Literary Vibes - Edition C (25-Dec-2020) - Volume 3 - MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES
(Title - Literary Vibes 100 - Picture courtesy Dr. B C Nayak)
VOLUME - 3 - MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES
01) Dr. Ramesh Chandra Panda
OUR HERITAGE – GRISHNESWAR JYOTHIRLINGA
OUR HERITAGE – KASHI VISHWANATH JYOTIRLINGA
02) Anil K Upadhyay
TRUTHS AND CONTRA-TRUTHS: SONGS AND CONTRA-SONGS
03) Debjit Rath
OFF TO GRAND CANYON
04) Gouranga Charan Roul
SRI CHAITANYA’S FOOTPRINTS: RETRACING...
05) Ravi Ranganathan
RANGOLI
06) Ashok Kumar Ray
JALLIANWALA BAGH
07) Pravat Padhy
Tanka: The Little Song and My Journey
08) Sanjit Singh
EXAM -THAT DREADFUL FOUR LETTER WORD
Critic's Corner
01) Prabhanjan K. Mishra
A BRIEF REVIEW OF SELECTED POEMS AND STORIES FROM THE 99th ISSUE OF LITERARY VIBES
02) Pabhanjan K. Mishra
A STATION NAMED LILIGUMMA AND OTHER RAIL STORIES
Author: Krupa Sagar Sahoo
Translated by Malabika Patel
Video
01) Madhumathi H
https://www.youtube.com/embed/NDKDYiizpzs
https://www.youtube.com/embed/g7AkFMeglsE
02) Sundar Rajan
https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Lt7GUARJak
03) B C Nayak
https://www.youtube.com/embed/CsaYaHyqZgE
04) Ravi Ranganathan
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ktZ-RJuEeKk
GLIMPSES OF OUR HERITAGE – GRISHNESWAR JYOTHIRLINGA AT VERUL
Meaning: I meditate on the Supreme Being the mightiest of the Purusha, Lord Mahadeva to bless me with the intellect, enlighten me with knowledge and show a clear path .
Shiva - part of Trinity
Shiva means that which is transcendent. Shiva means God who cannot be contained by space or time, God who needs no form. Shiva (meaning in Sanskrit: auspicious one), the third deity of the Hindu Trinity, is responsible for the dissolution of the universe. All that begins must come to an end. All that is born must die. This is the inviolable law. Shiva is one in whom the universe ‘sleeps’ after destruction and before the next cycle of creation. Shiva is the principle that brings about destruction but as Shankara he also reproduces that which has been destroyed.
His symbol ‘Lingam’ of the phallus represents his reproductive power. His guardian is Nandi (the white bull) whose statue can be found watching over the main shrine. The bull is said to embody sexual energy, fertility. Riding on its back, Shiva is in control of these impulses. The goddess Parvati is his consort and shakti. Ganesha and Kartikeya are his sons. The sacred mark of Shiva is three horizontal lines across the forehead. In mythic art, vertical lines associated with Vishnu represent activity, while horizontal lines represent inertia. Shiva’s mark is horizontal to remind us that nothing needs to be done actively to destroy the three worlds. The three worlds created by Brahma i.e. the body, the property and the rest of nature will eventually collapse as Prakriti (nature) stakes her claim (Pattanaik, D., 2011). As part of the Hindu Trinity; Brahm? is the priest, who creates the world, Vishnu is the king, sustains it and Shiva is the ascetic destroys it.
Shiva is worshipped both in the anthropomorphic aspect and as the Linga. Shiva is said to be half man and half woman. The Shiva Linga –the symbol of Lord Shiva consists of both Lingam (phallus) and yoni (the female organ). Shiva is Purusha (humanity), while Parvati is Prakriti (nature). In art Purusha is visualized as the male head without the body while Prakritit is visualized as the female body without the head.
Ichnographically Shiva holds various objects in his hands. Those are Trishula (trident), Cakra (discus), Parasu (battleaxe), Damaru (drum), Aksamala (rosary), Mrga (deer), pasa (noose), Danda (staff), Pinaka or Ajagava (bow), Khatvanga (magic wand), Pasupata (spear), Padma (lotus), Kapala (skull-cup), Darpana (mirror), Khadga (sword) and so on. Shiva’s bow is called the Pinaka. It was this bow that the princes were asked to lift and string in order to win Sita’s hand in marriage. The prince Rama not only lifted the bow with ease but also broke it while attempting to string it and won the hand of Sita.
Grishneshwar Temple
Grishneshwar is also known as Grushmeswara or Kusumeswar is the abode of one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. These names can be traced to legendary stories. The Grishneshwar village is located at Verul near Ellora, Aurangabad in Maharashtra. . The temple is situated far away from the din and bustle and the crowds of the city. Devotees from all around the country visit this place and feel at peace. The holiest Jyotirlinga offers serene atmosphere for empowering the mind.
Legend -1
According to Shivapuran, the legend behind Grishneshwar temple is as follows: In the southern direction, on a mountain named Devagiri lived a Brahmin called Brahmavetta Sudharm along with his wife Sudeha. The couple did not have a child because of which Sudeha was sad. She used to force her husband to marry for a second time with her sister Ghushma. With much persuasion Sudharm married to Sudeha’s sister Ghushma who was devoted to Lord Shiva and was blessed with a son. Ghushma received a lot of respect for providing him with a son but this envied Sudeha. When the son got older, he was married. This became one more reason for Sudeha to be jealous. She decided to kill Ghushma’s son and one night while everyone was asleep killed him with a knife. She cut the whole body into pieces and poured them into the lake in which Ghushma used to pour Parthivlinga. She went back home and slept. Next morning, Ghushmas and Sudharm got involved in daily prayers. Sudeha too, got up and started performing her daily choirs. Ghushma’s daughter-in-law, however, saw stains of blood on her husband’s bed and parts of the body drenched in blood. Horrified, she narrated everything to mother-in-law Ghushma who was absorbed in worshipping Shiva. Even when Ghushma saw the bed drenched in blood she did not break down but she started praying Lord Shiva’s mantra ‘Om Namah Shivay’. She went to the lake like everyday to pour parthiv-linga into the waters and saw her son standing besides the lake. Her heart filled with joy and Lord Shiva appeared and said - I am pleased with your devotion. He also said your sister had killed your son. Ghushma offered her prayers and asked Lord Shiva to forgive her sister as she was elder. This satisfied Lord Shiva and he granted Ghushma with another wish. Ghushma asked Lord Shiva to stay in that place to protect and bless local people. Listening to the prayers, Lord Shiva was happy and promised Ghushma to always live there. He changed his form and turned himself into a Jyotirlinga close to the lake. Hence, the lake is called as Shivalaya.
Another legend says - Once the King of the are went hunting. While hunting, he killed the animals living with the Rishis and Munis. Seeing this, the irate Saints cursed the king, as a result of which, his entire body was infested with insects. Now, smitten by this curse, the king began to wander in the forest. His was very thirsty. There was no water to be found anywhere. At last he found a water hole made by the hooves of a horse. Just as the king started to drink water a miracle occurred. The king's body was rid of all the insects. The king did severe penance (Tapas) there. Lord Brahma was pleased and appeared before him and installed Parashta Teerth there. He also created a huge holy lake. This Brahma sarovar later came to be known as Shivalay.
Legend-2
Once Shiva and Parvati were playing chess on Mount Kailasa. Paravti checkmated Shiva. Shankara became angry at this and went away southward. He went and stayed at a place on the Sahyadri range, where there is cool breeze. This place was given the name of Maheshamauli Bhainsmal. Parvati came there looking for Shankar. She won the heart of Shiva in the form of a hill mountain tribal girl. They both spent some time there happily. This forest came to be known as Kamyakavana. Lord Mahesha forbade crows from entering the area of Maheshamouli or Bhainsmal. One day, Paravti was very thirsty. Shankara pierced earth with his trident and got the water of Bhogavati from the Patal lok. This is the Shivalay. The Shivalay expands a little ahead where Shivanadi (Shivanand) meets it and a little further, Yelaganga also flows just near it. When Shiva and Parvati were staying here pleasantly, a hunter by the name Sudhanwa came there looking for a prey. A miracle happened and Sudhanwa turned into a woman. At this he did a severe penance there. Shankara was pleased and appeared. Actually, Sudhanwa was a woman by birth in his previous life. Thus, Shankara from that very curse of becoming a woman turned Sudhanwa into Yelaganga River. Thus, Punya Sarita Yelaganga was born in the Kamyawana. Later, it was to become the bathing place called Dhara Teerth or ‘Sita’s Snangriha’ and flow from a higher place and goes through Verul village.
Legend-3
Once Parvati was about to fill her hair parting with vermillion and saffron, in Kamyavana. She kept them in her left palm and mixed the water of Shivalay in it. With the right thumb she started mixing them both. Then a miracle occurred, vermillion turned into a ShivaLinga and a great light appeared in it. Parvati was awe struck at this. Then Lord Shankara said: “This Linga was hidden in the Patala” and removed it with his trident. Then a bubble emerged from the earth with water (Kashikhand). Parvati kept that glorious light in stone Linga and installed it there. This Purna (complete) JyotirLinga is called Kunkumeshwar. But since Dakshayani created this Linga with the her thumb. She gave it the name of Grishneshwara (Grishna means friction).
History
The Grishneswar temple is nearly 3000 years old. The temple was frequently destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate in 13th and 14th centuries. That is the major reason for the temple underwent several phases of reconstruction followed by further destruction during the Mughal - Maratha conflict. The history of Grishneshwar temple speaks of Maloji Bhosle(grandfather of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj), an ardent devotee and chief of the Verul village who built the temple in the 16th century after he found a treasure hidden inside an anthill. Rani Ahilyabai Holker, Queen of the Maratha Malwa Kingdom, renovated the temple in the 17 -18th century. The area of Grishneswar temple is approximately 240 feet x 185 feet. The temple still is as fresh as when it was built.The Jyotirlinga faces east. The sanctum sanctorum includes Lord Grishneshwar and his consort Grishneshwari and was re-constructed by Maloji Raje Bhosale and later by Ahilyabai Holkar.
The Grishneswar temple is constructed of red basalt. The architecture also represent local style. The view of Grishneswar temple consists of a 'garbha', 'antarala ' and 'sabha mandap'. The temple balance and load including main hall rest on 24 stone columns. Shri Ekanath ji guru shri Janardan Maharaj’s mausoleum is also situated in this temple. The importance of the temple is that devotees believe that by visiting this Grishneshwar temple, one can reap the benefits of the worship of the 12 Jyotirlingas.
Architecture
It is also said that the temple of Grishneshwar is a classic example of prehistoric architectural style and has beautiful sculptures. The Grishneswar temple is an illustration of south Indian temple architectural style and structure. Halfway up the temple, the Dashavatara are carved beautifully with red sandstone. There are also other beautiful statues carved inside the temple. The main hall is built on 24 pillars.All the pillars and the walls are intricately carved. The scenes depicted look magically stunning. The sanctum sanctorum also called ‘garbagriha’ has the Jyotirlinga. In the court there is a gorgeous idol of Nandikeshwara. The idols and statues in this temple are made in different way and have an exclusive look which is not found in any other temple anywhere. One can see the scene of the marriage of the Lord and his wife in the murals and sculptures of the temple. The Grishneshwar temple also houses a well that provides holy water. The open courtyard leads to the Shiva’s residence, as pious and honest as one could imagine. The temple has been constructed in Hemarpanthi style of architecture. Developed around 13th century in Maharashtra, the style finds its indulgence with the minister of Seyona Yadavas of the Devagiri Empire. The temple is built from Basalt rocks, which were settled after volcanic lava. These rocks are considered perfect for carving arts, as they are soft at the time of excavation and cool down rapidly and become hard when get exposed to the climate. These rocks with intricate carvings were used to construct the temple up to half of its height, while specially coated dark textured bricks complete the formation of rest of the temple structure up to its full height. Spread across 250X185 sq ft area and 100 ft 8 inches tall, the pillars and walls of the temple are finely layered with limestone, black urad and bael fruit. All the future threats have been managed at the structural level. The rocks have been interlocked immaculately together displaying the rare architectural excellence of the Yadavas.
The five-tier temple has a Kalasha on the rooftop (Shikhar) followed by a Brahmasutra. The nasal of the temple or the front has carving of Shiva and Parvati seated firmly on a bull. The back has engravings from the Shiva family besides figures of bullock and monkeys. The walls are decorated with stories from Ramayana, Mahabharata and Dashavtara that exhibit the inimitable flair of the artisans of that century. A beautiful sabhamandap (Common Courtyard) stands on 24 beautifully carved stone pillars and ceiling with 64 lotuses add to the archetypal beauty of the temple. The 18X18 sq ft garbha griha or the sanctum sanctorum of the temple is sanctified with the Jyotirlinga Grishneshwar. As one steps down to the garbh griha, effulgence of the Lord who is omnipresent in Bhu, Bhuvah and Swaha, fills the soul with religious fervour. A mere glimpse of the enshrined divya Jyotirlinga in the sanctum sanctorum gratifies one with the luminous aura. Near Jyotirlinga, Parvati resides in white marble. The white halo entangles you to her pure world. The Jyotirlinga is constantly offered Jaldhara from the above depicting holy water from the heaven, emerging from the universal consciousness. The divine energies of the garbha griha binds one strongly with immense faith and determination, dwelling into all your desires, building up to explode in front of Shiva. It is believed that out of the five elements, the temple is significantly associated with agni (the fire) and hence the premises of the temple don’t allow any offering related to the same. There is no havana or offerings related to the fire. The southeast wall of the temple is situated near the temple while the northwest wall is away from the temple near an open courtyard. The pillars of the temple are carved with Panchmukhi Hanuman, Navagraha (Nine planets), Saptamatrikaye (Seven divine mothers), Naagband and other mythological deities.
Festivals
The festival of Mahashivaratri is celebrated in February/March with great pomp and show, its being the main festival here. Thousands of devotees are seen flocking the temple during this festival. The village of Grishneshwar is extremely small and people mainly visit the temple which is the major attraction of the place. In September Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated. Navaratri and Deepavali are celebrated in October/November with a lot of enthusiasm.
The temple timings :- Opens 5.30 am - 9.30 pm; during Shravan (Aug-Sep): 3 am - 11 pm
GLIMPSES OF OUR HERITAGE – KASHI VISHWANATH JYOTIRLINGA
Meaning:
Whatever sins have been committed by actions performed by my hands and feet, produced by my speech and body, or my works, produced my ears and eyes, or sins committed by my mind (i.e. thoughts), while performing actions which are prescribed (i.e. duties prescribed by the traditions or allotted duties in one's position in life), as well as all other actions which are not explicitly prescribed (i.e. actions done by self-judgement, by mere habit, without much thinking, unknowingly etc); please forgive them all,
victory, victory to you, Sri Mahadeva Shambho, I surrender to you, you are an ocean of compassion.
Importance
The Kashi Vishwanath Jyotirlinga temple, located in Varanasi on the western bank of the holy river Ganga is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas and is Indian heritage place for pilgrims for its cultural traditions, religious fervour and spiritual values. Vishwanatha or Vishveshvara means “Ruler of the Universe”. The shrine attracts devotees not only from India but also from the world over. There are some interesting beliefs about the temple. In Hindu religion, it is believed that a simple glimpse of the Vishwanath Jyotirlinga is a soul-cleansing experience, that transforms life and puts it on the path of knowledge and devotion. It is believed that devotees chanting the mantra in praise of Vishwanath attain Moksha (salvation) and those who live in Kashi get Aarth (meaning of life), Dharma (righteousness), Karma (ability to act freely) and Moksha (salvation). Varanasi or Benares or Kashi is known to be one of the oldest cities – “older than Time”, as Mark Twain said. Some also consider it the spiritual capital of India, with around 23,000 temples, mosques and synagogues. It is also the city that has re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to office.
The iconographic form of Lord Shiva, the Lingam, represents the unity of the three states of the universe – Srishti (Evolution), Stithi (Existence) and Samhara (disolution) which work in a cyclic process of infinity. All these states are controlled by the Trinity which comprise of Brahma-The Creator, Vishnu-The Preserver and Shiva-The Destroyer.
Around the temple there is a cluster of five lingas which is called as Nilakantheshvar temple. There are various small temples such as the Vinayaka, Kaalbhairav, Avimukteshwara, Vishnu, and Virupaksh Gauri located in the main campus of the temple. The temple has an inner sanctum sanctorum that comprises of a linga made up of black stone placed in a silver altar. The temple has a golden wish fulfilling chatra on top. It is also believed that when the earth was created the first ray of light fell on Kashi. There are legends that Shiva had actually stayed here for some time. Shiva is supposed to be the guardian of the city and its people. It is said that Shani was supposed to have come to Kashi in search of Shiva and could not enter the temple for seven and half years. One can see the Shani temple outside the Vishwanath temple. Many great Hindu saints like Adi Sankaracharya, Goswami Tulsidas, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Sathya Sai Baba and Guru Nanak have visited the temple.
