratati
has not returned yet. Wind blows with a
sound. The storm has come. How will he go
for his duty today? The bonrui with its easy
swim in the lake makes Hiren optimistic. He
wishes that if he could go back into the past
through the time machine train he would have
seen Sweta reigning as an empress in that
deserted station covered in moss but with
illuminated features. The grip of the winner
over time is strong.
(Macedonia)
1.
I wait for your SMS in mobile.
You told me things
would be better
and more beautiful the next time.
But unreceived SMS message
is a simbol
of your thinking of me
between over to get
the back of your legs tan
and smiling at whoever's
touring the other way.
2.
Slipping with the light on
with the computer on,
too tired to get undressed.
Wake with the sun at five
to start
another shade less day
in the choefactory.
3.
I don’t like funeral service,
but
if You wish my angel,
over my grave
read poems about us.
With my ashes
in your heart
wrote the poem
for our love.
Written and published in Bangla in 1997 (Sambad
Pratidin). Translated into english by
***
***
h
Biplab Majee
R-19 Dakbungalow Road,
Midnapore-721101 (West Bengal)
Vietnam- A Land of Poetry
(A Glimpse of Asia Pacific
Poetry Festival First)
Ph.94344-16371, <[email protected]>
On Feb. 1, we the 81 Poets from 27
countries flew from the different routes of
the sky to Ha Noi at Noi Bai Airport and
from Ha Noi to Ha Long, we went 160 km
by bus or by car on a national highway. On
the way we saw how Vietnam using
globalization is renovating (Doi-Moi) itself.
Poet Huu Thinh, President of Vietnam
Writers' Association, Madam Dao Kim Hoa,
Deputy Director Commission for External
Affairs and Poet Tran Quang Quy. Deputy
Director, Editor in Chief, Publishing House
of Vietnam Writers' Association
accommodated us in a 4 stars Grand Ha Long
Hotel. I was in suite no 820. All suites have
the panoramic sea view.
Opening ceremony of Asia Pacific began
on Feb. 2. It was drizzling and all the
Vietnamese believed that it was auspicious for
the festival. Dragons were flying in the sky. After
flag ceremony we all went to a Mountain area
of Ha Long Bay where Incense ceremony took
place following all the rituals. The ceremony
was marked by dance, music, hymn, speech,
poetry reading and flying pigeons and balloons
in the sky. At noon, there was discussion on the
topics : 'Poetry of Asia for Peace, Friendship,
Cooperation and Development' in the
conference hall of Hotel Grand Ha Long.
Interesting papers were presented by the poets
of different countries. Feb 3, we were in an
excursion on Ha Long Bay by cruise. Ha Long
is deep and blue. Every time panoramic views
are changing and new scenery is appearing. We
experienced endless painting and sculptures of
nature on Ha Long bay. Evening there was
International Poetry reading.
I had never dreamt of going to Vietnam
some day. But on 5th November 2011 when
writer Geetesh Sharma, Chairperson, IndoVietnam Solidarity Committee, Kolkata asked
me whether I was interested to go to
Vietnam? The very next-day I replied him: Yes.
He requested me to send two passport size
photos, 5/6 poems and bio-data of mine. I
complied his request. Within 10 days I got an
invitation letter from the Vietnam Writers'
Association, Commission for External Affairs
with tentative programme. I was supposed
to go Vietnam by Feb.1 to attend Asia Pacific
Poetry Festival First in Vietnam and shall have
to stay in Ha Noi and Ha Long City from 1
Feb. to 7 Feb. 2012. Ha Long is a beautiful
city on the beach of Ha long Bay and Ha
Long Bay is declared by UNESCO as a world
heritage site because of its natural beauty.
Various forms of its mountains, islands and
the colour of water and cloud in the sky, rocky
islands, caves from a sailing boat or cruise are
very interesting way of exploring nature.
Before going to Ha Long I visited Ha Long
on internet and knew that I was really going
to a poetical environment to meet Asia Pacific
Poetry Festival. Poets from China, Japan, New
Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia,
Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
USA, Canada, Australia, Iran, Israel,
Philippines, U.K, Hungary, Russia, Mongolia,
Laos, Iran, Uzbekistan, Magnolia…came to
attend the festival . We were five poets from
India---Partha Raha, Arunnava Ghosh from
Kolkata, Sukrita Paul Kumar (New Delhi),
Mamta G. Sagar (Bangalore) and myself from
Medinipur (West Bengal)
h
Association said good bye to us and decaled
the closing of Asia Pacific Poetry Festival First.
The dream ended and we all flew back to
our respective country.
I exchanged views and poetry books with
the poets Ko Un (Nominated for the Nobel
Prize in 2011, South Korea), Gao Xing
(Deputy Editor in chief. World
Literature,China), Suu Cai(Professor, Institute
of Foreign. Literature Chinese Academy of
Social Science,China), Mo Fei (China), Zhu
Yangxin (Professor of Foreign Language
Department,China), Wu, Rong Fu (Director
of Chinese Language Centre), Masayuki INUI
(Professor, French Language Comparative
Literature,Japan), Ban'ya Nat Suishi (President,
World Haiku Association,Japan), Prof. Dr. Le
Thanh Binh (General Director, Dean of
Faculty of International Communication &
Culture,Vietnam), Professor Anh, Kyoung
Hwan (Chosun University, College of Foreign
Studies,South Korea), Poet Vu Huyen Van,
Poet Pornpen Hantrakool(Thiland), Poet
Mariko Nagai (Director, Temple University,
Japan), Professor Marjorie Evasco-Pernia
(De La Salle University, Philippines)), Poet
Sue Blanshard (Canada), Poet Lam Quang
My, Poet Le Huy Mau, People's Artist Chu
Thuy Quynh, Poet Do Han, Bavykin Oleg
(Foreign Relations Department Head, Writers'
Union of Russia), Poet Azam Abidov
(Uzbekistan), Writer Trung Trung Dinh, Poet
Phau Hoang, Journalist Dang Thin Thanh
Huong, Phan Thi Ngoc My (Director Private
Fine Art Museum, Vietnam), Agus R. Sarjono
(Director
ii
the
Intercultural
Institute,Indonesia), Poet Sabina Messeg
(Israel), Poet Siril Wong (Singapore), Poet
Tuyet Nga, Poet Phan Hoang, Poet Mary
Croy (USA), Lady Borton (USA) and a galaxy
of poets of other countries.
On Feb 4. we came back to Ha Noi by
three Luxury buses. On the way we visited
Bat Trang-Ceramics Village. At noon we
checked in Ho Tay villas from which had also
panoramic view of Ho Tay Lake was visible.
In the evening there was again International
Poetry reading in the Temple of Literature
(Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam).
On Feb. 5, we attended the opening
ceremony, the Festival on the 10th Vietnamese
Poetry Day at Temple of Literature. Thousand
of poetry lovers of Ha Noi thronged into
the Temple of Literature to listen to the poems
of Vietnamese poets and to take autographs
from the international poets.
Really, 81 poets from 27 countries we
were VVIP guests in Vietnam. Mr Truong Tan
Sang, President of Socialist Republic of
Vietnam called on us in Presidential Palace.
He welcomed us and talked with us on
different subjects more than an hour. I shared
to talk with him on globalization and he said
every country should welcome globalization
for information and development, but cultural
uniformity will drag history, backwards.
Cultural diversities are needed for every
countr y. In the evening we enjoyed
performance of Thang Long Water Puppet.
Feb. 6. There was an excursion to a
Buddhist centre in Son Tay, located at the
outskirt of Ha Noi. Vietnamese regarded this
pagoda as a sacred place. Again we read
poetry which was followed by speech dance
and music. The Head monk was also a poet.
He recited Zen poems for us. Here we
observed colorful poetry festival with lunch
offered by the monk of the pagoda.
In the evening of 6 Feb. we all gathered in
closing banquet at 5 stars Daewoo hotel. We
got gifts and enjoyed the colorful gala event.
Poet Huu Thinh, President of Vietnam Writers
h
From the forum of Asia Pacitic poetry
Festival we, 81 poets of 27 Countries,
promised to translate each others' poetry into
our respective language to know the poetry
of each country. Poet Huu Thinh said in his
inaugural speech :
'The world of poetry is vast, refined and
magical. We poet must come together often.
We need to dedicate worthy attention to the
translation and publication of each others'
work. We must enable world poetry to arrive
at school podiums, and at the most private
pathways. With the progress of information,
the world has arrived at every home. Why
not poetry?
We are happy to be able to live, create and
dream in Asia, which is becoming the center
of the world.
As poetry has the species power to wake
our potential and hidden energies we hope to
make a beautiful world in Asia pacific regionthis was the message in this international poetry
festive.'
Poetry is a cultural asset not only of each
nation, but for all of mankind.
Two poems by Vihang A. Naik
(Gujarat)
AQUARIUM
A silky silver fish
with oily fins ,
shiny scales ,
through the glass
of your eves ,
swims. You
think of beauty
breathing
in the desert of waters
and bubbles.
A MATTER OF LIFE
How about making a poem within
a poem ? You smell the Ocean and
the sand. A life within a poem.
She composed herself from the surf.
The night lamp burns.
At the corner of the desk
life is a philosophy
***
“If somebody tells me a good story, I'll write
it down in my four lines; that is the secret of
the theme. If you make the subject of a story
twelve or fourteen lines, that's a treatment.
You've already committed yourself to the sort
of a character, the sort of surroundings, and
the moment you've committed yourself, the
story is already written. It has ceased to be
fluid, you can't design it any longer, you can't
model it. So I always confine myself to my
four lines. If it won't go into four, that means
you haven't reduced it to its ultimate
simplicity, reduced it to the fable.”
book with pencil marks,
wounds and comments. A poem
you canceled at the end.
You think of splashing waves and horses
without reins. She turned away. I smell
the rose. Her odhani stuck to my pen.
***
Ph. 9998106071. <[email protected]>
http://www.vihang.ind.in
- Frank O'Connor
(Writers at Work, 1st Series)
h
Literature and World Peace: Peace Through Literature
Dr. S. M. Rizwan Ahmad
Dept. of English, Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)
Mob.No.9470939195, E-mail: [email protected]
The word literature etymologically embraces
every written material ranging from text books
to different kinds of writing. Here I am
concerned with literature as an art form, as
opposed to literature as cold facts, abstract
philosophy and pure reason. Literature as art
uses cold facts, abstract philosophy and pure
reason as raw materials to create pleasurable
new world. It does not mean that literatures
of cold facts, abstract philosophy and pure
reason do not play a role in the advancement
of world peace. On the contrary, history
books, religious documents, newspaper
articles, etc. had at one time or another in world
history either contributed to the advancement
of peace, or become a tool for anarchy. This
is because as cold facts their impact is
instantaneous but ephemeral. They lack the
power to appeal to the people’s sense of
aesthetics. A newspaper article shall simply
exhort people to either revolt or embrace
dialogue. They present the society with harsh
realities, even exaggerated versions at times,
as in the case of civil war propaganda. The
difference is that while literature as art is also
pursuing an ideology, it manages to make its
propaganda content very subtle and emphasize
the aesthetic content. That is what some
scholars call imaginative literature. And the
major difference between it and reality is that
while reality lives an experience, the literary arts
recreate an experience with the intention to
instruct, entertain, and make beautiful. This
type of literature is a specialized area where
only those with the approved tools operate.
Writers of this brand of literature produce
works that are eternal, surviving when every
other thing has disappeared.
According to George Thomson (1946:65),
“The poet speaks not for himself only but
for his fellow men. His cry is their cry, which
only he can utter. That is what gives its depth.”
The poet as used by George Thomson is
representative of writers of our type of
literature, imaginative literature. Chinua Achebe
elaborated on writers of imaginative literature
and their art when he said , ”The matter is
really quite simple. Literature, whether handed
down by word of mouth or in print, gives us
a second handle on reality; enabling us to
encounter in the safe, manageable dimensions
of make-believe the very same threats to
integrity that may assail the psyche in real life,
and at the same time providing through the
self-discovery which it imparts a veritable
weapon for coping with these threats whether
they are found within problematic and
incoherent selves or in the world around us.”1
It is better to reflect a little on the nature
of our world to be able to appreciate better
what literature can do in advancing peace in
the world. Generations upon generations of
humanity have speculated on concepts such
as world government, world currency,
globalization, world peace, etc. Some of these
expressions are, to say the least utopian. The
idea of world peace seems to be coming
loudest from religious quarters and ironically,
the greatest threat to the attainment of peace
is ideological intolerance among religious sects;
the Islamic World versus the Christian and Jew
Zealots, the Christian proselytizers versus
h
the Igbo of Southern Nigeria. E.M. Forster’s
“A Passage to India” shows the gap between
the British rulers and the Indians. In this novel,
after having bitter experience of racial
difference, Dr. Aziz is hell-bent to free India
from the clutches of the foreign rulers. But
the global society which literature is supposed
to mirror is, terribly treacherous. Our world
is very hypocritical. David Icke, an American
writer, reveals how a chain of individuals he
referred to as the global elite, through some
multi-national corporations, manipulate people
and events of the world (Bridge of Love,
1995). This shows that even at the peak of
pretension to equality, our world is still
confronted by that cancerous human complex
most beautifully captured in George Orwell’s
“Animal Farm” thus;” ---All animals are equal
but some are more equal than the others.”
Propaganda is so much dominant in the novel
that all the characters except pigs and dogs
are the victims of it.
Imaginative literatures should commit
themselves to the advancement of peace first
in the communities of their origin and that is
the basis for their global relevance in the
advancement of world peace. On a wider
scale, imaginative literature needs to address
the issue of hypocrisy. Writers of imaginative
literature should be sensitive to the feelings and
world views of readers of their literatures.
No matter what you might think the ideology
of another is, it is no justification for insult,
particularly the largest practicing religion of
the world. When on February 14, 1989 Salman
Rushdie was condemned to death by the
former Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatollah
Ruhullah Khomeini for publishing the novel
“Satanic Verses”, Naguib Mahfouz, winner of
the 1988 Nobel prize in literature criticized
Khomeini for what he described as
adherent of native religions, etc. The concept
of world peace came into vogue after the
Second World War metamorphosed into
United Nations organization. There had been
visible efforts made over time at securing
world peace. The bewildering aspect of all this
is that despite the whole efforts at peace which
culminated in the formation of the league of
Nations, less than three decades after the end
of the first world war, the world experienced
a more devastating second world war.
The end of the Second World War again
witnessed a fresh effort at peace with the
formation of the United Nations
Organization (UNO) to replace the League
of Nations. The efforts notwithstanding, many
other wars had taken place all over the world
since after the Second World War; the Vietnam
War, the Rwandan War, the Nigerian Civil War,
the Gulf War instigated by the West, the recent
U.S. led air- attack on Iraq on the pretext of
false allegation of Weapons of Mass
Destruction in which innocent women,
children and men were killed, the Afghan
resistance against Imperialism of the U.S., and
the on-going Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip.
The worrisome question remains; why does
peace seem so unattainable?
There are certain social factors which are
particularly inimical to the advancement of
peace: corruption and lack of consideration
for other people’s world views as the main
impediments to the advancement of world
peace. Literature has often been described as
the mirror of society. Right from Geoffrey
Chaucer‘s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
to T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, we find that the
poets have tried to pen-picture the corruption
and the other misdeeds of their times. ”Things
Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe
addresses the colonial injustice done locally to
h
Instead of The Weapons of Destruction,
the contemporary world badly needs The
Weapons of Mass Instruction. Instead of
military tanks, the world needs book tanks
which can infuse love for human beings among
the masses. I wish to end my research paper
reading by quoting the special focus of this
International Seminar written in Sanskrit,
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, meaning “the
whole world is one family” and a translated
verse from the Holy Quran mentioned in
Chapter 49 of Verse No. 13 of Hujrat:
“O Mankind! I (Allah) has created you
from a single pair of a male and a female,
and it’s I who has made into nations and tribes,
that you may recognize one another, not that
you despise one another and the most
honoured in the sight of Allah is, the one, who
is the most righteous.”
“intellectual terrorism”, but sooner changed
his view and rightly said that Rushdie did not
have the right to insult anything, especially a
prophet or anything considered holy. The
publication of “Satanic Verses” provoked
violent protests in India, Pakistan Egypt and
in many parts of the Islamic world.
One more example of such literatures that
offend the sensibility of their readers is the
recently published work, “Da Vinci Code”
written by an American novelist, Darl Brown.
This novel is classified heretical among
Christians. In the novel, the identity of Jesus is
unconventionally treated and it provoked
angry protests from the Christian world. It is
important that writers of imaginative literature
and cartoonists too, should identify the
dividing line between constructive presentation
of events and unwarranted insult. An artist
should not write with an aim to be awarded
any prize as such .It is another fact that even in
the history of Nobel Prize in Literature, many
literary achievements were overlooked or not
recognized as such, often for political reasons,
due to the lack of available translations, and
ethnocentric bias. The literary historian Kjell
Espmark admitted that “as to the early prizes,
the censure of bad choices and blatant
omissions is often justified. Tolstoy, Ibsen and
Henry James should have been rewarded
instead of, for instance, Sully Prudhomme,
Eucken and Heyse.”
The need of the hour is peace and literature
can be used as an instrument to attain this goal.
Ando Hiroshige, a Japanese poet has rightly
expressed his views on universal brotherhood:
It is our hope
That all the world’s oceans
Be joined in peace
So why do the winds and waves
Now rise up in angry rage?
References
1. Achebe, Chinua. Anthills of the Savanna, New
York: Doubleday, 1988.
2. Icke, David---And the truth shall set you free,
Cambridge: Bridge of Love
Publications 1995.
3. Espmark, Kjell, Nobel’s Will and the Literature
Prize (http://www.nobelprizeorg)
***
"Don't confuse imagination and fantasy; they
are two distinct actions of the mind. Benedetto
Croce makes a great distinction between them
in some of his best pages. All artists must have
imagination, some have fantasy. Science fiction,
or - well, Aristo… that's fantasy. For
imagination, take Madame Bovary, Flaubert
has great imagination, but absolutely no
fantasy."
- Albert Moravia
(Writers at Work, 1st. Series)
h
Contribution of
Saintly Poets
for Universal Brotherhood
Shreedevi Hiremath
Lecturer in English, Guru Nanak First
Grade College, Bidar, Karnataka.
Which is the land where the people of whole
world and of different religion dwell with
equal rights?
Which is the land where Mandir, Masjid,
Church and other places of all the religions
are given equal importance?
Which nation has been teaching whole
world both tolerance and universal
acceptance?
"That is incredible INDIA".
This itself proves India as an ideal nation
in moving towards Universal Brotherhood.
Indian history replete with blue blood. Her
literature contains noble works embellished
with great thoughts, spiritual philosophy and
universalism by the great poets, authors and
speakers. Now I would like to consider such
noble men who advocated their philosophy
of Universal brotherhood and were called
'Vishwa Manavas', Universal Men.
kindness and lived for the welfare of all. True
devotion and virtuous conduct should be
given greater importance than outward
religious formalities. When Basaveshwara
came to Kalyan the then ruling king Bijjala
appointed him as the prime-minister of Bijjala
Empire. Then basavanna chalked out in his
mind a programme for spiritual awakening.
He formed a new spiritual institution on a
democratic foundation and that was called
Anubhava Mantapa. All men and women of
all caste could become members. Piety and
good character alone were required of anyone
who came to Anubhava Mantapa. Everybody
was to take up some work or the other for
livelihood. He preached the rights and duties
of the people even in such times of ignorance
and unawareness of 12th century. He tried to
eradicate caste system by arranging a marriage
between untouchable bride-groom and a
Brahmin bride, in those dark days. Basavanna
is the first man to form a parliament by
forming Anubhava MantapaHe said that all
people should have equal opportunities for
religious life. Birth, profession, social status,
position or sex should make no difference.
One should not beg. Everyone should set right
the crookedness of one's mind. His preaching
and teaching are universal, go beyond all
boundaries of belief system. He was a great
humanitarian who believed in the doctrine
'Work is Worship'. The key aspect of his
preaching is monotheistic concept of God.
His teachings were not just words in speeches
or books. They were practiced in daily life by
all the members of the Anubhava Mantapa.
Ph. 8105778801 <[email protected]>
Basaveshwara
History of 12th c. reveals innumerable
Sharanas who preached and followed the
principle of universalism. The most eminent
of them was Basaveshwara who had the
power of binding the society into one
harmonious unit without communal feelings.
He rejected the elaborate ritualism and strict
caste system of orthodox Hinduism who
favored the wealthy and emphasized direct
mystical experience available to all through
deep devotion to God. He preached that there
is only one God. Surrendering oneself
completely to Him in devotion and
compassion is the root of all religions.
Basavanna treated all living beings with
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Haridasa. His Harikeerthanas are of a superior
class even from literary angle. They reflect his
ripe experience in life, rich wisdom, equanimity
and love for freedom. He is a prominent
representative of the tradition of saint-singers
of Karnataka. In one of his keertanas he
describes caste very beautifully.
'Kula kula vendu hodedadadiri kulada nele
yenadaru ballira? '
Thus he asks where your caste is and what
is its base? And says when it is unanswerable
then do not fight in the name of caste.
He preached his principles through his
vachanas as"Deva loka martya loka vembudu berilla kaniro,
Satya nudiyuvude deva loka,
Mitya nudiyuvude martya loka,
Acharave swarga anacharave naraka,
Kudala sangama deva."
Meaning; heaven and hell are not elsewhere,
speaking truth is heaven uttering lies is man's
world. Righteous conduct is heaven
unrighteous conduct is hell. Say 'sir' sweet and
soft, there you find heaven, say 'you feller'
vulgar and rough, that leads you to hell.
"Ullavaru shivalayava maduvaru, na enu madali
badavanayya…….."
Meaning; people who have money build
temples
What can I, a poor man do?
My legs are pillars
My body is the temple
My head is the golden tower
Please listen O Kudala sangama deva
The static has an end but the dynamic has
none.
Sarvajnya
A popular poet called Sarvajnya or "the
one who knows all" was a famous Kannada
poet from 16th Century, a few years before
the decline of the Vijaya Nagara Empire.
He was born as the son of Basavarasa, a
shaiva Brahmin in the district of Dharvar.
His real name was Pushpadatta. He defied
his parents during his childhood and led the
life of a nomad, chanting his verses and
preaching about the Supreme Being. As he
gained abundant of knowledge he was
called as sarvajnya. He was of the opinion
that there is no difference between the light
of the low caste people and the high caste
people. He stated that, 'Deva nolidatane jata
sarvajnya'; those whom God loved were the
high caste people. He preached that caste
and creed are mere words and that only a
guru could provide solution to the problems
in a man's life. He is known for his tripadis
or three line poems. Sarvajnya is reputed
for having written two thousand poems on
the topic of religion, idolatory, sophistry,
astrology and Kannada culture. His tripadis
are relevant even in the contemporary
world.
Allama Prabhu
Allama Prabhu is another mystic-saint and
a poet of Kannada language in the 12th C.
He is the patron saint, the undisputed spiritual
authority. He achieved Shunyapitha i.e.
achievement of nothingness or the mystical
zero. He too preached the unification of
human soul with God through his vachanas,
without any religious disparities. His poetic style
has been described as mystic and cryptic, rich
in paradoxes and inversions.
Kanaka Dasa
We even have many Dasas in 16th C.
Kannada literature like KanakaDasa. Taking
birth in low caste family Kanakadasa became
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Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore, a saintly poet
educationist and a noble laureate, was born in
1861 in Calcutta. He received his education
mostly at home as he refused to follow the
beaten track of learning. He developed a taste
for literature and understanding of human
nature. He had strong faith in humanity,
brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God.
He combined eastern ideals with western
service. His philosophy is firmly based on
naturalism, humanism, idealism and
internationalism. His aim in education was to
bring in the concept of joy, freedom, creative
self-expression, integration and co-ordination
of all knowledge and to develop a sense of
unity in the world and promote a well
balanced har monious and integrated
personality of child. He started the world
famous institution Shantiniketan in order to
bring universalism among the pupils which
later came to be known as Vishwabharati. His
interest in man is as man. Also we cannot
associate any creed or denomination with
Tagore because he believed in Vishwa Manava,
Universal Man. His poem 'where the mind is
without fear' is a good example for his noble
thoughts.
