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Indian Poetry (others)
Tamil poetry today
INDRAN
Tamil being a classical language, with a two - thousand - year - old tradition of prosody and strict grammar for written verse, it is having a heavy baggage of literary history on it’s back. But for the English and French education, introduced by the colonial rulers of India, it would have been very difficult for the Tamil poetry to get relieved from the one-way-push of the past. The tiring feeling that the poetic excellence was already achieved by the scores of master poets of Sangam period like Tiruvalluvar and Ilango and later poets like Kamban who created Tamil version of Ramayan was haunting the Tamil poets until Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi ( 1822- 1921) entered the poetic scene of Tamil world. When Subramanya Bharathi , made a bold attempt in verse-libre , it started serving as a spring-board for a latter poet Na.Pichamurthi ( 1900-1976) to introduce first in Tamil , the “free verse”.
When Na.Pitchamurthy, the father of New poetry in Tamil, tried a new genre Tamil poetry , the literary scene in other Indian languages was very much favorable to experimentation with various literary forms and symbols. Many legendry poets like B.S.Mardhekar in Marathi, Gopala Krishna Adiga in Kannada, and Gajanan Madhav Mukthibodh in Hindi , Ayyappa Paniker in Mlayalam had brought in radical changes in the poetic sensibility and style of expression in their own languages. If we take Tamil language, in thirties, Na.Pitchamurthy, Ku.Pa.Rajagopalan, Pudhumaipithan and Ka.Na. Subramaniam sought to break with the Tamil poetry tradition (Marapu ) of the past , through experimentation with various literary forms and symbols. But strictly speaking , they were not able to break away totally with the past , because the rhythmic beauty of the traditional Tamil verse - making was still lingering on in their poems .
It is interesting to note here that in between , Subramanya Bharathi and Na.Pichamurthy , there was a major poet called Bharathidasan (1891-1964) , a disciple of Bharathy, who was an advocate of the Dravidian political movement. He had many followers and there was a strong popular mass poetry movement for him. So , the New poetry movement in Tamil struggled a lot in establishing itself as a major trend in Tamil literature.
In order to win over the popular mass poetry movement, a group of modernist poets and critics like Ka. Na. Subramanyam and C. S. Chellappa who militantly advocated for “Pudhukavithai” , severely criticized the traditional verse-making as well as the non-modernist academicians . On the other hand , many fine poets like Dharmu Sivaram otherwise known as Premil, Nakulan , Pasuviah, and C.Mani were strengthening the New poetry movement with their poems of rare kind.
At one point of time, an array of poets like Abdul Rahman, Meera, Sirpi, Mu.Mehtha and Tamilanban who were all considered to be the champions of traditional verse-making , with complete knowledge of Tamil traditional prosody , started writing New poetry by relinquishing their “marapu” poetry. By intentionally resorting to free verse , they all tried to achieve a democratic character and contemporary sensibility in their poetry. Among these poets , Abi has written poems standing out for their rare kind of aesthetics of ambivalance.
In 1970s , a band of poets called “vanambadi” , comprising of poets like Sirpi, Puviyarasu, Gnanai, Agniputhran , who described themselves as “ the skylarks singing in praise of humanity” , had started operating actively with free verse style of poetry. Because of the recognition given by the academicians themselves to New poetry -- which was popularly known as “Pudhu kavithai”--it became the dominant mode of poetry of the day.
In 60s and 70s , as it was in other Indian languages like Bengali, Marathi, Hindi , Malayalam and Guajarati , the Little Magazine and Small Press movement emerged in Tamil language as well. Many little magazines like “Ezuthu”, “Nadai” “Vanambadi”, “Ka Cha Da Tha Pa Ra”, “Kanayazhi”, “zha” etc were defining and re-defining the modernity and cultural nationalism structured by the earlier generation of poets . Although there was no well established pan-Indian literary modernism except in Indo – Anglian writings , the radical and experimental changes in other regional languages of sixties somehow influenced Tamil regional poetry through many translations . Poets like Atmanam and Gnanakoothan were writing many poems with a keen sense of modernity and parody .