Legend
As per Shiva Purana, once Brahma and Vishnu had an argument in terms of supremacy of creation. To test them, Shiva pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the Jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma split their ways to downwards and upwards respectively to find the end of the light in either direction. Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded his defeat. Shiva appeared as a second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have no place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshiped till the end of eternity. The Jyotirlinga is the supreme reality. There are 64 forms of Shiva, not to be confused with Jyotirlingas. Each of the twelve Jyothirlinga sites take the name of the presiding deity - each considered different manifestation of Shiva. At all these sites, the primary image is lingam representing the beginning less and endless pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva.
Mythology
Lord Shiva himself has declared this spot as his Royal residence. The mother of Goddess Parvati felt ashamed that her son-in-law had no decent dwelling. To please Parvati Devi, Shiva asked Nikumbha to provide him with a dwelling place at Kashi. On the request of Nikumbha, Aunikumbha a Brahmin made Divodas construct a temple for the Lord here. The pleased Lord granted boons to all his devotees. But Divodas was not blessed with a son. Angry Divodas demolished the structure. Nikumbha cursed that the area would be devoid of people. Listening to the pledges of the repenting divodas, Lord Siva once again took residence here permanently. The Lord along with Parvati Devi once again started blessing his devotees with wonderful boons. Parvati Devi was so pleased that she offered food (annam) to one and all and hence is worshipped as Annapoorani. The Lord himself is seen with a bowl in his hands asking for annam from the seated Devi at the Devis shrine adjacent to Viswanathas shrine. This is considered to be one of the 52 Sakthipeedams (the place where Parvathi’s left hand fell, when her corpse was cut by Mahavishnus sudarshana chakram).
History of the Kashi Vishwanath temple (built, razed, rebuilt, razed, rebuilt…)
The city of Varanasi finds mention in the great Indian epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Kashi town is considered as the oldest living city as cited by ancient Sanskrit literature for its 3500-year history. The Vishwanath temple is said to be existing for thousands of years and it finds mention in many Hindu Puranas like Garuda Purana and Siva, Skanda Puranas. The first Jyotirlinga is said to have been appeared out of the earth’s crust here and flared towards heavens in the form of a huge column of Agni (fire) as Shiva manifested his supremacy. So the city of Kashi finds a very special place and it is an emotional attachment and sentiment to millions of Hindus across the world.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple has stood the test of time and politics. It’s tough to date it, but the temple finds a mention in the “puranas”. The temple was constructed by the Hari Chandra in the 11th century. The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE, when he defeated the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori. The temple was rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Delhi's Sultan Iltutmish. It was demolished again during the rule of Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447-1458) and Sikandar Lodhi(1489-1517). Raja Man Singh built the temple during Akbar's rule, but orthodox Hindus boycotted it as he had let the Mughals marry within his family. Raja Todar Mal further re-built the temple with Akbar's funding at its original site in 1585. In 1669, Aurangzeb destroyed the temple and built a mosque in its place. The remains of the erstwhile temple can be seen in the rear part of the mosque. A few decades later, the temple was razed again, this time by Aurangzeb, who built the Gyanvapi Mosque. Located within the temple is a small well called the Jnana Vapi (or Gyanvapi). It is said that the priest of the temple jumped in the well with the Shiva Linga to protect it from invaders. What can be confirmed though is that at least part of the premises of the original temple was incorporated into the mosque. Some claim that the former temple can still be seen in the foundation, columns and rear parts of the mosque. In 1742, the Maratha ruler Holkar made a plan to demolish the mosque and reconstruct Vishwanath temple at the site. However, his plan did not materialize due to intervention by the Nawabs of Lucknow. Around 1750, the Maharaja of Jaipur commissioned a survey of the land around the site, with the objective of purchasing land to rebuild the temple which did not materialize. In 1780, Malhar Rao's daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar constructed the present temple adjacent to the mosque. In 1828, Baiza Bai, widow of the Maratha ruler Daulat Rao Scindhia, built a low-roofed colonnade with over 40 pillars in the Gyanvapi precinct. During 1833-1840, the boundary of Gyanvapi Well, the ghats and other nearby temples were constructed. A 7-feet high stone statue of Nandi was gifted by the Raja of Nepal. Many noble families from various kingdoms of Indian subcontinent made generous contributions. The present temple was built on an adjacent site by Maratha ruler Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore in 1780. Kashi Vishwanath is also known as the Golden Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The gold used to cover two domes of the temple was donated by Punjab ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In 1841, the Bhosales of Nagpur donated silver to the temple. In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh donated one tonne of gold for plating the temple's dome. The temple was managed by a hereditary group of mahantas.In 1698, Bishan Singh, the ruler of Amber, launched an initiative to build the Vishwanath temple. His agents surveyed the surrounding land, and detailed various claims and controversies on the topic. His court purchased the land around the Gyanvapi precinct, but was unable to rebuild the temple.
In 1742, the Maratha ruler Malhar Rao Holkar made a plan to demolish the mosque and reconstruct Vishweshwar temple at the site. However, his plan did not materialize, partially because of intervention by the Nawabs of Lucknow, who controlled the territory. Later, in 1780, his daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar constructed the present Kashi Vishwanath Temple adjacent to the mosque.[11]
The mosque is named after a well, the Gyan Vapi ("the well of knowledge"), which is located within the mosque precincts. The legends mentioned by the Hindu priests’ state that the lingam of the original temple was hidden in this well, when the temple was destroyed.
During the British period, the Gyan Vapi well was a regular destination on the Hindu pilgrimage routes in the city. Reginald Heber, who visited the site in 1824, mentioned that the water of the Gyan Vapi — brought by a subterraneous channel of the Ganges — was considered holier than the Ganges itself by the Hindus. M. A. Sherring, in his 1868 book The Sacred City of the Hindus, mentioned that people visited the Gyan Vapi "in multitudes", and threw in offerings that had polluted the well.] Greaves (1909) mentioned that a Brahmin (Hindu priest) sat at a stone screen surrounding the Gyan Vapi. The worshippers would come to the well, and receive sacred water from the priest.
During the Hindu-Muslim riot of 1809, a Muslim mob killed a cow (sacred to Hindus) on the spot, and spread its blood into the sacred water of the well. In retaliation, the Hindus threw rashers of bacon (haram to Muslims) into windows of several mosques. Subsequently, both the parties took to arms, resulting in several deaths, before the British administration quelled the riot. In 1828, Baiza Bai, widow of the Maratha ruler Daulat Rao Scindhia of Gwalior State, constructed a colonnade in the Gyan Vapi precinct. Sherring (1868) mentioned that the well was surrounded by this low-roofed colonnade, which had over 40 stone pillars, organized in 4 rows. To the east of the colonnade, there was a 7-feet high stone statue of Nandi bull, gifted by the Raja of Nepal. To further east, there was a temple dedicated to Shiva, sponsored by the Rani of Hyderabad. On the south side of the colonnade, there were two small shrines (one stone and the other marble), enclosed by an iron palisade. In this courtyard, about 150 yards from the mosque, there was a 60-feet high temple, claimed to be "Adi-Bisheswar", anterior to the original Kashi Vishwanath temple. M. A. Sherring (1868), described the mosque (minus the temple remnants) as plain, with few carvings. Its walls were "besmeared with a dirty white-wash, mixed with a little colouring matter." Sherring mentioned that the Hindus unwillingly allowed the Muslims to retain the mosque, but claimed the courtyard and the wall. The Muslims had to use the side entrance, because the Hindus would not allow them to use the front entrance through the courtyard. Sherring also described a large collection of statues of Hindu gods, called "the court of Mahadeva" by the locals. According to him, the statues were not modern, and were probably taken "from the ruins of the old temple of Bisheswar". He also wrote that the Muslims had built a gateway in the midst of the platform in front of the mosque, but were not allowed to use it by the Hindus. Violence was prevented by the intervention of the Magistrate of Benares. Sherring further stated that the Hindus worshipped a peepal tree that over hanged the gateway, and the Hindus did not allow Muslims to "pluck a single leaf from it." Edwin Greaves (1909) [Edwin Greaves, Kashi the city illustrious, or Benares, 1909]stated that the mosque was "not greatly used", but had always been an "eyesore" to the Hindus. Greaves also mentioned the colonnade and the bull statue, stating that the statue was highly venerated and "freely worshipped". Close to this statue, there was a temple dedicated to Gauri Shankar Shiva and Parvati). Greaves further wrote that there were "one or two other small temples" in the same open space, and there was a large Ganesha statue placed near the well. Christian missionary Edwin Greaves of the London Missionary Society, described the site as follows:
“At the back of the mosque and in continuation of it are some broken remains of what was probably the old Bishwanath Temple. It must have been a right noble building ; there is nothing finer, in the way of architecture in the whole city, than this scrap. A few pillars inside the mosque appear to be very old also.”
Structures
The temple complex consists of a series of smaller shrines, located near the river. The lingam of the main deity at the shrine is 60 cm tall and 90 cm in circumference housed in a silver altar. The main temple is quadrangle and is surrounded by other shrines. The Vishwanatha temple consists of a mandapa and a sanctum. Inside the sanctum a linga is set into the centre of the floor in a square silver altar. The Linga is of black stone. Though the interior of the temple is not large and elaborate it presents the peaceful atmosphere ideal for worship.There are small temples for various deities in the complex. There is a small well in the temple called the JnanaVapi - the wisdom well. It is believed that the Jyotirlinga was hidden in the well to protect the Jyotirlinga from invaders. The façade is modelled partially on the Taj Mahal's entrance. The remains of the erstwhile temple can be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque. A temple structure can be seen at the mosque's rear wall, long believed to be a remnant of the original Kashi Vishwanath temple. In 1822, James Prinsep [Temple of Vishveshwur, Benares by James Prinsep] captioned an illustration of the rear wall as "temple of Vishveshvur" in his Benares Illustrated. The Hindus worshiped the plinth of the mosque as the plinth of the old Kashi Vishwanath temple. M. A. Sherring (1868) wrote that the "extensive remains" of the temple destroyed by Aurangzeb were still visible, forming "a large portion of the western wall" of the mosque. He mentioned that the remnant structure also had Jain and Buddhist elements, besides the Hindu ones.
The Kashi Vishwanath Corridor is a dream project of Prime Minister that is being constructed under the supervision of UP Chief Minister. The project, whose foundation was laid by the Prime Minister in 2019, is likely to be completed by August 2021.
Festivals:-
Many festivals are celebrated in Kasi Viswanath temple throughout the year. Few important are as follows:- (1) Mahasivaratri is celebrated with great spiritualism on the 6th night of the dark period of Phalgun (Feb or March) every year when devotees observe fast and keep vigil all night.(2) Rangbhari or Aamlaki Ekadasi:-Once, in the month of Phalguna (February - March), the holy fast of Amalakii Ekadasii arrives. Amalakii is offspring of Brahma, who can destroy all kinds of sinful reactions. (3)Shrawan Maah is highly auspicious month for lord Shiva devotees. Special decoration is done on every Monday of the month. (4)Makar Shakranti is celebrated not only in the temple but also throughout the country in varied cultural forms. It is celebrated in Tamil Nadu as Pongal, in Punjab as Lohri and Maghi and eastern part as Sankranti. Gujarati's not only worship the sun, but also offer their colourful oblations flying beautiful kites in the sky. (5)Akshya Tritiiya is considered one of the four most auspicious days of the Vedic Calendar. It is the third day of the new moon of Vaishakh month (April-May).
Dr. Ramesh Chandra Panda is a retired Civil Servant and former Judge in the Central Administrative Tribunal. He belongs to the 1972 batch of IAS in Tamil Nadu Cadre where he held many important assignments including long spells heading the departments of Education, Agriculture and Rural Development. He retired from the Government of India as Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in 2008 and worked in CAT Principal Bench in Delhi for the next five years. He is the Founder MD of OMFED. He had earned an excellent reputation as an efficient and result oriented officer during his illustrious career in civil service.
Dr. Panda lives in Bhubaneswar. A Ph. D. in Economics, he spends his time in scholarly pursuits, particularly in the fields of Spiritualism and Indian Cultural Heritage. He is a regular contributor to the Odia magazine Saswata Bharat and the English paper Economic and Political Daily.
TRUTHS AND CONTRA-TRUTHS: SONGS AND CONTRA-SONGS
(I was a regular follower of LV and also used to give detailed comments on short stories. This is a wonderful initiative by my friend Mrutyunjay Sarangi. I am by no means a ‘writer’, but Mrutyunjay insisted that I send him some articles – perhaps he had read some of my random jottings. I was hesitant but he still published some of my write-ups, which really did not belong to LV. Then I found myself neck-deep in some other commitments, and I just could not squeeze time to go through LV. I have been off LV for quite some time and I feel guilty about it. Therefore, when I got a personal mail from Mrutyunjay for contributing to the Centenary issue of LV, I felt quite awkward and I told him frankly that I do not consider my writings worthy of LV Centenary issue. This article is modified from the one that appeared on my blog a few months ago. – Anil K Upadhyay)
When Peter Drucker wrote in 1986 that the world economy is not changing, it has already changed, “We are living in a changed world” became a fashionable jargon. His assertion was open to question, but Corona has changed the world in a very fundamental way. Someone said that in the human history whenever mankind faced a major crisis, it came together to save itself, but today is a crisis when we have to stay apart to save the world.
We were patting ourselves on our luck that we have been spared the second or the third wave as the weekly number of new cases was sharply declining. But as I write this UK, Europe and some other countries are suddenly finding themselves under the grip of a new strain of the virus which is ‘uncontrollable’. These countries are now imposing the harshest Lockdown ever. In an interconnected world, we have been jolted into calling emergency meetings and ringfencing UK from the outside world. Would it really be ever back to the normal? It is already being said that we have to brace for a ‘New Normal’, and we can feel it within ourselves.
WhatsApp has spawned a set of appropriate songs for these days, striking out the old favourites, such as Mujhko apne gale laga le O mere hamrahi, Chhoo lene do nazuk hothon ko, Jumma chumma de de, and replacing these by Corona-compliant songs like Teri duniya se door chale ho ke majboor, Chalo ek baar phir se ajanabi ban jayein hum dono etc.
All through our civilisation there have been truths and contra-truths, i.e. exact opposites which were also truths. Was Vibhishan righteous or treacherous? Every sovereign state has a right to have a National Register of Citizens; but no, NRC is a vicious, divisive step, it must be withdrawn. CAA is a benign legislation to give relief to a class of persecuted minorities in some of our neighbouring countries; no, it is a pernicious legislation. It is unconstitutional; no, it is perfectly constitutional. And finally, prolonged lockdown at the early stages was the only way to contain the virus; no, it destroyed the economy and made millions jobless.
We are living in an extremely polarised world today. You are either a ‘Modi-bhakt’ or a ‘Left liberal pseudo-secularist’. Biden’s win represents people’s will, it will restore America’s soul. No, Trump has won the election, it has been stolen from him by fraud. (This crazy rant is believed by 60 million Americans.) Brexit will be a boon for the UK; Brexit will bring doom to the UK. Harry-Meghan have disgraced monarchy; Harry-Meghan have shown mirror to the hypocrisy of the monarchy.
Only a small part of the epic Mahabharata of over a hundred thousand verses is the linear story of Kauravas and Pandavas and their great battle. A large part of the epic is hundreds of tributary stories which tell either the backstory and reasoning for some happening, or some allegorical story narrated to illustrate some moral lesson. Because of the sheer scale of the epic, you find contradictory lessons, and you have to have the intelligence to relate it to the facts of the situation. Likewise, since we have songs that can fit any situation, we can find songs of polar extremes.
Such contradictions are perhaps an integral part of any society. This dilemma is reflected in our proverbs, too, which are aphorisms containing some fundamental truth. Since there are proverbs to suit every situation, there are a large number of contradictory pair of proverbs enunciating opposite truths. Such as, you are never too old to learn, but you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It is important to do a thing well, or none at all, but half a loaf is better than none. The bigger the better, but someone has said, small is beautiful. Clothes make the man, but we should not judge a book by its cover. You must look before you leap because haste makes waste, but remember time and tide wait for none, and you must strike while the iron is hot. Great men think alike, but fools seldom differ. If knowledge is power, how can ignorance be bliss?
This must be one of the most popular conflicts in Hindi films. If ‘whatever will be will be’, and no one can erase what is written in one’s destiny, is it really worthwhile doing backbreaking work? But God helps those who help themselves. That is what Lala Kedarnath thought in Waqt (1965). He was proud of what he had achieved and was confident of expanding his business into more prosperity by the dint of his hard work. The astrologer, who must have sponged himself all his life on other peoples’ earnings, warns him of ominous things that might happen. And lo and behold, in the earthquake, the Lala loses his everything, plus his entire family to boot. The film was a great eulogy to destiny: Aage bhi jaane na tu; Waqt ke din aur raat. For some reason taqdeer does not follow the laws of probability in our songs, it almost always brings misery.