Sant Kabir
A well known mystic poet of Hindi
literature Sant Kabir who did not know in
which caste he was born and who were his
parents but he preached the doctrine of
universal brotherhood. As Das, he was
referred to as the servant of humanity and
thus a servant of God. He played the vital
role of the teacher and a social reformer
through the medium of his dohas. Having a
strong faith in the concept of oneness of God,
he advocated the concept of "koi bole Ram
Ram, koi bole khudai". The basic idea was to
spread the message that whether you chant
the name of Hindu God or Muslim God,
the fact is that there is only one God who is
the creator of this beautiful world.
In his dohas he says:
"ek hi pawan ek hi paani, ek jaati sansara,
Ek hi khaak gharch sab bhaande,
ek hi sirjanhara"
(Meaning -there is same air and there is
same water for all human beings, there is only
one caste in this world. As all the pots are
made of the same dirt of the same creater.)
in another doha he says"Jaat na pucho saadh ki, pucho saadk ka gyaan,
Moal karo talwar ki pari rahane do myan."
(Kabir Das says not to ask the caste of a
saint, instead ask about his knowledge,
And try to know the value of sword but
don't value the sheath)
Thus with his two line poems he preached
about universalism.
The first great poet of modern kannada
literature Pampa stated that caste is not a
community in which one is born, the zeal is a
caste, virtue is a caste, virility is a caste. One
more important poet, Raghavanka stated that
truth is high caste and falsehood is low caste.
Swamy Vivekananda
When we peep into the history of 19th
Century India, a great reformer and speaker,
Swamy Vivekananda's name glitters like the
pole star. He was a practical saint of modern
India and wanted to revise its wisdom. He
preached and practiced the principle of truth,
honesty, sacrifice, brotherhood of man and
realization of God. He was a world teacher
and a great educationist. According to him
the ultimate goal of human is to attain unity
with the creator. He described God as
supreme power having infinite existence,
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sentimental unity, or a simple political or social
co-operation. Its meaning is comparatively
wider and profounder than this. The sense
inherent in the words in their widest tenor or
purport is the spiritual brotherhood of all
beings, particularly; the doctrine implies that
all human beings are inseparably linked
together, not merely by the bonds of
emotional thoughts or feelings, but by very
fabric of universe itself.
Today all nations are interdependent
economically, socially, and religiously. The days
of nationalism and universalism are wrapped
in the pages of history, today they mean next
to nothing in reality. Many laws have been
enacted in many countries against
discrimination on the grounds of race, color,
or sex, but why is that they are partially
successful? People's minds, society, the country,
the whole world are corrupted with prejudices.
The feeling of brotherhood must emenate
from the heart, it cannot be imposed from
outside. All should try to share joys and
sorrows equally. All nations must believe in
universal unity and happiness. As one of the
prayer says - 'Sarve bhavantu sukhi naha, sarve
santu niramaya'.
In ancient times the Vedas were written,
they were the productions of the seers. They
have laid foundation for the Indian philosophy
and also preached Universalism. One example
is cited, 'Asatoma sadgamaya, tamasonma
jyotirgamaya, mrutyonma amruthamgamaya.
infinite knowledge and bliss. He was not
known as a poet but his words and speeches
are no lesser than any poems of great poets
mentioned above.
Thus innumerable poets and writers have
tried to galvanize the people to live with unity,
to feel the whole universe as one home and
people of whole world as members of one
family. Kabir, Tukaram and many other were
not graduates of Cambridge or Oxford
University, they were not even educated but
wisdom was with them. All the above
mentioned noble men have believed in one
principle and same philosophy that one need
not have animosity in the name of caste and
creed, rich and poor, and high and low. Work
is worship, one need not believe in rituals and
offerings to please God. Performing God's
duty with sincerity pleases God. Kabir and
Tukaram were not graduates of Cambridge
or Oxford University, they were not even
educated but wisdom was with them. Tagore's
poem "work is worship" says that God is not
there in the four walls of temple or church or
mosque and not with the one who chants
mantra counting the beads but he is there with
the path maker, and the one who tills the land
with sweat of one's brow. A great Hindi poet,
Harivanshray Bachhan says in his great work
'Madhushala' "Musalman aur hindu hain do, ek magar unka
pyaala'
Ek magar unka madiralay,ek magar unki hala,
Dono rahate ek nahi jab tak masjid -mandir
mein jate'
Vair badhate masjid - mandir, mel karta
madiralay (gnyan ka bhandhar)".
Religion and holy places build enemity but
the knowledge unites people.
Universal brotherhood as understood in
esoteric philosophy does not signify merely
Let us come together, let us talk together,
and let us live with one mind.
***
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Kabir’s Poetry - A Road to
Universal Brotherhood
Dr. Arti Kumari, M. A., M. Ed, Phd. (English)
Higher Secondary Teacher, Govt. High School,
Bramhpura, Muzaffarpur (Bihar).
Ph. 8084505505, <[email protected]>
Pothi Padhi padhi jag mua,
pandit bhaya na koi
Dhai akshar prem ka,
Padhe so pandit hoi.
Simple and plain words written by a person
who was not schooled or tutored but
whatever he uttered or spoke; they turned out
to be an unceasing voice of the world. He is
Kabir whose personality is an amalgamation
of so many virtues. His uttering has been
coming down to us and making our barren
land fertile with wisdom. He appeared on the
screen just like a great saint who with his
preaching showed us the way piercing the
pitch darkness of ignorance in which he found
the men groping. Kabir was really a great
thinker, a profound philosopher, a good
preceptor, a great teacher, a radical reformer
and what not. Kabir himself declares:
I don't touch ink or paper
this hand never grasped a pen.
The greatness of four ages
Kabir tells with his mouth alone.
But whatever he communicated it can't be
told by an erudite or a common man who is
easily caught up in the mesh of worldly
problems, bounded by urgency of pressing
needs and troubled by convention.
Kabir was born at a time when there was
instability in both political and religious spheres
of the country and religion was the greatest
tool at the hands of the hypocrites. The
religion and belief of the people of the
country were splintered into several sects and
cults, such as, Buddhism, Jainism, Sufism,
Nath sect, Adwait of Shankar and
Vishishtadwait of Ramanuj. Societies were
splitting into segments due to the caste status
and creeds galvanized by Brahmanism. The
people of the privileged castes and Shudras
were falling apart, as both harboured
prejudice against each other. When Kabir
observed this great deal of fraud and
falsehood practiced in the name of religion,
he spoke the truth, which needed much
courage.
Kabir did not set down anything in writing;
he only sang and gave utterances to his insight
and prophetic vision, which became
household maxims for the generations to
come. If poetry could reach the height of a
spell, it was here. He poured his soul in pithy
aphoristic dohas, each quintessence of his lifeexperience. His bhajans are so soothing,
pleasing and tunable that they work upon our
mind and body. It injects a new spirit into our
veins and we feel rejuvenated.
Even Gandhiji appears brought under the
profound impact of Kabir. He mentioned that
he felt delighted listening Kabir's bhajan "Jhini
Jhini bini chadariya" and included this poem
in his daily prayer.
Kabir was a firm advocate of Truth and
Non-violence. He says, "No act of devotion
can equal truth; No crime is so heinous as
falsehood; in the heart where truth abides, there
is God's abode".
Westcott held him as a Mohammadan Sanit,
P.C. Verma called him a Saviour of Hinduism
from Islam. Recent writers have presented him
as a social revolutionary comparable to Gandhi.
William J. Dwyer sees him as a Bhakt, but he
was a saint poet and to think of the good of
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the attention of modern radical in as much as
he like the Budha denounced the folly of
social inequality and the injustice perpetrated
in the name of caste. Kabir shares a rare kind
of catholicity and humanism with Marathi
poet Namdev, Punjabi Poet Nanak, Telegu
poet Vemana, Kannada poet Basaveshwar
and Gujrati poet Akho which broke all
conventions of caste, creed or cult. He openly
criticized all sects and gave a new direction to
the Indian philosophy. Kabir is being reevaluated as the first rebel poet and the earliest
modernist in Hindi criticism (Purbi Times,
Kabir special Number, June 1966, articles by
Yashpal, Sampurnanad, Amritlal Nagar, Ali
Sardar Jafri ,Firaq Gorakhpuri and others).
One young critic, Thakur Prasad Singh, has in
all seriousness gone to the extent of calling
Kabir the grandfather of Beat poetry in Hindi.
The impression left after reading Kabir is
that of a person who is transformed or
touched to the core. This is due to his
straightforward approach that he is held in
high esteem all over the world and to call
Kabir a universal Guru in not an exaggeration.
Kabir ridiculed the orthodoxy of both
Hindus and Muslims and challenged them like
any later scientific rationalist, to justify their
Sham and hypocrisy.
It was here that Kabir was at war with his
social situation;
"Muslim, he says, observe fast during day
And kill cows at night.
They shed blood and then pray to God.
How can they please God?"
He does not spare even the Hindus;
"Hindus appreciate themselves but do not
allow other (people of low caste) to touch their
pots. But lo! they sleep under Harlot's feet."
He appears a stern realist like G.B. Shaw,
an iconoclastic reformer, an innovator of new
others and to galvanize the mass with his poetic
utterances was the mission of his life. He
worked for betterment to others at the cost
of his own comforts. He says"O Kabir, no matter if you are deceived
but do not deceive others.
If you do so it will bring hell to you."
He lays emphasis on the purifications of
mind rather than the purification of body.
Nahay dhoa kya bhaya,
Jo man mail door na Jaye
Meen sada jal main rahe,
Dhoa baas na Jaye
The essence of Kabir's effort as a teacher
may be stated plainly; he wants to make people
honest. He says, "What is the use of all these
ceremonial and rituals when men harbour
dacoit within and practice fraud under the
name of holiness." If Kabir insisted on
anything, it was on the penetration of
everything inessential, every layer of dishonesty
and delusion. He believes that complete
honesty provides a realization of complete
truth--understanding of the nature of
consciousness, the relation of individual and
universe, inside and outside, life and death.
The individual must find the truth in his own
body and mind, so simple, so direct, that the
line between 'him' and 'it' disappears. There
seems to be a God at the heart of his
enlightenment. One of the formulaic phrases
in Kabir's verses is "Ghat Ghat me", in every
body, in every vessel the truth is close--closer
than close. All that he suggests to us is to
experience or realize that entity in our within.
"Search thy heart within the inner core"
Ram and Rahman live there.
Kabir may also legitimately be called a
crusader in as much as he raised his voice
against everything that was meaningless. It is a
social and ethical reformer that Kabir claims
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and harmony. In the presence of this all
pervading love, all differences between high
and low, rich and poor, Hindus and Muslims,
Turks and Christians vanish. Kabir felt in trying
to establish universal religion which could be
in tune with the needs of the age and could
also be able to keep itself intact against the
vicious currents of different religions.
Kabir speaks to us in a direct and
uninhibited tone that invariably shakes us out
of our slumber like existence. The instructions
are simple yet deep, obvious yet multi-layered,
challenging yet caring, powerful yet
empowering irreverent, yet deeply devotional.
Indeed, Kabir lived what he preached, or
more accurately preached what he lived.
Kabir's voice is a simple manifestation of
his experience. Kabir despite being in the
world was above worldly desires and longings
and this was the kind of eternal massage he
gave to human kind through his powerful and
nectarous voice. As a matter of fact, Kabir
celebrates a genuine insider rather than a
studious outsider. These lines show a lyrical
charm and go deeper into our mind, make
us aware of the real meaning of Knowledge.
But to attain the real knowledge Kabir
emphasises on the importance of Guru. Kabir
doesn't consider that Guru is the man who
teaches in the classroom but Guru is one who
guides us through encircling gloom and
provides self- knowledge which ultimately
leads us to the path of salvation. He expresses
his gratitude to Satguru and speaks;
Guru Ko Keijai Dandavat,
Koti-Koti Parnaam
Keet Na Jaane Bhringa Ko,
Guru Kar Le Aap Samaan.
David Courtney, Ph.D. has expressed that
Kabir is a very important figure in Indian
history. He is unusual in that he is spiritually
ideas. Fiercely independent, Kabir has become
an icon of speaking truth to power. In a blunt
and uncompromising style, he exhorted his
listener to say their delusion, pretensions,
orthodoxies and naive belief in favour of
direct experience of Truth. He satirized
hypocrisy, greed and violence-especially
among the religions. Belonging to a social
group widely considered low and unclean, he
criticized caste ideology and declared the
equality of all human beings. "Neither the
Brahman is high- caste, nor is the Shudra low.
Why hate one another? Hatred is folly".
He preached simplicity and contentment
and believed that everyone should do physical
labour and stick to his own profession; no
one should steal another person's property.
He did not spare even royal greed and political
aggrandizement and asks the question;
'Gathering forces and besieging castles
sowing off his prowess-is this the only job
of a Badshah (monarch)? When the emperor
dies, what remains of this game?'
He spoke out his mind fearlessly and never
made it his object merely to please his hearers.
Sometimes he was extremely bitter and in
being so he is not unjustified because poetry
is nothing if it is not an unafraid utterance or
an unlatched articulation. It makes a different
norm of truth, a different decree of intimacy
and different order of appeal. It is these verses
of Kabir which communicate dissonance and
prepare ground for artistic maturity in his
poetry through universal appeal. He
formulated a general principle to put an end
to all formal precept and inspired people to
live in love with each other without making
discrimination between man and woman. The
central theme of his teaching, therefore, is the
power of love.
In his opinion true religion teaches love
h
not find a person whom he could call bad, as
he himself says,
'Bura jo Dekhan main chalaa,
Bura na miliya koye
Jo dil khoja aapna,
Mujh sa bura na hoye
Kabir was not attributed any Title by the
then rulers; no glory was thrusted upon his
head but he was born great and he achieved
greatness by his rare virtues. The greatest quality
of Kabir's personality was his originality and
he was a man of independent outlook.
According to Dr. H.P. Dwivedi, he was a
fakkar steadfast, humble before a devotee,
horrible for a hop, pure at heart,
psychologically sane, soft from within, rough
in appearance, untouchable by birth and
revered by action.
We sincerely feel that Kabir is alive even
today. The universality of Kabir, like
Shakespeare is a truth in itself. He is not made
up of mass, he is an undying fragrance, ever
pleasing, soothing, vibrating, and stealing
secretly into one's heart. He is relevant even
today because he spoke against hypocrites
coaxed the fine of equality, brotherhood and
non-violence. The very texture of human
sensibility was stirred up by the hymns of
Kabir. He tries to put his finger on the basic
yearnings of man, the eternal quest for internal
peace, the 'angst' of a person functioning in a
'maladjusted society.' Where religions turn into
hide-bound ritualistic codes, where
philosophies turn into mere verbal jugglery
and linguistic labyrinths, where there is a crisis
of conscience and the leadership is lame,
Kabir's poetry serves as a great inspiration.
At times, he seems to shock us by ripping
open the Shams and exposing the double-talk
and double-think of the so called respectable
learned, yet there is no note of despair. He
significant to Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims alike.
The social and practical manifestation of
Kabir's philosophy has rung through the ages.
It represented a synthesis of Hindu and
Muslim concepts. From Hinduism he accepts
the concept of reincarnation and the law of
Karma. From Islam he takes the affirmation
of the single God and the rejection of the
caste system and idolatry. Not only has Kabir
influenced Muslims and Hindus but he is one
of the major inspirations behind Sikhism as
well. The basic religious principles he espouses
are simple.
It is by the spontaneous expressions of
Kabir's vision and his love, and not by the
didactic teachings associated with his name,
that he makes his immortal appeal to the heart.
In his poems we find a wide range of mystical
emotion brought into play- from the loftiest
abstractions, the most otherworldly passion
for the infinite to the most intimate and
personal realisation of God expressed in
homely metaphors and religious symbols that
is drawn indifferently from Hindu and
Mohammedan belief. The words in the praise
of God and the feelings that came out of
Kabir's tongue are not the feelings of one
person named Kabir only and not that it came
for the first time through Kabir but this
remained the feelings of devotees at all the
times in past and I believe that this will remain
the feelings of devotees in future too.
Kabir, in his age, was much worried on
the degradation of human values and through
his words led emphasis on Love, Devotion,
Caution, Selfishness, Salvation, Deeds, Truth,
Karma etc and tried to lift the moral of the
people. Kabir was really such a saint who
worked as a torch bearer and tried to pull the
people out from the darkness. Kabir had such
transcendental and pious eyes that he could
h
LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE
has always hoped beyond. No doubt the
springs of this hope are spiritual and it may
be argued that today in an age of 'no values',
all that sounds unreal. But Kabir has much
left in his poetry, even when one does not
agree with his theism and so to enjoy Kaibr,
one need not be a Kabir-panthi. Here lies the
secret of his ever continuing greatness as a
poet: he transcends time and place.
Shivakumar U Ganachari (Karnataka)
Proudly say no one can surpass
Us in history, culture and knowledge
Glorify Sanskrit is mother of all languages
Place of intellectual giants and unselfish men
Who built and sacrificed life for the motherland
Wish to see its zenith in every nook and corner
Uncountable outsiders looted the prosperity
Never attempts to ask questions
to the undo men
Well verse in silent sufferings
and hesitate to show
Guts in decisive movements,
prove us true Indians!!
We have two innate skills slavery
and double standard
History gives substantial evidence
to the perceptions
Since inception of civilization
we read about invaders
But the next generation reads about
criminals and scandals
Of law makers! Feels shame,
increase apprehensions, in inner world
Ask within am I true citizen, silent spectator
or encourage for illegitimacy?
Often and often with my helpless worries,
reveals forfeit of patriots in vain
Who become a face for politically gain is it
direction or ominous?
My insight tells stay remain phlegmatic,
virtue and vice
Must come to an end;
evil has almost reach its celestial
Innumerable antisocial elements are
arising in the name of Social service
which is threat to fabric of nation time to rise
Let my country awake
and let my country awake
Let my country awake
and let my country awake .
References
1. Das, Shyamsundar, ed, Kabir granthawali.
Varanasi: Naggri Pracharini Sabha, 1928
2. Dwivedi Hazari Prasad, Kabir 2nd enlarged
edition, Hindi Grantha, Ratnakar, Bombay 1960
3. Keay, F.E., Kabir and his Followers: Oxford
University Press, Calcutta, 1931.
4. Westcott, G.H. Kabir and Kabirpanth, Reprint
ed. Delhi, Bhartiya Publishing House, 1974
5. Introduction and translation from Hindi and
notes by Vaudeville Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1974
6. Sarnam Singh Sharma, Kabir: Vyaktitma
Krititwa Abam Sidhant, Champalal Ranka and Co.
Jaipur, p-37
7. Kabir Granthawali, Dr. Bhagwat Swarup
Mishra,
8. Kabir granthavali, Dr.Parasnath Tiwari,
***
“'Get black on white' used to be Maupassant's
advice & that's what I always do. I don't give a
hoot what the writing's like, I write any sort of
rubbish which will cover the main outlines of the
story, then I can begin to see it. When I write, when
I draft a story, I never think of writing nice sentences.
I just write roughly what happened, and then I'm
able to see what the construction looks like. It's the
design of the story which to me is most important,
the thing that tells you there's a bad gap in the
narrative here and you really ought to fill that up in
some way or another. I'm always looking at the
design of a story, not the treatment.”
Frank O'Connor
(Writers at Work-1st Series)
***
Ph.9448986762, <[email protected]>
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Folk Music of
Andhra Pradesh
Dr. A. Anuradha, Coordinator, Dept. of Music,
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
Phone : 94410-39033
Folk music is one of the ancient forms of
the cultural heritage of India. ‘Every part of
India has its own culture and traditions,
developed according to the taste of the
people of that particular part. Thus, the
combination of singing songs, instruments
and dance is called as ‘Desi music’. This is
stated by the ancient Musicologists and the
word Desi paved a way to the study of several
‘Desi’ type of arts.
Dese dese janaanam
yadruchyaa hridaya ranjakam !
Geetam cha vaadanam nrittam
tat deseetyabhi dheeyate !!
Andhra Pradesh is a beautiful land of thick
forests, high-range mountains, streams, rivers
and green fields. The entire state is bordered
by the elegant coastal corridor on one of its
sides. Andhra Pradesh is a land with rich
Cultural Heritage. There exists a large diversity
in the life style of its people. Each region has
its own nativity and specialty with different
cultures and traditions. It is the 4th largest state
in the country in terms of its area and 5th
largest one in population. Geographically
Andhra is studied under three heading viz.,
Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana.
These three regions have their own styles of
cultures and traditions which vary from one
another. This variation can also be observed
in the folk arts which are a part of the cultural
treasure. Studying folk arts of Andhra is an
interesting as well as a deep subject to deal
with. It is expected that, in entire Andhra
Pradesh there exist 33 kinds of Tribes like
Kuruva, Chenchu, Eruka, Bairagi, Golla, Koya,
Jangam, Bhillu, Savara etc. The history of folk
art forms of Andhra Pradesh is as old as the
history of Telugu language.
Generally, performing folk arts are of three
types viz., folk music, folk dance and folk
drama. Music and lyric are the main content
of these three. Very few of them like Naagini
dance, Tiger dance etc., are devoid of lyrics.
There are nearly 200 such folk art forms
noticed in Andhra Pradesh. Some of them
deal with singing, instrumental music and
dance and some with singing accompanied
with instruments. The main purpose of these
art forms is entertainment.
The people of Andhra Pradesh speak
Telugu, which is greatly praised as ‘Italian of
the East’. Villages occupy a major portion of
the state. The main profession of the people
is cultivation. As everywhere else in the world,
singing songs while doing any kind of work
is a practice of the villagers of Andhra also.
Music is a tool to get relief from their stress
and strain, and to gain vigor during their work
time. Most of their songs are related to God
as they have a philosophical and devotional
bent of mind.
The lifestyle of folk people is as simple as
their art forms are. These songs are sung in
simple tunes with a limited compass and with
easy rendering. The basic feature of folk music
is oral expression and the presentation of this
form is completely original and has not
changed in any form. Though Andhra
Pradesh is divided into different regions,
linguistically it is still one. There are hundreds
of folk songs spread all over the state.
h
the curd by using churning-staff etc. One such
song is“Atta leni kodaluttamuralu Oyammaa
Kodalleni atta gunavanturaalu
aa-hoom - aa- hoom.”
The meaning of the above song is very
funny, stating that ‘daughter-in-law without her
mother-in-law is considered to be very good
in manners and same would be the case with
the mother-in-law, without the daughter-inlaw. These songs are also called Suvvi paatalu.
Folk songs provide not only recreation and
relief. The word “Suvvi” or “aa-hum” gives
rhythm to the songs. They are very popular
and composed in the raga Mohana (Bhoop
in Hindustani Music). It runs in Trisra gati
(three notes on a beat). These songs are in the
form of questions and answers, between two
women, which are very interesting. They enjoy
every moment of it.
The notation of the song runs as follows,
p p p - p p p - p d p - g r g - s s r - , G!
Attale-nikoda-luttamu-ralu.-Oyamma-. .
s r g - p p r - r g r - s r d – S,
Kodalle ni Atta - gunavantu-.
ra. - lu . - , r d - S, !!
Aa hum
There are hundreds of folk songs relating
to agricultural songs sung on different
occasions like, praying for rains, ploughing,
sowing seeds, transplanting, weeding, planting
of sprouts and harvesting etc. All these songs
have some supporting words like, ‘siluka rekka
poolo, uyyaalo, sandamaamayyo, allo nerello,
venniyyallo’ etc. and the names of their
favorite deities Lord Rama and Sita are also
found in the lyric. A song on the occasion
of sowing seeds popular in the Telangana
region is“Seetamma Sreeramulu - siluka rekka poolo
Saarellipovangaa - siluka rekka poolo
The main components of these folk songs
are lyric, music and rhythm. Based on the
lyrics and the occasions, folk music can be
studied under several headings viz.
occupational songs, agricultural songs, moral
songs, devotional songs on special occasions
etc. Every heading has again several sub
divisions. There are innumerable songs like
philosophical songs, women’s songs,
devotional songs, function-songs like
marriage songs, ritualistic songs, cradling
songs, humorous songs, epic or mythological
songs, children’s songs etc. Thus, study of
folk music or songs is a vast subject of interest.
