Modern Indian Poetry in English Modern Indian Poetry in English Revised Edition BRUCE KING OXFORD liNJVl!RSI f'i PRESS Preface to the Revised Edition This book consists of the original A1od~m lnduzn first published in 1987 and slightly updated tn 1 new chapters. Wriucn in 1999, the new chapters rC2lJ sn themselves, survey developments in the pre\ ,roxro1d 1 0 t cr c1 nUtrk huvrrsity PrcS!i Chronology h.ts also uccn brought up to date in th cd UK nl1n f'Mlllll oth r count rll'5 Along with Jiscu~>sions of recent books by establ1 hcd f'ullhsh d 111 Jndtil new anthologies, and changes tn publishing and 1he 1J X1 nJ Un1v1 a IIV I New Deihl the main new fc.uurc.o; nre long essay on Agha Shah d .1 xl rd UuiVrDily I' res 2001 emerged a~ a maJor poet, and two chapters on s1gnifi and what they reprcscm. tvbny will regard these as du~ _._,.,....,__ 1 of 11 x thor h \1' b n r.seftcd chapters of the book, but there is continuity as m~ (1 t.'lker) sud1 as Agha Shahid Ali, Meena Alexander and B b already mentioned in the first ec.lirion but were not for reasons of space or because rhey had no1 pubhshed Since lt1otl~m Indian J~urry in English first appeared 1\n Mchrotra, Eunice de Souza and Makarand Parana~ unpormnt nmhologie.s which have brought new potts t rcv1scd dac t.anon. As I re.1d reviews of poet.s b) poets. h:ave \Hill aw ~rJs, .md discussed with poets theu rr:,~,,. .. ....,~"' work of od1c , .l paHern emerged. Fin<1lly. how~ :.ts tlus depends on suhjecrive choic~:s. There were thouglu ex~:;clleJH, others who seemed co me l unpuhli!lhcd .tre.ts ufsot.:i.1l or cultural experiencr eHr.tl )Oung poets who c: wo1k i~ e ~ • I N w 114"1111 I 10 001 not )C:l pubhshed a .. olumc: of poe11y n t ''h 1 H Preface to the First Edition In tha anuoductlon to the English-langu:age poetry of lnd1:a since nauonal andepcndencc I wiiJ first be c.oncerned wnh It$ ha tory, how II canon of &~gnafiant authors, hooks and text i bc:ang formed, rhe > 1al background of the poet,, their market and reader , and the Bruu KJng maan aesthetics of their work. Sub cquently I will di6\.-u du: most •gnaficanr poet: , Nissim Eze~ R. Parthasarathy, A K. IU!manujan, Kamal Jlal.., AJIT Juss<~waiJa, Arvand Krishna Mehrotra, Jayama Mahapatra, G S. Sharat Chandra, Gievc Patel, Arun Kolarhr, Dallp hurc:, E 1111 c: de Souza, Sanun Rodngues, Manohar Shcuy, alecm ~ radiO , M I me Silgardo, Vtkram Sclh and others, before ofTerang a hronology of publscauons JOUrnal and events. This ss the first comprchcn ave: tudy of modern Indian poetry an Engl1sh and my appro h as ha toracal cuhural, socrologsal and Jnernry My rcacarch and 60me oft he writing took pl"ce in India dunng 1984 on a {llJOWihtp from the: Amen n In mute off ndian !Udses. Widaout th u 1 n month grant I could not h:.v started. I m al o happy ro acknowledg rhat a pcraod as a Ki11olar 111 rc:.sadcncc ar the Rockcfc:llc:r Foundauon Research Center an Dellagio, Italy, allowed