1. Taqdeer ka fasana jaakar kise sunaayein, is dil mein jal rahin hain armaan ki chitaayein by Rafi from Sehra (1963), lyrics Hasrat Jaipuri, music Ramlal
2. Tadbeer se bigadi hui taqdeer bana le, apne pe bharosa hai to ye daaon laga le by Geeta Dutt from Baazi (1951), lyrics Sahir Ludhiyanavi, music SD Burman
It takes a seductive club dancer to emphasise the importance of action over destiny.
3. Haathon ki chand lakeeron ka ye khel hai sab taqdeeron ka by Suresh Wadkar and Anwar from Vidhata (1982), lyrics Anand Bakshi, music Kalyanji-Anandji
Our philosophy is ‘Neti neti’ (neither this, nor this), therefore, we have peaceful co-existence of contrary views. Shammi Kapoor believes that everything is just play of the fate, Dilip Kumar debunks it, he is a firm believer in human effort, but this difference does not cause a dent in their friendship.
But there are times when you have to Ekala chalo re. Rabindranath Tagore qualified it for situations when others did not respond to your call, but Ayn Rand, in The Fountainhead, says unambiguously through her protagonist Howard Roark that “Mind is the attribute of the individual, there is no such thing as a collective brain. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. This is an ancient conflict. It has another name: the individual against the collective.” The monologue by Gary Cooper in the court, playing Howard Roark, in the film adaptation of the book is the clearest rebuttal of our philosophy of the individual yielding to the wishes of the collective.
4. Howard Roark’s speech in the courtroom in The Fountainhead (1949)
5. Jodi tor daak shune keu na ashe tobe ekla chalo re by Kishore Kumar, lyrics Rabindranath Tagore
Contrast this with the international humanist Tagore’s invocation for ploughing a lonely furrow, but qualified with “If”. Amitabh Bachchan made it famous by his rendering in the film Kahaani (2012), but Kishore Kumar had sung it beautifully earlier.
6. Saathi haath badhana, ek akela thak jayega by Rafi, Asha Bhosle and chorus from Naya Daur (1957), lyrics Sahir Ludhyanavi, music OP Nayyar
It is obvious that a single person will get tired, therefore, building the road has to be a collective effort, as it has always been in our epics. Can we imaging Lord Ram reaching Lanka without the collective effort of the monkeys to bridge the ocean?
7. Ek chidiya anek chidiya (animated short film) by Bhimsain
The value of the collective has to be instilled from the childhood. This was done by a timeless video played on Doordarshan during its days of glory which was directed by Bhimsain, the animation King.
Forgiveness/Revenge: ‘To turn in the other cheek’/ ’Eye for an eye’
“Turn in the other cheek” can create a serious dilemma, because tolerating injustice is as sinful as the perpetration of injustice. might appear to be an absolute dictum.
Notes
1. Ahimsa paramo dharmah occurs at many places in the epic Mahabharat, but its next part Dharma hinsa tathaiva cha is a hanging line, and is often affixed to the first part as a critique of Gandhi’s non-violence, and as a general endorsement of violence for just causes. To my knowledge the two parts do not appear together anywhere. I have used the spurious information from the Internet for making the point.
2. There are a large number of videos on the YouTube of the dance-drama Shyama, performed by various groups. It is performed to either pre-recorded music or to singing by live singers in the wings. The record by the doyens Hemant Kumar, Kanika Banerjee and others, is most highly regarded. Its commercial CD has been brought out by Saregama India Limited. You can move to its last two minutes for the song #8 I have added. Some enthusiasts have also made Shyama into a film.
3. ‘Corona’ is a generic name for a class of flues known for several years. The current one, which has caused worldwide mayhem, has a longish technical name, but I have used the word in common usage to refer to the current pandemic.
4. ‘Same Sex Love in India’ was published first in the year 2000 by St Martin’s Press. Its revised edition was published in 2008 by Penguin India. This book has been cited in the Supreme Court judgement dated 6 September 2018 on Section 377 of the IPC. Incidentally, the book mentions that Vatsyayan gives an important place to friendship in Kamsutra, and the women categorised as avoidable by a man include, among others, his own female friend. So Mehboob Khan was, after all, enunciating ancient wisdom 
.
Disclaimer/Acknowledgement
1. At places I have been irreverent in my writing, in a light-hearted way. No disrespect is meant to anyone, least of all to the very respected ladies. Nevertheless, I sincerely apologise if anyone feels offended.
2. The song links have been embedded from the YouTube only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. This writer and Literary Vibes do not claim any copyright over these which rests with respective owners like Saregama India Limited and others.
Anil K Upadhyay is a retired IAS officer. He has wide-ranging interests in music, literature, sports and current affairs. He writes a well-acclaimed blog www.songsofyore.com, devoted to old Hindi film music. This article is slightly modified from an article earlier published on the blog Songs Of Yore.
(A Majestic View of the Grand Canyon)
Grand Canyon had always been a dream destination for me. Ultimately my dream to witness this wonder on earth materialised as we planned a trip to the Grand Canyon. It was the month of August, the last leg of summer. We boarded an early morning flight from Chicago and after 3 hours we landed at Las Vegas, Nevada, for a day’s break. It was around 10 AM in the morning and we were on our way to MGM Grand Hotel.
The Lobby of MGM Grand Hotel
The stay at the Hotel was fabulous. We wanted to take full advantage of our short stay and quickly checked in to start for a quick walk through hotel complex. The blistering heat outside (41ºCelsius) prevented us from venturing onto the Las Vegas Strip, the 6.8 kilo meter boulevard so famous for the sprawling resort hotels and casinos. However, a walk through the interior route that passes through the most famous resort hotels and casinos was a greater attraction.
The Casinos were bubbling with activities. Swarms of revellers and tourists were all around in the casinos although the peak hours come late in the evening.
The Casino area
Every bit of the passage we covered unravelled spectacular beauty of manmade splendour. We moved from MGM Grand Hotel to the Venetian Hotel, which presented a recreation of Venice. The skyline was so real that we almost lost sense of the time. There was the Venetian canal, the Gondolas and the Gondoliers singing Barcarolle.
Venice Recreated with Gondola and the Gondolier
The exquisite paintings on the roof.
Then there was the Caesars Palace, a hotel with lavish facilities for the guests to experience the luxury of the Roman era. A twenty feet tall statue of Augustus Caesar at the entrance besides other statues, columns and iconography are major attractions apart from the ambience.
Caesars Palace
The Bellagio and the Mirage are the next hotels in the manmade paradise.
Flower Garden at Bellagio Hotel
As we approached Bellagio we were almost starving and it was time for a sumptuous Buffet. We then gathered the courage to get a feel of the heat on the strip.
We hurried into the Walgreens to fetch some bottled coconut water and that kept us going for a while. A stop over at Numb, the famous pub on the strip was alluring. Frozen Margarita (Margarita on slush) with specific flavour was our elixir for the day. After sampling through the different combinations I settled for the mango flavour. We carried the drink with us as we started rushing back to our room. It was quite a challenge to wade through the strip as the heat was piercing through the skin. I had developed a mild headache and fell like a log on the cosy bed as soon as we entered our room. A two hour sleep smothered the frayed nerves.
It was time to get ready for our next event – KA by Cirque Du Soleil at MGM. It was the epic tale of twins on a perilous journey to fulfil their shared destiny. A masterpiece in storytelling, this ultra lavish production features mind-bending acrobatics, fierce martial arts, blazing pyrotechnics and jaw-dropping aerial adventures. The show was really fabulous and kept us at the edge of our seats all through. Few days before, we were told, a girl performer accidentally slipped off from the height and was found dead. The show had to be called off for few days. To our good luck the show had resumed after the break.
After a one and half hour of thrilling entertainment at the theatre, we could feel the rumbling in our stomach. The next destination was Stratosphere, the famed revolving restaurant of Las Vegas. The restaurant on 107th floor offered a majestic view of the city and the surrounding. The food was great. Lamb, roasted Chicken, mashed potatoes with some choicest drink kept us busy as we revolved to get a 360°view of the city.
At the entrance of Stratosphere.
We were regaled by a friendly waiter at the top of the world restaurant. After a warm welcome he broke into a conversation as we ordered our food. He narrated he episode of the great real estate crash of 2008. A friend of his, he went on, was into real estate business and before 2008 had invested huge amount in construction of thousands of apartments. He went broke as occupancy fell to 30% after the crash. He also narrated the story of one of the owners of a Hotel on the Strip – just to give us a feel of how filthy rich some people are in Las Vegas. The person constructed a residential Villa for himself. He ordered for a quartz floor from the only company providing such floors. The company quoted for the order but with a stretched time schedule since there was a long list of pending orders. Pretty annoyed and with no patience to wait, he purchased the company and the floor was laid on priority.
Magnificent aerial view of the city from Stratosphere
It was quite late when we were back in our hotel room. It was past midnight and we took no time to hit the sack.
We had to get ready early next morning. Next part of the travel was planned by road to the Grand Canyon. We had our last munch at MGM – a big bowel of Yoghurt and Hazelnut Granola at Avenue 24 Bar and Grill. We then bid good bye to MGM Grand, carrying with us the memory of a regal experience.
We took a cab to Car Hire Point. We passed by the Les Vegas Airport and reached the Car Rental area. We chose a Toyota Camry Luxury car for our travel. Soon we were on our track as we hit the highway. Driving through the desert was a new experience for us. On both sides of the road there were long stretches of arid land interspersed with bushes of Cactus. It was like a typical scene from a western movie. After continuing through Nevada we had a brief stop at Hoover Dam – An engineering marvel of the time. Located at the border of the state of Nevada and Arizona, the concrete arch-gravity Dam was built on the Black Canyon of Colorado river.
The Hoover Dam on Colorado River
The Dam attracts large number of tourists and visitors every year. Although the mercury was touching 41°C, we could not resist the temptation to disembark and take a walk over the Dam. After spending around half an hour and clicking some photographs we were back in the car. We entered the state of Arizona as we drove further.
Next we took route 93 to pass by ‘Kingman’ and we moved on to Highway 40, after confirming the route from a gas station. Similar terrain continued - barren landscapes flanking the road on both the sides. There were bald hillocks and occasional cluster of RVs (Recreational Vehicles) at camping sites.
Unending Stretch of Arid Land - Arizona
Trekking in this endless land must be fun. We passed through the boulder city and we could site large number of RVs and campers. Some were carrying their boats.
We drove on. Outside it was boiling hot. We passed by ‘Seligman’, ‘Ashfork’ – small village like settlements.
We touched ‘Willians’ by lunch time. It was like a small roadside inn. We were not really hungry but the Hickary Chicken sandwich prepared with grilled chicken was delicious.
After a light lunch we were back on our track – catching route 64 and heading for Tusayan. At last we reached our destination – Hotel Grand, Grand Canyon.
The surrounding was an interesting settlement with a few stores and some restaurants. We checked into a suit, which was large enough to accommodate two families. It was past 7 PM and time for dinner.
We were soon scouting around for suitable place for trying the region’s delicacies. Located near the southern border of USA, Mexican cuisine is the favoured delicacy in the region. Our pick was ‘Sophie’s Mexican Kitchen’.
Sophie’s Mexican Kitchen
Home-made Horchata– a mild course of Lassi and Chhach - was a drink to savour. Then I opted for ‘Sangria – Red wine with apple, pear and orange. We then retired early to our room to catch up with a good sleep since we needed to preserve our energy for the real excitement of a long and tiring day ahead. The journey had already exhausted us and we hit the sack early.
We woke up late in the next morning in spite of our best efforts to be up and about early. It was almost 9 AM by the time we made it to the Hotel’s Cafeteria for breakfast. There was no room service but it was great to have a place in such a beautiful setting in the midst of the desert.
The Cafeteria at Hotel Grand
Our breakfast was Yoghurt with a topping of fruits. Good to neutralise any acidity. I could not resist the temptation to taste a bit of Bacon, flat sausage, pancake and a spread of syrup. I capped it all with Lemon Wedge water. We were then ready for our great adventure – a journey into the Grand Canyon.
The entry to the Canyon area was quite clogged with visitors trying to make an early start. We visited the tourist centre to collect our passes. Then we had to wait for sometime till our turn came to enter the area.
Grand Canyon Visitors’ Centre
We drove on to the Visitors’ centre and collected information and guidance to make our way around the Southern Rim. We took the Shuttle service which was basically a hop in and hop out facility.
The Bus Stop – Bustling with Tourists.
First we took the Hermit’s Rest Route after reaching the Hermit’s Rest route transfer through the village route bus. We covered the trail view overlook, Maricopa Point, Powell Point, Hopi Point, then the Prima Point and lastly the Hermit’s Rest.
Each of the points unfolded stunning views of the Colorado River cutting across the gorge of the Grand Canyon. The visitors were exploring every angle and the cameras were busy with non-stop clicking. We set on a short trek. But the heat was unbearable and the sun was too scorching for us to continue our trek. We decided to get on the shuttle service as soon as we caught sight of one.
The Grand Canyon is spread over an area, 446 kilometres long, 29 kilometres wide and it reaches a depth of around 1.6 kilometres. Visually it is overwhelming in size with intricate and colourful landscape. The thick sequence of ancient rocks that is well preserved and exposed on the walls of the Canyon make it geologically significant.
It was almost 4PM by the time we covered Hermit’s Rest. We were almost overtaken by hunger. We took the Hermit’s Rest route transfer and boarded the village route shuttle to reach the market place in the Grand Canyon village. We settled for a modest restaurant looking for a light late lunch just to keep the hunger at bay. Frozen Yoghurt, Croissant and crème cheese were the choice. Soon we were on our way to the Grand Canyon Visitors’ Centre. We now opted for the Kaibab Route shuttle – straight to South Kaibab Trail Head.
Colorado River Cutting through the Canyon
We could view the Grand Canyon gloriously spreading its wings over an expanse of unique landscape. After a short photo session we were at Yaki point as our excitement reaching a new high. The view was breathtaking and we along with other groups of visitors waited there to have glimpse of the sun set.
We were probably not fortunate enough to get a view of the sunset but what surprised us was a quick build up of the monsoon cloud, which started surrounding us from all direction.
Lucky Sighting of a Vulture of Grand Canyon
Thunder storm started hitting the canyon and we were treated to a fabulous celestial event. All were queuing up to catch a glimpse of the lightening striking the valley below. We had a bit of success but not to our full satisfaction.
A Pan View of the Thunder Cloud Touching the Valley
Splendid Spectacle – Lightning striking the Valley
We were lucky to catch the shuttle service before the thunder advanced to our location. We were advised not to venture into the open when the thunders approach. The statistics of death in lightning strike in the canyon area is quite alarming. By 7 PM, we were back at the car park.
On the way back to the Hotel we were lucky to sight an Elk and some antelopes. As we entered the car we were greeted with a very heavy downpour and the hailstones lashing against the car’s roof. Soon we were back at the Grand Hotel and were sipping sparkling wine to wash out the day’s fatigue.
Then it was time for the dinner and bed. Our dinner was at Plaza Bonita – a family Mexican Restaurant. Chateau Diana and Sparkling wine assuaged the tired limbs. This was followed by a drink of Rosario Margarita, Assoz Pollo (Chicken), Tres Amigos and Prawn.
Early next morning we planned to make up for the lost opportunity of missing the sunset view. We were all ready to defy the morning chill and to have a grand view of the sunrise at Grand Canyon. By the time we made it to the sunrise point there were groups of tourists already there waiting for the sunrise. We did not expect chill to be as severe, in contrast to the unbearable heat of the daytime. We were almost shivering as the first ray of the sun washed the valley with an astounding golden hue.
Our date with the Grand Canyon came to a close as we embarked on our return journey, which was rather sober and eventless. We tried to recapitulate the exhilarating experience of our visit to two different locations. The man made wonder with a fabulous display of opulence as in Vegas stood in contrast with the unique spectacle of nature – the Grand Canyon carved over thousands of years as the Colorado river cut through layers and layers of rocks. The load of unforgettable memory occupied our mind as we returned to Chicago.
Debjit Rath retired as Executive Director of Steel Authority of India Limited. Specialised in the skills of communication his motto is to serve the community, live and let live. To him the essence of life is to spread the message of love and kindness. To him every day spent on earth is memorable and has a meaning ordained by destiny.
SRI CHAITANYA’S FOOTPRINTS: RETRACING ON THE SANDS OF JAGANNATH SADAK.