Under the heading of Occupational songs,
several types of folk songs are popular in
Andhra... like farmers’ songs, fishermen’s
songs, palanquin songs etc, These songs are
sung by a group of people at the work place
in order to forget their tiresomeness and to
lighten their stress. Generally, these songs are
not normally accompanied by any instruments
and are sung only by the workers.
Sraamika or labour songs: These are known
as songs sung by different categories of
workers while doing their work, such as cartpullers, industrial workers, stone crushers,
construction workers, and workers engaged
in laying roads, building bridges and dams.
They find pleasure in their work and do not
feel it a burden.
Women’s songs: These are usually rendered
by women in the houses while attending to
the daily chores. These songs have been in
existence, for thousands of years. It is learnt
that a famous composer Anamacharya wrote
hundreds of folk songs in Telugu during the
14th century. These songs are very popular in
every part of Andhra. Rokati paatalu
(wooden pestle songs), Tirugali paatalu (handmill songs), songs while making butter from
h
Vayyaram volakabosera chinnoda terechapa paiki yettara.”
In this song, the fisherman happily sings
and compares his boat with a beautiful royal
bird, Swan. In another song, in a detachment
mood, he questions himself in a philosophic
way“Gattekketunda a naa naava kallola jaladhilo munigipotundaa”.
It means, ‘can my boat (life) reach the
shore without getting sunk in the disturbed
ocean?’
There are numerous songs in villages which
appear in day to day life, sung on different
occasions. Village festivals (jataras), etc, which
are celebrated in a grand way in the villages
have a touch of folklore in the songs, dances
and devotional songs etc.. There are several
songs popular in the ritualistic festivals. The
songs sung by the gurus or the priests of the
village temples have very good moral values.
For instanceKondathalliki jatara seedham- nindu
manasutoo mokkulu eedham kallakapatam
porapochalu vadileese thalli mammu
rachchimchantu raramma.
The great Saint composers,
Annamacharya (14th cent.) and Tyagaraja
(19th cent.) have written and sung many
devotional songs besides the daily
worshipping songs on their favorite deities.
An example for awakening of Lord Vishnu,
(known as Melkolupu Paatalu), Annamayya’s
a famous songVinnapalu venavale - vintha vintalu
pannagapu domatera - paiketha velaya” .
(Bhupala raga)
In the same vein Tyagaraja’s songMelukovayya-mammueluko – Sri Rama
Melaina Seetha sametha-na bhagyama” -(Bouli raga)
Sreelakshmi kondhandaa - siluka rekka poolo
Yemanni lepudu - siluka rekka poolo”
Former songs hold a very important place
in the history of folk music of Andhra. The
farmers, those days used to sing folk songs
invoking and praising the Rain God to give
sufficient rainfall for them to have a very good
harvest. The famous song, praying for Rain
God is“Vaanallu kuravaali vaana devudaa –
vari chelu pandaali vaana devudaa”.
It is set in Trisra gati Eka tala. The above
two songs used to be sung in the major notes
(svaras). Men and women would be divided
into two groups while working in the fields
and they would engage themselves by singing
and humming melodious folk songs till they
finished the day’s work. These folk songs have
a place even in their daily life. As Andhra
Pradesh is divided into four zones socially and
culturally, the lyrics as well as the pronunciation
and the accents of these songs, vary from one
area to another.
Fishermen community is very famous for
its folk music. Andhra Pradesh has 950 kms
of coastal area and many rivers like Godavari,
Krishna, Pennar, Tungabhadra etc, with a lot
of scope for fishing, which is one of the main
source of living for the people of those areas.
Fishermen’s folk songs have gained universal
acclaim and many professional folk singers
have rendered them across the globe. Late
Mr. Sampath Kumar is a reputed artist in this
field of singing of fishermen songs. Usually,
fishermen sing these songs either in a group
or individually. The songs are really enjoyable
to listen, though they sing with rough and
rustic voices. One of the famous fishermen
songs in Telugu is“Hailessa hailoo hailessa haiyaaree joorsee hamsalanti padavaraa
h
of devotional entertainment programmes.
They sing devotional songs in Antiphonal way.
This type of songs are easily accessible to
everyone and can be rendered without much
difficulty. Each song will have an ending “Sree
madramaa ramana Govido Hari” in Homophonic
way. One such song isEetadokka demudanta – eesaamu kella
nallani volluvadanta- vontininda namalanta
bulligedda nekkananta –
engilikayalu thinnaadanta.
This is in praise of Lord Vishnu and says
that He is the Lord of the Universe. This song
is in a pleasant raga Mayamalava goula with
Desadi tala and is very simple. Another song
of such type isSiva siva murthivi gananadha-neevu
Sivuni kumarudavu gananadha.
Telangana and Rayalaseema are also
famous for traditional folk music. Many
devotional songs are written and rendered
on the presiding deity of many parts of
Telangana region, Bathukamma, the
incarnation of Goddess Shakti.
Ex: “Bathukamma bathukamma vuyyaloobangaru bathukamma vuyaloo”. The other
Festivals wherein folk music has an important
place is during “Sammakka - Sarakka Jatara”
at Eturnaagaaram, in Warangal Dist, and
Mahankali Jataras that are organized during
the month of Ashadham, at different places
in Hyderabad District.
Rayalaseema, is known as a treasure of
folk songs and folk art forms. The following
is an example for devotional songs on the
Goddess Gangamma,
Nilu nilu Gangammaa talli,
niluva vammaa Gangammaa talli
Nee valla bratikemu memu .........”
Northern part of Andhra Pradesh is
famous for several Tribes and folk people.
A traditional awakening song of
Goddess Gangamma, presiding deity of
Rayalaseema isMelukonave Ganga maataa – melu konave.
It is interesting to note that a few traditional
folk tunes are found in the songs of some
classical composers. For example, an old folk
song tuned in Ananda bhairavi raga in Khanda
chapu tala is in Saint Tyagaraja’s Divyanama
keertana, with the same tune.
Kasturi Ranga Rangaa – maa yanna
Kaaveti ranga rangaa
Sree ranga ranga rangaa – ninu baasi
yetlu ne marachunduraa.
Similar tune of Tyagaraja’s song isKsheera saagara vihaaraa – aparimita
ghora paataka vidaaraa
Kroorajana gana vidooraa- nigama san
chaara sundara sareeraa.
This is a very popular and pleasant tune.
Every song not only deals with devotion, but
also the social customs. In his very popular
song “Tandanana ahi tandanana” , Annamayya
condemns the social evils like caste, colour and
creed discrimination and teaches the people
that “Brahma mokkate-parabrahma mokkate”. It
means God, who dwells in every soul is
one. This song is full of spirituality, expressed
in very simple words and is easily understood
even by a lay man.
Normally, in the villages all are busy with
their own occupations during the day. So,
they assemble in a temple during night to
discuss the problems of the village. On such
occasions they engage themselves in singing
songs, with devotional feelings and
community welfare as their content.
Sometimes it may be a single man show.
Everyone takes part irrespective of the age,
caste or creed. They organize group Taala
Bhajans or Chekka Bhajans and such type
h
are some names of Ayurvedic medicines
mentioned for certain diseases.
Vaana vaana vallappa
vaanalu musire vallappaa.
This is a song, where village children sing
and play joyously in the rain. There are several
such songs popular in the villages of Andhra.
A song by the girls by clapping and rotating
in circular way isChemmachekka- chaaradesi moggaattlupoyanga - aaraginchanga” and
“Oppula kuppaa – vayyari bhaamaa”
Actually, all these songs mentioned cannot
be said as songs, but are verses with a rhythm.
Children recite them in a rhythmic way.
Indian culture has a high place in the worldhistory, dating back to thousands of years. The
festivals may be different, marriage-traditions
may be different and Temple customs may
be different, but from the just born baby to
the octogenarian, every religious function is
performed with utmost veneration. At all
stages, folk music, instruments and dances
have a place of importance in the rituals.
Occasional songs: During Winter
especially in January, the villagers, as it is the
end of their agricultural toil they harvest their
crops and get money. They celebrate the major
festival of the year ‘Pongal’ for three days in a
grand manner. A month from mid-December
to mid-January is called Dhanurmasam,
which is deemed as very sacred. During this
time many types of folk art forms are
performed by the young girls, like Gobbillu,
Bommala koluvulu (exhibition of dolls, toys
etc.). Girls make designs called Rangoli with
flour in the front-yard of the house. A popular
song on Gobbillu isGobbiyyallo – Gobbiyyallu – Sankranti
Pandagocchhe - Gobbiyyallu.
Young girls sing and dance around the
The people live in the coastal area. The fishing
community worships several Gods. In the
coastal area of Visakhapatnam they pray to
Sea Godess as an incarnation of Gangamma,
to save their lives. Every year they pay
offerings to Her and worship. On that
occasion, they sing several folk songs on the
deity.
Folk songs are educative to the masses, and
indicative of the social changes.
Children songs: The songs sung by the
mothers, to their children to sleep or cajole
them when they are afraid of something or
the other are innumerable and each one of
them has a very good lyrical value. The song
“Jo atchutananda jojo mukunda-raara paramaananda
Rama Govinda” is one of such examples, and
it is ever lasting as a mother’s lullaby
traditionally sung in a soft raga Nilambari in
Khanda Chapu taala (2+3). This is also a song
of Annamacharya, and is a master piece of
the composer sung for centuries. Similar to
this, there are two more songs, “Ramalali megha
shyamalali - taamarasa nayana - Dasaradha tanaya
lali”. These are very famous lullabies in
Andhra, traditionally sung over centuries.
Songs by Children: Village children are
the centre of attraction during the village
festivals and other occasions. Even 2, 3 year
old children sing with their tender and sweet
voices in Telugu. The songs like, “Chitti
chilakamma, Udataa udataa hooth” etc, are
popular in Andhra, for over many years. They
are very rhythmic in rendition and the dance
carried out to these songs is eye-catching.
Some of the regular songs of the young girls
sung daily areKaalla gajji kankaalamma
vegula chukka- velaga mogga.
This song is not only an entertainer, but
also has a lyrical value. Behind this lyric, there
h
Lakshmi kalyaana vaibhogameSita kalyaana vaibhogame.
At the wedding the old ladies of the house
sing songs by praying to God to bless the
new couple with a happy and long life.
“Sree Mahalakshmini
Sree Mahaa Vishnuvunu boli
Taamara tamparalai tavili dampatulu.....
Kadu vedukala cheta kadupu challagagaanu
kodukula kotavai komarondavamma.....
kalakaa makhila bhogamula vardhillu”
The bridegroom’s party generally holds an
upper hand and always try to make fun of
the bride’s party, of course, in a lighter vein.
Here also a number of folk songs are
rendered by both the parties in different ragas
and talas of folk nature. There are plenty of
songs popular in Coastal Andhra. For
example, a song by the bridegroom’s party,
criticizing the bride’s party“Yelaagu bhonchetumo ee vindu may maylaagu bhonchetumo
Chhaalaa pellillaaye eelaati vindu
may maylaagu bhonchetumo.
Love songs: Several romantic or love
songs are also popular in folk songs of
Andhra Pradesh. A popular example of such
songs isMokka jonna thotalo musina cheekatlalo
Manche kaada kalusuko maruvaku maamayya.
In this song, a young girl invites her fiancé
to the maize fields to meet her at dusk and
demands that he should not forget her
invitation.
Responsorial songs : Another interesting
form is the verbal discussion between two
people, set in a folklore way. The conversation
is in the form of a song and it may be
between the mother-daughter or wife and
husband or mother- in-law and daughter- inlaw or between lovers. For example, a
Gobbillu (lumps of cow-dung treated as
representative of the deity, … shown in the
photo) clapping their hands. These Gobbi
songs are traditional and very popular in every
village of Coastal Andhra. Besides these, there
are several folk art forms performed by the
beggar- singers. Haridasulu, Gangireddu laata,
Pagati vesha gaalu, Komma dasarulu are a few
to mention. Haridasaas are a kind of singers
with a sacred appearance singing devotional
songs on Lord Hari, with the Tambura in one
hand and kartals in other hand.
This is a season for ritualistic celebrations
to the Goddesses of villages, known as
Jaatara-s. In the celebrations, many wild
offerings are made to the Goddesses and
many folk art forms are performed in the
presence of the deities. These celebrations vary
from one place to another place.
Marriage songs: Coming to the folk
music at the time of marriages, everyone will
try to make the occasion a unique event by
participating in dancing and singing. A great
variety of songs are rendered at different
events that take place in the wedding. There
are different occasions in a wedding when
different songs are sung from ‘engagement
to sending the bride to the mother-in-law’s
house. Generally, folk people compare the
Bride groom and Bride to Lord Rama and
Sita, who are the role models to Indians. This
is the reason why many of the marriage songs
are on Rama and Sita. A very popular marriage
song in Andhra isAananda maananda maayenu –
mana Ramayya pendli kodukaayenu
Aananda maananda maayenu –
mana Sitamma e pendli koothuraayenu.
and another popular and traditional song
in Sankarabharana raga in Khanda Chapau
taala song ish
unnecessary greed! What ultimately remains is
only the Dharma.’ Many sages or sage-poets
have tried to reach people with their teachings
in folk style, so that they could be understood
even by the illiterate.
Folk songs also deal with pathetic,
sorrowful, philosophical and jovial contents.
Pallavi or the introductory phrase of a
song is very important for folk music. In some
songs, the Pallavi and Charanams are in
continuation of the same content and in some
cases they are of contrasting nature. Men and
women are usually divided into two groups
and the song generally seems like questions
and answers. One group sends a question and
the other group answers supporting its own
stand. This is carried out in a very interesting
manner and is enjoyed by the audience.
Traditional folk songs are normally in the
ancient ragas are like, Bhupala, Bouli, Mohana,
Nadanamakriya, Bhupala, Bhouli, Neelambari,
Janjhuti, Navaroj, Saindhavi, Anandabhairavi,
Yedukula Kambhoji, Mukhari, and
Sankarabharanam set to simple talaas like
Aadi, Rupaka, Khanda, Eka, Misra etc.
Vinjamuri Seetha and Anasuya have done a
lot of research about these ragas for Telugu
folk music. Some folk songs have a limited
compass and are sung in just 3 or 4 notes and
it is difficult to assess to which raga the
particular song belongs.
Folk music is blended with our lives, even
without our knowledge. Then there are these
gypsies, who do not stay at a particular place
continuously for a long period. They keep
moving from one place or the other for their
livelihood, according to the seasons. This
community is very good at singing folk songs.
They belong to every part of Andhra Pradesh
and they carry with them their traditions and
customs and their folk music as well thereby
conversational song between a young coupleMale: Rupai kaavaalaa- rupai sillara kaavaala
Female: Roopu rekaa sallangunte rupai yenduku
rupai sillara yendoku.
In this song, the lady expresses that ‘the
love and affection for her husband is more
than money’. This is a best example for
their plain and simple way of living.
Epic songs : Coming to epical songs, there
are hundreds of songs on Ramayana, Bharata
and Bhaagavata in folk style. Here is an
example of a traditional folk song related to
the epic Bhagavata. The content is complaints
made by the gopikas against Krishna in his
early childhood about his naughty deeds.
O Yasoda yemi seyudune –
nee koduku dudukulaku
Then, Yasoda gets angry with the women
and doesn’t agree with them. She supports
her child. This is beautifully depicted in a song,
written by AnnamayyaKaanarate – pencarate katakataa biddalan
Nenu mee valene kanti neyyamaina biddanu.
The romantic songs between Lord Krishna
and the Gopikas (girls) were of folk nature.
These scenes were illustrated by many poets
romantically in the form of folk songs. The
pranks played by Krishna have been visualized
in a beautiful manner by many composers.
Philosophical (Vedaanta and Vairagya)
songs : Devotional and spiritual content
delivering good messages to the society is
rendered by many in folk music.. There are
several philosophical songs known as
‘Tattvaalu’, frequently sung in the villages of
Andhra Pradesh. One such song isVastavottide potaavottide aasa yendukantaa
Chesina punyamu chedani padaarthamu
cherunu nee venta.
It means, ‘nothing comes and nothing goes
with man. Nothing remains. So why this
h
performers are generally 3 or 4 in number.
There are some other art forms like Seva
garidi and Tappeta gullu, which are very
popular in Northern part of Coastal Andhra.
They are considered as sacred art forms and
the performers are devotees of Lord Vishnu.
These are the art forms where Music, lyric
and , Dance play equal role. In these forms,
the main singer is accompanied by a group,
singing and dancing with ghungroos tied to
their legs. In Seva garidi, people play with huge
Chimbals (Brahma taal). They sing, “Harihari
narayana aadi narayana- karuninchi mammelu
kamala lochanudaa” moving around a fire.
In Rayalaseema, several types of musical
forms exist. A few to mention are Golla
suddulu, Goravalu belonging to Kuruva tribe.
They are devotees of Lord Siva. They feel
themselves as Lord Siva. They have their own
way of dressing and wearing ornaments.
They wear a Trisul, Conch, Dhamaruk (the
ornaments of Lord Siva in Hindu mythology)
and Ghungroos. They sing songs in praise of
Lord Siva.
In Telangana, several Art forms like Oggu
katha-s, Jangam kathas, Jamidika kathas,
Baikani songs are very popular singing art
forms popular in Telangaana. Burra kathas
are very popular in Andhra.
Folk music contains natural elements like
lyric, raga, tala and instrumental assistance. It
does not have the features that are essential in
the traditional classical music. Folk songs that
are sung as a part of the stories generally do
not require instruments. But they are as
melodious as traditional music. It is the same
with folk dance also. Bharata Munni, the
exponent of the Natya Sashtra, explained four
types of instruments used in music or dance,
these are (i) Stringed instruments (ii) Percussion
instruments (iii) Wind Instruments (iv) Metallic
conveying them to the people of the new
place where they choose to stay for some time.
That’s why desi music traditions like kolatam,
Chekka Bhajans have gained popularity in the
villages during festivals and temple rituals. Along
with folk music, folk dance also has journeyed
together in the history of folk tradition of
Andhra Pradesh. One of the most popular
kolaatam songs in coastal Andhra is‘Krishnamma gopalabaala krishnammayadu nanda kumara baala krishnamma.
This song has been in prevalence for ages
and sung in a traditional and popular Raga
Mukhari in Aadi taala. It is sung in all the
festivals and temple rituals of most of the
villages of Godavari DistrictsKrishnaya tandry O Krishnaya tandry –
maa kashtamule teerchavayaa krishnaya tandry
Lobha moha madamulane krishnaya tandry
Naa naava eedhuchunndayaa krishnaya tandry.
The above song is not only a devotional
one, but also a philosophical song, normally
sung in the raga Janjhooti. The tune of this
particular folk song has been modified and is
used in different styles in cinemas also.
Many tribes like Chenchu, Dasari, Baind,
Jangama, Kuruva and others propagate Folk
songs. More importance is given to folk songs
or their expression than the dance component.
There is always a main singer supported by
two or three chorus singers. In the olden days
Tambura or Tuntuni or Ektaar was the main
drone Instrument. Sometimes it is also
accompanied by Harmonium and a drum to
provide rhythm. In some parts of Andhra
Clarinet is played instead of Harmonium.
Budige jangam kathas, Oggu kathas,
Jangam Kathas, Burra Katha, Jamukula kathas,
Golla Suddulu, Kommu people, etc are some
extraordinary story telling ways, in Telugu
literature in the form of songs. The
h
Instruments. There are several folk
instruments, used as accompaniments. They
are, Folk Veena (known as sarada),
Gummetas, Titti, Kommu, Brahma Taal,
Chirutalu (a kind of Kartaals), Tribal Flute,
Tribal Shehnai, Jamidika, Veeranam, Daph,
Metallic Cymbals, Dholak, Andelu, Dhamaru,
Conch, Bells, and Ghungroos etc.
Thus, folk music of Andhra Pradesh is a
vast subject which has a great scope to study
and to conduct research on it. Everyone should
remember that today’s culture has its roots in
the ancient folklore. It is the responsibility of
every individual, to safeguard and preserve it
for future generations.
***
THAT BROTHER POISONING RIVERS
Luis Benitez (Argentina)
That brother poisoning rivers
opens a wide breach
dividing his life.
The hand that kills the fish eggs,
the finger commanding
the world's roots to dry,
the fruit to rot before reaching his mouth,
the birds' wings to pass away in the air,
and silence to freeze the landscape of his
own death,
this brother asking fungi
to appear amidst the yellow wheat,
the night to open in the heart of a high noon.
References
This brother who forces time
to go back until its abortion,
invoking skulls
in the middle of the feast of his own flesh,
does not know he is suiciding
in the falling bird,
he does not know he is dying
where the stalk declines
its joyful green pilaster,
where all of the fields
becomes nothing.
1. Gangadharam, Nedunuri, Minneru, Pracheena
Garnthavali publishers, Rajahmundry, 1968.
2. Jayadev, Marriboyina, Yadavula Janapada kalalu,
Padmavati publishers, Visakhpatnam,2010.
3. Krishnaareddy, Chigicherla, Chigicherla
jaanapada kalaa poopaalu, Lakshmi publishers,
Hyderabad,2008.
4. Radhakrishna Murty, Mikkilineni, Telugu very
Janapadakalaa roopaalu, Telugu University publications,
Hyderabadd, 1992.
5. Sambamurty, P, South Indian Music (Vols III &
VI), The Indian Music Publishing House, Madras, 1983.
6. Sita, Vinjamuri, Karshaka – Kaarmika janapada
geyaalu, PS Telugu University, Hyderabad, 2006.
7. Sundaram, RVS, Andhrula Janapada Vigjnanam,
PS Telugu University Publications, Hyderabad, 2004.
8. Venkatesam, NR, Budige Jangaalu, Divya Deepti
Publications, Hyderabad,1995.
9. Venkatesam, NR, Budga Jangam Darsini, Divya
Deepti Publications, Hyderabad, 2002.
10. www.kamat.com/indica/music/22017.htm
11. www.hindu.com/.../13/images
12. http://www.chandrakantha.com – music of
India
*****
*Special thanks to Prof. M. Jayadev, Dept. of Telugu,
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Sri V.V. Ramadoss,
Bangalore and Sri D. Sainath, Visakhapatnam for their
cooperation.
----------------
This brother poisoning rivers
does not know he also envenoms the red river
deep inside him,
draining in his children's blood,
he who now fills it with petroleum
in his infinite error.
The hand that raised the command
to fell the future
wrecked every hour of that day, tomorrow,
where there were gestures and faces
which looked after
that mistaken brother poisoning rivers. ***
<[email protected]>
h
Folk Music of Bengal
Aditi Banerji
These are practiced by people of different
sects, castes and sections of society, which we
get in the popular folk songs, sung by different
sections of the society.
Bengal is very rich in its folk culture, be it
music, dance, drama, poetry, etc. There are
many variants in the folk music of Bengal, to
name some popular forms – Bhawaiya,
Gambhira, Baul, Bhatiyali, Chatka and
Keertan.
There was something called “poddo gaan”
or poetry singing, which was so popular that,
old people, while telling stories used to sing
in verses in between the story telling –
something similar to the singing of ballads in
English and other European music. They had
limited swar patterns and were based on a
taal or rhythm, which created a variation and
interesting presentation in the form of singing
poetic verses in tune while telling a story, thus
used to be called “poddo gaan”. In the village
based life of Bengal, the city life did not
influence the folk traditions of the village.
The popular “Jatra” – Folk Theatre – music
and “Kirtan” – Devotional Song, used to be
based on ragas. There were different types
of songs, which are for solo singing and others
for singing in groups.
Apart from the popular folk songs like
Bhawaiya, Gambhira, Baul, Bhatiyali and
Chatka, there were other varieties like “Saari
Gaan” (which were songs sung by labourers
and boatmen), “Jaari Gaan” (mersia songs sung
by Muslims of East Bengal now known as
Bangladesh), “Jhumur” sung by “Santhal” tribals
of West Bengal. These compositions have a
difficult format. Apart from these, there were
“Karam Geet”, “Patua Geet”, “Gajan Geet”,
“Panchali Geet”, “Dhua Gaan”, “Gajir Geet”,
“Dehatatva Geet”, “Alkap Geet”, “Bolan Geet”,
“Agomoni Geet”, “Baromasi Geet”, etc.