me: to wnrc: or revue 10me haptcr5an cxcremely plc:lS:lnt urmunJi11gs. A N;ationaJ Endowment for rhc Humaniucs iummer stipend 111 I CJ85 allowed me ro omplccc my manuscnpr Fanally, Jam indc:bt<:d to the lndulfl poeu, an ludang wmc who are not mcnlloned an the: fnJI~,win~ pages, thcar fm:ndt, pub fa hcrt and several Jnd IIlii • cadC:IIliC:S (~,r tllf 01 llHI I ttiU, a~d, photoooptet, books, JOurnals and huspuality. ~lulc my "lc:hu ol thiJ kind arc 50 1mmcruc that I dare not attempt tn lru rhc m.auy IIIHIC here, I mwr parucularly thank Nt am Ezekiel, J::.yauta Mahap.um, Adal Ju awalla Arvand Kn hna Mchroar:~, Ma11uh:u Slaetty nnd Ayyappa Pantk 'r for thcar fncnchlup as wdl. 1111s bo ,k •~ dedi red 10 them on tent PMu I llurodth 111111 II I !.story lltcll'uhli ldng Gil'clcs II Ill I hr. l'n 1s, their l{t'. dc1:. .unl the M.ul er 47 rv .. V l'oclll \11d llli~:;ISill VI \II I h l'o 1 In ha I· !,:.zekiel, Ram umjun, Po~Lcl, Dillll\\ lila, hh Ku111nr 110 129 ll7.l, ilg udc) l 7 162 I xu lm, Kum tr, hill I Ill \nd l' cum I 1Cha muh 41tul lu s.t,,illl t P\1' I I 1\ It' 2 7 ' 7 ses, whereas the poets wc.:rc.: mor~ likdr to be wrll t'duc.ued, mtddle das and pan of or .tware of the modern wcqcrn1zeJ culture of the citi~.: , uni\'crsitic~ :md proiev,innal cb-.st''>. The} often haJ been rai,ed in l.tmilie~ where En~lish was of the I Imd1 spc.tkang ma,,c~. or ol thcu PJr si or G, w.ls 1.1th,·r arrdcv.ull tu them or, rn ~onw c:ts~.·s, was p.ut ot the n~'>ll idiom .l~:tlll't whtdt tltc\ wcr c t ebclling. Man)' of the poets ll·ft lndi.l fnr mdv ~nd tr.wd abr(l.td.' or out of d1 atasla~.:tion In this they Y.l're nu d1ffercm from pre:' lllll'i INTRODUCTION 3 and Melanae Salgardo have appeared ..... has 11 b • - a sma ut rap1dly an muang b o d yof cnucalstudaes an books and d on the poetry aca cm1c JOurnals Desptte connnuang attacks on the lnd an En 1 h h p Ia u tn m od em I n d cu It urc recogmz1ed Thg. . I poetS, t e1r 1an 1 ..1r poetry •os pan o f th e prou o f mo de rn1uuon wh1ch 1nclud- b _ b I ... ur an1zat•on, 111d u tmau1: zauon, mo taty, andependencc, socaal chan e, mcrea ed communacataon (an the form of falms rdev on ra1.g 1 • 1 1 • d1o, JOurna and newtpapnw), nauonal and tntmlaoonaJ trampon.auon networks mus education and the resultmg paradox that a an tndepcndcn; naraonal culture emerge at also pan:ic1patc an the mtemauonal, modem, u ually westernazed world. Unles ome new radical change occurs, lndaan socaal and econum1c progrc linked to 1 the same processes of modernization whid1, for h1stor1cal and polattcal reason , have become wedded to the prtad of the Engl11h language and the evolution of an r ngl. h language culture along adc Hmdi and the rcg1onal lan~uagc Although pre ently the language of only 5o me four per cent of the popula taon and wnh nu rc:g1onal base, I· ngllsh 1s the bnguagc of tho c who govern, c.:ommumcate, produce and make dc~.:mon :u the nauonal level