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“A commemorative Padayatra, in a symbolic manner with 500 members of Gaudiya Mission representing the past 500 years, was organized by the Mahanta Maharaj Of Gaud Batika Matha Puri On 15.10.2010, in collaboration with their counterparts at Brindavan to celebrate the historic pilgrimage of Sri Chaitanya Mah?prabhu ,from Jagannath Puri to Nidhivan- Brindavan in 1510 CE ,five hundred years ago. The Padayatra was routed through the Jhari Khanda path on which Sri Chaitanya travelled from Jagannath Puri to Sri Brindavan a distance of 1196 KM -a walking Of 290 hours in 41 days. On their route the padayatris were received, at places where Sri Chaitanya Mah?prabhu was believed to have halted, with gala ceremony. At Brindavan, mammoth rangolies were designed and a rousing and grand ceremony was held on the concluding day of Padayatra to felicitate the padayatris. The Padayatris were ceremonially received on the concluding day on 27.11.2010 by the Mahanta Maharaj Of Gaud Batika Of Puri Sri Subal Krishna Das in the august presence of the Honourable President Of India, Governor and the Chief Minister Of Uttar Pradesh who paid glowing tributes extolling the divine contributions of Lord Sri Chaitanya showing the enchanting and enduring Bhakti marga to the mankind”
Srikshetra Puri ,the seat of Lord of the Universe- Sri Jagannath , has been regarded as a sacred place (Tirtha) since the dawn of civilization. Besides a pilgrimage, Puri is one of the four divine abodes (Dham) (others being Badrinath,Dwaraka and Rameswarm) of India marked with sanctity. Srikshetra Jagannath Puri has been considered a major Pilgrimage Centre in India from 9th century onwards as the temple of Sri Jagannath was rebuilt on the site of an earlier temple built by Somavamshi King Jajati Keshari, who acting on the direction of Adi Shankaracharya, retrieved after a gap of 144 years, the deities from Sonepur Gopally, where they had been hidden underground (Patali) to escape from the wrath of Yavan invader Rakta Bahu. The Adi Shankaracharya also consecrated the renewed murtis in the Shreemandir with the help of Daitas and Patis, the descendents of the Tribal chieftain Viswabasu, who originally had worshipped Jagannath (Nilamadhab) as mentioned in ‘Madala Panji – (Temple Chronicle being maintained continuously). During the Eastern Ganga period the construction of present temple began by King Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva and completed by his son King Anangabhima Deva II in the 12thcentury and the temple city was connected with different regions by roads. During the reign of king Anangabhima III Sri Jagannath was declared the Sovereign and official state deity of the Ganga empire and the king as a servitor. This tradition was endorsed by the Suryavamshi emperor Kapilendra Deva, who had been credited with erecting the impregnable Meghanada Prachira for the safety of the deities, ensconced in the sanctum sanctorum of Shreemandir, from external aggression and starting the Sunavesa rituals of the deities - Balabhadra, Subhadra and Jagannath, five times in a year.
From time immemorial one of the basic beliefs of the devout Hindus, is that they must visit Srikshetra Puri, the holiest place among all holy places, once in life time. In accordance with this practice and inspired by his mother Sachi Devi, a young 24 year old (born on 18.2.1486) mystic Vishwamber Mishra, Sri Chaitanya, came to Puri, in search pf divine ecstasy, from Nabadwip in the year 1510 CE following a route called Jagannath Sadak from Jagannath Ghat on the south bank of river Hooghly to Jagannath Puri. Sri Chaitanya, accompanied by few of his ardent followers and friends, travelled through Chandrakanta, Tamluk, Belda, Dantan, Balesore, oRemuna ,Bhadrak, Jajapur ,Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Pipili ,Chandanpur and finally arrived at the divine destination-Sri Purshottam Puri. During the course of pilgrimage, countless men and women joined and recited - “Haribol” inching towards Puri day and night for almost a month’s time to step on the sacred sands (saradha bali) of Badadanda of Puri to pay their obeisance at the lotus feet of the Lord of the Universe: Sri Jagannath. On arrival at Puri dham, when Sri Chaitanya first entered the Srimandir, he became at once saturated with transcendental ecstasy and cherished to remain in high divine destination unto his last. Sri Chaitanya sojourned in Puri for a period of twenty four years, out of which almost initial 6 years, he was on pilgrimage to Rameswaram and Brindavan . After a brief stay at Jagannath Puri, he embarked upon his pilgrimage travelling extensively to Rameswaram in South and then to Brindavan in North India, propagating the message of ‘Prem Bhakti'. He is also said to have achieved major intellectual success in converting intellectual giants of his time such as Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya and Prakashananda Saraswati to his devotional understanding of Vedanta. He spent 18 years at Jagannath Puri in the company of some of His intimate associates, such as Svarupa Damodar and Ray Ramananda.
The climax of Vaishnavism in Orissa reached its pinnacle in the 16th century with the advent of Sri Chaitanya, whose long stay at Puri brought a miraculous change in the religious life of the people. During his sojourn at Jagannath Puri, he mostly stayed in the garden house (Gamvira) of Pandita Kashi Mishra and spent quality times under a Bakul tree, which is still alive and being worshipped as sacred pitha - Siddha Bakul and now developed into a great Matha known as Sri Radhakrushna Matha, located in Balisahi area near the sea beach. When Sri Chaitanya was travelling in South India, Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya held a series of talks with Gajapati King Pratapruda Deva who was mentally perturbed due to series of defeats and humiliation at the hands of Vijayanagar King Krishnadevray. Even the Vijayanagar army headed by their King invaded the Kalingan territory and drove up to Cuttack and captured the capital and burnt the city and took one of the queens into captivity, when the Gajapati was fighting with the Muslim army of Bengal Sultan Alaudin Hussain Saha and drove him up to fort of Mandaran. The death of his valiant son Virabhadra in the battle with the Vijayanagar army and miserable fate of his queen compounded his misery. In the year 1519 a treaty was signed between Gajapati King and Vijayanagar King Krishnadevaray in order to ensure peace. The princess of Kalinga Jagamohini (Tuka) was offered in marriage to the old king Krushnadevaray as a condition of peace treaty; consequently the Gajapati King was demoralized and in search of mental peace. The Gajapati King requested Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya to arrange an interview with Sri Chaitanya. Accordingly, Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya arranged a meeting when Sri Chaitanya returned to Jagannath Puri from his pilgrimage. King Prataprudra Deva, after meeting Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was enchanted by the teachings of Sri Chaitanya and found panacea in Vaishnavism and became an ardent follower of the Lord. The Gajapati King spent the last 20 years of his life, taking keen interest in the Bhakti movement propagated by Sri Chaitanya and the Odia Panchasakshas who were influenced by Sri Chaitanya. The Gajapati evinced less interest in maintaining the military tradition of the invincible Gajapati army which was at the zenith of Kalingan pride since the time of his grandfather Maharaja Kapilendradeva who had assumed the title “Gajapati Goudeswar Navakoti Karnataka Kalabargeswara" by conquering all these territories. The military prowess of the Gajapati army was in decline, where as the peripheral rulers of Vijayanagar, Bahamani and Bengal Sultanate were consolidating their empire and strengthening their respective armies. The Bhakti movement of Sri Chaitanya with the active involvement of the Gajapati King Prataprudra Deva and his Minister Ramananda Ray were attributed for the reduction of militarism of Odia paikas and decline of Gajapati invincibility and prowess.
During his stay at the home of Kashi Mishra, Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya introduced many Vaishnavas to Sri Chaitanya Mah?prabhu. The father of Ray Ramananda, Bhavananda Ray, offered his second son named Vaninatha Pattanayak for the Lord's service. On receiving the message of Sri Chaitanya‘s return to Jagannath Puri, all devotees Of Nabadwip began their journey following the route once traversed by the Lord to come to Puri. Another follower, Purushottama Bhattacharya a resident of Nabadwip, who was educated at Varanasi also came to Puri accepting the renounced order from Sri Chaitanya and took a new name - Svarupa. He dedicated his life at the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mah?prabhu. Also came Gobinda, the disciple of Sri Iswar Puri a great Vaishnavite saint following his guru’s instruction, after the demise of his guru and was received respectfully by Sri Chaitanya and was advised to give up deerskin clothing and to put on coarse clothes. Devotees from many different areas came to see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and they were like many rivers that come from many places to finally flow into the ocean.
During early part of sixteenth Century under the royal patronage of Gajapati King Prataparudra Deva, whose rule covered 43 years (1497-1540), the Utkaliya Panchasakhas were very active in propagating and advancing “Bhakti movement". During that period, the religious history of Odisha particularly the Jagannath Cult reached its high watermark with the advent of Sri Chaitanya at Srikshetra Puri and preaching of Sri Chaitanya, known as Gouranga. Sri Krishnadas Kaviraj in his magnum opus ‘Chaitanya Charitamrita’ mentions - Sri Chaitanya having ‘Darshan of the Lord in Gundicha Yatra for the first time, beheld Sri Jagannath as Sri Krishna'. He was a front line figure in the Prema Bhakti movement. With his efforts, the identification of Jagannath with Srikrishna became an accepted faith. The Gopi mode of worship and Radha mode of worship gradually developed into the mode of consort service. The mode received its fullest form in the teachings of Sri Chaitanya. A number of miraculous incidents spread about the devotion, which was so deep that the later Vaishnavites often believed Sri Chaitanya as a living embodiment of Lord Jagannath. Even today, the impact of his preaching could be felt in almost all villages of Odisha and Bengal in form of Nama -Samkirtan. Sri Chaitanya‘s association with the Panchasakha - leading figures of Utkaliya Vaishnavism from 1450-1550 - Balaram, Yoshabanta, Jagannath, Achyuta, Ananta, accelerated the Bhakti renaissance. The great spiritual leader and Namayogi Avatar Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu referred these five friends as Panchasakha - he stated that the Panchasakhas are like pancha atma (five souls). After a brief confabulation with the Odia vaishnav Sri Jagannath Das writer of Odia Bhagabata, and observing his extraordinary talents and miraculous powers from close quarters, Sri Chaitanya bestowed on Jagannath Das the title ‘Atibadi’ - scholar colossus. The Panchasakha through their literary works popularised the Odissi Vaishnavism. These five associates of Sri Chaitanya preached the gospel of devotion based on knowledge with a slight difference from Chaitanya’s constant recitation of ecstatic songs and emotional dance to the tune of Khol, Mridangam and cymbal. It is he, who first realized the importance of the Namasankritan Mahamantra- “Hare Krushna, Hare Krushna, Krushna Krushna Hare Hare; Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram Hare Hare.” The greatest contribution of Sri Chaitanya was the introduction of ‘Nagar-Kritan’ (street singing) in a group consisting of people from all castes and creeds. This system attracted the people in large numbers through which Sri Chaitanya reached the masses to the extent that no other saint had achieved till then. Sri Chaitanya, being an exponent of neo-Vaishnavism prudently introduced this simple method of ‘Bhava-mishrita - Namasankritana’ for all the simpleminded people and made many people believe that God realization can be achieved by simpler method of pure devotion without undergoing difficult methods of austerities. Sri Chaitanya taught his followers not to enter into the forest of philosophy but to recite the name of Lord Krishna only. Despite these differences, the bonding between them was strong and their long associations were beneficial to the socio-cultural fabrics in the long run, so much so that in coastal Odisha, almost all villages organize ‘Astamprahari, Chabisprahari ‘ nama yagna, after the harvesting period in the spring season. There are quite a large number of Temples, Mathas dedicated to the deities of Radhakrishna, Radharamana, Binodabihari, Kunjabehari, Rasabihari, Brajabehari, Gopinath Jiu, Jadukula Chandra Jiu, and Brundabanchandra Jiu in these villages.
Panchasakhas described Sri Chaitanya in their works as a great saint and sometimes as an incarnation of Vishnu. Sri Chaitanya was regarded as the most remarkable saint of the Bhakti movement, who pioneered the tradition of Namsamkritana and Prem Bhakti, which covered Odisha, Bengal and Assam. Devotees consider him an incarnation of Lord Srikrishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mode of worshiping Krishna with ecstatic song and dance had a profound effect on Vaishnavism. At times, during his meditation, Sri Chaitanya would lapse into ecstatic trance and used to remain for hours in that supine posture like an inanimate body to the utter bewilderment of his disciples. He was also the chief proponent of Vedantic philosophy of ‘Achintya Bheda Abheda’. Sri Chaitanya Mah?prabhu founded Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Thus, influencing the religious and cultural life of the people of Kalinga with patronage of the Gajapati King Prataprudra Deva, Sri Chaitanya breathed his last at - the ‘Divine Destination ‘- Puri on 14.6.1534. His death is shrouded in mystery as neither his mortal remains nor any marked grave was ever found. Incidentally, some used items of Sri Chaitanya including ‘Khol’ wrapped in red cloth and a hand woven shawl, specially made by His mother Sachi Devi, are preserved and in display in Sri Sri Tota Gopinath Temple in Puri.
There are several conflicting hagiographic references to Sri Chaitanya’s death or disappearance. 1- According to ‘Chaitanya Charitamrita’ by Kaviraj Krishna Das, Sri Chaitanya walked into the sea in a state of divine ecstasy and drowned. 2- As per ‘Chaitanya Mangal’ by Lochan Das, Sri Chaitanya merged with Lord Jagannath. 3- According to ‘Sri Chaitanya Gourango Chadak’ by Vaishnava Das, Sri Chaitanya was buried at Tota Gopinath, his dead body was discovered behind ‘Garuda Stambha ’at Lord Jagannath Temple. 4- In ‘Chaitanya Bhagabat’ Ishwar Das states - While smearing chandan paste on Lord Jagannath Sri Chaitanya merged with the idol. Later his body was carried and floated on the Prachi river, some 40 miles from Puri . 5-According to ‘Sri Chaitya Chadak’ by Govind Das, during the evening invocation of Lord Jagannath at the Srimandira, suddenly a bright light emanated from ’Garuda Stambha ’ and merged with the Lord Jagannath idol. Sri Chaitanya was never seen again.
Though the unique tradition of Jagannath was originated from Puri in Odisha, it has become widespread all over the world, through the passage of time. The temple architecture and the iconography denotes Sri Jagannath is a Vaisnava shrine, but all the religious traits of India, such as Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Saiva, Tantric as also tribal affinity and all other cults are mingled here like the rivers running into the vast ocean. The Indian yogic system reached its culmination in the unique culture of Lord Jagannath and this in turn is rooted in what may be called ‘Jagannath consciousnesses'. Sri Jagannath ‘The Lord of the Universe’ has been enchanting and attracting, the followers of different religions, beliefs with their zeal and highest adoration, since time immemorial. Besides Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, all the great Hindu religious saints, such as Adi Sankaracharya, Santha Padmapada, Nimbarkacharya, Ramanunujacharya, Vishnu Swami, Madhabacharya, Shree Madhabendra Puri, Shri Ramanandacharya, Srimanta Shankar Deva, Santha Tulsi Das, Ganapati Bhatta, Sikh Guru Nanak and Santh Kabir visited Srikshetra and the shrine of Lord Jagannath at different times in between 9th and 16th century, being pulled by the divine string of the lord of the universe to the land of divine ecstasy.
An eye witness account of Sri Jagannath Temple and its rituals, in the 17th century in details, available in “Bah-rul Asrar “ written by Mahmad Bin Amir Wali Balkhi, an illustrious Muslim pilgrim who visited during the reign of Jahangir offers a graphic picture. He has mentioned that “innumerable Hindu men and women were surging from hills and forests (far and near) so that nearly fifty thousand pilgrims had assembled at Medinapore. The fact of the matter is that in Khurda which is one month’s journey from Medinapore, there is the temple called Jagannath. Seeing their assemblage, my desire also became intense, inspired and I resolved to join with them. After a journey of 32 days we arrived at the place on 26th May 1626, just before commencement of Ramjan.” Further, Amir Wali Balkhi wrote that he also entered the temple concealing his identity. With awakened heart and open eyes he enjoyed the sight of the place.
A poignant and heart-stirring picture has been given by the famous historian W.W.Hunter- "the great spiritual army marched hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles along burning roads, across unbridged rivers and through pestilent regions of jungles and swamps. Those who kept to the road had spent their strength long before the holy city (Puri) was reached. The sturdy women of Hindustan braved it out and sang songs till they dropped; but the weaker females of Bengal limped piteously along with bleeding feet in silence, broken only by deep sighs and occasional sob. Many a sick girl died upon the road; and by the time they reached Puri, the whole party had their feet bound up in rags, plastered with dart and blood.
At that time Bengal pilgrims had to tramp all the way from Uluberia to Puri on Jagannath Sadak, only the wealthier classes travelled in bullock carts or palanquins , while pilgrims from south used to come by roads along the strip of land between Chilika lake and the Bay or in few cases by boats across the Chilika lake. Seeing the plight of pilgrims of Bengal the then benevolent king of Bengal, Raja Sukhamoya Ray had taken leading steps by donating Rs 1.5 lakhs, for construction of the Jagannath Road in 1822-26CE which became the life line of all the pilgrims from Bengal and northern Orissa (Mayurbhanj and Balasore) to Puri and facilitated pilgrims to commute easily. The benevolent Rani Rashmoni (1793-1861) of Calcutta also donated for the construction of Jagannath Sadak from Subarnarekha to Puri. The rail communications between Kolkata and Chennai was completed between 1869-79. Puri was linked with the railway system by the opening of a branch line from Khurda Road on February 1, 1897 and was opened in 1901.