BHAWAIYA
Bhawaiya songs originated in Cooch behar
area of Bengal. These songs are usually based
on “Viraha rasa” and describe the feelings of
the “Naayika”, who is waiting for her beloved.
Traditionally, the dotara – is played alongwith
these songs. The word Bhawaiya has
originated from the word “Bhav”. The word
“Bhava” means shepherd – who takes the
cattle to graze. “Waao” means strong breeze
– which helps in the musical sound to reach
to us from afar. Bhawaiya songs are women
centric or themes revolving around a woman’s
life. However, these are mostly composed and
sung by men. Some musicologists believe that
Bhawaiya Geet or song is for the detached
person i.e. a “Vairagi” person. These realistic
compositions never fail to touch one’s heart.
The “Viraha Geet” or loneliness of
separation described in a song in which the
tune pattern is in a descending order and are
called “Sitaan Bhavaiya”. These rhythmic songs
having an ascending order of swar patterns
resembling the sound created by the “Dotara”
(2 stringed folk instrument) were called “Shirol
Bhawaiya”. The song having a long verse, which
is sung in one breath is called “Dariya – o –
dighaal naasa bhawaiya”.
A song in which a woman narrates her
woes is called “Gadaan Bhawaiya”.
A song sung by a shepherd riding a buffalo,
in rhythm with the footsteps of the cattle is
h
worshipped through the ages in rural Bengal.
The word “Gabhasthi” is referred to Lord
Surya or Angi’s wife – Swaha. This is an annual
religious festival of Bengal, where dances and
music are considered of great importance. The
traditional folk music of North and West
Bengal differ from “Gambhira”, although it is
considered a folk song of Bengal.
“Gambhira” songs describe the problems
of day to day living, usually. The contents of
the Jatras, “Panchali” songs and “Kobigaan”
related to Gambhira keep changing from time
to time, following the changed life of people.
The Gambhira songs can be placed between
modern and traditional style of compositions.
“Gambhira” Music Festival is celebrated
during the months of March and April, during
the period of “Chaitra Sankranti” in the rich
and prosperous regions of Bengal, The
celebrations comprise of various forms of
dance accompanied by a large orchestra. The
tune of Gambhira is unique, however, the theme
being devoted to Lord Shiva, the
compositions are devotional. The singers
improvise by adding their own lyrics and
tunes, which are usually based on
contemporary subjects and themes and set to
popular tunes.
In the earlier days, only traditional folk
forms of music and dance were popular as
Gambhira music. Later on this transformed into
Gajon songs and received popularity in south
Bengal. In “Gambhira” songs, the shiva stuti is
presented in a satirical manner, which we
commonly find in the songs of northern and
western India and sung during “Shiva ratri”.
Before the partition of Bengal, the people
of East Bengal used to celebrate “Kalikak”
festival and perform the “Har – Gouri” dance.
The song to which these dances used to be
performed was a type of “Gambhira” song.
called “Maisali Bhawaiya”.
The above classification of Bhawaiya
songs are as described by Harishchandra Pal.
Bhawaiya songs are mostly based on raga
khamaj i.e. they use komal N usually. The
structure of some of these songs often
resembles the aaroha – avaroha of the ragas
Pahadi & Jhinjhoti. The tune pattern is in a broken
form and not a constant or a prolonged note.
The pronunciation is rough and rustic and the
tune pattern is in descending order, i.e. the
tunes starts on high notes and descends down
to lower notes. This note pattern is similar to
Baul & Bhatiyali.
The rhythms of these songs vary from other
folk songs, which creates a distinctive identity
of these songs. They are usually based on four
beats, however we find taals with three beats in
a division also in these songs. We find variables
of the Khemta Taal in some of these songs.
Some Bhawaiya songs are sung without taal in
Vilambit Laya, which would suit the theme and
the lyrics of the songs.
The songs of the fisherman or the
boatman community of East Bengal are
called Bhatiyali and the people living on the
sea coast sing Bhawaiya songs. Likewise, the
fisherfolk of North Bengal (the region
bordering Bihar & Bengal) living on the river
banks sing Bhawaiya along with the dance.
GAMBHIRA
In the northern part of Bengal a folk
festival by the name of “Gambhira” is
celebrated in worship of Lord Shiva. There
are different opinions about the origin of the
festival and its songs.
Some consider it country music or “Deshaj
Sangit ”, while others trace its origins to
Dravidian, Tibetan, or Chinese origin.
“Gambhari” is the name of a tree which is
h
Three styles of Gambhira & Gajon style of
music were being created on Adi Buddha, Surya
and Shiva - however in the modern times,
Gambhira and Gajon styles of music are also
being created on other gods and goddesses.
“Gambhira” is sometimes referred to as
“gajon”, but the musical form, theme and
expression [bhav] of “Gambhira” was
different. Amongst the folk traditions of
Bengal “Gajon” is considered a very
important religious festival, whereas the
popularity of “Gambhira” is limited to as far
as Malda district of Bengal. Five days before
the last day of the month of Chaitra (mid
April), people start with arrangements for the
Gambhira song and dance festival. Various
festivals and rituals comprising of short and
long folk musical theatres or like “tamasha”
and “Hanuman mask dance” accompany the
Gambhira festival. The Dhak or big wooden
drum and other folk instruments are usually
played. The listeners derive great pleasure from
the description of Lord Shiva’s virtues and
vices. Lord Shiva is considered the head of
the village clan and worshipped and respected.
The good and bad deeds of the people of
the village are reported to him, in the form
of Gambhira songs.
There are some folk festivals celebrated in
Bengal called “Shiv gajon” and “Dharma
gajon”, which are branches or off shoots of
the Gambhira festival. Just like the devotees of
Shiva, there were also devotees of “Dharma”
(Religion) and prayed to Lord
Dharmaniranjan”.
According to the Buddhists, Lord Buddha
is considered a form of ancient Dharma.
Other gods and goddesses were not included
in these folk traditions. In a way – the “Chhau”
dance form seems to be an inspiration from
the Gambhira folk tradition. People in search
of religion and religious beliefs worshipped
Dharma – the nirakaar or formless god.
“Adya Shakti” – i.e. goddess Kali emerged
from Dharma. In Gajon songs Dharma and Adya
are worshipped.
BAUL
Baul music pertain to a style of music which
is spontaneous and reflects the life and
circumstance of man in his local surroundings.
Baul is a community of people and the songs
sung by them are called Baul. The Baul
community belong to the Sahajiya Sampradaya
of sadhus to which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
belonged. However, they are not from the
Vaishnav community and are totally different
from the Vaishnavites. They have some influence
of Buddhism but are not followers of any
particular religion and are somewhat akin to
followers of Sufism. After the influence of
Buddhism faded away, the yogis of Sahajaya
Sampradaya took over, an hence the Baul songs
have themes of “Atma Siddhi”, which has
two meanings – one is apparently simple,
though the other is deep spiritual thought i.e.
God being one’s closest friend and who is in
one’s heart or Atma. The Baul songs and
singers are very popular in Bengal and is
practiced in most villages in Bengal, however,
the Bauls of Birbhum district are unique and
have a distinctive style.
The themes of these songs are mostly
spiritual, social and symbolic in their content.
Baul singers usually have great presence of
mind to act on a situation spontaneously, hence
if given a topic by the audience they create a
song on the topic and sing it like Aashu Kavi.
Along with the full throated rendition of the
songs the Bauls dance steps and “Mudras”
mesmerize the audience. Baul songs and singers
are popular all over Bengal, in particular the
h
following swar patterns – S G M P D P, M G
R S, G M D N Œ, N D P M R G S.
The Baul songs were mostly “Uttaranga
Pradhan” i.e. it would have prominence of
Taar Saptak swars through which its lyrics
were emphasized. Bauls keep presenting many
songs one after the other without much gap
or pause.
Bauls believe in the system of “Adhikari ved”
– which means that the Baul will not reveal
the mode of his Sadhana or true inner feelings
to the masses as the Baul considers it harmful
for both the Baul as well as the lay person.
The Bauls reveal the true nature and meaning
of the symbols to those who are along the
same path or those who are sincerely
interested in spiritual quests. Others who listen
to the songs must remain content with the
surface meaning alone. There are many Bauls
who visit fairs and festivals and entertain people
with their song and even dance. In fact the
Bauls have a distinct dance pattern typical to
them. The singers gather together in groups
and go on singing one after another for days
on end stopping only for food and rest. There
are two notable festivals in the western part
of Bengal where the maximum number of
Bauls gather. These are the Joydev Kenduvillau
in Birbhum and the Ghospara festival in the
district of the 24 parganas. The former is held
in the middle of January and the latter during
the Doljatra festival in March-April.
The music of the Bauls quest for the one
ness with the divine and can be split into three
categories.
The language used used by the Bauls are
mainly symbolic, and cannot be understood
at a superficial level. Their inner meaning can
be comprehended only by those initiated to
this form. There are a number of symbols
that are used quite often. The most commonly
Bauls of Birbhum district are special and
unique in their style. Bauls seek fulfillment in
divine union and for them the satisfaction of
their basic vital needs is superseded by their
spiritual goal. The knowledge of the Bauls
come from the teachings of the Guru, from
faith, introspection and intuition. The
knowledge that he acquires in the course of
his Sadhana (meditation) and the Baul conveys
it to others through his songs.
Bauls – have long flowing hair and beard,
and wear a lungi (sarong like) with a long gown.
They usually use the instruments like Khamak,
Gopiyantra, Ghungroo, – Ektara - the Gubgubbi
the Dubdubbi - the Manjira (cymbals) - and the
Dotaara . The ektara is most popular in
western Bengal, especially Bankura, Birbhum,
Purulia districts. The Dotara or sarinda is most
widely used in the northern districts of
Dinajpur and Malda district. In the eastern
districts both the Ektara and Dotara are used.
Dancing to the song is not an essential
aspect of the presentation of Baul songs. It is
the expression of the theme or the lyrics and
poetry which is enacted by hand and foot
movements and gestures with a catchy rhythm.
The Baul singers hold the “Gopi yantra” in
one hand, tie the “Dubdubbi” on his waist and
the “Ghungroos” on his feet. The singer taps his
foot to create a sound of the Ghungroos and
sing in a full throated voice to express the
contents of the song. Some of the songs are
based on the Bhairavi raga of Hindustani
classical music, which is not very common in
other folk songs.
Vaishnav Baul is generally linked to central
part of Bengal, where suring the 18th and 19th
centuries, saint poets popularized Shyama sangit
or Kali kirtans which influenced the Baul songs
of the region during that period.
The Baul songs of Birbhum had the
h
You have no mercy for me?
You have blessed the poor orphans and
put them on the safe banks of the river
But, I am still floating on the river aimlessly
Like the foam on the sea waves, I travel
from country to country
Yet, I have not found a loving soul like
you – O Gora
used symbols are: Phool-flower, Neer-water,
Moner Manus-soul’s companion, Tribeniconfluence of three rivers, Daraza/Dooar-door,
Chandra-moon, Padma-lotus etc. The reason the
Bauls use such language is that the Bauls do not
conform to the rites and rituals prescribed by
the Brahmanical texts. In the eastern district, the
music resembles Bhatiali and in the north there
is an influence of Bhawaiya. In the west the songs
are slightly different, with songs being long and
monotonous in their tonal character. Many Baul
gurus were, and still are, poets, Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu (13th Century) was the greatest
known Baul singer, and he travelled all over
India. History counts him as the biggest
influence among Baul poets and singers of later
generations. One of the most famous poets
Lalan Fakir, was a revolutionary and a holy
man, who created more than 5000 Baul
compositions.
Like roots are to a tree
Water to a fish
Like cream and cheese are to milk
Gora – I am a part of you.
BHATIYALI
The word “Bhatiyali” means “Bhata” – a
phenomenon of the flow of tides of the sea
and the river and means low tide. “Jwar” is
the opposite of Bhata i.e. Jwar means high tide.
During Bhata or low tide phase the banks of
the river become wider. Bhatiyali could have
originated from this phenomenon.
Bhatiyali songs are those sung by the Naviks
or Mallahs the boatmen of the river. They sing
Bhatiyali songs while crossing the rivers in
Bengal. Bhatiyali is usually sung solo and not in
groups. Even farmers tilling their lands sing
Bhatiyali songs and take prolonged notes in
open full throated voice. Shepherds returning
home after grazing their cattle also sing a form
of Bhatiyali. These songs vary, depending upon
the cattle they have been grazing. Bhatiyali song
variations with subtle changes have influence
of the Bengali “Tappa”.
Bhatiyali is the origin of many folk songs
of Bengal which are related to the workmen
community. Bhatiyali songs are not very
rhythmic but have prolonged notes to express
a feeling and touch the heart of the listeners.
Bhatiyali songs usually start with the Taar Saptak
or high pitch notes and slowly come down
to the lower notes or Madhya & Mandra Saptak.
Example of a Baul song –
Tui amarey pagol korli rey –
ore O Gora – Doyaa naa korilei
Anathere dili kul, amare bhashili re
Anathero nath Gora re
Sagorero phena jemon
Phere deshe deshe
Seje emono dorodi naai je
Ke ke jiggaas kore je
Gaacher jemon sikad bakod
Maacher jemon paani
Abar doodhe jemon soro noni
Tumi temon amar re
TRANSLATION –
It is addressed to Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu“You have made me insane O Gora
h
to the other side.
Often have I failed
to reach the other side,
often have I failed
to find my beloved
Thus, my life sails
along with the flow of the river.
Bhatiyali originated in East Bengal or
Bangladesh and spread al over Bengal. The
Bhav or theme of these songs are expressed
with different words like – Na, No, O, No,
E, Si, O re, Aa re, Haye re, lo, go, etc. – all
colloquial Bengali words and phrases.
These songs are mostly sung by men and
most of which are based on Bilawal thaat as
well as Khamaj thaat. In the middle octaves
(Madhya saptak) and higher octaves (Taar
Saptak) these songs have similarity to ragas
like Pahadi, Bihag, Jhinjhoti. They are not based
on a particular raga and therefore Bhatiyali
songs have their distinctive style and tune. The
Baul singers have also been influenced by
Bhatiyali and have incorporated the Bhatiyali
styles to express different themes or thought
process in the lyrics.
CHATKA
Chatka - is a type of Bhawaiya folk song,
which is commonly sung in North Bengal and
the “Goalpara” district of Assam. Chatka
songs are satirical themes which criticize social
evils, or it is sung by Nayak – Naayikaa or Gop
– Gopi – i.e. expressed as love songs.
In Hindustani Classical Music, the way one
sings a Chhota Khayal or Drut Khayal after a
elaborate Bada or Vilambit Khayal, similarly a
Chatka song is sung after a Bhawaiya. The Chatka
songs are fast paced in Drut Laya like a Drut
Khayal. There is a strong influence of Vaishnava
sect in these songs which often describes the
loving teases between Radha and Krishna which
the audiences enjoy immensely.
The Chatka folk songs are sometimes in
the form of prose or a dialogue between two
characters – where the dialogue is carried out
in the form of question and answer between
two characters. The duration of these songs
are not fixed since the conversation in the form
of song can go on for a long time.
Chatka is popular due to its fast paced
rhythm with accompaniment with a Dotaara.
Chatka is essentially a form of folk music
popular in the villages and its rustic nature is
not appreciated by the educated city dwellers,
as the educated class considered the lyrics of
Chatka as obscene and of low standards.
The folk music of Bengal has inspired
poets, musicians, composers, artistes and has
reached all over India through film music.
Example of a Bhatiyali song:
Sujon majhi re
Kon ghaatey lagaiba tomar nao
Ami paarer ashay, boisha achhi,
Amay loiya jao
Kon ghaatey lagaiba tomar nao
Ei parete Dorodi naai
Oi parete jaai cholo jaai
Hoi naa amar paare jaoa,
Hoi naa amar tomay paowa
Jal choliya bohiya jaai
Kon ghaatey……
TRANSLATION
O good boatman,
which side of the river
will you anchor your boat?
Please take me with you,
as I am waiting to reach my destination
On this side of the river –
there’s none who understands me
I plead you to carry me
h
such as – Manoharsaahi Kirtan, Reneti Kirtan,
Mandarini Kirtan, Jharkhandi Kirtan, etc.
The Manoharsaahi Kirtan compositions
comprised of Leela gaan in praise of The Lord
in Drut Laya (fast tempo) and Madhya Laya
(medium tempo), both of which were faster
than the songs sung earlier.
Later, the Kirtankaars or Kirtan singers
started improvising by changing the rhythm
pattern (Chhanda) according to the poetic
verses and capability of the singers which had
more appeal with the audience. This also had
an effect of increased devotional trance in the
singers as well as the audience.
Other forms Kirtans and Kirtan singers
were also created, like the Katha Katha Dal,
Kathaar Taan and Aakhar. The present day
Kirtan has gradually changed and has become
a style by itself. No doubt, most of the Pala
Kirtans are based on ragas with a mix of folk
tunes. More importance is given to the lyrics
than the ragas it is based upon. The
accompaniment of Khol and Manjira is an
essential aspect of Kirtan. Rhythmic patterns
played on Khol, are different from traditional
taals.
The taals on Khol with Kirtan are:
Das Kushi, Das Peari, Do Thooki, Lofa, etc.
The Kirtans sung in the rural and regional
dialects of Bengal in praise of Lord Krishna
in the form of a Stuti (prayer) were called
Dhap Kirtan. In Dhap Kirtan villagers
incorporated influences of other folk songs
of Bengal to suit their tastes.
In the mid 19th century Brahmo Dharma
became popular in Bengal and had a lot of
followers. This influenced the Kirtans of
Bengal. Niraakaar Brahamavad or universal or
oneness of God, became the theme of
Kirtans replacing Radha Krishna bhakti. With the
increased popularity of Kirtan, concerts were
KIRTAN
In the medieval period the devotional
songs on Radha Krishna– which used to be
sung in Bengal were call Kirtan. The songs
describing the greatness of God or God’s
creations are called Kirtan (i.e. Bhagwaan Ki
Keerti)
Bhajon i.e. Bhajan consists of one complete
verse, whereas Kirtan is the repetitive singing
on one word or phrase or a line, e.g. the
repeating of the name of Lord Krishna –
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare
Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare
Hare. Kirtan is therefore also sometimes called
Naam Sankirtan.
Soon after the decline of Charya geeti a new
and significant form of singing took shape in
the form of Padavali kirtan in Bengal. Padavali
kirtan was in existence in pre Chaitanya era also.
It was composed by maharajas like Jayadev,
Chandidas, Vidyapati, Jnandas, Govinddas, etc.
Amongst them, the most remarkable
composer of the period was Jayadev.
The Padavali kirtan we hear nowadays is a
creation of Sri Chaitanya and post Chaitanya
era (latter part of 15th Century). His principal
contribution towards the spread of the Bhakti
movement was Naam Sankirtan and Nagar Kirtan.
There are also two other variants of Kirtan
– i.e. Padavali Kirtan and Leela Kirtan, which
give more importance to verses, poetic or
thematic content. In Bengal, the golden period
of Kirtans was during the time of Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu when it became extremely popular
in Bengal.
In the 16th century Sri Narottam Goswami
popularized Padavali kirtan. This form of
Kirtan by Sri Goswami later became popular as
Leela kirtan and later was also termed as Gauder
haati and Goran haati Kirtan.
Later, newer forms of Kirtan were popular,
h
ceremonies and even death.
organized in every part of the city (Nagar)
and got the name of Nagar Sankirtan. The
presentation of Nagar Sankirtan started in a
Vilambit Laya (slow tempo) and went on to
Drut Laya (fast tempo). Musical instruments
like the Khol Jhaanjh (cymbal), Manjira or
Kartaal are used as accompaniments to Kirtans
according to the requirement of the song.
Kirtans can easily be incorporated in any
tune or raga and can be sung solo or in groups
without any restrictions.
Translation
This Kirtan gives a beautiful description of
Lord Krishna
Sri Radha is telling her friend
Sakhi – HE is dark in complexion with a
garland of flowers on his neck,
Trinklets or Nupoor tied to his ankles.
There is a flower on his hair, tied on top
of his head,
This attracts the Bee. He turns is beautiful
eyes for a glance.
The instruments used as accompaniment to folk music of Bengal are – Ektara,
Dhak, Maadal, Khamak, Gopi Yantra, Tabla,
Baajon, Ghungroo, Jhaanjh, etc.
Nowadays even the Harmonium and
Mandolin are used as accompanying
instruments.
Amongst the Tat Vadya (stringed)
instruments which accompany the folk music
of Bengal, there is the Ektara (a one – stringed
instrument) which the Baul singers play while
singing.
Dotaara – (two stringed instrument) which
accompanies the Bhawaiya, Baul and Chatka
singers.
Among the Sushir Vadya (wind instrument)
category the Shaankh or the Conch Shell is
used in Gambhira and Gajon songs. Nowadays,
flute or bansuri is used to accompany Baul and
Kirtan singers on stage.
Ghana Vadya – The Manjira or Jhaanjh is
played with Baul, Gambhira, Kirtan. The
Ghungroo is tied to the feet of the Baul singers.
Avanadh vadya – or Drums – the Khol is
extensively used for Kirtans, Baul songs and
Bhatiyali songs.
The Dhak is used for Gambhira songs with
Bauls and the Gubgubbi or Dubdubbi is used.
The Dubdubbi is the Bayan of the Tabla set.
Musical instruments that accompany
folk music of Bengal
***
Aditi Banerji, M.A. M.Phil. (Music), Ph. 02226311414, 26161924, <[email protected]>
Example of a Kirtan by Govinda das
– pre Chaitanya era
Taal – Lofa - Six beats
Sokhi chikan kala, golay malaa,
Baajono nupooro paaye,
Taar chudaar phoole bhromora bule
Terochho noyone chaaye.
Since ancient times people express their
feelings through music, dance and by playing
musical instruments. The language and form
of dance and music vary from place to place
and from region to region as well as from
communities to communities. There are
different song and dance forms for different
occasions, like marriage, birth, religious, social
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Publishing and Internet:
A curious alliance of Technology
with Literature
Nikita Bhardwaj
C-41, Murtikala Colony,
Gopalpura Road, Jaipur (Rajasthan)
Ph. 0141-2708839, <[email protected]>
18th. centuries when the era of printing was
initiated and ushered an innovative way of
spreading information to the public. With the
advent of printing technology, an entirely new
means of approaching the masses was
unleashed. The authors could interact with
their readers without the need of being
physically present before them and disseminate
the ideas and opinions to a far wider audience
in lesser time than was previously possible.
After the invention of wheel and pioneering
efforts in constituting an agrarian society, the
advent of printing technology was a major
milestone in human evolutionary history that
influenced the way human society was being
structured.
Before the radical change was brought by
printing technology by today's electronic
printing devices, printing of the literature can
be connected to the use of round cylinder
seals which can be traced back to early
Mesopotamian civilization before 3000 BC.
It was used to roll an impress on top of clay
tablets. It was the most common works of
art to survive, and feature complex and
beautiful images in those days. After the
cylinder seals, many years later, in 200 AD,
Woodblock printing was the first type of
printing to be introduced. This type of printing
initially comprised of printing of texts, images
or different patterns on textiles and later on
papers.
The very first printed machinery was
invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the
German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440
by both adapting existing technologies and
Science and literature are natural bedfellows
of any discussion or an essay; but technology
and literature? Let us not be passive and
reluctant in accommodating the very obvious
fact that technology has a cohesive alliance with
literature. It is an association that has flourished
substantially over the years and is growing from
an inchoate state to maturity with rapid strides.
Literature, as we all know, is the 'Art of
Written work', and Technology refers to the
'Art of collecting and implementing
techniques'. The correlation between the
above stated terms is maybe a bit difficult to
comprehend but interesting to explore.