A the language of upward rnobahty nd modern c n umer t te , 11 u a likely to prcad further nd a~ u (loc 1t Will an rea angly become lnd1 mz d. a procc s .Ire dy noticeable an maguanc and an l· ngl1sh language poCtf') m uch f ture a the yntax, word order, lex• , 1daoms, pronunc1 uon, mwnauon and trc pancrns Tha rcflc~.:ts a change m mentality ngh h' no long r the language of colorual rulers, 11 r I nguagc nf m dern lndaa 1n whu.:h word and cxprc 1on ha\C' rnowm~ed national rather than rmportcd s•~ruficancc'i and r fdcrH.: • lludmJ; to local realaue5, tradition and w.1ys of fcclu1g. ut:h lrulaanaza uon ha been proccedan., for ~cvcrnl gc11cr •r•ous u11d IS prornmc•H an the poetry of Kamala Da" and Prrmh Nand), r111J prt ·nt.. lth ugh more nuanc.:t·d, in the work ul Kck• l>.ultw.11la, ll ,., mor hkely to be felt in tcmls of vn1c~: and !• tl•, c 1r l•ngh hfr tb'n"'r "r u g1c education but a1 o more igmfJcantly, by commg b uc 1 ommunm u th~ Parsts, jew and Chnsuan , ur 'Y mg • MODERN INDIAN POF'T'RY IN fNCllCill INTROIHI TII.JN s d Islam or b) la"mg abroad Many (Jf mreeb ell from Handw m anl in that have already been panJy "c'itcr :awWaraetnhc csa .,;hf dcetcuaad Ie l nadn1 . aInll eerx ap cInnc"'''n c"e" m ndo Iau cy .iiliHl I II l"" ht 11 d c:ome from arru ely dunng thc1r ch1ldhood sc\ eral nu •ht be a m(l: m~... :r ot kmds of tcchn,qu a1o ; d 3 c While th1 ruz«< or that mo. :d!n xtenh:,l The often do not h:n c local , weyret iJee dr 1alb embtarr.oo,bedao ae dnm w~d hth aa Ibete h b~seotrt utrhtg1ane no ut apht reaam erd w liuuohrorbomna aanalt u.t cevUemen npty lrtcIeek usde s ot morT a1shmntcuy n1? ar•o tc pefd ett rhho e er 1,mbj1e unJe\ etfaa S nrra, aws ta t I Iwnp1 t ' cod\mtre ottgt h h f foc ar tfot pI ttmopche oe ttc dph1tlcsre o~ };I 1 ca t.f nTsc1n Ctc~us\c. :e aco eolo~n.lnf fs r tcdm~h1a eo1oou lpry fen tolcohifftfee' b tcl. p11oJncennm rcPe0el e mn u 1x 'pduu p1t 1nr1r. en non en meoI1 -1 -fo1 n' f nhre ,t a nr1 10 o1 r cdf rn h0of l •ttn hmod h t ' Jlrlasllfl, tthh e tDOdn om thwe r raiudt haenndU \a: tsm ceonntaclenryn sf,o rw thhaec ph oteht e)e x meapyt oPtc hc crars d m,,,V a/ ha1 n1 c d l Mh 1sa n1so dheaar rS mhc ttht}e \cC\r e nc oth•f e1 oulnd1e~ .: rl ndl ; sruo cua:ru. o,n s . a 1" Itm a e b 1 of whac:h the are a pan, as are an mcrcas- dtrect Iy · 1f r omd a conrext· t hanJ>rc•\ 10usly · fhc 1r1c pc a ct d wpc n rtc cpmtlof rn aumber of Indian o f cI eta1 s an . mI cm. ones of Indian soc1al reality , fo unu-1 1 Si.oce Ezdtel publ hed has first book (1952) and the work o f Ezc kI~: • Kamala Da , and Ram:unl)an dunng the11 1' (t0 1 lllMtNti4l Wttld and Tho11ght began pubbshmg Engl1sh and rakcn up by Oaruw:1.lla, has nc1w been 11\tcrnat.zcd ,~nt' lll:tplge pocuy 1 h tory of publicataon, maJor works, JOurnals, rel;ent poetry being richt~r in its sense •11 ln~.:auon rul ril~gc of ewaa. penonaiiaes and awards has already developed. There ubJCCt matter. muty