Jagannath Sadak runs about 516 km from Jagannath Ghat on Hooghly to Jagannath Puri, the divine destination of thousands of pilgrims from Bengal. Before the Railways, it was Jagannath sadak that devotees took to Puri. The road wound its way from Jagannath Ghat on the Hooghly in Calcutta through Howrah, East Midinapur and West Midinapur before entering Odisha. Much of the 516 km of the old road once traversed by Sri Chaitanya has disappeared, mostly in the coastal line, after the railway came into operation in 1892, but some portions of it are now part of the National High Way-5 - (Renamed -N.H-16) and 200 km was in Bengal with a string of Maths and Ashrams of Vaishnavites and Gaudiyas alongside the Jagannath Sadak affording facilities to the pilgrims. The monuments, affording facilities are SreeJagannath Temple at Mahesh, Srirampur, Jagannath Ghat, Old Mint, Andul Rajbari, Remuna Gaudiya Math, Bhadrak, Brahmabarada, Chatia, Cuttack, Baranga, Khurda, Pipili, Chandanpur and finally Puri. Since the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, his Vaishnavite followers considered Odisha as the land of God (Thakurdesha) and used to throng to the holy city of Sri Purushottam during the Car Festival annually and in most of the cases whenever they desired to make out some quality time, they visited Puri. They still come to experience the Divine ecstasy with its rich cultural heritage, its enchanting and enduring fairs and festivals, its mind enthralling philosophy, and to spend their time in the vast expanse of the pristine sea beach.
Gouranga Charan Roul (gcroul.roul@gmail.com)
The author, after completing post graduate studies in political science from Utkal University, Odisha in 1975, worked as a senior intelligence sleuth in the department of Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax and retired as senior superintendent. As a staunch association activist, he used to hold chief executive posts either as General Secretary or President of All India Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officer's Association, Odisha for 20 years. Presently in the capacity of President of Retired Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officer's Association, Odisha, coordinating the social welfare schemes of the Association. Being a voracious reader, taking keen interest in the history of India, Africa, Europe and America. In his globe tottering spree, widely travelled America and Africa. At times contributing articles to various magazines.
Happiest news for all of is that the 100th issue of Literary Vibes is getting released on 25th December, 2020. It is Christmas time,,, double celebration time for all of us …coming out with the 100th issue is no mean achievement… it speaks of consistency, purpose, passion and quality. Congratulations indeed to the dedication of our dear Mrutunjay Sarangi and Team.
Celebrations means colour, yes a riot of colours. Colours imply Rangoli which is what I propose to dwell upon in this article. May the colours of life bless all of us.
Rangoli is an art form, originating in the Indian subcontinent, in which patterns are created on the floor or on the ground, using materials such as coloured rice, coloured sand, quartz powder or flower petals.. Rangoli means rows of colours. It is basically an ancient hindu religious floor art. Rangoli provides and promotes aesthetics. The purpose of Rangoli is to feel the strength, generosity and to get the positive vibrations of life… also to provide food to ants and small insects…and it is thought to bring good luck too!
The tradition of Rangoli originated in Maharashtra state and slowly disseminated to other parts of India. Rangoli also known as Kolam in southern India, Chowkpurana in northern India, Mandana in Rajasthan, Aripana in Bihar, Alpana in Bengal.
Rangoli may have originated in India even before the origin of the Epics, because rangoli is mentioned in them, Chitra Lakshana, an early treatise on Indian painting, attributed the idea of rangoli to Lord Brahma. Whatever it may be, there is no doubt that Rangoli is a part of Indian culture and is used to beautify homes, places of worship and any place that calls for celebrations.
In the South of India, Rangoli is known as kolam which is of designs and patterns drawn with rice flour and bordered with semman or kaavi ( red sand paste). In Kerala, during Onam, Pookolam is so well known which is a rangoli kolam made with fresh flowers and rice flour. In Tamil nadu during Pongal, navarathri and during the entire month of Margazhi ( margashirsha Masa is the best month according to Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita) kolams and rangolis define every floor and sacred places. We can safely define Rangoli as a refined colour version of Kolam created to usher in prosperity and good tidings.
To get a true and fair idea of how a good rangoli can be, let me take you all to a video presentation of Rangoli kolams designed and prepared with so much devotion and dedication by my younger sister Lalitha Raman ( residing at Velachery, Chennai) for whom Rangoli is a passion and a labour of love. During this Navarathri festival, she spent so much of her precious time in this creative activity and on each of the nine days, she brought out a marvellous depiction of designs and colours that blended seamlessly with our traditions. She combined symmetry, precision with divine choice of colours which brought the floor alive with patterns and artistry, as you will see for yourselves in the video being presented with this article. I am sure all of you will like it and send positive vibes.
Ravi Ranganathan is a retired banker turned poet settled in Chennai. He has to his credit three books of poems entitled “Lyrics of Life” and “Blade of green grass” and “Of Cloudless Climes”. He revels in writing his thought provoking short poems called ‘ Myku’. Loves to write on nature, Life and human mind. His poems are featured regularly in many anthologies. Has won many awards for his poetry including , Sahitya Gaurav award by Literati Cosmos Society, Mathura and Master of creative Impulse award by Philosophyque Poetica.
In my school and college days, I was moved by the sorrowful Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. None of us, living today, has ever felt the ferocity of the brutal firing by Dyer. The festival of Baisakhi was bloody. It was a watershed in the history of Indian freedom movement. Shaheed Udham Singh was a freedom fighter, revolutionary and martyr. In 1940, he avenged the massacre by killing Dwyer in London. But, I was confused with the names - Dyer and Dwyer. Spelling and pronunciation are almost akin. My teachers were also in doubt. My curiosity was rising to know about the mystery.
Years passed by.
It was a calm Autumn evening. I sat in the Golden Temple Express in the evening. The train started running in the darkness leaving behind Delhi. I slept. The dawn heralded a new day. The morning light woke me up. The greenery was eye-catching. The train was moving fast. My time to enjoy the green corn fields was running short.The train reached Amritsar in the early morning. I got down.
The Sun was rising. I went to the Golden Temple, prayed to God and got peace of mind. The water of the pond was sparkling. The Sun was also looking at its image on the water. The ambience was heavenly. My mind was calm and quiet. Cares and anxieties of day-to-day life were going away.
I came out of the Golden Temple. Jallianwala Bagh was in the vicinity. The souls of martyrs were calling me. I reached a narrow passage. It was the entrance and exit of Jallianwala Bagh from where General Dyer and his soldiers fired bullets at the people assembled in Jallianwala Bagh surrounded by high walls. Thousands of innocent people were killed and injured. There was no way out, except a well to fall inside and die.
I entered Jallianwala Bagh. It is a historic garden of 7-acre and a memorial of national importance with the words 'Vande Mataram'. The Amar Jyoti (Flame), martyr's memorial and some old trees, the statue of Shaheed Udham Singh are the main attractions. It houses a museum, Martyr's gallery and a number of memorial structures. The bullet holes in the walls were the marks and proofs of indiscriminate incessant firing. The place is calm and quiet.
It is a temple of sacrifice. My head touched its soil to pay homage to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for freedom of India on the day of Baisakhi, April 13, 1919. I saluted the statue of Shaheed Udham Singh who assassinated Dwyer in revenge of Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Flowers were blooming in the garden in honour of the martyrs. I was stunned to see the well in which hundreds of people fell and died while running desperately to escape the bullets.
While walking in Jallianwala Bagh, I came across a learned old Sikh. He told me - 'Are you a new man to this holy land?'
I said - 'Yes Sir. Would you please enlighten me about the massacre and Shaheed Udham Singh, one of the real heroes of Indian freedom struggle. We are proud of him.'
We sat on the soil once soaked by the blood of martyrs. He narrated - 'Neither I was born in 1919 nor I have seen the massacre. I would tell you - what I heard from my ancestors. It was April 13, 1919, the auspicious day of Baisakhi, the biggest festival of Punjab. Around 20000 people gathered in Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate the festival in peace and harmony. Udham Singh and his friends were serving water to people who were in a festive-mood. All were unarmed. But alas ! The British Raj mistook it as an insurrection. General Dyer and his troops fired bullets from their rifles on the unarmed, peaceful people without any discrimination. Thousands were killed and injured then and there. When their bullets were exhausted, the soldiers left the place. The Baisakhi was bloody and the soil of Jallianwala Bagh was soaked with the blood of martyrs. Udham Singh survived to serve the dead and injured. He gave water in the dying lips. He was the saviour. The 19-year old orphan boy promised to avenge the massacre and took a bagful of the blood soaked soil to remind him of his mission. His eyes were red in anger and anguish. His hands and fists were ready for vengeance. He left Jallianwala Bagh with determination to finish the butcher. He never looked back. He was imprisoned in 1927 and released in 1931. He travelled from Asia to Africa, America, Europe and at last, reached England in 1933. He killed the mastermind of Jallianwala Bagh in the crowded Caxton hall, London on March 13, 1940. His mission was accomplished. He was well aware of the consequence. Now, nothing was left for him to live longer. He was hanged in the prison on July 31, 1940.'
I asked him - 'Why did you call him an orphan ?'
He said - 'Udham Singh was born on December 26, 1899. His mother died in 1901, father in 1905 and brother in 1917. He passed matriculation in 1918. By that time he had lost his mother, father and brother. None was there to take care of him. He became an orphan and took shelter in the Central Khalsa Orphanage, Amritsar. After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, his only identity was - son of Mother India. His only mission was to kill the killer of Jallianwala Bagh. While traveling in Asia, Africa, America and Europe, he was working as a labourer, technician, carpenter, hotel boy to get sustenance for living to accomplish his mission.
None was there to support him and his mission.He was an one-man-army. Single handedly, he shot dead Dyer on 13 March 1940. But, some of the then Indian leaders called it - an act of insanity. He was convicted of murder and hanged on 31.07.1940. There was none to weep and lament at his death. He was an unsung hero. After 34 years of his martyrdom, his mortal remains were exhumed, repatriated to India in 1974 and cremated in Punjab. His ashes were scattered in the Sutlej river. His statue standing in Jallianwala Bagh reminds us to fight against injustice and barbarism.'
I asked him-'Udham Singh killed Dwyer or Dyer?'
'As I know, Dyer was condemned, sacked and sent back to London by the British government. In the British trial court, London, Udham Singh said - I have killed the real culprit of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre - he deserved it. For 21 years, I have been trying to wreak vengeance. I am happy that I have fulfilled my mission. I am not scared of death. I am dying for my country. What greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of motherland. Whatever may be the name - Dyer or Dwyer, the Butcher Of Amritsar was shot dead by Shaheed Udham Singh.'
His speech was so emotional that it overwhelmed me. I thanked him for the lesson learnt from him, not imparted to me by the academics. I saluted the statue of Udham Singh and left for Wagah border, the India-Pakistan international border located 24 kilometers away from Amritsar. I enjoyed the Wagah border ceremony before sunset. It was a marching ceremony conducted with the flag ceremony. It is a sign of military camaraderie between Indian and Pakistani soldiers.
I returned home. Six months later, I visited London.
During sightseeing in London, a learned Indian Sikh and the British guide clarified my confusion about Dyer and Dwyer. They told me that Michael O' Dwyer was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in 1919. He was born in Ireland in 1864. He was an imperialist and determined to crush any type of insurrection. Reginald Dyer was a Colonel, acting as the Brigadier General in Punjab. He was born in Shimla, India in 1864. Dyer was willing to carry out any order passed by Dwyer for appeasement. Some Indians think that Dyer and Dwyer are one and the same man. But actually they were two different persons. Dwyer passed orders for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Dyer executed it. Both were responsible for the dastardly act. The cold-blooded massacre created uproar in the British parliament. Both Dyer and Dwyer were condemned, removed from their posts and sent back to London for their heinous crime. Dyer died of some disease in 1927 in London. Udham Singh reached London in 1933. He was happy that one of the culprits was dead. He knew both Dwyer and Dyer were responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Dwyer was the mastermind behind the scene. Dyer killed the assembled people as per the orders of Dwyer.
To keep his identity and intention secret, Udham Singh was changing his name and profession frequently. One of his names was Ram Mohammed Singh Azad. He bought a revolver and cut the inside pages of a book to the size of the revolver. He came to Caxton Hall keeping the revolver concealed inside the book. None could detect it. He silently shot dead Dwyer on March 13, 1940 in a crowded meeting. He was caught instantly, imprisoned and hanged on 31.07.1940.
After a century, the melancholic memory of the Jallianawala Bagh massacre creates horror in mind.
Sri Ashok Kumar Ray a retired official from Govt of Odisha, resides in Bhubaneswar. Currently he is busy fulfilling a lifetime desire of visiting as many countries as possible on the planet. He mostly writes travelogues on social media.
TANKA: THE LITTLE SONG AND MY JOURNEY
Historical Perspective
It is believed according to Japanese mythology, that the goddess Wakahime ('Poetry Princess') sang over the body of her dead husband and thereby invented tanka. The oldest Japanese poetic form, renga, is the nucleus of the evolvement of tanka and haiku. Waka or uta originated in the 7th century AD in Japan. The term waka (wa means ‘Japanese’, ka means ‘poem’) originally encompassed different styles: tanka (short poem) and ch?ka (long poem). The songs were written by the royal family.The waka has been written on seasonal subjects (kidai). The waka remained as the neoclassical Japanese literature as characterized by the poets of the Man’y?sh?, Kokin Wakash?, and Shin Kokin Wakash? eras. Manyoshu, literally means ‘A Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves or A Collection for Ten Thousand Ages’, is the oldest collections of waka , probably compiled after AD 759 in Nara period. It contains 4,496 poems, of which 4173 are in the form of waka, written by fisherman to guard to employees. Manyoshu includes tanka by about 450 identifiable people. The main compiler is thought to be Otomo no Yakamochi (718-785). From the 10th to 13th centuries waka evolved as the poetry of Imperial Japan Court and the writings were comprised of imperial reign, nature, love, travel and other topics. Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s eleventh century novel The Tale of Genji contains more than four hundred tankas. In Japan, Manyoshu, Kokin Wakashu (the first imperial anthology of tanka compiled in 905) and Shin Kokin Wakashu (the eighth imperial anthology of tanka compiled in 1205) are referred as iconic treatises. Historically tanka started during Heian period of the 12th century. Ogura Hyakunin-Isshu (Ogura Collection of One Hundred Tanka was edited by Teika Fujiwara around 1235.
Tanka and the Poetic Characteristics
Tanka is a non-rhymed lyrical poem consisting of 5 lines of independent poetic phrases in the style of short, long, short, long, long syllable count/rhythm in the English language. Each line is one poetic expression and tanka as a whole is a lyric verse. The tanka (small song) is divided into two strophes. The first three lines of tanka are known as kami-no-ku and the last two lines as shimo-no-ku. The art of image building in the two strophes and the interrelationship (juxtaposition) with a twist make a tanka different from the conventional five-line free verse. Sometimes there is a rare composition of three strophes. The upper part portrays an image about nature and the last two lines or lower part conveys human feelings with a shift or twist. Goldstein in his interview with Patricia Prime says, “I have believed that tanka are moments of the human condition, but part of the human condition is nature.”
The pivot line (kakekatoba) or the swing line (zeugma) is the main characteristic that distinguishes tanka , by “link and shift”, with a sense of musicality from the five-line free verse.
Tanka is characterized by only one break that occurs either in the 1st, 2nd ,3rd or 4th line. The break can be indicated by a punctuation (em-dash, ellipsis), or it can be implied by having no punctuation. Renowned tanka poet, Sanford Goldstein opines 3/2 arrangements as seen in traditional tanka, is the best way to write. Generally, line-3 serves as the pivot line and swings away from the two lines above by imparting expression of fervent elucidation and elegancy to the tanka with the imagery of the last two long lines. Jane Reichhold says, “I strongly believe that the tanka in English should not be a sentence but show evidence of that switch or twist in voice, place, person, or mood and that when possible a pivot should be employed between them.”
Some poets write tanka as a statement form with the last line culminating deep meaning. The renowned poet an’ya opines, “ In Japanese waka/tanka, what's important is not only what is said, but also what is left unsaid……. sometimes even using an ellipsis to create an unfinished thought, thus inviting readers to finish the omission for themselves.”
Tanka embodies wide thematic values of human expression: pathos, anguish, emotion, romanticism and other reflections like humour and word-play with poetic elegance, musicality and transcendental message. Exhibition of personification or anthropomorphism, use of metaphor, similes, metrical exhibition, the imaginative blending of alliteration, assonance and occasionally oxymoron are highly embedded in tanka writing. Tanka is more of subjective in contrast to haiku which is objective in nature. Each line of tanka is a poetic expression. The limited use of the article in the beginning of the line would craft a better poetic flow .Tanka is written in lower case and there is no title of tanka unless it is written as tanka sequences (rensaku) or tanka strings. Also, there is no full stop at the end of last line. If it is not essential, the line can be avoided beginning with the preposition ‘the’ as it often breaks the musical flow of the poem to start with. Similarly, prepositions like ‘a’ and ‘the’ are generally not ended with the line.
Tanka genre has a wide scope of poetic expression on broad-spectrum, described by Jane Reichhold in her scholarly essay, “The Wind Five Folded”, based on mystical expression and loneliness (yugen tei), gentle expression (koto shikarubeki), exotic beauty and elegance (urawashiki tei), human feeling, love, grief (ushin tei), grandeur (taketakaki tei), visual description (miru tei), witty with conventional subject (omoshiroki tei). Sometimes the subject matters may be described with the unusual poetic concept (hitofushi aru tei) or narrating in precise details with complex imageries (komayaka naru tei). Some tanka, in contrast to elegance or balanced narration, exhibit strong diction in style of expression. This is classified as demon-quelling (onihishigi tei or kiratsu no tei).