Although, the two- literature and
technology- do not share the same beginning
yet they are strongly linked since ages. The
origin of literature can be traced back to time
of the origin of writing. The 'Epic of
Gilgamesh'- predating 2000 B.C. - is
considered to be the earliest surviving literature
in today's date (Although this is disputed in
many circles that the Hindu epics : The
Mahabharata and The Ramayana are much
older, dating back to 3000 B.C). Ever since,
literature has flourished putting a strong and
poignant effect on the thinking and living of
the entire world. Be it in the form of poems,
novels, dramas or the various genres: comedy,
lyric, tragedy and romance, literature's
omnipresent nature and indispensible need has
affected human civilization in all spheres of
activity to a large extent.
The very first connection literature had with
the technology (in the context of classical
Industrial revolution) was during the 17th. and
h
Printing technology and the use of various
other new forms sprouted from Information
Technology have extended the scope of
literature; it has allowed it to disseminate
information in numerous innovative ways
without much technological constraints. Under
the aegis of modern printing technology,
literature has flourished greatly and has sought
to reach the pinnacle of outreach to common
masses. The tentative research of printing
techniques such as from new digital printing
to holographic 3D printing (which can create
a physical replica of a piece of written paper
or even a whole book!) has pinned our hopes
to a completely new and interesting form of
access to literature or information for its
audience.
The advent of Internet in the modern era
was another influence of the 'silicon science'
that created an advanced pathway -for
literature- to communicate to the public. The
amalgamation of electronics and information
technology gave birth to a fascinating period
of online literature. This cutting-edge
technology soon enchanted a sizeable
population of both literature lovers and the
general public towards itself and growing
rapidly. It would have been in the year 1993,
when Rick Gates suggested the proposal of
Online Encyclopedia but the origin of Digital
Literature- say Wikipedia - when we witnessed
a digital publishing revolution but the
materialization of this idea was ordained to
take place in 1999 when Richard Stallman
proposed the open-source web based
encyclopedia concept. It not only changed the
outlook of the public towards literature but
played a major role in increasing and attracting
their active interest. The stories, poems and
prose that were first printed on cloth followed
by paper in later years, are now on the screen
making inventions of his own. This printing
press displaced earlier methods of printing
and led to the first assembly line-style mass
production of books. Furthermore, the style
of representing the stories, poems, essays and
many a like transformed with the evolution
of printing. Eventually, by the year 1500,
several printing presses were operating all
throughout the Western Europe and had
already produced more than twenty million
volumes. This was not only a remarkable feat
but a praiseworthy effort of human spirit of
enquiry in adjunction to technology. This
invention soon gave birth to a field of public
interest, Mass communication, that, bolstered
the spreading of literature.
Mass communication, which has its roots
in the technology of paper printing,
completely turned the much-exercised
monopoly of the literate and erudite class in
the education and learning on its head and
buttressed the struggle (for knowledge and
socio-economic progress) of the emerging
middle class. This phenomenal transformation
brought by the printing technology was
mentioned beautifully by the English
philosopher, Attorney General and Lord
Chancellor of England, Sir Francis Baconin
his book, Novum Organm, published in 1620.
He considered printing as one of the three
things that changed the whole face and state
of things throughout the world and quoted
"Printing, gunpowder and the compass: These
three have changed the whole face and state
of things throughout the world; the first in
literature, the second in warfare, the third in
navigation; whence have followed innumerable
changes, in so much that no empire, no sect,
no star seems to have exerted greater power
and influence in human affairs than these
mechanical discoveries."
h
gatekeepers in the political process are fighting
a rearguard action as blogging redefines the
political landscape, levels the information
playing field and gives millions of Americans
a voice they never had in our national political
dialogue". The corridors of power have
started become wary of the power of internet
and the speed with which ideas are being
discussed and shared. This freedom has
influenced the way new literature is being
written and what is being read or in demand.
Fast and crisp is the new mantra of
blogosphere.
Having looked at the boon of online
Publishing, we must also get acquainted with
the bad part of the story focusing on the
scope of traditional printing that has almost
become obsolete. People in advanced nations
wait for the mail in the inbox from the
publisher to get a pdf, epub or mobi version.
Environmentalists argue that using online
resources and eBook publishing help reduce
the carbon footprint and actively save 'the
green' of the planet. Seems like a plausible
argument, since more energy goes into keep
the systems running for working time. Above
that, the all-time running host servers are
actually taking toll on the environment in
developing countries by consuming precious
electricity. Energy, which is being utilized, must
come from somewhere and is affecting the
environment indirectly by increasing green
house emission- a major reason behind global
warming. Nevertheless, this is not a serious
problem and we can find solace in the hope
that future hardware is going to be more ecofriendly and hence a very suitable platform
for paperless publishing.
In addition, the association of the buyer
and bookseller is fast becoming a deed of
yore. People no longer want to stand in queue
of a mobile phone; available to a wider human
population just within a fraction of minutes,
of course depending on the downloading
speed.
Sooner than envisioned, both the effluent
bourgeois and the common class got almost
addicted to it. A socialist setup where
information flows unhindered and without
any privilege to a certain class. Audience who
used to go and buy books from stores have
started downloading the e-material without
paying a penny most of the times. The
copyright has become a victim of this
revolution and the authors seldom get the
return in terms of money. This grew so fast
that People started writing their online blogs
and literary articles since they now had in hand
an easy, swift and cheaper way to approach
to the people and some have started sharing
their work free of cost. They need not bother
about visiting and pleading any publication
house and pay large amount of money to get
their articles or books published; all they had
to do was just few clicks away. This is the
utopia where one, irrespective of any age, any
class or gender can write his/her thoughts out
and get connected to as many people around
the world.
Blogging is an emerging field of interest
mainly seen in the youth and occasionally in
the bald headed middle-aged men struggling
with the new technology. It has, in today's time,
affected the politics, business, popular culture
and the traditional approach to access and
distribute thoughts. The neologism has thrived
with the IT revolution and news words have
become a part of our vocabulary ("Google
it" has become a popular catch phrase) and
hence the new literature. As mentioned by
Robert Cox, President of the Media Bloggers
Association, envisage that "traditional
h
evolution of various techniques and
technologies of IT has added the ease in the
lives of the writers as well as readers. Decades
ago, where one had to pay money to get the
articles published and also to read them
(buying books), and today, IT has left no stone
unturned to remove this excess baggage from
the shoulders of the writers. anyone and
everyone is free to write and share the thoughts
across the globe. This has resulted in the birth
of a real freedom of expression in almost
every heart today and soon a day will come
when we will have an opinion from presented
from every member of society who has access
to the modern information technology.
Indeed, much has been accomplished and
many more is yet to come. Nobody can
predict what future holds for us but then we
may not be that Ignorant after all. The best is
yet to come and it will be the next revolution
in human civilization.
or wait for a new release at a bookshop.
Scarcely, we find people now who chit chat
with the bookshop owners about the new titles
or ask suggestions for a good read. With
Amazon and similar websites suggesting
books to suit your taste that it gleans from
your webpage searches by injecting cookies
into your browser. This has made the
interaction of readers and book enthusiasts
starve in utter neglect. The throngs of people
that we used to see at the bookshops a decade
ago is but a mere trickle left to dry out in the
sunshine of IT publishing era. People visit
bookshops to evaluate the new release or
browse through the old releases before rushing
home to order it via Amazon or Barnes and
Nobles etc.
Likewise, the generation who took pride
in giving tattered and yellow-paged rare books
in its possession to its progeny is slowly
becoming extinct. The digital preservation has
come to fore as being the caretaker of
precious human knowledge and a large
amount of data is being preserved daily for
the posterity in developed countries such as
US, UK and Germany. The human and book
contact in waning fast; while giving way to
ubiquitous screens everywhere from schools
to Universities and from offices to household.
The fast pace of life has generated a sort of
literature which might be called the Junk food
of literate society. It has created works of
fiction that cater to the time passing attitude
or on the run desire to read. This indeed is a
sad event for literary connoisseurs and cultural
enthusiasts.
Lastly, one can state and at the same time
agree on the very fact that 'A bit of Ease in
what we intend to do always adds a bit of
content and satisfaction which eventually
motivates to proceed further'. Similarly,
References:
"McLuhan, Marshall (1962), The Gutenberg Galaxy:
The Making of Typographic Man (1st ed.), University
of Toronto Press.
"Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean (1976): "The
Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 14501800", London: New Left Books, quoted in: Anderson,
Benedict: "Comunidades Imaginadas.
"Francis Bacon: "Novum Organum, Liber I, CXXIX"
? Adapted from the 1863 translation.
"Jost, Kenneth and Melissa J. Hipolit. "Blog
Explosion" CQ RESEARCHER 16.22 (9 Jun. 2006).
"China's Management Revolution: Spirit, Land,
Energy, By Charles Edward Bouvee.
***
h
Prasanta Kumar Panda
An Account of
Anti-Aesthetics Working
Against Indian Teachers
Prof. in English, Indian Institute of Technology,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005 (U.P.)
Ph. 94153-01853
email: [email protected]
ONE
dignified profession in our country in last three
decades.
The liberally educated person is one who is
able to resist the easy and preferred answers,
not because he is obstinate but because he
knows others worthy of consideration. Allan
Bloom
The Closing of the American Mind (1987)
The Latin word 'education' means
'bringing out potentialities of the individual
for self development'. Though in this origin
of the word 'Education' there is no direct
reference of an "initiator", later called teacher,
it has been apparent that the process of
education always involves a teacher. With the
advent of electronic media "self development'
of an individual can be acquired in many ways
without the physical presence of a teacher.
Even then educationists have been suggesting
that there should be a physical teacher, if
possible; because it has a psychological
advantage over the otherwise mechanical
process of learning. They argue that
mechanical learning, in absence of a physical
teacher, cannot incorporate life-skills like selfreliance, personality development, community
service, social integration and political
understanding required for good governance,
necessary for human beings for developing a
civilization. The teacher, in all these cited areas
of finer sensibility, stands like a symbol that
can support the very infrastructure of
intertwined qualities required for harmony to
prevail in any social order. This is why
teachership should still be considered as a
profession, which commands dignity. With this
backdrop let us see what is happening to this
India is a country where teachers of all kinds
and at every level of operation are put to test
perpetually in more ways than a common
mind in other profession can perceive. It is
fortunate that to a great extent the Indian
teachers take it as a part of their life. Probably
this is an important factor why Indian teacher
in all the levels are in demand throughout the
civilized world in general and European
countries in particular. On the other hand, it is
so unfortunate that Gandhiji in his essay
"National Education" said that teachership is
often the last profession one accepts because
of its socio-economic condition of the then
India. Though it has not changed after six
decades of independence, no one is ready to
discuss the issue, forget about taking
responsibility to change it. Of course, reports
are written but the recommendations are either
not taken seriously or they are not good
enough to be carried out because of the
impracticality of them.
The prevailing condition of teachers in
India can be analyzed with a philosophical
outlook Bertrand Russell propounded long
ago. Russell, known for his practical
philosophy, suggests that there is some
principle that governs the relationship between
the oppressor and the oppressed. According
to him, history has acknowledged that the
oppressors always pamper the oppressed
h
Even in government run Academic
institutions the situation is not very heartening.
There is no need to discuss the instances in
this article. Average citizen of this country
knows it through newspaper and other media.
The number of students in a class, the number
of classes the teachers take, the quality of
accommodations both the students and
teachers are offered, the kind of remuneration
the teachers get for their tireless effort-- in
teaching, conducting examinations and
evaluation of the answer papers and finally
doing research (which they are forced to if
they have to be promoted) -- all these factors
contribute to the teachers being treated as a
neglected class in the society. So far the issues
discussed are social and economical and the
teachers cannot do anything about it. But there
are some other academic and political issues
they could manipulate if they were better
organized. It is apparent that the teachers'
organizations, in all the levels, have not been
effective in fulfilling their minimum demands
for decades together. One concerned about
the plight of teachers cannot fail to see that
these teachers sometimes pay bribe to officials
for releasing their salary not to speak about
any other incentive they are legally entitled to.
community as being virtuous and that is why
tolerant by nature. One has to believe that
teaching profession in India has undergone this
historical truth for last six decades and there is
no sign of any change in the near future.
Taking these two conceptual frameworks
of the condition of teachers in India one can
analyze the whole scenario of the academia in
a fresh manner. Gandhiji's opinion is true in
the sense the remuneration decides the market
value of a person and the market value is
misconstrued as being the real aesthetic value
of the person. This may be a dismal state of
the human condition reflected in our society
but not exaggerated in any manner. This is the
reason why people take teaching profession as
the last choice barring a few who have a penchant
for academic activity by nature. In this
environment it is difficult to assume whether
the teachers of our country at large are good
enough for the profession and can deliver the
desired good to the society? The obvious
answer is: 'Not as it should have been'.
In India the government runs only twenty
percent of the institutions and the rest is in the
hands of private management. In last three
decades, profit making has become the driving
force in these private institutions. These profit
making educational institutions claim that
otherwise a high standard cannot be
maintained in any kind of organization is
definitely true to a great extent; but this motive
when rules the roost is harmful to the aesthetic
fabric of the academic activity cannot be
overruled. The argument is, since we call them
organizations, they must run by the same order
of facts and management, as it is the way in
business organizations. Contradictions are there
but there are only few institutions that maintain
a high level of commercialism with the
required ethical order.
TWO
Education is the ability to listen to almost
everything without losing your temper or your
self confidence. Robert frost Readers Digest.
April. 1960.
Allegation teachers of all kinds are fighting
against, for last twenty-five years, is that of
private tuition. Unfortunately, this allegation is
labeled against teachers of all types from the
primary level to the university level without
discrimination. A proper investigation will revel
that only fifteen to twenty percent of them
h
salary, forget about the development. This is
the reason we would not find any new
infrastructure in many of the state run
universities for decades together. Definitely this
is not a genuine condition for the faculty to
work whole-heartedly, even if they desire to
do so. Also, over the last few decades it is
seen that funding agencies have no uniform
policy to provide grant for the development
and research in institutions. While some of
them get more than they can manage within a
stipulated period of time, the others get
nothing or so meager an amount that nothing
can actually be done.
The present psychological set up of the
academia is a complex blend of contradictions.
With the impact of materialistic life style
reflected in the electronic media. While some
students try their best to achieve all the luxuries
of life (not the values) the others are aware
that they cannot achieve it and are largely
frustrated. The professional students sometime
know their fate and feel there is no need to
struggle and try for the excellence. The salaries
they are going to get at the end of courses
undertaken actually motivate or de-motivate
them for study. The training and placement
offices of several educational institutions
further aggravate this by declaring that there
is no dearth of jobs for their students. The
repercussion is there is a sharp decline in taking
interest in academics for the students. In the
web of all these unethical practices the teacher
is the victim. The teachers feel their mission is
largely defeated and they are merely cog in
the wheel- nothing to innovate and create so
far as pedagogy is concerned.
On the other hand, it will not be an
exaggerated statement to say that the academic
world has also become a kind of market place.
Knowledge has become a marketable product
are involved in this business. But this cannot
be considered as a nefarious business if one is
rational enough to make comparison with
other professionals. For example, if a doctor
is free to do private practice if he or she is
not getting non-practicing allowance, why a
teacher, who is never considered worthy of
any such allowance cannot indulge in any such
practice to earn is beyond logic. One can also
consider the teachers in engineering colleges
earning a reasonable amount as their
consultancy fees legally.
The worst thing that justifies the word antiaesthetics in the title of this article is the
irregularity of payment to almost eighty
percent of the teachers of this country. The
service conditions also reflect contradiction
from one type of teachers to another. The
contradiction related to their appointment and
remuneration is simply bewildering. This is the
modus operendi in hundreds of governmentaided colleges. To give an example, one has
to shrink to notice a peon in such an institution
gets more than a lecturer if he or she is not
getting grant-in-aid from the government.
Further, it is said that the 'grant in aid' is not a
matter of right. It can be stopped without
giving any explanation if the exchequer does
not permit in moments of financial crisis in
the concerned state. We know in last three
decades such financial crises occurred quite
often and the salary of the concerned teachers
as irregularly as only twice or thrice a year.
The condition of the state run universities
is not any way conducive to qualitative study
and research. Except the central universities
that are much less in number in comparison
to the state universities the financial condition
is more or less precarious. Every now and
then we read in the newspapers that such and
such university has no fund to pay the teachers'
h
political leaders as well as the teaching
communities make their defined role
perceivable to the students and the society at
large. If this state is achieved, we can avoid
political appointments to the highest positions
of the citadels of learning.
The intelligentsia in the form of the retired
educationists, journalists of repute, writers and
philosophers should take the responsibility to
force the government to take quick steps to
free teachers from the anti-aesthetic
atmosphere in the academia. For example, the
teachers of a given institute cannot fight against
the appointments of the bad candidates as
opposed to the available good candidates
because of their connections. The media and
the intellectual world should make some
forum to which the concerned victims can
represent in anonymity for raising the issue and
do justice.
Simultaneously the teaching community
should open their eyes towards the kind of
upheaval in the moral values of the academic
life. More or less now the campus life is running
a number of ills the civilized society should
not tolerate-ragging, alcohol, drugs, eve teasing
and harassment of the poor and the humble
students as being not up-to- date. If someone
is claiming these things are not a part of a
campus I have the guts to say he or she is a
die-hard liar. The basic issue I wish to raise
through this is that we are not ready to see
where we stand but fix destination with vision.
We should not forget a vision could materialize
only when we know where we stand at the
present moment of academic history of this
country. Let the Indian society take its
responsibility to make the life of teachers a
respectable one. Simultaneously, the political
will across the party antagonism be united to
make the future generation a responsible lot
and the students buy it-especially when we
consider the professional institutions, which
demand high fees. It is seen that the head of
these institutions listen more to the
irresponsible demands of the students than
the rational suggestions of the teachers for
any kind of aesthetic development. This
atmosphere is definitely not good for any kind
of intellectual integrity of the teachers.
In many universities there is a hide and seek
going on between the politically active faculty
and the pro-government agent at the helm of
power. It goes with out saying that the ViceChancellors are chosen not solely on their merit
as academicians and administrators but some
indefinable and invisible relations they have
with persons and institutions of political
nature. This game is overtly or covertly
reflected in the seminars and symposiums
conducted to flaunt the political affiliation (to
show strength of a given political out-fit) of
the persons concerned. No doubt the
detrimental effect it has on the honest and the
sincere teacher is beyond the imagination of
the players of the dirty game. The gullible
students also suffer without knowing what is
their role in this game of hide and seek in the
name of pseudo academic activity. This results
in their being a party to something beyond
their perception.
The atmosphere I am describing here is
not built over a period of years but decades.
The impact is detrimental to everything that
the nation is looking forward to as a civilized
entity. The protocol, though not followed is
loud and clear, the teachers should distance
themselves from the connections that are
ultimately at the root of this set up. Political
neutrality is the pre-condition for the academic
excellence for which the academia is built with
so much burden on the exchequer. Let the
h
to make development a way of life rather than
a slogan in the advertisements published in
newspapers by the government machinery. Let
the students learn from the society that teachers
are extremely important for building their
future and so they are to be respected at any
cost. Let the administration learn how to prize
the good teacher and punish the bad ones.
Than only the academia will be free from the
anti-aesthetics that has made this laudable
community diminutive of what they actually
are in the great tradition of this country.
Because as rightly said by William Ralph Inge
in an essay titled "The Training of Reason"
Cambridge Essays on Education (1917) "The
aim of education is the knowledge not of
facts but of values."
WHY? WHY?
MY VERITY
Riza Lahi (Albania)
C. P. A Boobacker (Kerala)
I looked on mirror a muscular neck and breast,
two enchained eyebrows like of a killer
two melancholic eyes
like of a lover - teenager who
feels pain to cut a flowr,
blowzy with unbuttoned
shirt like of sea captain
Do we have to cry aloud,
If sad about the troubles
of the world around?
Do we have to shout aloud
If we speak about the horrors
We experience?
Do we have to torch a light
To seek a man in our midst
Drowning in dearth of words?
Do we have to burn logs
To cook the fowl we caught
If we have fire inside?
Do we have to fiddle the string
In the cool flowery spring
If we have music inside?
Do we have to smile around
About the graze of love and calf
In the wilderness of poetry?
About the chewed up grass?
About the saliva drops fallen?
About dew drops sprinkling in eyes?
Do we have to cry aloud
About the corpses around
Hanging on the wayside posts
Cockroached into atomic wombs
Destruction beyond their reach
Extinction ready for man?
***
<[email protected]>
Was a night's creature
mysterious, like the night
coming down from the sky
in front of my bathroom's mirror…
I have written all the night!
The night…
The night is feeling on me
dolour; she
teasing with the moon's eye
lightly
sweetly
slowly
quietly
seeming not being mentioned
is discovering her chest
inviting me
to place
my lips
on her nipple
- whiteness of aurora. ***
<[email protected]>
h
Teaching of English
in Multilingual Indian
Classrooms of Higher Education
Prof. Bais Sunita Manoharrao
B.C.A. Prerana College, Gangakhed.
Dist. Parbhani. (Maharashtra)
Ph. 94200-35799 <[email protected]>
link students with the world.
Objectives :
1) To study the concept of language.
2) To know the importance of English
language.
3) To study the importance of teaching
English in Higher Education.
4) To know the role of English language
in higher educatin.
Research Medhodology :
Data is collected from the secondary
method of collection from reference books,
daily newspaper, articles and internet.
Hypothesis :
1) English is an international language.
2) English is a link language.
3) English is a library language.
4) English language is a language of Science
and Technology.
Concept :
Language : Language is the basis of human
progress. It is vitally related to human culture.
Without language, our civilization would have
been impossible. It is the means of social
control. It enables us to co-operate with
another through meaningful nosies, i.e. spoken
words. Language is unique and dynamic; it is
under the process of change. The history of
any language shows the change that language
has undergone in the course of time.
Language is human; is behaviour. Language
has been defined in many ways. Language is
the system of arbitrary vocal symbols used
for human communication. A satisfying
definition of language is very difficult. Yet it
is a kind of means of communication.
Introduction :
Every human being has three basic needs as
food, cloth and shelter. 'Education' is the 4th
and very much important need of human
being. Education means to know really about
things. Education helps man to live a
comfortable life; it also helps him in every
sector of human life. Human being is an
animal but he is different from other animals
because he has 'a brain' which is situated in his
skull; it differentiates human being from
another animal. With the help of brain, human
being thinks about all the things, makes his
decisions and solves the problem. Brain is
developed by education; man gets new
knowledge and applys it in his life.
Human being learns new things earlier
from his birth to the end of his death. To
learn means to know about something.
Learning is the process in education which
have another side known as teaching. In India
multi languages are taught in classroom and
also in higher education. Education in India is
divided into three form; according to Kothari
Commission (1966) the formula of education
is as:- 10+2+3 and this 3rd section is
considered as the higher education. Higher
education acts as the third eye of knowledge
for human being. In higher education 'English'
is taught as second and compulsory language
to all faculties for example B.A., B.Com., B.Sc.,
B.C.A., B.C.S. and other also. English is an
international language, so its place is higher
than any other regional languages in our
country; it taught in higher education to give
the precious treasure of knowledge and to
h
for business purposes and its later imperialistic
and expansive polices, Indian estates were
reduced to a single sovergin, political integrity
under the British control but the ruler cannot
carry on the affaires without an active
participation of the ruled and for that matter
in 1717 Danish missionaries opened to
charity school in Madras, then in 1818 the
Bishop of Calcutta founded a college to
produce young preachers and to impart
acknowledge of the English language to
Hindu and Muslims. In 1823 Mounth Stuart
Elfinsten in his minutes urged for opening
of schools for teaching English by this time
the recommandations of Lord like Macauly
had been in circulation. Under the British rule
English become a 'Ligua Franka' of the
educated class. 'Lingua Franka' means the
language used by different people for
communication though their mother tongues
are different.
After independence with the 1960 English
became an official language. Then with the
pass of 'Kothari Commission (1964-66)',
English became a medium of instruction in
all major universities of India and in present
day it is becoming a second language of
India.
It is a fact that the conditions under which
English is being taught in our Indian Schools
are not form satisfactory. Prof. V. K. Gokakhas remembered, "Pupils are taught English
for about six periods a week for six years.