are perhap poets recogntzed to be of wonh, a number of (If at firsl modern lndi.1n Engl1sh verse appeared to he mdcbrcd OtiiiF poets pmng to that ude and probablr several hundred to Driu h and a few Luropc:m models, n nO\\ reveal an aw rene who ve publishtd volumes of poetry an Englash. of mo t of world ltt~.:rature, including contemp' rary Amen an, More RpJficant than the acbaevements of individual poets 1s recent South Amcncan, and older lndtan dc\OtJOnal \Cr c 111 the the npida w11h hi h lndaan Engh h poetry has become a reg1onal languages. Jn thts Indian Engli h langua~e poctf'\ 1 no -IUSWDIJlllradltlon wath rccogmzable models, penods and different from that of the rcgaonallanguagcs, whtch I o durmg ia8ueaca. Where the earl Ezekiel and P. Lal offered rwo contrast the coloma! pcnod followed Bmi~h examples and com cnuon of modeb ance then Ramanu)an, Panhasarathy, Daruwalla, ver c. Around the umc of nauonal mdcpcndcncc It tarred 10 Malupatra Kamala Da Vskram Seth and de Souza are among reform 1t elf a a modern lncrawrc by mcorporaung the t hm tbote who have moved poetry mto new dimenstons, as Ezeksel que and themes of uch maJOr twentieth centur") modcrn1\t a tmu to do Pons have a wader vanety of lndtan poem Nandv, the P trill actb" R1 amanuJan from dass1•c a I an d med 'a e,.: a.I ~1·a m1l d ad at·s t an d expen·m cmal verse w"h ich had 1c lll1lc rbe st tn surreal ' 000 and modem Kannada by Mahapatra from modern Onya.' by by Kolatkar, Chitre and others Marathi ~~~~~ YM c en ~xp~~cd pMK a Lraattlk hafir ro bmr o SmPaa rtMuekl anfrrta.o.t hmbay , G bNyua ,anCrdhayua t,rf erbo vfm roM mBee hnmrgmaold.riae, rUfnr roadmnu d Ha nnm.1ded do1~te, hvbaeylr Iad tne' )dvt, eoa Io tvhpaem.n rt g-rge gam. irod ns eua wel hlna .nt dtg.n'1 urgca,cg teI1.ns 0 dnhtasad n1a 1 1rf Eeteln:reg nl1ti9s th6ra5• dl.a inAttI'0 I~ m mu1 a oseg no'efg a pctroxhaepettc r1rp1yu.•o nebcet nnsg tyaaoan f Imp p LaJ and Nandy have been espec.1al.ly acuve as .pro the avant-garde were ~ehro~ra, Kolatk.tr, Chitre, Mahapatr,,, IDOitel'l and pubhshm of translation from classacal and regmnal ~and) and Deba Patna1k; whtlc they have gone on to write other linguae E ekael and G S. Sharat Chandra ha"e also been in- kmds of poetry. some of thctr best-known poems, su\:h .s Mchro 1 .lved watb tran lauons from lndaan languages. Just as English t~a's 'The Sale' and 'Continuities', Kolatk.tr\ 'the bo.ltlidc' ami bu become the link' language for anter regional communication ~httre's 'The Amb_ulancc ~ide', show how lihcr.ltin~ .tncl produc for ch groups as admmastrators academics and the professional t1VC was suc:h expenmentaltsm. If rl·~~nt poet~, p.mi\,;ul.uly Sil~.trdo Eaclish translation serves as a link cultural language, makmg and Shettv, have taken a renew~d ltlten:st m thl· more logtcally anilable co the maddle classes the vanous regional languages and de'reloped more: tormally organ1zed Jy,,~.:, they can do Ml with,, 7 m clauacal tradtnon sense of having been freed from the necessity of bcginnin); ·' poem The Eagli h language poets mtere5t in devotional verse is part wirh a statement which is logically dl"H.