Dennis M. Garrison says, “ Definition of English tanka is that it is “five phrases on five lines.” It is essential that the five phrases be cohesive, not just a list. The five lines must be integrated into a unified poem. The fifth line should be a strong line; the strongest.” The beauty, as Garrison opines, lies with “the tanka spirit”, and “leave the reader dreaming room” for the reader, as a “co-creator” to fill from his experience. The “objective correlative” in imagism needs to be evolved as he further adds.
Alan Summers defines it, “Tanka are five line poems well-grounded in concrete images yet infused with lyric intensity, with an intimacy from direct expression of emotion tempered with implication. They contain ingredients of suggestion colored by shade and tone, setting off a nuance more potent than direct statement. Almost any subject, explicitly expressing your direct thoughts and feelings can be contained in this short form poetry.”
According to Jenny Ward Angyal. “ Each line is ideally comprised of a single, coherent poetic phrase. Enjambment is used rarely and then only to create a carefully considered effect. ….The language should flow smoothly, with musical cadence and attention to the sounds of words. Tanka typically juxtapose two parts with a grammatical break between them. The art lies juxtaposing the images with dexterity. Sentence tanka and those with more than two parts are less common but can work well on occasion. The most effective tanka save the best for last, with the fifth line being the most powerful in terms of sound and sense. Tanka derives its power from the interplay of concrete, sensory images. Ideally the poem goes beyond description, exploring the relationship between the poet’s inner and outer landscapes and offering multiple layers of meaning, both literal and metaphorical. By employing such Japanese aesthetic qualities as wabi-sabi, y?gen, aware, and makoto, tanka evoke emotion without sentimentality and without telling the reader what to feel or think. Tanka are open and thought-provoking, leaving ample ‘dreaming room’ for the reader, but they are not vague or obscure.”
My Tanka Experience
I started imbibing the poetic feeling and metaphoric expression at an early age of around thirteen by composing aphorisms, proverbial poems (one or two lines) during my school days while writing essays in my mother tongue, Odia. Later on, I wrote both long and short versions of verses, often embellished with both internal and end rhymes. Poems are manifested with the textural density of allegory symbolism and allusions. The beauty of nature, socio-economic spectrum, human emotions, and occasionally mystics with sublime metaphysical expression with idioms and imageries predominantly occupy in my writings. The sense of freedom, peace, love and humanistic expression spotlights in many of my verses. In the volume, “Interviews with Indians Writing in English” (Writers Workshop Publication, 1992), edited by Atma Ram, I opined, “Poems come to my mind as fragrance to flower. Anything I see, it creates a symbolic frame in my mind......... when I see a small grain of seed, I feel:
it is tiny
because it nests with care
the mightiest in it
My first printed short English poems, “Defining” and “Love”, appeared in the “THE SCOLOMANIAC”, No.3, Feb 1979, a journal of Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad. I had written very short poems namely Tearful Smile, Making Art Alive, Hygienic Ostentation, In fact, Konark Visit, Winter, Helpless Mass, Missing Spot, His Last Wish, Memory, Disabled etc. during the early nineteen eighties. Looking back, I felt that a few of my earlier short poems were, in fact, tanka-like though I was not aware of the genre and the compositional techniques. I am more comfortable writing the shorter version of poems (mostly in 3-6 lines). Essentially the short lyrical poems (micro-poetry) of different metrical forms, composed long back during the nineteen eighties, have been published in 2011 in the collection, “The Tiny Pebbles”.
Tearful Smile
I pile up the smiles
From the garden
Of creation
In my heart
Until I smile with
Tearful eyes at last.
Prevalent Aspects of Indian English Poetry, 1983-84 (Ed. H S Bhatia)
His Last Wish
He wishes
To see everybody
Laugh and merry
Though he is
Born blind
Indeed.
ByWord, Indo-Australian Special Issue, Vol. 12, No.3 1984 (Ed. Narendrapal Singh)
Helpless Mass
Every day
Morning wakes up
Making them to sleep
And
Night goes to sleep
Compelling them to weep.
University Today, Vol. 5, No. 9, 1985 (C S Katre)
Memory
As patches of cloud
Memory sails around
When I wish
To see
Those become tears in my eyes.
Poet, Vol.27, No.12, 1986 (Ed. Krishna Srinivas)
We rush every moment
Into the cave of future
The universe extends
To the extension of time
And time nowhere ends to itself
Pan-continental Premier Poets (The Ninth Biennial Anthology), 1985-1986 (Eds. Bohumila Falkowski, Edwin A Falkowski and Marie. L. Nunn
In one of my poems titled “The Other Being”, I wrote in Kritya, Vol V, Part III Aug 2009 (Ed. Rati Saxena and in Poetbay, USA, in 2010, Ed. Anna:
At times I wonder
Perhaps we are the
Living images
Of distance cosmic rays
At an imaginative focal length.
In 2009, I composed three five-line poems and sent them to the Anglo-Japanese Society. I was new to the traditional style and syllabification of tanka writing. Dr. Hisashi Nakamura, President, Anglo-Japanese Tanka Society, UK was quite appreciative of the philosophical underline of the poems. Primarily these tanka reflect mystical expression (yugen tei). I made minor edits by rearranging the lines of the poems in the form of s/l/s/l/l line form at a later date:
he searches
in the kingdom of darkness
for a ray of light
the sun remains always
in hiding for the innocent blind
One can express love, grief, happiness, and scores of other subjects with poetic flavor and musicality. The magic of tanka lies in painting images across the pivot line that sparks the light of poetry related to human behavior by the art of link and shift. My passion for conventional short poetry writings has given me an additional avenue for writing tanka. Apart from natural expression, poetry with human value embedded within the framework of natural beauty quite often influences my tanka writings.
I read the essays published in AtlasPoetic.org, Tanka Online, The classical tanka archived in ‘Aha Poetry’ site, Eucalypt: A Tanka Journal, Tanka Teachers Guide: MET Publication, 2007 to know about the tanka literature. Further, I derived a lot of poetic inspirations from the enriched essays written by Stanford Goldstein, Jeanne Emrich, Michael McClintock, Kala Ramesh, Beverley George, Michael Dylan Welch, Jane Richhold, M. Kei, Richard MacDonald, Robert W. Wilson, J. Zimmerman, Max Verhart, H. F. Noyes, Karina Klesko, John Daleiden, Carmen Sterba, Larry Kimmel, Elizabeth St. Jacques, Richard Gilbert, Randy Brooks, and others. The articles ‘Introduction to Tanka’ by Amelia Fielden, ‘Sensing Tanka’ by David Terelinck, scholarly article, “The New Short Lyric Poem” by Denis M Garrison have been very beneficial in understanding the age-old classical Japanese genre. The interview articles of Stanford Goldstein, Michael Dylan Welch, and others are of immense help.
I got a lot of encouragements from Beatrice Van de Vis, Marilyn Hazelton, Claire Everett, H. Gene Murtha, Kirsty Karkow, Martin Lucas, Aurora Antonovic, Sonam Chhoki, Susan Constable, Tokido Kizenzen, Robert Epstein, Alison Williams, Kath Abela Wilson, Miriam Wald, Don Miller, Liam Wilkinson, Lorette C. Luzajic,Joanne Morcom, Grunge Hello, Michael H. Lester, Patricia Prime, Susan Weaver, Hidenori Hiruta, Jacquie Pearce and many others.
For the first time, two of my following tanka were published in the classified print journal, Atlas Poetica in 2010, edited by M Kei. The human feeling with celestial reference has been painted in the first tanka.
tomorrow man may
fly to Mars and beyond
I wish all to settle
and flourish as human alone --
no caste, no religion
Atlas Poetica, Issue 6, 2010 (Ed. M Kei)
The following one portrays the visual description (miru tei) in a poetic way:
white-land of Antarctica
a serene gathering of penguins,
the veteran leads the mass
to the curvilinear point
where ice meets the sea
Atlas Poetica, Issue 6, 2010 (Ed. M Kei)
The tanka, ‘I mingle’, embedded with Poetic essence (honi) and thematic values, has been referred in “Kudo Resource Guide”, Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley, 2014/2015 Season:
I mingle
with the vastness
in my dream
caressing the tenderness of
the sea, calmness of the sky
Sketchbook, Vol. 5, No 3, May-June, 2010 (Eds. Karina Klesko and John Daleiden)
Amelia Fielden introduced my tanka in the prestigious journal, ‘Simply Haiku’, H Gene Murtha in ‘Notes From the Gean’ and Beate Conrad in ‘Chrysanthemum’. The following tanka captured human expression, pathos (ushintei) and loneliness (yugentei).
with telegram
awaits the old man at post office
the grief soaked paper
sends the message to darkness
over the coffee mixed with tears
Simply Haiku, Autumn 2010, Vol.8, No. 2 (Tanka Ed. Amelia Fielden)
sublime smiles
the painting portrays
I adjust to live
rewinding the coil of time
in the shadows of my loneliness
Notes From the Gean, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2010 (Tanka Ed. H. Gene Murtha)
in long desert
breeze swings from
the crest to valley
I march with lonely shadow as
footprints fill the shifting sand
Chrysanthemum 12, October 2012 ( Ed. Beate Conrad)
Most of my tanka are primarily focused on emotional expression (ushin tei). I felt privileged on the inclusion of the tanka given below in the Special Feature at AtlasPoetica.org; April 2012
the sparrow
leaves its message
coming home
the old man still awaits
son’s return from battle
Snipe Rising From A Marsh – Birds in Tanka (Ed.Rodney Williams)
The special interaction and great encouragements that I received from Susan Constable are worth remembering. She had made minor editing for publication of the following tanka with minor editing. It portrays the socio-economic condition juxtaposing the darkness as a metaphor.
shadows drift
under the setting sun
the life
of a beggar mingles
with the darkness
A Hundred Gourds. 1:4, 2012 (Ed. Susan Constable)
Quite often I compose tanka unfolding the inner beauty with gentle expression (koto shikarubeki). The followings are some of the examples:
I watch
the black, white and brown
short and tall
all variances and varieties
in the garden of beauty
Magnapoets, Issue 9, January 2012 (Ed. in. Chief. Aurora Antonovic)
warmth
in the winter cold
reminds me
of my mother
lulling me to sleep
Red Lights, June 2012 (Ed. Marilyn Hazelton)
The followings are some of the examples of tanka with the elegant poetic expression:
summer streak
I wish I were a bird
in the open sky:
full of thin clouds soothing
the burns with dripping rains
Four Seasons Haiku, 2nd June 2012 (Ed. Beatrice Van de Vis)
rows of trees
along stretched seashore
remain speechless
perhaps the oceanic vastness
interacting in deep silence
Simply Haiku, Vol. 10 No.1, Summer 2012 (Eds. Robert D. Wilson and Sasa Vazic)
The inspiration rendered by Dave Rice is everlasting. He published some of my tanka in “Ribbons”:
in starlit sky
the beggar counts
the coins
just enough
for a Christmas cake
Ribbons, Fall Issue, Vol.8, No.2 2012 (Ed. Dave Rice)
the spider climbs
up the corner edge
on stepping stones
the handicapped boy
aims towards the starlit sky
Ribbons, Fall Issue, Vol. 9 No.2 2013 (Ed. Dave Rice)
Steve in his selection appreciated the gentle expression (koto shikarubeki) with a note musicality in one of my tanka:
fragrance of flower
from far off distance
our relationship
I narrate and mail her
through the gentle wind
The Bamboo Hut, Vol.1, No.3, 2014 (Ed. Steve Wilkinson)
Words of Claire Everett have been a perennial inspiration in my tanka writing. The following tanka exhibits the interplay of imageries in the style of grandeur expression (taketakaki tei). I have a special affinity for this poem for its content and musicality. I wrote this in spontaneity imagining the seashore I often visit:
wave after wave
on an incessant journey
another sunset
when I long to change the taste
of salt, the colour of the wind
Skylark, 2:2 Winter Issue 2014 (Ed.Claire Everett)
One Man’s Maple Moon,2017 (Ed. Chen-ou Liu)
Commenting on the above tanka, Nicholas Klacsanzky enumerates:
“I think the two most important words in this tanka that trigger poetic symbolism and concepts are “journey” and “sunset.” A journey in this context could be one’s life, or a spiritual ascension. “Sunset” could be referencing an end of a period of time in one’s life.
I like the gradual pace of the tanka, and the astonishing, yet simple last line. The pace is reminiscent of the subject at hand. In terms of the last line, I believe the writer is expressing his dissatisfaction with the way things are in his life—even rudimentary things. In a sense, he seems to want to break out of reality.
I like the use of “w” sounds in the first and last lines, which mimics the wind. The “s” sounds throughout the tanka can be said to be like the noise of waves. Other than this subjective impression, it makes the poem more musical and magnetizing. An engaging, efficient, and deeply expressive tanka.”
Analyzing the zen-feeling, Lucia Fontana synthesises:
“The feeling I’m overwhelmed with when reading this poem is a sort of breathlessness, with which the author seems to be trying to deal with……. It’s a poem about a humble human being, absorbed by the pressing and routine of time (incessant journey…. another sunset….) and the wish to feel free from material perception, which can lead to a more spiritual condition… Impermanence here is the red thread that runs through the tanka: of the beauty of nature, of human perceptions. I do feel all the tension to be more than a soul slave of the perceptions of its body, so a wish to go beyond flesh and bones and find peace of mind, an inner thoughtless shining silence.”
Figuring out the sense of hardship, Hifsa Ashraf opines:
“I feel that this tanka is about a hardship that a person is passing through. “Wave after wave” means shifting from one painful event to another, which seem like trials…… Both salt and wind are quite significant in spirituality, as both significantly influence the mood and behavior of a person….. Overall, the writer beautifully disguised both spiritual and social lives in this tanka.”
an’ay encouraged me a lot in writing Japanese short poems. She has chosen to include the following tanka, symbolizing waves of love and romanticism, in the Premier issue of journal Cattails.
waves on waves
along the longshore
at the signpost
our close relationship dwells
under the crossed footprints
Cattails, Premier Issue,January 2014 (Ed. an’ay)
Emotional expression (ushin tei) expressed in tanka has been captured by Susan Constable, Marilyn Hazelton, Alison Williams and Liama Wilkinson in the following tanka:
a solitary kite
in the twilight sky
dusk deepens
unfolding the heaviness
of her long loneliness
A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015 (Ed. Susan Constable)
One Man’s Maple Moon,2017 (Ed. Chen-ou Liu)
melting snow
over the stepping stones
a gentle touch
on my wounded heart
ignites the warmth of joy of living
red lights, January 2016 (Ed. Marilyn Hazelton)
who knows
my little effort spurs
a new shift
gentle breeze flips pages
of my old manuscripts
red lights, January 2016 (Ed. Marilyn Hazelton)
full moon
peeps through the roof
the street dweller
tightly holds the thread
of hope against wild thunder
Atlas Poetica: Special Feature on ‘I will be Home’, Spring 2016 (Ed. Liam Wilkinson)
the orphan
at the crossroad
he stares at
the safety slogans
painted on the billboard
Presence # 62, 2018 (Ed. Alison Williams)
I came across the idea of Ekphrastic tanka and Lorette C. Luzajic appreciated the juxtaposition of the image:
journey of life
lays as tiny footings
the imprints
remain as joy of image
on the silent rock surface
Ekphrastic Tanka, Nov 2015 (Ed. Lorette C. Luzajic)
Note: Tanka based on Cave Paintings at Bhimbetka, India, approx. 2000 B.C., photo by Raveesh Vyas.
I deeply acknowledge Kath Abela Wilson’s poetic support for publishing my tanka (with a photo sent by my daughter, Smita, from the USA) articulating the concept of elegance in expression (Urawashiki tei).
the poet scripts
her well-lit voyage
ripples of love
the darkness paints
gently on the silken edges
Poetry Corner,’ColoradBoulevard.net, May 2016 (Ed. Kath Abela)
Kath Abela comments:
“Pravat Kumar Padhy 's tanka impresses itself with grace, onto the page while his daughter, Smita, opens the shell of mystery with poetic wings and wand. The theme is making an impression. I am interpreting your poem as writing leaves marks on the page and mind and heart.”