But it has been estimated that they hardly
know 1500 words by the time they join
University. It means they have hardly been
able to learn English words at the rate of
one word per period. They donot know to
use the commonest structures" This is a very
sad statement made on the teaching and
learning of English in our Indian Schools.
Language is an instrument of thinking and a
source of delight. Language is species specific.
It is species information. Some Antrologists
try to define language within the form of
concept as follow:
Definitions of Language :
1) Otta Jesperson : "Language is the
primary and most highly elaborated form of
human symbolic activity."
2) Encyclopaedia Britanica : "Language is
a system of conventional, spoken or written
symbols by means of which human beings,
as members of a social group and participants
in its culture, communicate."
3) C. L. Well : "Language is the expression
of human personality in words whether
written or spoken."
Language has been defined in many ways.
Language is the system of arbitrary vocal
symbols used for human communication
among human beings. A Satisfying definition
of language is very difficult. We express our
feelings, attitudes, thoughts by using the
particular language.
Anthrologists regard language as a form
of cultural behaviour, sociologists as an
interaction between members of a social
group. Students of literature regard language
as an artistic medium and philosophers as
means of interpreting human experiences.
Chomsky, a linguist in one of his books,
"Reflections on Language" attempts to
determine the limits of what is "Knowable in
thought." As a result, the reflections on
language became transformed virtually into a
phylosophy of science.
Importance of English Language in
India :
English is a foreign language to Indians.
English came in India with the establishment
of East India Company in the 16th century
h
possible the exchange of teachers and students
in different parts of the world. It is English
again that has opened world wide
opportunities for employment.
2) English as the Library Language : With
the passing of Kothari Commission English
became a library language, in India. In brief
we can say that library language is the language
for reading and study of printed material. This
helps to get more and better knowledge in
the world. The Radhakrishnan Commission
also recommends the importance of English
as a library language. According to this
commission, English must continue to be
studies because in all over the world a great
quantity of knowledge is in English language
and unless we gain, fluency in English we are
unable to acquire that knowledge. English is a
rich store house of knowledge. There is hardly
anything important in the world that has not
been translated into English. Now a days the
speaker and learner of English language are
in India. English as an important library
language would play a vital role in higher
education. No student should be considered
as qualified for a degree, in particular, a
master's degree unless he has been acquired a
reasonable proficiency in English.
3) English as a Link Language : English
Language plays a significant role as a link
language in India. In India every state have
their own mothertongue; it is only English that
serves as a link between one state to another.
English is the language of trade and industry
in India not only that the official
correspondence between the union
Government and non-Hindi speaking states
is conducted in English. English is used
increasingly for interstate purposes. English
has served as a unifying factor in the country.
Speaking of the role of English as a link
Role of English Language in Higher
Education :
English though is a foreign language to
Indian; but is taught as compulsory or second
language. Higher education means the
education which is given in Degree colleges
and universities. In India after independence
with the 1963, English became an official
language, then with the passing of Kothari
Commission also recommended, "no student
should consider qualified for university degree
unless he or she has acquired a reasonable
proficiency in English."
Now in India there are 43 Central
Universities, 266 State Universities and other
Universities; more than 480 Universities and
22,000 colleges and 600 lakh students are
taking higher education. The importance is
given of course to English language in these
total universities because English is playing an
important role in higher education by its
following main characterstic qualities;
1) English as International Language : The
importance of English as an international
language can be judged from the fact that
there is no country in the world where a
speaker of English can not be understood.
English is spoken by 350 million people in
the world. English is the widespread language
all over the world. English is the language of
international politics. It is one of the six official
language of U.N.O. It is the language of
commonwealth countries. English is the
language of international trade and industries.
Commerical correspondence among various
nations of the world is educated in English.
English is the language of cultural give and
take. Gandhiji Said, "English is a language of
diplomacy and it contains many a rich treasure,
it gives us an introduction to Western thought
and culture." It is English that has made
h
Rightly did Jawaharlal Nehru remarks, "All
regional languages must be developed and
prompted; but that did not mean that English
should be discarded to do that will amount
for closing a window on the world of
technology. Foreign languages served as
window on it and to suppose that translations
could take their place was a mistake. It was
no use getting into an intellectual prison after
achieving political independence."
Conclusion :
English language though as a foreign
language; keeping in view the role of English
as an international language, as a window on
the outworld, as library and a link language
both in India and abroad, we mst say that we
cannot dispense with the study of English; it
will be suicidal to do without English language
in higher education.
language, Jawaharlal Nehru once said, "If you
push out English, does Hindi, fully take its
place? I hope it will. I am sure it will. But I
wish to avoid the danger of one unifying
factor being pushed out without another
unifying factor fully taking its place. In that
event there will be a gap, a hiatus. The creation
of any such hiatus or gap must be avoided at
all costs. It is very vital to do in the interest of
the unity of the country. It is this that leads
me to the conclusion that English is likely to
have an important place in the forseable
future." The statement helps to gain the
importance of English as a link language.
4) English as Window to the World :
Jawaharlal Nehru said, "English is our major
window on the world." This means English
gives us glimpses on the various developments
taking place in the world. English provides us
distelled essence of modern knowledge in all
fields of human activity." F. G. French syas,
"A traveler who can speak English will find
somebody who can understand him wherever
he may go; anyone who can read English can
keep in touch with the whole world without
leaving his own house." English is the pipeline
for the stream of knowledge. The
observations of the Radhakrshnan University
Education Commission in this regard are
'Pertinent'. It is a language which is rich in
literature, humanistic, scientific and technical.
If under sentimental urges we would give up
English, we would cut ourselves off from
the living stream of ever growing knowledge;
our standards of scholarship would fast
deteriorate and our participation in the world.
English is the only means of preventing our
isolation from is the world and we will act
universly if we allow ourselves to be
enveloped in folds of a dark curtain of
ignorance.
Reference Bookss :
1. Dr. N. S. Sahu : Aspects of Lingustics Prakash
Book Depot, Bareilly. second edition : 1990.
2. Dr. Rajkumar M. : Communicaton Skills-I,
Nikita Publication, Latur.
Lakhadive 1st edition : 21st Oct, 2007.
3. An article by : Changing trends in Higher
Education- Daily Lokmat
Dr. Vijay Khare dated onl 29th Jan, 2012.
4. Bembalge M. M. : Quality in Higher EducationImpact of Globlization on
Higher Education, 2012
5. R. S. Sharma : Measurement and Evaluation
Techniques Educational Perspective Published 2006
6. N. Kumar : Educational Technology Theory and
Practices, First Edition : 2009.
7. A. George : The Grammar of Teching and
Learning, First Published : 2004
8. B.N. Dash & Others : A Textbook of Educational
Psychology, First Edition 2002.
***
h
Plays of Girish Karnad: A Plea for Religious
and Communal Co-existence
Dr. R.T. Bedre & M.M. Giram
and communal tensions, the gift of the British
in colonial times and of the politicians in the
post-colonial times.
A noteworthy observation is that in six of
these plays religion occupies an important
place. It not only governs movements and
activities of the individuals but also shapes the
course of their lives. The present paper aims
at how Karnad focuses on the disastrous role
played by religion and makes a plea for
religious and in his three famous plays namely
Tughlaq (1971), Bali: the Sacrifice (2004) and
Tale Danda (1993).
Tughlaq, Karnad's pan classic in Indian
drama, deals with the great dreams of the
most intelligent but termed as foolish emperor
of Delhi- Muhammad bin Tughlaq, and grand
failure of his dreams. When he plans shifting
his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, one of
his ambitious dreams, the cordial co-existence
of the Hindus and Muslims is at the back of
his mind. He explains to his subject:
Religion has been a guiding and controlling
force -cum- agency of behaviour of human
community of all the times. It has been the
belief system for the believers and a source
of solace for people. It not only constructs a
structure of code of ethics but also
punishment awarding institution. In the course
of time, as it got established as an institution,
it became a bastion of evils also. It started
exercising upper hand in its allied institutions
like society, politics, family and other.
Occasionally, it sidelined morality and goods
of humanity too. Philosophers and artists
started attacking the evils in religion from
times immemorial. Socrates, Charwak, Martin
Luther King, Sant Dnyaneshwara, Mahatma
Basweshwara, Sant Tukaram, Mahatma
Kabir, Carl Marx are some major examples.
Some Indian dramatists with a sense of
humanitarian commitment have tried in their
own way to expose and protest these evils.
Adya Rangacharya observes the everlasting
relation between drama and religion, "Time
and again, clerical wrath has been brought
down upon its unpredictable cousin, yet pulpit
and stage have remained inextricably
intertwined in function and appeal" (1).
Girish Karnad is one of such committed
Indian performing artists of the present times.
As he is a socio-politically most sensitive and
mature citizen, apart from being an artist,
though he does not adhere to any political
ideology, he has fearlessly expressed his views
on different occasions at different platforms.
As a responsible artist, he has given vent to
the concerns over the contemporary religious
MUH: […]. But for me the most important factor
is that Daulatabad is a city of the Hindus and as
the capital, it will symbolize the bond between
Muslims and Hindus, which I wish to develop and
strengthen in my kingdom. […]. With their help I
shall build an empire, which will be the envy of
the world (Tughlaq 8).
But the fact that the ruler and subject
belong to different religions paves distrust
among the Hindus. His secular policies
benefiting Hindus displease his Muslim subject
and, Muslim religious and political
establishment insist on Islamic upper hand in
the State. The Ulemas and Moulwis want him
to work at their dictates. Sheikh Imam ud din,
h
one of the characters in the play, advises
Tughlaq, "But if one fails to understands what
the Koran says, one must ask the Sayyids and
the Ulemas. Instead you have put the best of
them behind bars in the name of justice" (26)
The Imam wants that State should shoulder
the responsibility of spreading religion on
behalf of the Ulemas. He says:
The play has only four characters
throughout the performance. They are the
King, the Queen, the Mother Queen and the
Mahout. The King, who is born to a Hindu
mother, marries to a Jain queen and embraces
her faith. In a cold night, infatuated by
melodious song, the queen finds herself in the
arms of an ugly mouth. The king and the
mother queen reach there and find the queen
with the mahout in a ruined temple. For the
atonement of the sin of the queen, the mother
queen orders the royal couple to sacrifice a
hundred fowl. Naturally, the queen strongly
opposes the idea. As a solution, the mother
queen suggests offering a cock of dough, but
the queen, who is a staunch follower of Janise
principle of non-violence, refuses to participate
in the act. The king sees folly in the act but does
not find anything wrong, as it does not involve
any bloodshed in it. But the Queen objects the
very intention behind the act and terms it as
much violent as an actual killing. She objects,
"But…but… this sword. This plunging in of
the blade. The act…it's violence" (226-27).
Both the Mother and the Queen are
adamant over their stance. After a long hot
verbal debate, the Queen agrees to participate
in the act. To her, the cock of dough appears
to have come to life. In fit of madness, she
kills herself with the same knife brought for
sacrifice and offers her own life as sacrifice.
In the play, the Queen stands for non-violence
advocated by the Jainism, the Mother
represents Hinduism that deems violence
involved in sacrifice divine and sacred.
Extreme obstinacy of the Queen and the
Mother bring tragedy in the lives of all. The
King is for peaceful tolerant co-existence in
life. Karnad wishes to tell that intolerance and
fundamentalism in all religions have to give in
before the tolerance and liberal co-existence
IMAM: […]. The Arabs spread Islam round the
world and they struggled and fought for it for seven
hundred years. They are tired now, limp and
exhausted. But their work must continue and we
need someone to take the lead. You could do it.
You are one of the most powerful kings on earth
today and you could spread the Kingdom of
Heaven on earth. God has given you everythingpower, learning, intelligence, talent. Now you must
repay His debt (27).
Tughlaq refuses to be under their control
and arrests those Ulemas who interfered in
the State affairs. Imam warns Muhammad
against his distancing religion from State:
And you will do it without the Koran to guide
you? Beware, Sultan, you are trying to become
another God. It's a sin worse than parricide. […].
Religion! Politics! Take heed, Sultan, one day these
verbal distinctions will rip you into two (27).
The angry Ulemas and displeased Sayyids
attempt his murder that makes him turn an
insane and cruel bloodthirsty dictator. The
more Muhammad imposes cruelties on his
subject, the more strongly they oppose him
and his policies. In nutshell, the conflict
between religion and State power for
supremacy brings fall to his State and his
cherished long ideals. Through this play,
Karnad gives message of the Hindu Muslim
unity attempted long back in history.
Bali: the Sacrifice, one of the two latest
full-length plays of Karnad, enacts most intense
tension between two religious ideologies. The
play has the most serious concern of all his
plays. It records a tussle of three individuals
representing different religious principles.
h
based on compromise and that would ensure
peaceful living in the country and in the world.
Tale Danda, drawn from the 12th
historical event of Karnataka, enacts the last
few weeks from the life of Mahatma
Basweshwara and fall of his reformative
movement called Virshaivate or Sharana
movement. During an interview with Tutun
Mukherjee, Karnad explains the atmosphere
the play was written in and the relevance of
the play. He says:
a prodigious courage! And he has the ability. Look
at those he has gathered around him: poets, mystics,
and visionaries. And nothing airy-fairy about them,
mind you. All hard working people from the
common stock. They sit together, eat together,
argue about God together, indifferent to caste, birth
or station (Tale Danda, 21).
The growing support to the Sharana
movement increase worries of the Hindu
priestly class. They see the Varna based social
structure in danger. The royal priest
Damodara who is a strong defender of the
traditional system terms it plague to society.
He praises the existing system:
When I returned from the USA, India was in
turmoil over the Mandal-Mandir issues. The society
was being polarized and the country was moving
in dangerous directions. Tale Danda is a solid issueoriented 'literary' text that tries to address issues
of religious belief that create social and political
crises. Whereas Tughlaq was obliquely political, this
was straightforwardly so. I wanted to present the
consequences of religious fanaticism and highlight
the futility of such attitudes in the face of people's
aspiration for happiness, peace and prosperity (45).
DAMODARA: Indrani, the Rig Veda tells us that
the four varnas flowed out of the Primordial Man:
the Brahmin from the head, the Shudra from the
feet. […].
Nature is iniquitous. […]. But civilization has been
made possible because out Vedic heritage controls
and directs that self-destructive energy. How large
hearted is our dharma! To each person it says you
don't have to be any one but yourself. One's caste
is like one's home-meant for one's self and one's
family. It is shaped to one's needs, one's comforts,
and one's tradition. And that is why the Vedic
tradition can absorb and accommodate all
differences, from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. And
even those said to be its victims have embraced its
logic of inequality (63).
Tale Danda presents a brilliant analysis of
the ills that plague the Indian society today.
The play also depicts the clash between the
zealous reformative forces and the prevailing
traditional bastion of power in society
endorsing the caste system. In the Preface to
the play, Karnad has explained its relevance
to the Indian situation. He writes:
A hypergamous marriage between a girl
of a Brahmin Sharana and a boy of a
Cobbler turned Sharana provides an excuse
to unrest spread among the priests. They see
it a threat to the caste-based foundation of
society. For them it is an impudent scum, a
perversity, a sacrilege a profanity. The
marriage brings these two forces to a
flashpoint. King Bijjala tries to deescalate the
tensions by giving security to the marriage
ceremony. The priests Damodara Bhatta and
Manchanna Kramita air the ambitious prince
Sovideva against King and dethrone him. The
Sharanas are chased and forced to flee for
survival and orthodoxy is restored in the
state. Sovideva orders:
I wrote Tale Danda in 1989, when the Mandir and
the Mandal movements were beginning to show,
again, how relevant the questions posed by these
thinkers were for our age. The horror subsequent
and the religious fanaticism that has gripped our
national life today have only proved how dangerous
it is to ignore the solution they offered (i).
In this play too, Karnad describes a conflict
between the religious reformative movement
and the orthodox defenders of the
establishment. Basavanna and his followers
advocate and practice a casteless society based
on equality. The King Bijjala describes the
nature of the movement:
BIJJALA: […]. Basavanna wants to eradicate the
caste structure, wipe it off the face of the earth.
Annihilate the Varna system. What a vision! What
h
the community level can avert the communal
clashes that modern world has been facing in
the bygone centuries. Karnad disapproves
unwanted and baneful interference of religion
in individual, social and political affairs. Tutun
Mukherjee observes Karnad's intention and
relevance of use of religion in his plays:
SOVI: Pursue them. Don't let them escape. Men,
women, children- cut them all down.
Set the hounds after them. Search each wood, each
bush. Burn the houses that give them shelter. Burn
their books. Yes, the books! Tear them into shads
and consign them to the wells. Their voices shall
be stilled forever... The villains! The traitors! It
proves they had a hand in killing my dear father,
my revered father, King Bijjala, founder of the
glorious Kaluchari dynasty. Destroy them.
From this moment all Sharanas, foreigners and free
thinkers are expelled from this land on pain of death.
Women and the lower orders shall live within the
norms prescribed by our ancient tradition or else
they'll suffer like dogs. Each citizen shall consider
himself a soldier ready to lay down his life for the
King, for the King in god incarnate. (90).
In addition to urging a re-view of history (and myths
and folktales) these (Karnad's) plays are written
against the backdrop of growing fundamentalism
and communal frenzy in the country present
individual endeavor towards communal integration
during epochs of violence (20).
To sum up, the dramatist has proved in the
historical and mythical context the non-tenability
of the practice of extreme philosophy of
violence and non-violence, which brings only
destructions of beings. At the same, the play
interrogates the survival of the time-honored
practices prevalent in all religious rites. Here
Karnad has used the myth of Jainism to unveil
the psychological obsessions of the men and
women with the concept of violence involved
in sacrifice. In this conflict, all three characters
are losers no one wins.
The reformation fails and orthodoxy gets
upper hand. In this play too, the religious forces
defeat the reformative zeal and defend evils
in it. At one place, Basavanna protests any
kind of violence in the name of religion or
caste. He says to his followers, "Violence is
wrong, whatever the provocation. To resort
to it because someone else started it first is
even worse. And to do so in the name of a
structure of brick and mortar is a monument
to stupidity" (29). Karnad expresses his
disapproval against all kinds of violence and
tensions in the name of religion and castes.
In all these three plays, religion (religious
establishments) emerges as a destructive force
and brings panic and suffering to the believers.
The playwright focuses on the drastic results
of the orthodoxy of the religious behaviour
in the multi-cultured and heterogeneous
country like India and elsewhere in the world.
In a country like India, with competing
religions and cultures, religious and cultural
tensions leading to unsatisfactory
compromises are inevitable. His plays
dramatize such religious tensions and the
resulting consequences. The message given in
his plays is that the policy of compromise and
tolerance of co-existence at the individual and
Works Cited
Dharwadkar, Aparna. Introduction. Collected Plays.
By Girish Karnad. Volume One. New Delhi:
OUP, 2005. vii-xxxvi).
Karnad, Girish. Collected Plays. Vol. One. New
Delhi: OUP, 2005.
… Collected Plays. Vol. Two. New Delhi:
OUP, 2005.
Mukherjee, Tutun. 'Of Text and Performance:
Girish Karnad's Plays' Introduction.
Girish Karnad's Plays: Performance and Critical
Perspectives. By Mukherjee (Ed.) New Delhi: Pencraft
International, 2006. (11-26).
Rangacharya. Adya. The Indian Theatre. New
Delhi: National Book Trust, 1980.
***
Dr. R.T. Bedre, Assistant Professor at ACS College,
Gangakhed. Dist. Parbhani (Maharashtra)
Ph. 9765404305email : [email protected]
M.M. Giram, Ph. D. Researcher, SJJT University,
Jhunjhunu (Rajsthan)
Ph. 94212-78406
h
Julia Kristeva and Feminism
Principal Smt.T.S.R.Commerce College,
Patan-384265(Gujarat).
Dr. Bhasker A. Shukla
<[email protected]
Julia Kristeva was born in Bulgaria in 1941.
Educated in part by French nuns, she was
involved early on in her life with Communist
Party youth organizations and children's
groups. Since moving to Paris in the 60s,
Kristeva has risen in stature in intellectual circles
so that she is now regarded as one of the
most important thinkers of the postwar era.
Early on Kristeva was associated with the
Parisian journal Tel Quel, and the Tel Quel
group of writers and philosophers: Michel
Foucault, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida,
Jean-Louis Baudry, Jean Pierre Faye, Marcelin
Pleynet, Jean Ricardou, Jacqueline Risset, Denis
Roche, Pierre Rotten-berg, Jean Thibaudeau
and Philippe Sollers. Even in Bulgaria Kristeva
was steeped in French culture. The Parisian
intellectual life was seen as 'too French' by
some (that being regarded as a bad thing).
“From the time of my arrival, I found, in
this milieu, a distrustful and cold hospitality,
that was nevertheless effective and dependable.
A hospitality which has, moreover, never
failed. Whatever the xenophobia, the
antifeminism or the antisemitism of some, I
maintain that French cultural life as I have come
to know it has always been marked by a
reserved but generous curiosity, one that is
reticent but, everything considered, receptive
to the nomad, the outlandish, the implant and
the exogamous of all kinds.” ("Mémoire", 42)
Roland Barthes wrote that Kristeva
'changes the place of things... what she
displaces is the already-said'.[1] Kristeva
referred kindly to Barthes as 'the precursor
and founder of modern literary studies'
(Desire in Language, 93).
Barthes was important in Kristeva's
thought; from his work she developed the
notion of the 'jouissance of the text', the text
as jouissance, especially as found in modern
avant-garde literature. In her Le Texte du
roman, Kristeva referred to Lukács, Saussure,
Jakobson, Benveniste, Chomsky, Bakhtin,
Marx and Engels; in Séméiotikè: Recherches
pour une sémanalyse, to Freud and Lacan.
Bataille's philosophy, with its emphasis on
negativity and loss, was important for Kristeva,
and helped her with the project of developing
notions of horror, jouissance and death.
Kristeva's notion of negativity was linked to
the relationship between the semiotic and the
symbolic as found in the Law of the Father.
Kristeva's 'heretical notion' of the 'imaginary
father' (Grosz, 1992, 199) is the space or
position that the father takes up in the mother's
desire - he embodies love (agape rather than
eros).
In Kristeva's theory, the 'imaginary father'
is necessary for the child so that it can grow
away from being too dependent on the
mother, and then develop a place as a
signifying subject. Bataille's cultivation of the
ambivalent aspects of life (such as Freud's
death-drive and horror) helped Kristeva to
formulate her philosophy of loss, negativity
and the abject. Kristeva speaks often of
'drives', which're not behind all human
behaviour, rather they are 'already semiotic'
energy charges which 'extract the body from
its homogeous expanse and turn it into a space
bound to exterior space; they are the forces
which trace the chora of the process'
(Polylogue, 69). Similarly, Kristeva often uses
h
She wrote lucidly on painting - in "Giotto's
Joy" and "Motherhood According to Bellini",
among others (the essays were collected in
Polylogue); on American society (in "D'Ithaca
à New York" and "Why the United States?"
among other essays); on the psychoanalysis
of abjection (Pouvoir de l'horreur) and
depression (Soleil noir); on racism in France
(Etrangers à nous-mêmes); and on the history
of love poetry and narratives (Histoire
d'amour). Kristeva has also written fictions,
such as Les Samouraïs, and The Old and the
Wolves, which represent a movement into
the more lyrical territory of Cixous and
Irigaray.
Life as an exile from Bulgaria and a
'foreigner' in France may have further
influenced Kristeva's notion of the 'outsider'.
For her, the two things, exile and the feminine,
became intertwined. Kristeva has stated that
her interest in psychoanalyis arose partly from
being exiled from Bulgaria.[3] Being an exile
helped Kristeva see both her own country
and her adopted country more clearly.[4]
Her experience of displacement was an
ingredient in her idea of the 'cosmopolitan'
individual, the 'intellectual dissident'. As
Kristeva knows, strangeness or otherness
(being a foreigner) is fundamental to being
human: as Kristeva put it, étrangers à nousmêmes (we are strangers to ourselves). In
Strangers to Ourselves Kristeva describes the
foreigner as the 'cold orphan', motherless, a
'devotee of solitude', a 'fanatic of absence',
alone even in a crowd, arrogant, rejected, yet
oddly happy (Strangers to Ourselves, 4-5). The
stranger is always in motion, doesn't belong
anywhere, to 'any time, any love' (ibid., 7).