In 1982 “Meetchi” , a literary quarterly edited by Brammarajan , an important poet in Tamil , introduced many western concepts of poetry like “Anti-poetry” and the magazine created a platform for many wonderful poets like Sukumaran, Padhasari and Vikramadithyan.
In 1983 the Srilankan Tamil ethinic riots started and the Tamil poetry assumed an important responsibility of recording the tragedies and new challenges of the Tamil population in Srilanka. In 1984 a new anthology of Srilankan Tamil poetry titled as “ Maranathul vazhvom “ ( We live amidst death) , compiled by M.A.Nuhman, Cheran and Jesurajah was published by CreA, a publishing house based in Chennai. Srilankan poets Cheran and V.I.S Jayapalan with their authentic voices influenced the diction and style of Tamil poetry produced in Tamilnadu.
In 1982 when Indran released his “Araikul vandha Africa Vanam” (The African sky that came inside my room ) , a translation of African and Afro-American poetry and prose it influenced the style of Tamil poetry of eighties . The poetry of American poets Langston Hughs, Arna Bontemps, the Nigerian poet Wole Soyinka, French poet Leopold Sedar Senghor inspired Tamil poets to try out new diction and style in their poetic expression.
The book was one of the main sources of inspiration for the emergence of the Tamil Dalit poetry movement. During the birth centenary celeberation of Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1991 Dalit Tamil poetry reached new heights and many compilations of Tamil Dalit poetry started appearing in English . “ The Oxford India Anthology of Tamil Dalit writing” ( 2012) edited by Ravikumar and R.Azhagarasan and “ No Alphabet in sight” ( Penguin Books- 2011) edited by K.Satyanarayana& Susie Tharu were released.
In 1982 , to celeberate the birth centenary of Subramanya Bharathy, Annam publication of poet Meera brought out a series of new poetry in the name of “Navakavithai” . Many important Tamil poets like Vikramadityan, Kalyanji, Vannanilavan , Ko.Rajaram and Indran were introduced in this series of Navakavitha poetry.
Another important development in 80s is the emergence of a new generation of Tamil women poets who started writing with Feminist overtones. Malathy Maithrey, Kutti Revathi, Sugirtharani, Salma, Leena Manimekalai and Puthiya Madhavi are the poets whose poetry analyze gender in it’s relation to power, class, social and family relationships. There are another set of women poets like Ilambirai, Thamizhatchi Thangapandian, Thenmozhi Dass, Uma Maheswari and Brindha who deal with motherly love, appreciation of nature, rural life experiences etc.
In 90s , the earlier trend of contextualizing the private experience with the socio-political issues started dissipating slowly and an aesthetics of ambivalence was coming and settling over most of the Tamil poems. Manushya puthiran is an important voice in the new generation of Tamil poets who got Sanskriti National award in 2002 for his poetic contribution as a young writer.
New voices like Yuvan Chndrashekar, Ramesh-Prem, Sankara Ramasubramanian, N.D.Rajkumar and Yavanika Sriram are successfully retaining a place of their own amidst the crowd of attention-grabbing fiction and non-fiction.
A very interesting feature of the Tamil poetry today is the emergence of a global Tamil poetry.
When the Tamils from India migrate as highly skilled professionals to United States, Canada, Europe and South East Asia , they developed a sort of hybrid aesthetics in their Tamil poems.
Similarly because of the Srilankan civil war , many Tamil refugees went out of Srilanka to various European countries and settled in without losing their Tamil cultural identities. Their Tamil poems are getting published in countless Tamil little magazines published from these countries. Many important Tamil poets -- Cheran from Canada, V.I.S.Jeyapalan from Norway, Ki.Pi.Aravindhan from France – are contributing considerably to Tamil poetry today. In these Tamil poems , apart from their nostalgic vociferations about their lost homes and villages , many poetic observations about their life in their new home countries also find a place of prime importance.
As a result of this , in todays in Tamil poetry , we find new symbols and images, new expressions with western nuances, new landscapes and geography wherein we can find descriptions about pine trees in the place of neem trees and palm trees , and new birds and animals in the place of peacocks and parrots .