Supporting the animal rights, I contributed the following tanka to the prestigious anthology edited by Robert Epstein and Miriam Wald.
she waits
since dawn for her calf
the screams
over the sharp edge melt down
suturing the early morning sun
Animal Rights Anthology, 2016 (Eds. Robert Epstein and Miriam Wald)
I like to explore scientific aspects in literature. Scientific quest and mythological concepts have been interpreted in the following tanka.
from a ball of flesh
Queen Gandhari brought forth
her Kaurava clan…
science celebrates the birth
of test-tube baby, Louise Brown
Special Feature on “MYTHS AND THE CREATIVE IMAGINATION”, Atlas Poetica.org, April 2015 edited by Sonam Chhoki
Note: In the Mahabharat, Queen Gandhari sprinkled water over a ball of flesh, which was divided into a hundred and one parts about the size of a thumb. These were then placed in pots with clarified butter and kept at a concealed spot under guard. In due course, a hundred brothers and one sister were born, known as the Kauravas.
the temple steps
lead to the corner end…
with Ardhanarishvara
the devotees divinely sense
the softness of the stony carvings
Special Feature on “Yin, Yang, and Beyond: Short Poems of Sex and Gender in the 21st Century”, Atlas Poetica.org, October 2015 (Ed.Tokido Kizenzen)
Note: The name Ardhanarishvara means ‘the Lord whose half is a woman’. In Hinduism and Indian mythology many deities are represented as both male and female, manifesting with characteristics of both genders, including Ardhanarishvara, created by the merging of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati.
The editor of “Whispers”, Karen O’Leary comments on the following tanka, “I really think your artistic way …… provides a pleasing visual experience.”
the Berlin Wall
once cemented with pain
the sugar mingles
with the flow of happiness
bonding with homely feeling
Whispers, 10.2.2017 (Ed. Karen O’Leary)
I especially take an immense interest in composing tanka based on specified themes covered under “Special Features” of Atlas Poetica. The one which gathered much attention is on the emotional expression of transgender. The tanka selected by Janick Bellaeu is as follows:
black and white
paintings on the pot
the transgender
searches the streak of colors
to fill the gap of the emptiness
Atlas Poetica, Chiaroscuro LGBT Tanka, August 2012 (Ed. Janick Bellaeu)
One Man’s Maple Moon Anthology, 2013 (Ed. Chen-ou Liu)
The following tanka narrate complex imageries (komayaka naru tei) to portray loneliness. The phrases such as holding the silent wind and swimming clouds are the depiction of exquisite imageries in the following tanka:
a lone myna
high in the sky
the kite
descends on its weight
holding the silent wind
Cattails, April 2017 (Ed. David Terelinck)
my gleaming mother
shares her pleasure
with twin buds
I sense ripples of sound
of the swimming clouds
They Gave Us Life Anthology, 2017 (Ed. Robert Epstein)
A few of tanka are based on humour. The following one with a touch of humour and witty in expression (omoshiroki tei) has been published in the Inaugural issue of ‘Bleached Butterfly’, edited by Lori a Minor.
art of imagination
sets the fish to start flying
the tree hides
flowers and fruits underneath
as the man thinks from his belly
Bleached Butterfly, Inaugural Issue, 2019 (Ed. Lori A Minor)
On a few occasion, I do refer unusual poetic concept (hitofushi aru tei) for making tanka:
We feel proud
being descendant of Neanderthals
on the flow of time
living here, adjacent everywhere
as a part of the long human-ware
Diogen, February, 2012 (Ed. Djurdja Vukelic Rozic)
Dictated strong tone (onihishigi tei or kiratsu no tei) to expresses anguish about the socio-political issues has been reflected in some of my poems. The phrases like, “letting moon to set in shame”, “the wind you can not seize” are sort of dictated statement used in the following poems:
stormy night
deep darkness tears through
whiteness of woman
silencing every one else and
letting moon to set in shame
LYNX, Vol. XXVIII, February 2012 (Agony: A Tanka Sequence)
(Eds. Werner Reichhold and Jane Reichhold)
arguments and
counter arguments
I pile up like dust
it is all in the street
the wind you cannot seize
IRIS International, Issue 2, July 2016 (Editor-in-chief Roži?, ?ur?a Vukeli?)
A few examples of tanka writing and interpretation discover the magical thread of imagination that portrays the exquisite fabric of literature. Chen-ou compares the following tanka with Julian Barnes’s award-winning novel.
at life’s shoreline
the sands of time escape
from many gaps …
I collect memories
embedded in sediment
Notes from the Gean, 3:1, June 2011(Tanka Guest Ed. Kirsty Karkow )
Chen-ou Liu writes:
“…..As in Pravat's tanka, the figure captivates the eye, and the reader is drawn toward it through the shoreline, sands, and sediment. His tanka sparks the reader's reflection on the passage of time in relation to
memory, and reminds me of the following remark:
I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory.
--Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (The Man Booker Prize in 2011).”
In the following tanka, ‘drizzling rain’, Chen-ou affirms:
“The upper verse sets the tone and mood of the tanka while the lower verse makes a thematic and emotional shift to reveal the healing power of imagination/hope.”
drizzling rain
all the day long
I await
the twilight sunshine
to paint my lost rainbow
Cattails, January 2016 (Ed. an’ya)
Kira Lily Nash, Guest Editor, Special Feature, Atlas Poetica.org opines while selecting the following tanka:
the boulders
roll all along the river bed
my memories
murmur in deep silence
traversing vastness of the sky
Flowing Tranquillity’, Atlas Poetica.org, December 2019 (Ed. Kira Lily Nash)
“Its sense of quiet and timeless peace is a great grounding comfort in our chaotic and anchorless times. That we may remember that we too are of earth and vast sky, organic and real in a world of contrivance. My gratitude again to you for sharing your vision with me.”
Some of my Astro-Tanka (‘Muse of Science’) written with celestial references have been published in the anthology of short tanka sequence, “The Stacking Stone”, 2018, edited by M Kei. I wish to write poems with celestial references and mankind.
cosmic call
for the earth scientists…
space ladder bridging
conference in Mars town
with the interstellar beings
Stacking Stones: An Anthology of Short Tanka Sequences,2018 (Ed. M Kei)
celestial journey
to far-off Red Planet
I sketch mankind
under the robotic tree
the earth in blue and white
The Signature Haiku, Senryu and Tanka Anthology, 2020 (Ed. Robert Epstein)
Commenting on my maiden Tanka collection, “The Rhyming Rainbow”, Particia Prime in her Foreword writes:
“…….The collection is both moving and accomplished. Padhy can raise everyday moments to the realms of the extraordinary and sets up a compelling rhythm throughout his work. He writes poignantly about nature: gentle winds, birds flapping their wings, Antarctica, clouds, the shore and much more……. There’s an inextinguishable joyousness at the heart of Padhy’s work that makes reading him an upbeat and uplifting experience…..”.
Sonam Chhoki, Principal editor, cattails adds:
“……..Padhy evokes myriad facets of the natural world around him as well as longing, dreams and even outrage. I am struck by the underlying motif of music whether it is the “desert folk song”, voices in the fields, the rise and fall of waves, birdsong or the lullaby of a nursing mother.
The German philosopher and poet, Friedrich Schlegel said that to get to the “heart of physics” one must be “initiated into the mysteries of poetry.” This debut collection of tanka by Padhy, a scientist, seems to vindicate this.”
Hidenori Hiruta summarises:
“Pravat Kumar Padhy is familiar with tanka, creating a world of enlightenment. Each tanka is worth reading, giving us a desire to live a long life in Padhy’s tanka world.”
Robert Epstein observes:
“Pravat’s first book of tanka is a remarkable synthesis of his scientific perspective and strong poetic spirit. Pravat has a big heart which enables him to approach with emotional honesty, difficult realities that include poverty, natural disasters, aging, illness and loss (to name only a few) with great courage and hope. He situates human suffering within the broader context of Nature, including the galactic realm, and discovers much Beauty to appreciate. His tanka, like the traditional Japanese form, are songs to soothe and uplift the human soul.”
Ai li remarks:
“….Pravat sings to us in a voice that remembers the rain, the moon, forests, clouds, fields, and stars - painting rainbows, to guide us through his ephemeral world.”
I witness the colours of hope in loneliness, anxiety, pain and grief and a world of joy of living. The tanka unveil the human psychology interweaving mythology with modernity and seclusion with unification along with the saga of peace and harmony, here and beyond.
J Zimmerman, reviewing the collection, “Rhyming the Rainbow” in Ribbons, Vol.15, No.3, Fall 2019 enumerates with reference to the tanka ‘I painted’ included in the collection :
“……I am particularly charmed by Pravat’s delicate juxtapositions: ‘I painted’ contrasts night’s darkness subtly with the patches of white that remains unpainted; “the rainbow” ingeniously sets the arrival of tears against the disappearance of a rainbow and the moisture that had made it visible. … I find much to enjoy in this rich collection that justifies why Pravat’s poems are widely published and have own honourable mentions and commendations.”
I painted
throughout night
my memories
of grief and anguish
remain as patches of white
Undertow Tanka Review, 2014 (Ed. Sergio Ortiz)
Through poetry I try to sketch the shadow of grief, loneliness, anguish and sufferings. At the same time, I wish the poem to ignite the spark of joy in everyone’s eyes.
the rainbow
slowly disappears
into the sky
the stain of separation
drenches me with tears
A Hundred Gourds, 4:4 September 2015 (Ed. Susan Constable)
(The tanka Portrayed as traditional haiga by Ron Moss)
sand writings
along a solitary shore
from the horizon
roaring waves wash away
her lengthy inner script
Tanka Origins, 2nd Edition, December 2019 (Ed. an’ya)
good wishes
from far-off distance
I dream
as if the wave carries
her message from grain to grain
Modern Tanka Corner, Lyrical Passion Poetry, 2020(Ed-in-Chief R D Bailey)
blue moon
through the oncology window
twisting aside
I stare at the twinkling stars
to become one amongst all
Eucalypt, Issue 28, 2020 (Ed.Julie Thorndyke)
a sparrow
flits from side to side
bright light
through a narrow opening
offers hope for the missing child
Under the Basho, 2020 (Ed. Jenny Ward Angyal)
***** ***** *****
a lone seagull
on a shore branch
how long it waits
as waves touch and go
as waves touch and go
Tanka Origins, August Edition 2020 (Ed. an’ya)
an’ya, the Editor of Tanka Origins comments: A very memorable tanka by Pravat Kumar Padhy from India. Suddenly, I am a seagull alone waiting, waiting, waiting on a shore pine branch”. Pravat’s repetition in the final two lines enhances the concept of the tanka greatly, and only a skilled tanka poet could create the feeling Pravat has given readers in this tanka. It's yet another stunning example of his usual fine work!
her cloth
soaked with tears…
on the edge
of curled green leaf
the burden of the heavy rains
Cold Moon Journal, 15 October 2000 (Ed. Roberta Beach Jacobson)
**** **** ****
crescent moon
in the mid-way sky
in her loneliness
she counts the stars
thickening shadow of the night
MoonInk Anthology, December 2020 (Eds. Tana Jackson and Lee Jackson)
**** **** ****
along the shore
life blooms as if
to float again…
kids collect empty shells
refilling sand with smiles
MoonInk Anthology, December 2020 (Eds. Tana Jackson and Lee Jackson)
Life is a poem, music is its journey. Poetry is written by itself. Poet is just a medium like ink. The essence of poetry nestles in the diligent fragrance of the flower, simplicity of flow of the river, the gentle spread of leaves, the calmness of the ocean and the embellishment of soothing shadow. I urge the younger generation to explore the aroma of joy and happiness through poetry. Explore the meaning of the ambience in its simplicity and paint the image with words. Let us observe the aspects of nature and correlate them literally with the human aspects (joy, grief, humour, emotion etc) by the art of juxtaposition.
Pravat Kumar Padhy has obtained his Masters of Science and Technology and a Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, ISM Dhanbad. His Japanese short forms of poetry have been widely published. His poems received many awards, honours and commendations including the Editors’ Choice Award at Writers Guild of India, Sketchbook, Asian American Poetry, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival International Haiku Honourable Mention, UNESCO International Year Award of Water Co-operation, The Kloštar Ivani? International Haiku Award, IAFOR Vladimir Devide Haiku Award and others. He has seven collections of verse to his credit.
His work is showcased in the exhibition “Haiku Wall”, Historic Liberty Theatre Gallery in Bend, Oregon, USA and tanka, ‘I mingle’ is featured in the “Kudo Resource Guide”, University of California, Berkeley. His Taiga (Tanka-Photo) is featured in the 20th Anniversary Taiga Showcase of American Tanka Society. His tanka has been put on rendition (music by José Jesús de Azevedo Souza) in the Musical Drama Performance, ‘Coming Home’, The International Opera Through Art Songs, Toronto, Canada. He has experimented with a new genre of linked form, Hainka: the fusion of haiku and tanka. He is nominated to the prestigious panel of ‘The Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems’, The Haiku Foundation, USA. Presently he is the Editor of Haibun, Haiga and Visual Haiku of the Journal, ‘Under the Basho’.
EXAM -THAT DREADFUL FOUR LETTER WORD.
It comes every year. The season where we have to sacrifice our carefree life for the one and only, “EXAM”. It is during this time when we have to recollect everything we have learnt in a year and reproduce it on the paper. Though the exam is nothing but an indication of how much we have understood in our subjects, they have been a leading cause of stress among students. Therefore I decided to share some learning strategies and study techniques that will enable you to study efficiently. So sit back, relax and take a break my dear students.
Enjoy your studies:
Many of us have a misconception that learning is a burden/obligation. The truth is, we learn things everyday; either consciously or unconsciously. If we look at our subjects as a burden, we will automatically approach them with a negative mindset. This kind of learning arises because many of us have been taught “what” to study, but not “how” to study. Therefore, we resort to cramming everything in the last minute and puking it in the paper. This becomes a problem as cramming under stress will create an aversion to the subjects and take away the joy of learning. One way of reclaiming it is to start going beyond the textbook and find alternate ways to understand the subject matter. (especially in quantitative subjects.). With fast and easy access to the internet today, this task has become much easier.
Conceptual Clarity:
When you are studying, make sure that you are conceptually clear with the subject matter. After you study a particular concept, try to teach and explain it to yourself. It will enable you to assess how much you have actually understood. If you feel you aren’t thorough with a particular concept, go back and relearn it. Once you have conceptual clarity about the subject, no exam paper will ever scare you again.
Melodic Learning:
Melodic learning is the process of learning through songs in order to store and retrieve information. Personally, I found this technique very helpful when I was learning my English poems. I took some of my favourite songs and replaced its lyrics with my subject matter. The memory of the tune, laced with my own composition, made the poems flow like a stream. Singing it helped as it made the learning process fun and enjoyable.
Learning through Stories:
We all love a good story. Stories enable us to relate to characters we like because we tend to identify ourselves with them. Learning through stories engage the sensory, motor and language processing sections of the brain. Since a larger part of the brain is active, we will be able to understand and retain information for a longer period. This is probably why great teachers like Jesus, Plato, Aristotle, Swami Vivekananda, Gautama Buddha and many more, propagated their messages through parables. (i.e. stories.) This is another fun technique to memorize and store information.
I will illustrate my point with two small examples.
(Eg: 1) (An extract taken from my Business Environment paper)
1) Buffering
2) Leveling
3) Anticipation
4) Rationing
5) Dominating
6) Changing
Story: Yesterday while I was buffering a YouTube video, I went to do some leveling in my garden. There, I was anticipating the growth of a seed and I started rationing some mustard seeds. But then, other plants were dominating and my plans started changing.
This was a very simple technique that I did in 2 minutes by adding simple conjunctions and fillers.
(Eg 2:) Back when I was in the 9th grade, memorizing the periodic table of elements was a big challenge. Adopting this technique of learning through stories saved a lot of time and enabled me to retain that information to this day.
Above is an extract of the periodic table and this is the story I made up to remember the elements: “There was a Hydrogen(H) bomb in Lining(Li) company Before(Be) New Zealand(Na). The Management(Mg) had no idea about it. Karthik’s(K) Camera(Ca) was Robbed(Rb). Screaming(Sr) the Computer Science teacher(Cs) Brought a(Ba) Frog(Fr) named Rat(Ra).”
Conclusion:
A big problem with our current educational system is that it tends to focus on marks over knowledge. Realistically speaking, the task of obtaining good marks is actually a catalyst for you to study. In the long run, it is the knowledge you obtain that will take you to great places in life. So make the best use of this system and strive to enhance your knowledge. Keep knowledge as the end goal and study regularly. Doing this will automatically fetch you good marks which will give you a good academic future.
All the Best.
Sanjit Singh is pursuing B.Com (final year) in Loyola College, Chennai. His hobbies include juggling, origami, shuttle badminton, public speaking and writing. He has a blog on wordpress.com named "Sanjit Singh - Unconventional Wisdom." The aim of my blog is to present simple solutions to complicated problems that his generation faces.
Critic's Corner
To start with, I find the editorial of the issue rich and erudite. PAINTER/POET Lathaprem Sakhya’s lovely painting “When the Birds Come to Roost” serves as the opening hymn at the entry portal of the journal. The two acts are invitations to hope for a sumptuous literary banquet.
POEMS –
As always, I will not judge the merits of my own poem ‘Foetal Song’, but would speak a thing or two about its reflections. It’s about the revolt of an unborn child from its mother’s womb before coming to the world where the weak is exploited, oppressed, suppressed, and crushed like insects. So, the child addresses his mother to deliver him as an unconquerable individual – tempered, seasoned, pickled, acid-treated, may those processes be as deadly and painful as death, so that he can fight and defeat the injustice and derivation meted to the weak, the defenceless.