·Ioped to J conclusllln. the mcreasmg range of Indian English-language poetry. Whereas Their poetry is more linear .md argurnent.Hi' ely \,;onstruucJ than the gnificant poetry of the '50 and early '60s was primarily the that uf Mehrmra and .Mahapatra, but it is sttll more open, more penonaJ hon I nc, often confess1onal or argumentati\ie, in the read) to haft to the unexpected 1n ubjcct nuuer anti im.tge' and mid '60s poet found new modes of express1on. While Ezekiel to off(;r unconventional emotion . than the poetry wrsttcn and RamanuJan were already familiar wath American poetry, the bcn~een 1950 and 1965; it is more .tssociation.tl m org.tnilttton Amen n mfluenc on lndaan poetry became more sigmfil:ant in th 1 log1callv structured. the rmd •60 when Daruwalla, Shiv Kumar and others began tO 1 he open: asso\_;i:nional poetry, with its ~urp~ismg ltlHuc.1~s, 11m for a 1 formal, dtrcct per onal \'Oice and diction and to pn mmcnce of such topics as ~uilt, c;cxu.tliw ..u nbltlon, nu·mm.tcs of pa'it r(•bellions, conflic:ts, shnmes, cluldhood .111d ll)vc aH.urs. wnte about ordmary expcnencc an recogmzable locations. The man-alone m-a hostile world attitude, with its sense of opposition, .1nd the assertion of :\n anicui.H<.' but fra<.:tun·d sell. w.ts P 1rt o~ the confessional mode th.u staned in Anwril.l Jurin~ tl!t• c.u I!, SO<- h'rucasm and the tronae of ltfe, found m the poetry of Daruwall:t, U~ts affamue an ~mencan literature, as does Daruwalla's tru~t an d w ha.c 11 was pr:a:u·c ;ctI ··t n tt·1•· n .ll!·Io 'n· aI I }· ~1~ urin1v~,"~ thlen d'6.t0 ws ·n nI chct.t:rvt· mpr osoe d Yp eaankdm fogr mvoatlc sct anAzlathaco ushgahp ehse, cthoen tvioniucees s etoem uss cc lnoasderit wio nthael ahsa drtr" .:.aZ:-lCwk aa yels's b peoent·t,,r )c' oon fl tle·sns wrnnaa k· ctsn uus cH• 1too fnD · 't I nIl I·m s, tmh t >i1 ,1·Ch' lwhll clmrn o•lu.t fvcrc ,,, msell f1. a ~penence fof the cnses than an previous Indian poetry where des1rc for personal chan~e, tl UI Ka n·uI ·1 a's ~"~ . I . Twheerere w 1a5s ao) tm a distance bctw een mora1 r ef l ecu.o n and actuality. orcpvecnllayto an• b1.•o' umt o\oadn•ye dp,o oelmtesn w ~e,;nOn.: nrtn~ .:uuc'n t';m, conHre H l~l n>lnl'f>.t '' S-.\aIJtumc.sl la; n'i Jtc : 1mW prOel (1• poruons of~a n opcnnes ' especially noticeable in the middle without bemg l:om.:erned-as Ezc..:kH.-1' -" ~s-wilh ~,;on1s~'tt'lll Yh·~?t1 lope. ~arrauv: ~~:- as af assocaatton w_ere takmg over from WI as the auto >togr.lp t~o:a the w11l for self-improvement. 1 rc. J d' d Das's an an argument. e cxpcnence Itself mstead of an example elements m Eze~ael's poetry usual1y a{p pcarc 111 t:o.taiH.:C ' \

Modern Indian Poetry in English

Similar Modern Indian Poetry in English