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Article on the present situation of contemporary Indian English poets by Dr. Mashirque Jahan

Authors:
  • Independent Researcher

Abstract

The present situation of contemporary Indian English poets is under dark clouds, the growth of the Indian English Poetry has been marred by lack of recognition by local reader, media as well as academic. Researchers are still being done on the well known poets like Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, Jayant Mahapatra and A.K.Ramanujan. There is no initiative to bring out the less known poets; it is not that these poets lack creativity and poetic sensibility. They are simply being subject of politics of rejection. The present study is a sincere effort to bring to light those contemporary poets who have not been explored by renowned critics and S.L.Peeran is one such poet. Before exploring S.L.Peeran as a poet, this chapter presents a review of Indians English Poets.
Article on the present situation of contemporary Indian English poets by Dr.
Mashirque Jahan
The present situation of contemporary Indian English poets is under dark clouds, the growth of
the Indian English Poetry has been marred by lack of recognition by local reader, media as well
as academic. Researchers are still being done on the well known poets like Nissim Ezekiel,
Kamala Das, Jayant Mahapatra and A.K.Ramanujan.
There is no initiative to bring out the less known poets; it is not that these poets lack creativity
and poetic sensibility. They are simply being subject of politics of rejection.
The present study is a sincere effort to bring to light those contemporary poets who have not
been explored by renowned critics and S.L.Peeran is one such poet.
Before exploring S.L.Peeran as a poet, this chapter presents a review of Indians English Poets.
Indian English poetry has a grand tradition as it can boast of a history, which is of nearly two
hundred years.
It's beginning is often associated with Henry Derozio's first collection in verse entitled Poems
(1827), though a number of poets were simultaneously active articulating verses on different
issues echoing British Romanticism.
The second half of the nineteenth century was richer and more productive than the first half. The
Dutt family dominated the scene in whole Bengal and made themselves well known all over
India. Among the Dutt family, Toru Dutt has outstanding poetic quality.
Most of the poets of later half of nineteenth century and first half of twentieth century dealt
with a variety of themes like Nature, Man, God , Indian Myth, Metaphysic, Devotion,
Mysticism and Spirituality which includes poets like Sarojini Naidu , Rabindranath Tagore and
Sri Aurobindo Ghose.
After independence a number of poets tried their hand in writing poetry in English and in this
race Nizzam Ezekiel perhaps is the first.
The Following poets are discussed in this review- A.K.Ramanujan , R.Parthasarthy ,
I.K.Sharma , Pritish Nandy, K.N.Daruwalla , Jayanta Mahapatra , Shiv K.Kumar , Gieve Patel,
Kamala Das , Krishna Srinivas, O.P.Bhatnagar , Arun Kolatkar, Niranjan Mohanyt , R.K.Singh,
R.R.Menon , P.C.K.Prem, P.Raja, Syed Ameeruddin , Hazara Singh , Asha Viswas and Y.S.Rajan.
Nissam Ezekiel is one of the eminent poet of the post-independent Indian English writing.
He is a versatile poet and deals with various themes. His poems are mostly urban centered, so he
is better known as city poet. One can find a cluster of themes in his poems like -Personal
relationship, love, spiritual values, modern urban life, environmental pollution, poverty, social
ethos and Indian culture. Some of his important works include: A Time to Change (1952) Sixty
Poems (1953) The Third (1954) and Later Day Psalms (1982), which won him the Sahitya
Academic Award.
The most outstanding poet of 1960’s is A.K.Ramanujan; his poetry is evidenced by the fact that
there are strikingly divergent responses to it. Though almost all the critics are quick to notice the
accuracy of observation, the telling precision of imagery and such other aspects of the ‘surface’s
structure of Ramanujan's poems, their response to the 'deep' structure of his poetry are
disturbingly subjective. His volume of poetry includes The Strider Relations (1971), which won
him a poetry Book Society recommendation . Other volumes are Selected Poems (1970),
Second Sight (1986), Uncollected Poems and Prose (2000). Ramanujan is essentially a
modernist committed to an antihistorial, depoliticized, transnational consciousness and to
stylistic experimentalism like Imagism and Expressionism. C.N.Srinath says "the poet
employs irony, wit, under-statement and achieves a nut like texture and grit in poem after poem
like an Augustan Poet"1. Ramanujan's poetic style is polished and refined. His images are
precise, accurate, real and highly suggestive.
Then comes R.Parthasurthy on the scene of Indian English poetry with the appearance of his first
collection The First Step: Poem (1956-66). His second volume Rough Passage is a long poem in
three parts writer over a period of 15 years. The first section is called Exile, the second Trial and
the third Homecoming.
With a keen sense of art, Parthasarthy is an extremely scrupulous poet. Roger Iredale says, 'the