The poem ‘Middle-aged Man’ by Haraprasad Das is about the mid-life crisis. It gives the protagonist, a man, a compromised situation in family, society, and in the eyes of his direct dependents including his parents, wife, brothers, children, besides his pan-walla and the whore, he patronizes. In spite of being a do-gooder, he is ignored or neglected by all his beneficiaries. Day dreams become his powerful channels to escape from his angst and stress. In his day dreams he is like the Walter Mitty or Sheikh Chilli. Day dream is his genie of Aladdin. The poet has touched upon this universal human malady, irrespective of sex, in his imagistic cryptic style.
Dilip Mohapatra's poem "Poetry Reading" is a scathing satire on poetry/literary festivals taking place dime a dozen. It splits open the Pandora’s box, the contrived, money-spinning, glory-cum-fame hunting devices called literary/poetry festivals, even patronized by and popular among many famous poets who love and are interested in anything but their own poetry or literary work. I had heard jokes where a poet offers tea & biscuits to gather listeners at a tea stall, but how patiently the single lady listener in Dilip's Poetry Recital in a festival’s reading program listens to his poems soulfully, with a hope that Dilip would, in his turn, listen to hers. All other attendees walk away from the venue at the starting of his reading. Only two poetry lovers in an entire festival? That again, on a quid pro quo basis like the poet and his tea-biscuit-imbibing listeners. But that is the sorry state of affair that Dilip so candidly and vividly brings out. The poem sounds slightly prosaic, but in a well-built satire of this kind no imagistic or symbolic styles can deliver the goal so powerfully.
“Silk Rakhi Strand” by Sangita Kalarickal caught me in its silk webs. A lovely little poem on a close relationship of hearts, where she hides who exactly addressing it to whom, it could be by one of the lovers in a love-web, one of parent-child bond, between two siblings (especially twins), or friends. But from its raw emotional tone, I would choose mother-child. I love the lines, smooth like a facial winter-cream. The simple poem has a bang-finish in arresting lines, “The weight of our ancestors/ Bind us/ In a cozy togetherness” alluding to eternity of the most ancient bond called ‘love’
Bichitra Kumar Behura in “Tears and Smiles” brings the endearing nuances of a conjugal love and its two lodestars, the tears and smiles. It is like honey and sea salt living side by side in a married love-affair that brings the Rasa and Raga or the juicy undertones of varied taste. One may undergo pain and suffering to keep the partner happy. The grateful partner knows the former’s secrets very well but pretends ignorance, not to hurt his sensibilities, and take the wind out of his sail of sacrifices. He rather returns love in more measures than equal in spontaneous looking gestures. It is a cute love poem.
Sangeeta Gupta has lined up three poems on three different emotions. “I Read Your Eyes”, I liked the most. Sharing has been highlighted as the link in love, I fully subscribe to her idea, a noble thought. The consideration of sharing then glides into sharing thoughts, in the poem “Your Thoughts”. Sharing at thoughts’ level is in fact the best sharing and all other sharing follow suit, kind of. Her third in line up is a discord in sharing love. Her poem “Crossing Me Out” showing when a partner cauterizes the other partner in love like a dead skin or organ that has gone vestigial. Like cutting of a cancer-ridden offending portion. Three phases of any intense love’s possibilities.
At the outset Molly Joseph M’s “Giving” may seem as another Christmas litany, but wait, till the last. The child absorbs the well-meaning teacher’s and grandma’s homilies “Give gifts to the poor children who don’t get any from their poor parents during the festive Christmas season”. But in his childish thoughts, the child’s buck stops here. His mind can’t accept it as his own decision, or take its responsibility. His innocence simply refuses to extrapolate the idea any further. So, while gift-wrapping the toys for the poor children, he asks grandma innocently, “When I get them back?” The poem should have ended there. The rest few lines of the poem don’t add to the taste or flavour of the poem, rather pull it down.
Sulochana Ramkumar’s “Of Fools and Angels” is about the rite of passage of a little girl maturing into a woman, a tale of anguish, sprinkled with hopes of sweetness. It is a ballad of personal suffering, when from being treated as an angel, she is reduced into a life of ordinariness. Her pain is palpable. She realizes that her life has been a fool’s paradise. She learns not to rush into territories where even angels tread carefully. When her prince charming comes along to take her away to a haven of love, she feels wary and takes cautious steps into her new life that appears to take away most of her vivre and enthusiasm. But, like in a dramatic irony, she informs that the fool in her has not given up the hope in her new life. Let’s hope, the protagonist finds her love-nest not a fool’s paradise, but real.
“Oh Sister, My Dear Teacher” of Aparna Ajit is a gushing tribute to a convent sister-cum-school teacher, her teacher. It is in rhyming style, very direct, leaving nothing to the reader’s imagination. Her effusive style, I pray, would gladden her teacher and fulfil her poetic venture with her blessings.
In “Coffee Time” Abani Udgatta uses images like ‘you stir the concoction of my twilight’, ‘the flowers, divan, and the walls wait in half-darkness for the doors to open’, ‘and you walk in to debris outside’ and other difficult allusions that are difficult to connect to the poem. The profusion of imagery, at least for my limited information, could not be put into a collage oh coherent thoughts to understand the poem. It is a difficult poem for me as a reader.
Pradeep Rath in his “As Leaves Fade Fast” sings a hymn to the mother nature, hailing its various avatars - bedecked with blossoms, colours – brilliant and muted, the process of aging of various living things – like leaves and flowers – from birth-cry to withering away and dying. But to him, at every turn, nature is dramatically beautiful, as in bloom, so in fall.
Mrutyunjay Sarangi’s “Buried Under Fogs” is in elegiac style for the dead who remain unknown and unsung, whose antecedents remain without identity. The corpses of such unfortunate individuals are disposed as orphans, though they might have mothers, married-or-live-in partners, siblings or other loved ones still searching for them, not knowing that they have died someday, somewhere, and somehow. The poem is like a requiem, a prayer for the souls without names. He maintains a tragic tone uniformly breaking the reader’s heart. He has used nice images fitting to the poem’s teary environ that the tragedy create.
STORIES -
Geetha Nair’s story “The Dhobi did It”, has mild humour ingrained in its title and the tone of the narrative remains at that wavelength until the last. In short, a young woman of marriageable age, Janaki, having a job, living in a working women’s hostel, had many suiters but she liked three of them especially, the “three aces up her sleeve”. She however failed to choose the one among them who would fit her romantic dreams of a love, whom she would marry and love get old with, and never waver in her affection for him. She prayed for a signal from Krishna, her beloved lord. Shortly, her dhobi marked her laundry items with a mistaken initial JR instead of her correct one JA. She took it as her lord’s signal, and chose Ramkumar out of her short-list of three suitors. He was in army. That would make her initial JR from her maiden JA. She, sort of, considered her marriage as ordained, she, Sita (Janaki), uniting with her Ram (Ramkumar). She felt fulfilled in her love-cum-wedded dreams, rejoicing good as well as bad sides of her husband. She however remained wary of dhobis, bringing another signal that might deflect her mind from her wedded lover Ramkumar. Her fear, as expressed by the author’s words, reads poetic, “Ram’s wife should be above suspicion”.. embroidered on a legendary line from Shakespearean drama. On its entirety, the love story treads a path of practical judgements by a girl with a sense of humour, and a tongue-in-cheek sensibility.
Sreekumar K. in his “Practical Lessons” tells the story of a study tour of sixth grade students from a hilltop school. The students are taken downhill to a village at the foothills to study the people’s social behaviour. Teachers of various subjects accompany the students, the children of well to do families. The story revolves around these touring students from rich households and the students of the poorly maintained village school who are from poor farmers’ families, and the efforts by the teachers to give their pupils a taste of our social disparity. The matter involves a difficult effort by the story teller, but I feel, the story has not been organized in a fashion to inform the readers that any convincing practical lesson in social science could be transmitted during that tour. One thing is nice that the story shows the contrasting thought processes of the children of the rich and poor, and also, reflects that the poor are not less proud, as it seems from their flaunting certain unreal achievements like big bank savings with a non-existing bank.
Ishwar Pati’s “A Kitten from Heaven”, apparently a real-life story, is heartrending, reflecting human cruelty and selfishness, taking a turn to a feeling of guilt and repentance after an accident kills the little orphan homeless kitten. The way the kitten was kept in a garage until the accident brings the guilt and repentance seem an unreal kind of kindness. May be, Mr Pati wants to inform the readers the true nature of make-believe and half-heated kindness of most of the people around us, going out for a pedigree one, but hating a stray.
The “Divine Intervention?” from N. D. Padhi’s pen is a story of one arranged marriage that goes awry. The bride is a good student with a potential for painting. The groom is a liar, a drunkard, and wife-abuser. The marital bond gets solemnized on false claims from the groom’s side. To add fuel to the fire scorching the young wife, the widower father-in-law appears to want sexual favours from her, and the widowed sister of the husband leaves no opportunity to harass her. A divine intervention seems to salvage the position. The husband is afflicted with corona infection. His father and sister abandon him out of fear, but the devoted wife brings him back from the teeth of death with her care, day and night. The husband is convinced of her deep love and devotion to him. In addition, the long months of lockdown make liquor unavailable, and the period of forced abstention leads the man to give up his addiction. He turns into a loving husband deeply grateful to his good wife. A painting by the wife on the legend of ever-loyal Savitri convincing the lord of death Yama to return her husband’s life after death has been used as a divine symbol in the story. A nice little conventional story fit for a TV serial.
“To be on Safe Side” by Sunil K. Biswal tells us the hilarious and servile fear of government officers of their political bosses. They run helter-skelter at those bosses’ beck and call, groveling and sniveling at their feet as if those were made of ivory. The story is about a boat ride across a river some 50 years back. A minister was to cross the river as adequate road was not there. So, the minister ordered to the chief engineer for the boat at six thirty, who in his turn ordered his superintendent engineer for the boat at six o’ clock, keeping a safe margin of half an hour. The S. E. ordered his next in rank, the executive engineer to arrange the boat at 5.30 keeping another safe margin. As the order traversed down ward, each keeping safe margins, the final order reached the boatmen for the boat at 3.30. The boatmen waited from 3.30 sharp. By 8.00, as no sign of minister or his party, the boatmen, presumed the program cancelled, and went their way. By 9.00 hours when the minister came with his entourage, there was neither boat nor boatmen. The story doesn’t say if heads rolled. A nice satire with a lot of laughing gas.
Mrutyunjay Sarangi’s “Redemption” is a serious story. It speaks of a jovial, happy-go-lucky, well-heeled man’s conversion into a complex power-hungry politician, and returning to his former state, the previous jovial self as a gesture of redemption and repentance after realizing the false glamour of political power and pelf. His redemption is through a process of guilt, trauma, and repentance for the dark period. All is well that ends well. The story ends with tears of joy and sorrow.
A STATION NAMED LILIGUMMA AND OTHER RAIL STORIES
Translated by Malabika Patel
Reviewer Pabhanjan K. Mishra
The Book includes a little novel titled “A Station Called Liligumma” and eleven short stories. Rightly described in the translator’s note as an insider of Indian Railways, the author Krupa Sagar Sahoo delves deep the into this huge government owned department’s technical aspects, infrastructure, and the surrounding landscape in details, besides its nature, life style, beliefs, interaction with the public, and other departments of the government like the police and the forest officials. He also goes into great details of the hierarchy of railway officers and the staff including their powers and authority. His narration going into the nooks and corners, twists and turns of railways in his novel and stories gives his readers a touch of reality. Every novelist has his style and this author’s style is, undoubtedly this, to give his readers a sort of first hand feel how the mega-machinery runs.
You feel that you are in the middle of the actions of railways: from the lying of its rail lines, blasting tunnels into hilly terrains, building bridges over waterways, and running the trains, including when the planners are going to the drawing board, holding high level policy meetings, or officers and the staff are carrying out their day to day business of running hundreds of trains, defying dangers and challenges on tracts in the most hazardous landmasses in India. After finishing and putting down the book, you realize, all, that is narrated, pale before the dedication of the people who run the Indian Railways. This is unique about Krupa Sagar’s rail stories, his loyalty and dedication to a department where he spent thirty-four years of his invaluable prime as an important hub.
Let’s speak a few words about the story line in the novel. Any story seems saltless without a pinch of the omnipresent taste maker called ‘love’, the salt of living. Krupa Sagar’s is not disappointing in that quarters. A tender and sober love raises its green shoots quietly when a young railway engineer is laying a new railway line in a tribal area in the southernmost part of Odisha, where he takes the help of a young lady primary teacher to win the confidence of embattled local tribes who think the railways would destroy their way of life. The two young good Samaritans meet repeatedly for reasons of work and otherwise, and each develop a soft corner for the other. They never could, however, express their mutual crush to each other, and the tender green shoots wilted before flowering under the glare of caste-honour, a perennial Indian pandemic that has held back Indian civilization from progressing since the days of Manu.
At many occasions, the author hints that the male protagonist’s loyalty and dedication to railways outweighed his concern for his own love. In her turn, the female counterpart, not to be left behind, asks him no love’s due but a a help for her people, to setup a railway station for the people of her village and the neighbouring villages. That’s how railway dominates the plot and the author deftly braids the love story to merge into a natural tapestry woven around Liligumma Railway station that yet stands there as a mute witness to a young love that could not bloom.
The lovers could never exchange their mutual feelings, could not unite or consummate, yet in a way, their love stands tall even before the historic love saga between emperor Shah Jahan and his queen Mumtaz Mahal. The hero in the story builds a fully developed railway station Liligumma to fulfill the wishes of his beloved where the railway department had sanctioned for a passenger halt only. In the process the engineer faces departmental disciplinary proceedings for disobedience of the orders, and loses his job as punishment. Though the harsh punishment was appealable, the officer preferred to accept the loss of job, by all probability, as a penitence for having neglected his beloved when she had wanted his support the and loving hands the most. The Railway Station Liligumma stands tall in the story as a laconic epitaph of love, unsung and unheard of, but not less than Taj Mahal of world fame.
What I like the best about Liligumma is the muted style of storytelling leading to an end where the reader is happy for the seminal contribution of railways to people, but his eyes well up for the railway’s rough deal with one of its best engineers because of the colossal department’s robotic style of working, and also for the demise of a delicate love affair in the hands of caste-demon and overwhelming railway hegemony. The climax is silently eloquent, When an aging unmarried lady teacher in a Delhi school passes by Liligumma without getting down with tears in eyes. Though the story does not identify the teacher as the ex-lover in the failed love-story, yet reader feels her pangs deep within his entrails.
There are also eleven short stories in the same hamper with the novel. The stories also revolve around trains, train employees, train journeys, train passengers, the peculiarities involved as well the predicaments, humanity, and humour. One story especially took away my breath, titled “Sleeping Pill”. Its buildup and the surprise-ending with a shattering climax brings to mind the legendary story teller, the all-time great, O. Henry.
Three foreigners – one mongoloid, one Negro and one white American travel together in an elite class train compartment with an Indian professor of oriental wisdom, and frugal habits. The foreigners call him Swamiji seemingly out of contempt for his Indian origin and soft attitude. Their attitude seems to look down India and Indians in a poor spirit. While retiring to bed they indulge in their respective pacifiers to get sound sleep - like the White man downing umpteen glasses of liquor, the Chinese smoking his pot of hemp, and the black man his Havana Cigar, not bothering about their co-passenger’s hardship and the railways’ ban on smoking, drinking, or imbibing narcotics during a train journey. When they mock the Indian Professor, “What is your sleeping pill, Swamiji?”, the unperturbed frugal professor takes out his pet cobra from his private box and takes a kiss of venom as his sedative before the exploding eyes of his co-passengers, who in shock, the smart alecks, run away from him as if chased by a rabid dog. The story shocks and surprises the reader more than the Swamiji’s mocking co-travelers.
I have read Krupa Sagar Sahoo in Odia originals also. He is more brilliant in his homespun tapestry than in a borrowed language. Any translator, how erudite he or she may be, is mostly unequal to the task of converting the native sensibility of Odia narration into English, an overseas language, that’s my humble opinion.
Prabhanjan K. Mishra writes poems, stories, critiques and translates, works in two languages – English and Odia. Three of his collected poems in English have been published into books – VIGIL (1993), Lips of a Canyon (2000), and LITMUS (2005).His Odia poems have appeared in Odia literary journals. His English poems poems have been widely anthologized and published in literary journals. He has translated Bhakti poems (Odia) of Salabaga that have been anthologized into Eating God by Arundhathi Subramaniam and also translated Odia stories of the famous author Fakirmohan Senapati for the book FROM THE MASTER’s LOOM (VINTAGE STORIES OF FAKIRMOHAN SENAPATI). He has also edited the book. He has presided over the POETRY CIRCLE (Mumbai), a poets’ group, and was the editor (1986-96) of the group’s poetry magazine POIESIS. He has won Vineet Gupta Memorial Poetry Award and JIWE Poetry Award for his English poems.He welcomes readers' feedback at his email - prabhanjan.db@gmail.com
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