Kristeva was critical of the politicization
of sexual 'difference', which she saw in Cixous,
Irigaray, and the Psych et Po group; 'it is all
words such as 'process' and 'practice': her
theory always has its practical, physical
component: it is not abstracted into nothing
but theory. The 'key moment in practice' is
transgression.
The link between practice and process is
defined by Kristeva in Revolution in Poetic
Language: '[p]ractice is determined by the
pulverization of the unity of consciousness
by a nonsymbolized outside, on the basis of
objective contradictions and, as such, it is the
place where the signifying process is carried
out' (Revolution in Poetic Language, 203).
The political concerns of Marxism and
Maoism came to the fore when Kristeva went
to China in 1974 with Roland Barthes, Philippe
Sollers, François Wahl and Marcelin Pleynet:
Des Chinoises (About Chinese Women), the
first of Kristeva's books to be published in
English, was the result of this trip. It was La
Révolution de la langage poetique, though, that
really made Kristeva's name as a philosopher
and critic. This was the book that introduced
Kristeva's influential notion of the chora and
the semiotic realm. Kristeva explored the
concept of 'poetic language', as distinct from
'ordinary' language, in the writers that became
staple Kristevan material in subsequent books
(such as Antonin Artaud, de Sade,
Lautréamont, Mallarmé, Joyce, Racine,
Shakespeare, Céline and Louis Wolf-son). In
approaching her theory of semiotics, Kristeva
worked through Husserl's phenomenology,
Hjelmslvian glosematics, Lacanian
psychoanalysis and the referrentiality of
Frege.[2] In 1979 Kristeva became a practising
psychoanalyst - while keeping the chair in
linguistics at the University of Paris VII.
The concerns of psychoanalysis, poetic
language, gender, maternity and identity were
staple Kristevan topics during the 70s and 80s.
h
encouraging the binary configurations of
biologism and sexual difference.
The Marxist-Feminist Literature Collective
called Kristeva's poetics 'politically
unsatisfactory',[7] while for Allon White,
Kristeva is politcally ineffective.[8] In
"Oscillation du 'pouvoir' au 'refus'" (1974)
Kristeva speaks of the negative function
women may hold, its potential to explode
social codes, its revolutionary moments (in
Marks, 166). Elizabeth Grosz has criticized
Kristeva's notions of gender and the semiotic/
symbolic modalities: her 'ideal model of a
transgressive subjectivity articulating itself is a
male who has identified with and taken upon
himself representation of a femininity women
can't speak: man mimicking the woman who
reproduce the man!'[9] Gayatri Chakravorty
Spivak is also critical of Kristeva's poetics, the
way in which Kristeva equates the literary avant
garde with political radicalism (in "French
feminism in an international frame").[10]
Critics have spoken of the disappointing
performance of French feminist theory when
it is put into practice. The écriture féminine
of Cixous and Kristeva seemed, at first, to
subvert masculine realism, but the largely
masculine literary canon remained in place. As
one critic said, '[i]t has proved easier to look
for the semiotic chora in Ulysses than in, say,
suffragette autobiographies of the periodí.[11]
Other critics have been disappointed by
continental feminism as a whole: for all its
radical analysis of phallologocentrism,
colonialism, and the harmful aspects of
western civilization, it then retreats from
following through the implications of its
analysis.
It goes so far then stops. 'Continental
feminism would seem to be the most
potentially radical current in contemporary
too easy to pass from the search for difference
to the denigration of the symbolic' Kristeva
wrote in a 1979 article, "Il n'y a pas de maître
à langage" (134-5). Kristeva describes the
essentialist (second wave) view of feminism
as 'the second stage' of feminism.[5] For
Kristeva, the struggle against phallogocentrism
and the monologic of patriarchy, might 'sink
into an essentialist cult of Woman' (ib.).
However, in Women's Time, Kristeva
acknowledges that the new, post-second wave
feminism will 'henceforth be situated on the
terrain of the inseparable conjunction of the
sexual and the symbolic, in order to try to
discover, first, the specificity of the female,
and then, in the end, that of each individual
woman' (A Kristeva Reader, 196).
Kristeva is sceptical of second wave
feminism, and of the insistence on (lesbian)
separatism. For Kristeva, language is a
precondition of social life, so the Law of the
Father seems inevitable; Kristeva does not
believe a society could be matriarchal except
in name.only.
Critics and feminists have been
disappointed by Kristeva's apparent
avoidance of the traditional or political roles
of feminism (in statements such as 'while a
certain feminism takes its pouting and its
violation for protest and perhaps even for
dissidence, genuine feminine innovation... will
not be possible until we have elucidated
motherhood, feminine creation, and the
relationship between them', 1977, 6). For
Kristeva, there is no specifically female text
or writing, but only 'texts about women'
(Grosz, 1990, 101). Jennifer Stone asserts that
'Kristeva's work is no longer in women's
interests',[6] while Mary Russo calls her 'postfeminist' (in Barker). Kristeva is seen as
reinforcing traditional notions of 'femininity',
h
withdrawal, mine: a blossoming heaviness in
the middle of the bed, of a hollow, of the
sea... (A Kristeva Reader, 171-2)
Irigaray, too, changes, less frequently than
Cixous, from a critical to a lyrical form. Thus,
in a piece such as "When Our Lips Speak
Together", Irigaray will write poetic sentences
such as '[k]iss me. Two lips kiss two lips, and
openness is ours again.' This is the kind of
phrase which never appears in most cultural
theorists outside of quotation marks. One
doesn't find Derrida, Lacan, Deleuze,
Baudrillard, Lyotard, Bakhtin, Foucault,
Althusser, Jameson, Baudry, Barthes or Sartre
writing 'kiss me' very often. Well, perhaps
Foucault and Barthes said 'kiss me' in darkened
hotel rooms - but not in scholarly books
published by Minuit or Gallimard. What
marks Cixous, Kristeva and Irigaray apart
from many cultural theorists and philosophers,
then, is this personal, confessional and poetic
way of writing, where they directly address
the reader as the other, the 'you' in an intimate
relationship.
Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard, de Certeau,
Eagleton and Jakobson are rarely, if ever, this
personal. Cixous, Irigaray and Kristeva, then,
are more than simply cultural critics, shuffling
between the café and the university library,
lighting their pipes (Freud) or chainsmoking
cigarettes (Sartre) while they ponder on
imponderables, chat about prostitutes and
brothels with their cronies and write up the
occasional philosophical paper. Cixous,
Irigaray and Kristeva are considerable poets
as well as psychoanalysts and philosophers.
Their writings have a tremendous verve, even
when they are dealing with the arid heights of
abstruse semiological theory. Kristeva, for
example, in writing of childbirth in "Stabat
Mater", foregrounds her own experience in
political theory' wrote Laura Kipnis in
1989,[12] but it was also prone to deliberately
distancing itself from political praxis, to
aestheticization, and to theoretical autonomy.
Even as French and European feminism
identifies a new political subject, it 'is then
paralyzed by this knowledge and by its own
First World status, hysterically blind to the
geopolitical implications of its own program'
(ib., 209). French feminism appears to be
prevented from acting politically or advocating
certain political practices by its own hypersensitivity, its acute self-consciousness. Perhaps,
Kipnis suggests, the world of economic and
political power do not have much to do with
jouissance, the semiotic realm, the pre-Oedipal,
sexual fluids and mediaeval female mystics.
Cixous, Irigaray and Kristeva all have
different modes of writing. There are times
when they are writing in the sober, measured
tones of a cultural critic, philosopher or
psychoanalyst. They have strident feminist
voices (Cixous and Irigaray more than
Kristeva). They have personal reminiscence
modes. They have a relaxed, informal mode
in interviews. And, most powerful of all, they
have lyrical modes. Thus, Cixous, the most
'poetic' of the three, will break into a visionary,
ultra-lyrical way of writing. With books such
as Powers of Horror, Kristeva's work
became more personal. In "Stabat Mater"
Kristeva wrote passionately of her experience
of childbirth:
Nights of wakefulness, scattered sleep,
sweetness of the child, warm mercury in my
arms, cajolery, affection, defenceless body, his
or mine, sheltered, protected. A wave swells
again, when he goes to sleep, under my skin tummy, thighs, legs: sleep of the muscles, not
of the brain, sleep of the flesh. The wakeful
tongue quietly remembers another
h
Strangers to Ourselves, tr. L.S. Roudiez, Harvester
Wheatsheaf 1991
ways which many masculinist cultural critics
do not, would not, or could not.
Kristeva very deliberately places her own
experience of something very much in the
province of 'women's experience' in a cultural
theory essay. Of course, masculinist critics and
writers have oft discussed sex, violence and
death from 'first hand' experience, so to speak
(de Sade Bataille, Sartre, Foucault), but for
Kristeva the experience of motherhood
decentres men and masculinist theory.[13]
Feminist theorists and poets such as Irigaray,
Kristeva and Cixous are valuable, then,
precisely because they foreground experiences
that have been sidelined or stereotyped for
centuries.
Kristeva's account of childbirth knocks
away conventional accounts, such as from
traditional science and medicine, or from the
early Christian 'fathers', such as St Augustine,
who maintained, in that bizarre way of his,
that people are all born between faeces and
urine. The French feminists counter this
demonization of 'female' sexuality and make
it a central part of their study. The effect of
such foregrounding of 'female' sexuality is
disruptive and subversive. As Luce Irigaray
said in This Sex Which Is Not One: 'what is
most strictly forbidden to women today is
that they should attempt to express their own
pleasure'.[14]
OTHERS
Francis Barker et al, eds. The Politics of Theory:
The Proceedings of the Essex Conference on the
Psychology of Literature, University of Essex,
Colchester 1983
John Fletcher & Andrew Benjamin, eds. Abjection,
Melancholia and Love: The Work of Julia Kristeva,
Routledge 1990
E. Grosz. "The Body of Signification", in
Fletcher, 1990
-. "Julia Kristeva", in Wright, 1992
John Lechte. Julia Kristeva, Routledge 1990
Elaine Marks & Isabelle de Courtivron, eds. New
French Feminisms: an Anthology, Har vester
Wheatsheaf 1981
Elizabeth Wright, ed. Feminism and Psychoanalysis:
A Critical Dictionary, Blackwell 1992
NOTES
(in square brackets)
1. Barthes: "L'Etrangère", La Quinzaine littéraire,
May 1970, 19.
2. Michael Payne: Reading Theory: An Introduction
to Lacan, Derrida, and Kristeva, Blackwell 1993, 76.
3. "An Interview with Julia Kristeva", [with Edith
Kurzweil], Partisan Review, LIII, 2, 1986, 216.
4. Kristeva has written lucidly, for example, of
her 'mother tongue'. John Lechte writes: '[s]he is
hypersensitive to the maternal, the familiar, and the
same. Such may well be the source of her legendary
'difficulty': what she is talking about is so close to us
that it becomes difficult to grasp intellectually' (1990,
81).
5. S. Lefanu: In the Chinks of the World Machine:
Feminism and Science Fiction, Womenís Press 1988, 175.
6. Judith Stone: "The horror of power: a critique
of 'Kristevaí", in Barker, 1983.
7. Marxist-Feminist Literature Collective:
"Women's Writing", Ideology and Consciousness, 1, 3,
Spring 1978, 30.
8. Allon White: 'Líéclatement du sujet: The
Theoretical Work of Julia Kristeva, Centre for
Contemporary Studies, University of Birminghham,
1977
9. Carole Pateman & Elizabeth Grosz, eds. Feminist
Challenges, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 1986, 131.
10. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: "French feminism
in an international frame", Yale French Studies, 62, 1981.
11. Jean Radford: "Coming to terms: Dorothy
References:
Julia Kristeva, Polylogue, Seuil 1977
About Chinese Women, tr. A. Barrows, Boyars
1977
"Il níy a pas de maître à language", Nouvelle revue
de psychoanalyse, 20, Autumn 1979
Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to
Literature and Art, ed. Leon Roudiez, tr. Thomas Gora,
Alice Jardine & Leon Roudiez, Blackwell 1982
"Mémoire", LíInfini, 1, Winter 1983
Revolution in Poetic Language, tr. Margaret
Walker, Columbia University Press, New York 1984
h
Richardson, Modernism and Women", News from
Nowhere, 7, Winter 1989, 96.
12. Laura Kipnis: "Feminism: The Political
Conscience of Postmodernism?", in Peter Brooker, ed.
Modernism/ Postmodernism, Longman 1992, 209.
13. Carolyn Burke: "Rethinking the maternal", in
Hester Eisenstein & Alice Jardine, eds. The Future of
Difference, Barnard College Womenís Center, New
York 1980
14. L. Irigaray. This Sex Which Is Not One, tr. C.
Porter & C. Burke, Cornell University Press, New York,
1977, I, 125.
Two poems by L. B. Gayakawad
(Maharashtra)
Now the River was to glide
With my plastic Mind's Glide
Its silent stationary Motion
Served me Peace to hide
The Time belled me now
To The Hot-Hot Sun
To show me His Move
Flew me to a fine Turn
Earth's green & Green
Snatched me with pleasing
To come Humanity cover
Told me with Teasing
SUCH A WAY LOVE
Such a way love purely
That love shall shame
And the houses' cracks
Shall cease to game
Have come to Hearts
Large Big-Big cracks
As if to follow end as
The Sin' large sacks
Body' doors be opened
Let Humanity enjoy mirth
Shall the salty waters
Leave all Rivers on Earth
Salty hate quickened
Made hollow internally
Covering good works
Being a Demon specially
Demons all spread black
Cruelty like bugs neatly
Showed Shrikrishna , so
The Charioteer to Arjuna lovely
Let's know purpose
Shall Life & life laugh
Where shall be free
Mind's dirty - dirty traugh
***
Ph. 97655-91079, 02583-222197
<[email protected]>;
NATURE'S TREAT
P. Vijayalakshmi Pandit (Andhra Pradesh)
The pleasant
Chirping sounds of
The birds on the trees,
The musical melody of
The water falls
Rolling down
The rocky hills,
The soothing touch of
The cool wind
Drenched with fragrance,
The alluring
Attractive scene of the
Sprawling green meadows
Studded with
Colorful blooms,
The beckoning blue sky
On the horizon are
The nature's treat
To my senses.
TOLD ME WITH TEASING
When I got silent peace
I knew Mountain' height
Its real sweet sacrifice
And the sharp steep fight
The Mountain was climbing
But I black was burning
In my own Loving Hate
Backward was turning
***
Phone Nos. (M) 09441736843,
Email: [email protected]
h
The Last Decade of
Gujarati Dalit Literature
Dr. D. M. Bhadresariya
A/48, New Kamal Kunj Society, Opp.
Bhaktinagar, I.O.C. Road, Chandkheda,
Ahmedabad-382424 (Gujarat)
(M) 09924721659, E-Mail: [email protected]
As far as Dalit literature is concerned, I believe
that we never witnessed in the past that we
were ever united until independence. It
seemed scattered across many provinces on
account of the school of Manu. Most of the
followers of Manu's ideas have been acting
inhumanly and committing atrocities and
practicing untouchability since time
immemorial. Even today they are trying to
keep the whole society in the dark about an
unjust social order so that in the society. The
writers belonging to the downtrodden need
to unveil the unjust order through self
awakening as well as their literature. Dalit
writer's ultimate aim today is to stage an
ideological war against the traditional social
order that is inhuman and unjust.
Since mainstream literature are hiding the
sinful acts of society and showing attractive
and beautiful sides of our society, Dalit
literature bring to light the good qualities,
customs and manners of the Dalits and their
society. Dalit literature is basically written in
the regional languages of the states in India. It
is written about Dalits but only literature
written by writers who come from the Dalit
communities has the authenticity of experience
and the ring of truth because 'only the one
who wears the shoe knows where it bites.'
This is true of Gujarati Dalit literature too.
While the non-Dalit writers keep Sympathetic
ideas about the Dalits, yet it is always likely to
have a hollow ring.
Dalit literature is based on the ideology
of the great father of the constitution Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar. It depicts and speaks
about humanity, liberty and brotherhood
which are the basic virtues for unity as well as
the strong foundation of our nation. Dalit
literature produced so forth has greatly
contributed to the process of national
consolidation and integration. Now-a-days
Dalit literature is exercising a powerful
influence in Gujarat too. As far as its relation
with Marathi Dalit literature is concerned then
it works as inspiration because Gujarati Dalit
literature took off only with the antireservation agitation of 1981 and 1985.
I would like to convey that Dalit writers
have much concern about 'perspiration' than
'inspiration' in its pre-occupation with fostering
and upholding human values. That's why we
have to accept that it can not afford to be a
decorative piece, a consumer article or a
literature for entertainment. Gujarati Dalit
literature is socio-literary movement deeply
influenced by the thoughts of Mahatma Jotiba
Phule and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. It is
indebted to the mass movements they led. As
Harish Mangalam says: 'Any works of
literature which seeks to express in words, the
pulses of those sections of humanity which
are oppressed and which are engaged in
struggles for their existence deserves to be
called in the broadest sense, Dalit literature.'
New position is that Dalit literature is
becoming a permanent phenomenon and if it
continues to be a force to reckon with, it will
soon be in the mainstream literature of Gujarat.
The prominent writers devoted to the cause
are Harish Mangalam, Dalpat Chauhan, Dr
h
Sun), Tekesh Macwana's 'Jyoti Bane Jwala' (The
flame of light), B. N. Vankar's 'Overbridge',
K. K. Vaishnav's 'Aankh' (The eye), Sahil
Parmar's 'Manthan' (Extertion), Samant
Solanki's 'Yad Karo Masihane' (Remember the
Prophet), Maheshchandra Pandya's 'Manas
Karde Chhe' (Man bites), Nirav Patel's
'Bahishkrut Phoolo' (The expelled flowers),
Bhikhu Vegda's 'Apno Paras Aap' (Ourself is
philosopher's stone), Madhuvir Amitmitra's
'Bhim Kavya Saurabh' (Frag of Bhim's poem),
Himmat Khatsuriya's 'Kalgit' (Song of the age),
'Raltankan' (The red blood-cell) etc.
Besides this, Nilesh Kathod's edited
'Ekalavya No Angutho' (The thumb of
Ekalavya), Dalpat Chauhan, Harish Mangalam
and Pravin Gadhavi's edited 'Dundubhi' (The
war drum), Harish Mangalam's edited 'Dalit
Vanee' (Dalit's speech), 'Dalit Geet Gazal' (with
Pathik Parmar) and others. In all means
Gujarati Dalit poetry establishes its human
identity by raising its furious voice against
injustice with literary forms.
Along with poetry, short story always
remains one of the favourite literary forms
of Gujarati Dalit writers. Many artistically
excellent and noteworthy stories and story
collections have been written by Gujarati Dalit
writers since long. In last decade, Dalit stories
have been published in many magazines and
in individual collections. Some of them are
Harish Mangalam's 'Talap' (The desire), B. N.
Vankar's 'Vilopan' (Cessation), Dalpat
Chauhan's 'Dar' (Fear), B. Kesharshivam's 'Rati
Rayanni Ratash' (The redness of red Rayan
fruit), 'Janma Divas' (Birthday) and 'Dr. Sema',
Dharmabhai Shrimali's 'Narak' (Hell) and
'Sankal' (Chain), Josheph Macwan's 'Agalo'
(The bar), Chandraben Shrimali's 'Chakuno
Var (Chaku's husband) and 'Chani Bor Ane
Biji Vartao' (Chani - Berry and other stories),
Pathik Parmar, Arvind Vegada, B.
Kesharshivam and Mr Pravin Gadhavi. Then
there are Dalit writers like Late Shri Joseph
Macwan, Madhukant Kalpit, Dharmabhai
Shrimali, B.N. Vankar, Mohan Parmar, Nirav
Patel, Mavji Maheshwari, Dr. Vinod Gandhi,
Dasharath Parmar, Dr Ratilal Rohit, Dr Kanti
Malsatar, Dr Hasyada Pandyaa, Chandra
Shrimali, Priyanka Kalpit and few others.
Until now Gujarati Dalit literature has been
written in all literary forms so that it has
created the history of Gujarati literature. In
connection with last decade of Gujarati
literature, I would like to say that in
comparison to post independence era, last
decade of Gujarati Dalit literature has been
written and published in full swing.
First of all I talk about Dalit poetry. In
Gujarati literature Dalit voice has become the
most articulate along with commitment of
society. Now the Dalit poets due to progress
of literary sense have been using poetry as a
weapon to fight, as an action to achieve many
objectives since their main aim is the realization
of justice. Herewith Dalit poetry is variously
defined on account of its rainbow variety. Dr.
Pathik Parmar defines: "you can find in Dalit
poetry the poems also on socio-economic
activities of the Dalits expressing their
environment in a style and diction of their
own, alongwith the themes of social inequality,
rapes and revolt."
In last decade, we have more than twenty
independent collection of poems, such as
Dalpat Chauhan's 'Kya Chhe Suraj?' (Where
is the Sun?), Arvind Vegada's 'Pageru'
(Footprint), Dr. Pathik Parmar's 'Bahiskrut'
(Expelled), Madhukant Kalpit's 'Tarjumo'
(Translation), Pravin Gadhvi's 'Tunir'
(Arrowcase), A. K. Dahiya's 'Masiha'
(Prophet), 'Jhankhnama Surya' (Desire of the
h
'Gherav' (The besieged), B. Kesharshivam's
'Patni' (Wife), Ganesh Acharya's 'Astitva'
(Existense), Harish Solanki's 'Sangharsh'
(Struggle), Kantilal Parmar's 'Gebi Timbo'
(The mysterious Hillock) and myself Dr. D.
M. Bhadresariya's 'Keedeeae Khonkharo
Khadho' (An ant Dared) etc. Moreover
Gujarati Dalit literature got two novels by the
non-Dalit hands such as Jayant Gadit's
'Prashanmu' and Dr Pradip Pandya's 'Manjil
Haji (Destination is yet far).
During the last decade Gujarat Dalit
literature has expanded and our Dalit writers
have started to write Life-sketches,
Autobiographies, plays, essays, criticism,
doctoral thesis and work of research etc.
Notable anthologies of life-sketches are:
Joseph Macwan's 'Nimbhade Nipjela' and
'Joseph Macwanna Pratinidhi Rekha Chitro'.
In the sense of Dalit's str ug gle and
achievement : Autobiography of Gujarati
Dalit's literature are: B. Keshrshivam's 'Purna
Satya' (Whole Truth), P. K. Valera's 'Thor
NuphulL '(A flower of Cactus), Dahyabhai
Dinbandhu' 'Jeevan Sangharsh' (struggle of
life) and Lalit Parmar's 'Atma Katha'
(Autobiography). The essay of Dalit writers
are : B. Kesharshivam's 'Gay-NO-Dero' (Cow
Hillock), Dharamabhai Shrimali's 'Bhandariyu'
(Small Cellar), Balkrishna Anand's 'Pitru
Gatha', (The father pray) etc. Plays of Dalit
literature are: Dalpat Chauhan's 'Anaryavatra'
(The Realm of non- Aryas), 'Harifai' (The
competition), 'Angaraj' (The king of Ang state)
and 'Rat Rajnagarni' (The Night of Rajnagar),
Mohan Parmar's 'Bahiskar' (Expeller) &
Harish Manglam's 'Lyo Chop Pado! (Now
switch on the light!) etc.
In Gujarati Dalit Literature, along with
crating poetry and fiction, many writers are
doing the works of criticism related on Dalit
Amrut Macwana's 'Lisoto' (A scratch), Maulik
Borija's 'Bhins' (Pressure), Vitthal Rao
Shrimali's 'Shakshi Sabarni' (In the witnessing
presence of Sabarmati), Hasmukh Vaghela's
'Zol' (The flame), Mavji Maheshwari's
'Adrashya Diwalo' (The invisible walls).
Not only above mentioned but also the
below mentioned writers whose stories are
being published in various leading Magazines,
are: Dr Pathik Parmar, Arvind Vegada,
Madhukant Kalpit, Jayanti Parmar, Dasharath
Parmar, Haripar, Raman Vaghela, Raghavji
Madhad, Naikal Gangera, Yashwant Vaghela,
Narsinh Ujamba, Raman Vankar, Tushar
Parmar, Dr Keshubhai Desai, Dr. Hasyada
Pandya, Dr Vinod Gandhi, Pritam Lakhani,
Dr. Ratilal Rohit and myself Dr. D.M.