Today a new era of Tamil poetry is waiting in the horizon with crimson hues to spell out many promising news about the future.
HAIKU
Kala Ramesh
Devi temple . . .
along with the ants
I enter barefoot
the year passes . . .
longing for cranes
to colour the sky
mild breeze . . .
the breadth of the wheat field’s whisper
spring rain . . .
halfway through my meal
a scoop of loneliness
my fear -
the darkness
between stars
crashing sea waves rockcradled into silence
my thoughts
nudge each other . . .
bumping bees
thunderclap
the darkening sky splits
into liquid night
temple bells
the isolated raindrops
on my umbrella
horror movie
my sister screams between
her fingers
birthday —
as usual he remembers it
after I begin to sulk
IT'S OKAY
Mihir Chitre
It's okay
To wake up
In the middle of the night
And start brushing
Your memory or picking
Your brains on where you lost
Your favourite keychain
Seven years ago
In that cold overflowing lane
Or what the symbol carved
On your college bench stood for
Or on which floor was the balcony
Where a woman puffed her age away
Every time you rode up the flyover
In residual winters
It's okay
To find out that life
Like space-time isn't flat
And gravity here is created
Not by objects but by their absences
Which compel you to orbit them
As long as you live
It's okay
To think you'll turn lonelier than yesterday
To go to hell with optimism
And drape in the season's dark
It's okay
To deduce once in a while
That god is the biggest tragedy
The world has never seen
TWO TREES
Chandrasekhara Kambara
A tree by the side of a lake,
And another within.
Above – the real tree
And below – the tree reflected.
One shivers when the waves appear
And the other smiles.
But remember, the tops are two
And yet the root is one for these trees.
As you climb up the one
You climb down the other.
Your head will be held high as you climb
And turned down as you climb down the other.
The blue field above
Its reflection below
And one silence in both of them.
Think that you will become thin air
As you climb up.
But remember,
You are destined to come down.
Going up is your decision.
Coming down is something beyond you.
Those who climb up
Will reach the heaven –
It is said.
We are not sure.
But those who drown
Will reach down,
It is certain.
The point of merging of the real tree
And the tree reflected has vanished.
And that is the tragic flow of this story.
That’s why, I’ll tell you,
My friend, even if you climb up
You can’t help hanging your head downwards.
Jump, reach the bottom,
And search the vanished land –
Search and live.
Translated from Kannad by O L Nagabhushana Swamy
ANKLETS
B B Borkar
That day, under the banyan tree,
As dusk was gathering
With a soft tinkle
Your anklets drew near.
The woods fell silent
The leaves shivered in excitement
The dozing blades of grass
Tenderly aroused
Temple bells rang from afar
The river throat and banks swelled
The shadows burst into fragrance
That very instant
The bliss in the heart
The tears in the eyes
Turned into gems and glowed
Before we knew it
The two of us became one
How long we stood there,
As the tiny baniyan pods
Rained like 'akshata' on us
We crossed several heavens
In that ecstatic state of mind
Today, nothing is left of that
My life is fading to dusk
Yet, even now, all of a sudden
Comes the tinkle of your anklets
As I feel the surge of love,
A lovely thrill overwhelms me
The dreams that I get now
Turn into sleepless nights
Translated from Konkani by Damodar Mauzo
HE IS A POET
Shankar Ramani
He is a poet, solitary and lonely
Through the window of his ramshackle house
He watches the sky, day and night.
He is totally crazy
Don't call him closer
Nor talk to him;
Don't even look at him;
You never know
when he would throw
On your body
A basketful of pebbles
But if and when his window
Turns into blue sky
The birds from across the horizon
Beckon him to the ethereal light.