Bhadresariya. Gujarati Dalit Novels have been
getting considerable position in Gujarati
literature. The novelists of Gujarati Dalit
Novels describe both social and literary
commitment in the part of political, education
and socio-cultural issues specially related to
the Dalits striving for the realization of equality
with so called upper-caste people.
In Gujarat, now Dalit fiction is known by
some genuine novels such as 'Aangaliyat',
'Tirad-Choki', 'Malak', 'Geedh', 'Shool',
'Neliyu', 'Shosh', 'Aganzal', 'Astitwa' and
'Keedeeae Khonkharo Khadho' etc. In last
decade, Dalit writers have given noteworthy
novels like that Joseph Macwan's 'Amar
Chandlo (The immortal mark of bindi) and
'Dariya' (The sea), Dalpat Chauhan's third
novel 'Bhalbhankhlu' (The dawn), Harish
Mangalam's third novel 'Aganzal' (Eternal
flame), Mohan Parmar's forth novel 'Daya
Pashani Vadi' (A farm of Daya Pasha),
DaxaDamodara's 'Shosh' (Thirst) and 'Savitri'
(Jotiba Phoole's wife), Pragjibhai Bhambhi's
'Diwali Na Diwaso' (Days of Diwali) and
h
literature such as Harish Mangalam's 'Panch'
Kafla Intercontinental / Jan.April. 2013 / 73
(String of arrow ), 'Aekavachan' (Singular) and
'Pratidhwani' (echo), Dalpat Chauhan's
'Padchihn' (Sign of Foot), ' Samarthan' (To
support) and 'Gujarati Dalit Sahitya Ni
Kedie'(The history of Gujarati Dalit
Literature), Pathik Parmar's 'Samprat Dalit
Sahitya Pravah' (Stream of present Dalit
literature), Arvind Vegada's 'Darpan' (Mirror),
Madhukant Kalpit's 'Pratyakshya' (Direct) and
my self Dr. D. M. Bhadresariya's 'Dalit
Vruttant' (Literary tale of Dalit) etc., The recent
doctoral theses are : M. B. Gaijan's 'Dalit
Literary Tradition', Dr Kanti Malsatar's 'Dalit
Kathvimarsh' (Discourse of Dalit Fiction )
and mine is 'B. Kesharshim, Dalpat Chauhan
and Harish Mangalamnu Kathasahity' A.K.
Abhyas (The Study of Fiction works of B.
Kesharshivam, Dalpat Chuahan and Harish
Mangalam) etc.
In addition to this, we have also founded
'Gujarat Dalit Sahitya Academy' since 1997
under fully committed writers like Harish
Manglam, Joseph Macwan, Dalpat Chauhan,
Arvind Vegada, Madhukant Kalpit. Many
others and myself and till now, we have
published 40 publications of various literary
forms and more than seven books have been
awarded by reputed literary organizations.
Our mouthpiece 'Hayati' has been
publishing since 1997 and patronizes new
talent. Within this decade many literary
programs have been arranged by Gujarat Dalit
Sahitya Academy in both City and Village.
Herewith I would like to say that the ignition
of torch of social awareness and reformative
zeal amongst the intelligentsia as well as the
mass is the motto of our Academy which to
somewhat extent seems to have been achieved.
SOME BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS
Aadil Mohd. Afzal Sheikh (J & K)
Beautiful thinking, thinking greatly,
thinking of harm of pricking, never, never.
Beautiful words of sincerity of affability,
of amity fraternity ever, ever
Beautiful, grand, such building mammoth
a sky scraper seen from far.
Whirlwind of Passion measured Patiently
Harmoniously used scattering pearls of solace.
Beauty sleeping under azure sky fearless
Thinking of care none dam num none crush.
Beautiful neighbour slight signal and hand
For suppressing grief,
distress return not feeling.
Friends such Paramount
Friends such Paramount.
Beautiful dangling tired in bruising heat
Cheer flowing book clean.
Beautiful more inner pure, sheen,
perpetually of it great gift.
Beauty grand, grand spirituality laden
seeing wide, wide. far, far.
Beautiful relation,
married life with sensibility
understanding great beauty.
***
***
h
Book-Review
Reviewed by Gurdev Chauhan (Canada)
Knots by Anuradha Bhattacharyya
email: [email protected]
Published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta
Pages 80 Price Rs 200 (Clothbound)
Published in 2012 by Writers Workshop
Calcutta, Knots, is a second book of poetry
by Anuradha Bhattacharyya. Her first poetry
Fifty Five Poems was published in 1998 by the
same publisher. The poet who teaches in a
Postgraduate College in Chandigarh is well
versed in the modern, rather post-modern
idiom. Her poetry as it were 'delivers the ego
from the darkness of silence into fluid
communicative expressions'. Coils in the heart
yarns for and when they find a release a poem
is born in the process. All these poems behave
the same uncoiling.
Knots is not an easy book of poetry to
read. All the poems have layers to them,
subterranean levels to reach. They open to
more than one reading, often to an alternate
voice. As the name of the book denotes, most
of these poems habitually lend themselves to
puzzles and paradoxes of sorts, to riddles. As
the poet herself says these poems are knotted
together by verbal nooses. It's interesting to
see how the poet builds ambiguity and
terseness in the poems through ways that fork
on the themes of the poems. In a way the
poet does not start with any theme in mind.
She gropes and the words come her way and
start to form the theme. Knots are already
there for her to undo. Words are already
waiting for her. The words are nothing but
the seeking of her heart. Her ruling metaphor
appears to be invisible chains that keep us
captive and in mental servitude. Breaking the
chains, visible or otherwise is the way of the
poem, the way of life. Silence, forced or
otherwise, is the basic leitmotif of her poetry.
Breaking invisible shackles to express the
most innermost thought, often in deep conflict
of the tradition is one of Anuradha's choicest
forte. She gives different metaphors to this
singular theme like heathens stormed by
crusaders, truth spilling on patterned
embroideries of civilized shawls, knots of
imaginary servitude, a piquant whistle
shattering the window panes, captives without
bars invading hot tongues of secrets, swarms
of lies come wolfing jaws gaping at eternal
joy, from the corpse of emotion visualize a
bleak future etc.
She uses different methods to reinforce her
iconoclastic ideas. One is to juxtapose two very
opposite words to show a new line of
associative thought: life takes ash faces / not
as residues of consumption/ but as
consummated /libidinal investment. Another
is to weave a magic of assorted images
asymmetrically: I'm ground into the machinery,
passion pleads absence (p22), A whirling hair/
sucked up/ in vacuum (24), A qualm less sky
has/ flared up asleep less swoon. (27).
Some poems are deceptively simple but
are unlike many that sound like riddles. Apple
is one such poem that reads :
Each apple/ when tasted/ feels sweet/
when chewed/ quite sour/ when swallowed/
leaves a bitterness/ in the mouth.
Look how she spins the yarn and builds
the edifice:
Every falling star
Is a wish If I retire now
Accepting defeat
h
No new star falling
Will be perceived
Loss is theirs
Which I weep.
( Idle)
A sudden storm burst
The equanimity of
Of the dazzling white
Moistening the arid brown flesh
In a frenzy
The high sun
Shrivelled up
The wet curvatures of sturdy bones
In quick sytrokes
Subtly painting a rainbow.
(Paradox)
The poem has more than one layer. On
one level, it reads at three experiential levels:
surface, subterranean and deep structured.
Blood, Filth Soap My Scars, Caresses and,
Recreation are poems with strong narratives.
These have ready appeal. These rise up sharp
on the reading scale. Word play, unusual and
fresh imagery, uncanny verbal situations,
tension born out of internal conflict, innovative
use of language, understatement, obliqueness
and use of new stylistic devices are some of
the powerful tools in the poetic arsenal of
Anuradha Bhattacharyya that are rare to be
seen in such rich measure. Knots is a trendsetter
book of poetry that has enduring
undercurrents of charged language, the words
sitting in their most uncommon company. The
book belongs to the next line of poetry, the
poetry of the future tense.
Poems by Ljubomir Mihajlovski
(Macedonia)
THE ENDLESS STARS
The endless stars
delivers
my thoughts
which inconstantly
appear into my mind
which wants to frame them
on the Milky Way
to be a bounce
of my existence
in the ocean of Universe
LIVING
I live
in a triangle room
in a round aerostat
in a spiral rocket.
I love
all forms
of my creation
although
at each geometrisation
of my body
I die without return
SILENCE
A moment after moment
moves in front of me
a time of silence passes.
My existence bangs soundly, banging
wants to scare the moment
when the time and matter
will crash into my eyes.
It’s impossible
to take away the picture
of my existence,
which smolders as in a lantern captured
by the silence of the space***
<[email protected]>
***
h
MOTHER
Harish K. Thakur (Himachal Pradesh)
MY SHEPHERD
Tidolis Snaitang (Meghalaya)
I have lived for centuries
Under the myth of shadow.
Satan's millennia
And the dread of Hades engulfs.
Lord you are my true Shepherd,
Lord you are my honest guard;
Lord you are my heart my soul,
Lord you are my strength my bold.
Ah! A long night of groans.
The ghosts of the rumpled skins
And the starved guts
Haunt me.
You lead me in green pasturesYou care me every hour,
Lead me besides still watersAlways near me not so far.
In the land of dead
The rivers of blood flow
The curls of life drown
In the deluge of sea waves.
Wolves lick the stains
Over the stolid bones
Under the wide gyrates of Vultures
And the deadened hearts bury deep
In the canyon of unconscious.
You lead me to stay apartFrom other beasts of the earth,
You never left me alone:
You want me to be your own.
Though I walk through the darkness,
You lead me home to take rest;
Your rod leads me next morning,
Without fear again I sing.
Withered I look for the dawn
The Mana
For the warmth of your supple arms
And the touch of soul.
Roaring lion tremble of meAnd flocks of my enemy,
They cannot eat the fatnessAnd I am always blessed.
Like a tall cypress
You rise far above the weeds
And sing the melody out of your psalter
To salve the wounds
Roof well
The ferocities of time.
Lord your goodness and mercyFrom me they will never flee,
Your house is my dwelling place:
My Shepherd to you I gaze.
***
Ph. 0364-2504672 <[email protected]>
***
h
Two poems by S. Ayyappa Raja
TO YOU
Mosam Sinha (Uttar Pradesh)
(Tamilnadu)
EXTINCT ELEPHANT
You are like an abode
of love,truth,life and soul
with a heart full of kindness,
language to win over people.
It's majestic
Marvellous on the earth
Largest and powerful too
No one can match the might
Even afraid of to fight
Though herbivorous and harmless
Unless others do
Having little eyes lustrous as well
Known for the elongated tooth
With a distinctive colour by its name
The unique and versatile trunk
Capable of carrying the huge logs
And a small coin to the extreme
Large ears are not only for hearing
But also for cooling the huge body
There stands an elephant
As a piece of ivory-carving
Testimony to the brutality of unethical
poaching
Antimony eyes of the world are unabashedly watching.
You pour your sweet words
like a fountain flows water:
brightly, naturally,gracefully
creating sensations in hearts.
Your sweet words glow like
intertwined pearls shedding
darkness from hollow minds
creating hopes in the hopeless.
Your language flows like
The crystal river that goes
In all directions giving way
to brightly successful future.
Presentation is your forte
A king fights with a sword.
A writer writes with a pen.
You speak even sans words.
RIGHT TO LIVE
I chase the squirrels
Which have come to eat
Mangoes from 'my' garden
I make the birds fly away
From 'my' grain field
I drive away the monkeys
Which have crossed 'my' balcony
I heard the stories about
Monkeys, mynas and their menace
From my dad and grandpa
Generations of them have been living
Like my generations in the locale
Why is this discrimination dear?
When I have inherited the property
From my forefathers
And the right to live there
Haven't they? ***
***
[The poem is dedicated to my source of inspiration,
Shri Surendra Rajeshwari, Senior Announcer, All India
Radio, Rampur]
<[email protected]>;
Read and subscribe
Conifers Call
(Shimla Journal of Poetry and Criticism)
ISSN 0975-5365
Editor : Harish Thakur
Thakur Building , New Totu, Shimla,
(Himachal Pradesh)- 171011
Phone: +9418008900
[email protected]; [email protected]
www.coniferpublications.com
h
Two poems by Ahmet Yalcinkaya (Turkey)
an inexplicable warmth embraces my body
I burn from top to toe…
I do not see who is on the street,
I cannot see.
I do not see the trees
and when you approach
freezes my blood, freezes my mind
freezes my soul…
everything freezes in me
ADORING
if you name your hair a rope
whip my soul with it
tighten my neck
i am willing
if you take your fingernail as a knife
strive in my breast
cut my day dreams
split my memories
take my yesterday from me, take my
tomorrow
i am willing
you just pass by,
it does not change anything
whether I exist or not
it does not matter for you, for the world
or for the sun
when I return home
I carry a dream with me…
there is still a reason again
to overcome the dark and cold night
still a reason for me,
another reason to reach tomorrow morning,
I will run again,
if you name your eyelash an arrow
and prick my dreams,
prick my nights
i am willing
if your eyes like sun
sear my mind, scatter my voice
i do not ask what for, how or why
take me to bazaar, sale
i am willing
I will run again the following morning
to the beginning of the same street
(Translated by Richard Mildstone)
***
<[email protected]>
because the flame of your eyes
is a pair of wings, is peace
it makes my life bird fly
to heaven
to the seven stairs of sky
A POEM
Anne Skov (Denmark)
(Translated by A. Edip Yazar)
The universe has rhythm
I swing on the swing
and enjoy life
And you are surprised
The Universe listens
sending me that
which is true
and take what is not good
The universe smiles
for my strength and I am
LOVE
I come every morning
to the beginning of this street
thinking that you will pass from here
I wait, wait, and wait…
when you are seen from far
my heart does not fit to its cage,
tulips bloom in me…
h
diligently to understand
and explore my inner
Work with and build
so my soul is thrilled
The universe will sing
together with the sparrow
to lifes serene gardens
and to love on earth
Two Poems by Hadaa Sendoo
(Mongolia)
NOMAD
In the flaming Gobi
Welcome the last day of golden fall
Herdsman draws camel to tracking
And along a hound
Is their journey distant from my trip?
***
<[email protected]>
Boundless Gobi joins to the sky
On the tallest humps
becomes a Mongolian yurt
My eyes dazzle as in this
Mongolian Plateau
Green nice Empire in my soul
never fell down
Isn’t the pure white Mongolian yurt
my last real home?
ZILLION DOLLAR ENIGMA
Arunachalam Angappan (Yemen)
Indian tradition, culture and ethos!
Are they free from vanity?
No. It's insanity to suffer for vanity's sake.
Wake up and stop your vitals
gnawed by vanities.
Young widows and spinsters!
Why shut you off from public glare?
Why let you gray and fall your pubic hair?
Why should you suffer, shrink and wither?
To preserve the mirage of honour?
A SNOW SCENE
One morning
Snow falling
On the street, trees, face
I’ll be 40 years old
Now I am anemic
Still to write poems
Until a latest day
Like Van Gogh
Take sunflower
To sow the seeds
Across
the whole world!
Poor victims! Come out. Participate in life.
Hollow mores of a society soaked in falsity!
Submit not to them. Rather fight them out.
Hurt not yourself beyond forbearance
to end up as a walking-dead, loony angel.
……………..
I love… I adore…
I worship the WOMAN.
Thrive Sakthi! Thrive Saktham!!
Trounce my profanity that was. I expiate.
***
<[email protected]>
Peace to men in love. Peace to women in love.
Peace to men out of love. Peace to women
out of love.
***
<[email protected]>
h
Two poems by Anjali Dewan (H.P.)
A time will come
When autumn will set in
The flower will fall
Another bud to take its place.
The petals will shrivel
The journey of life
Will end one day.
But the fragrance will always remain.
HIDDEN TREASURE
When a time comes in life
When you desire nothing
When you want nothing
But you get everything.
When expectations die
When your attitude changes
When giving gives more
pleasure than receiving.
When you feel
you lack nothing
Consider yourself blessed
as you have
somewhere, somehow
got the glimpse
of your own hidden self.
You have lost the world
but you are not a loser
You have got yourself back
The treasure of treasures
has come within your reach.
The rich are counting pennies
You are surrounded
By the penniless
King of kings.
***
Ph. 9816116652 <[email protected]>
MOTHERS' SOLACE
Parnashree Kundu (West Bengal)
Amidst the peoples' stormy night ,
like a garland a bunch of lignt
were focussing bright,
falling a fliker of gay infront of
everys' eye -sight
Alls' attempt was to leave behind other,
nobody liked to stand togethor,
near a merry-go-round,
there were seen a gather.
For first ridding
thrusts upon in in all living
with the solace of bleeding .
MY JOURNEY
In behind nobody likes him in keeping,
so anarchy naturally would like in coming.
I was like an unopened bud
with all my inhibitions
fears and dependency.
Slowly and steadily
I started to grow.
Helping hands held me
Optimistic minds never let me fall
The bud turned into a flower.
Adversities broke a petal or two
Love, compassion nurtured my being
Beauty, joy and happiness
Made me blossom.
But tiny dark deformed frustrated
round shaped face,
fixes his notice at all wearing a
dull torned dailys' prevalent dress,
made him to stand
a symbol of the particular race
But contained stern bright gayful face
Is avoide by other,
although his ouite notice ,
is fixed for other
as a grim taker of broken heart peace.
h
But from him displene never likes
to allow to cease.
All are terrefic busy being hazy
But his eyes from moment to moment
become crazy.
For them his mind demands more .
but heart not go to for others,' shore.
Get your book published in Canada
South Asian Ensemble, Toronto,Canada
invites writers/editors to submit
manuscripts/proposals for books on
Literature, Arts, Culture, History,
Philosophy etc.
A solace face ,
A solace trace,
A solace grace,
And also a solace gaze,
pulled him from the aristtrocratic
merry go round,
sent him a shilly traditionnal ground.
A tiny doll, borrowed from the nearby stall,
A black face, dignified a lady not so tall.
And spreads the seeds of joy snatching him
from others' hall.
The joy of tiny ,true which cannot be carried
from the richs' shopng mall.
These can be in English, Hindi,
Punjabi or Urdu
Selected books will be published by
South Asian Ensemble Inc.,
Toronto, Canada.
Persons interested may write to
[email protected]
[email protected]
now heart stops to dance.
for getting richs' false glance.
Mind doesn't demands more.
All pale, all purge of tears
now gets its real shore.
Said the boy ‘all attractives are not for poor’
Have your own website like:
www.yourname.com
in just Rs. 3000 onwards
(Domain+5GB webspace+web pages)
Contact:
Kafla Inter-Continental
# 3437 Sector 46-C
Chandigarh-160047
Ph. ++98728-23437,
<[email protected]>
<www.kaflaintercontinental.com>
Tiny babe, shiny babe, glittered babe,
uttered I’m, with smile, saved,
Mother in side of other
my notice doesn't want to fall.
Getting small ball
and your love my joy of hall".
Thisrty child, grim child,
being mild,
left the place with mothers' solace,
***
<[email protected]>
Ph. 9932951930
h
Our Publications
MERIA PAIDAN MERA SAFAR (Autobiography) Gurnam Singh Derabassi, 2013 (5th Ed.),
Rs. 160, Pp 128, P.B. ISBN 978-81-907118-8-3
BANDITA BARENYAR SANDITA XUBAX (a book on Dr. Bhupen Hazarika in Assames)
Ed. by Dr. Parinita Goswami. 2012, Rs. 250, Pp 208, H.C., ISBN 978-81-907118-7-6
HOLE IN THE AIR (Novel) by HL Agnihotri, 2011, Rs.200, Pp 144, P.B.
DUSTY ROADS (Poems) by HL Agnihotri, 2011, Rs.100, Pp 96,P.B.
VIRHA KI VEDNA (Poems in Hindi) by Uktamoy (Uzbekistan), 2010, Pp 88, Rs. 100, P.B.
ISBN978-81-907118-6-9
DEVASHRUTI (an anthology on Indian Classical Music), Edited by Parinita Goswami & Dev
Bhardwaj, 2010, Pp 240, Price : Rs.300, H. C. ISBN- 978-81-907118-5-2
LIKE WATER (an anthology of poems by Romani Women), Edited by Hedina Tahirovic Sijercic,
2009, Pp 104, Price : Rs. 200, P. B. ISBN- 978-81-907118-3-8
WAQAT HAMARA HAI (Poems) by Sumit Mayyar, 2009, P. B., ISBN 978-81-907118-4-5
DREAMS UNTOLD (Poems by H. L. Agnihotri), 2008, Pp 96, Price : Rs.100 P. B.
ISBN- 978-81-907118-0-7
KHILAUNE KAANCH KE (Poems in Hindi by H. L. Agnihotri), 2008 , Pp 80, Price : Rs.100, P.B.
ISBN- 978-81-907118-1-4
SUNAINA memoirs by Surjit Bains (in Punjabi), 2008, Pp 104, Price : Rs.100.
RAAAT KI KALAM SE (Poems) by Harish Thakur, 2007, Pp96, Rs. 100
AUTUMN LEAVES (Poems) by Pallavi, 2006, Pp64, P. B. Rs. 100
IN THE VOID (Poems) by Shikha Patel, First Published : 2005 Pp 64, Price : Rs.80, P. B.
SONG OF MAIZE (Poems by Gurdev Chauhan), 2004, Pp 96, Price : Rs.100,
FLAMING WORDS (Poems) by Prakash Singh Azad (U. K.) 2004, Pp 80, Price Rs.100,
PIGHALDA LAWA (Poems in Punjabi) by P. Singh Azad (U.K) 2004, Pp160 Price : Rs. 200, H. C.
THE RED CANDLE & OTHER POEMS by Luciana De Palma (Italy)
2002, Pp 104, Price : Rs.100, US $ 7, P.B.
ROM KNOWS THE WAY (interviews with distinguished Roma personalities), by Lilyana
Kovacheva (Bulgaria), 2000, Pp 140, Price : Rs.150, US $ 10, P. B.
MODERN GREEK POETRY Edited by Denis Koulentianos & Dev Bhardwaj,
1998 , Pp 112, Price : Rs.150, US $ 10, P. B.
AMRITA PRITAM - A LIVING LEGEND Edited by Dev Bhardwaj & Gurdev Chauhan,
1995 Pp 88, Price : Rs.150, H.C.
SAVITRI (a Prose-Poem) by Ms. Chandramapatti (Canada),
1994 Pp 36, Price: Rs.40, US $ 3, P. B.
K af la Inter-Continental
# 3437 Sector 46-C Chandigarh-160047 (India)
Ph. ++98728-23437, <[email protected]>
<www.kaflainterrcontinental.com>
h
Indore Christian College
(Estd - 1887)
Indore Christian College invites you to mould a better future
by ensuring admission to:
Professional Courses
* B.B.A. * M.S.W. * L.L.B. * B. Com. in
Computer / Accounting & Finance / E-Commerce /
Insurance & Banking / Marketing / International Business
Traditional Courses
== B. A. == B. Com.
== M. A. == M. Com.
Now Starting : B. P. Ed.
(1 year Course)
Lowest Fees Structure
M.S.W. Rs. 21,000/ P. Yr.
B.B.A. Rs. 16,500/ P. yr.
L.L.B. Rs. 15,000/- P. Yr.
B. Com. Comp. Rs. 10,000/- P. Yr.
B. Com. Plan Rs. 4,500
Off Campus Training
Placement Assistance
Library Facility
Hi-Tech Laboratory
Competent Faculty
BCI Reg. No. BCI/LE/CC/INDR/DAW/01/2002
Free Personality Development Course
Admission Open
Rush between 9.00 am to 2.00 pm
Indore Christian College
Nasia Road, Indore (Madhya Pradesh)
Ph. 0731-6543375
www.indorechristiancollege.com
Dr. Amit David (Principal)
h

Jan-April, 2013 - kafla intercontinental

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