Translated from Konkani by Damodar Mauzo
THIS IS NOT FREEDOM
B B Borkar
Where life is fading and mind full of fear
Where Today has the same fence as Yesterday
This is not freedom, this is not freedom
Where those who rob their own house
Are treated like benefactors
Where in the name of charity the righteous are doomed
Where daylight robbers who waylay and murder
Are the principal leaders,
Where terrorized by them
The rule of land itself throws law and order to the gallows
The charlatans sitting on the fence
Who change their colours
Yesterday's white becomes dark today
Where, for the sake of votes, masses are instigated and bedlam created
Where intelligentsia mortgages its integrity
And make the people miserable
Using words to glorify the misdeeds
And encourage the perpetrators
Then,
This is not freedom, this is not freedom, this is not freedom
Translated from Konkani by Damodar Mauzo
THE EROTIC COUPLE ON THE VISHWANATH TEMPLE
Chandrakant Patil
The erotic couple on the Vishwanath temple
Kharuraho stands awkwardly
The woman, who had stood there from the Middle Ages
clasping the male
suddenly threw him off
and stood erect
like a soldier in an army march--past
The male, smiling, complacent, for ages
is suddenly confounded, crestfallen
the woman has become arrogantly triumphant
like the twenty--first century
What is the woman up to ?
what god asked her for all this bother and fuss ?
why does she think of this sinister act ?
Dismantled, in despair,
the erotic male has lost his confidence
his emotional defenses have collapsed
completely out of order is the male
Whatever has happened to the woman ?
Has she started ogling at the man on the next panel
or has she finally understood
the male cunning of love ?
Or is the woman trying to relate
the meaning of kama to artha ?
Translated from Marathi by Chadrashekhar Jahagirdar
TREE
Vasdev Mohi
First I used axe
After some cries
At last he fell
Then I started peeling his skin
Agony made him shinier.
I took him to a mill
He must have been scared
As he reached there
He stumbled, fell and tumbled
I got hold of him, firmly
And pushed him beneath the big blade
Cleverly, I kept song of saw high
No one could hear
His heart rending cries
Thereafter, with a plane
I started trimming his obesity
(I had, long ago, become indifferent
to his painful complaining cries)
His inner, nervous system appeared with a glow
I gathered his limbs
Nailed them together
Covered their nakedness with a bed sheet
And slept on it.
I am a philanthropist
Look tree!
I have freed you
From the filth of birds
Who would build their nests on your shoulders
Would chirrup noisily to make your head whirl
I freed you from pester of squirrels
Who would take your body
As streets, lanes, alleys besides
I saved you from ants which
Gnawed and gnawed your body, your vitals.
My great obligation to you
Yes, great obligation
You had only one leg to stand
I have given you four.
Translated from Sindhi by Mohan Gehani
THE HOUSE
N Gopi
When you see the house from outside
it may appear small.
When you see it from the sky
it may not even be visible.
But when you see the house from within
it appears as big as the world.
In fact the world turns into a bird
snuggling in the nest.
Now we have the calling bell.
Earlier
on hearing the footsteps at the door
noticing father’s arrival
our anticipation would be rewarded.
Could tell if mother or sister
unlatched the door
just by the force of the turn.
It’s ten years now
but Savitri’s* face in the calendar
doesn’t reflect the passage of time.
The beauty has not abated.
The cement on the steps is peeling off.
Those were the hands
that carried the weight of the heart along with the body!
When she came wearing
the Dhruva**-like anklets
they would wake us up all of a sudden.
Don’t feel like selling old papers.
They are filled with diamond and lapis lazuli memories.
Above all the love letters!
Births, deaths
consumed moments of painful illnesses,
even so rising, chivalrous,
hopeful, instructive journeys.
All right here!
Walls that have hidden in their wings
everyone all these years,
have now turned into canvases for my grandsons.
In their scribbling,
I am thrilled to see the future.
*A very well-known Telugu heroine of yesteryears.
**The pole star.
Translated from Telugu by M. Sridhar & Alladi Uma
Note:
This collection of poems is a contribution to Poiein kai Prattein by poetryindia.
Udayan Thakker explains that there are more than 20 State languages in India. The Poems he has forwarded are classified into "Gujarati" and "Others." Introductions to the Poetry of Gujarati and Tamil, two of the major Indian languages, are also included.
Udayan Thakker
Editor, poetryindia.com
April 28, 2015
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