remarkable thing about Parthasarthy's poetry…is the powerful blind of a highly emotional
quality of thought and feeling with an iron discipline of language and intellect"2.
Pritish Nandy published about ten volumes of verse namely: Of Gods and Olives (1968) , On
Either Side of Arrogance(1970), Masks To Be Interpreted( 1970), Madness is the Second
Stroke(1971), Collected Poems (1973), Dhristarashtra Down Town Zero(1974), A Stranger
Called I (1976), In Secret Anarchy (1976), Lonesong Street (1976), and Nowhere Man (1977) .
He is a prolific poet and mainly a poet of love. He has presented love in all its shades and colours
from love at first sight to the enjoyment of sex and from pincing to its brutal aspect.
Keki.N Daruwalla belongs to the first rank of modern Indian English poets. He has five
collections of poems to his name. They are: Under Poems (1970), Apparition In April (1971),
Crossing of Rivers ( 1976 ) , Winter Poem s ( 1982 ) , an d Landscapes (1987). In his poetry
he has dealt with anti-social elements, sale of women, rituals, poverty, disease, pseudo-priest and
politicians, black marketing, religious rites. According to Bijay Kumar Das, "Social satire, an
awareness of the contemporary situations, the illusion about myths seem to be favourite themes
of Daruwalla"3. It could be easily said that Daruwalla has taken up the burning problem of his
day and dwelt on human existence.
Among the contemporary poets Jayanta Mahapatra is a close observer of men and things. His
poetry has been assessed by critics and reviewers from various angles emphasizing among other
thing, 'the wide spectrum of his themes the 'Indianness' of his sensibility, the exploration of myth
and its conjunction with symbols, his sense of time and timelessness, his sense of 'renewal of
life', the evocative quality of his verse and his sharp sense of the poet's craft-which are clearly
recognizable aspect of the achievement as an Indian poets writing in English.
Shiv. K. Kumar, who arrives on the poetic scene in 1970, is one of the major poets of Indian
English poetry. His five collection of poems are: Articulate Silence (1970), Cobwebs In the Sun
(1974), Subterfuges (1976), Woodpeckers (1979) and Trapfalls in the Sky (1987) for which he
also received Sahitya Academy Awards.
The range of his themes is very wide and his treatment of subjects is original. To quote B. K.
Das, "He takes a simple incident or situation and stretches it with the breath of his imagination
till it acquires a new meaning. There lies his strength and originality"4. He is a gifted poetic artist
and his poetic style is 'scholarly, lucid and precise'. On the whole Shiv. K. Kumar is one of the
most outstanding poet of the post-independence era of Indian English Poetry.
Gieve Patel is one of the Indian English poets, who brought out his volumes of verse Poems
(1966) and How Do You Withstand Body (1976) which took him as a poet with nagging social
conscience, who tried to balance his deep compassion for the underdog by both a clinical
detachment and a deflating irony. And his favourite technical strategy seemed to be the
situational mode in which a real life situation triggered off a poetic response. To quote Satish
Kumar, "Patel is a poet of promise and potentiality rather than achievement. He hints at the
social problem of the day but refrains from providing the solution"5.
Kamala Das is one of India's most outstanding women poets, who writes in English .Her
volumes of poems include - Summer in Calcutta (1965) , The Descendants (1967) , The Old Play
House and Other Poems (1973), and Strange Time (1977) .
Kamala Das is predominantly a poet of love, sex, lust, pain, nervousness, melancholy,
frustration, and dissatisfaction. She is confessional and autobiographical poet who reveals in bold
and candid expressions. Love and lust dominate all the volumes of her verse. According to
Mohan Lal Sharma, "Like W .B.Yeats, Kamala Das does not make much distinction between
body and soul"6. Other women poets who come into recognitions are-Gauri Des pandey, Sunita
Jain, Monika Verma, Indu Nair, Jelena Narayan and many more. Then comes Krishna
Srinivas, who has published a number of volumes of poems. He is a mystical and philosophic
poet with vision of the Beyond. His works are: Magic Pearls (1953) , The Buds and Blossoms
(1954) , He Walks the Earth (1975) Dance of Dust (1975), Everest (1975) , River (1978) , and
Five Element (1981) . He is also a cosmic, mystical and metaphysical poet. To quote Syed
Ameeruddin, "His poetry is replete with mystical grandeur metaphysical flashes and enchanting
visions of cosmic beauty"7. Krishna’s images are always powerful and striking, through his
images he expresses his epical themes, which are ancient and traditional but at the same time
immersed in the immediate present and its perennial problems of seeking mankind.
I. K. Sharma is also a well-known contemporary poet. His collections include: The Shifting
Sanddunes (1976), The Native Embers (1986), Dharamsala and Other Poems (1993) , Camel ,
Cockroach and Captains (2001), My Lady Broom and Other Poems (2004), and End To End
(2008)
I. K. Sharma is a poet of humour and irony. He is artistic, suggestive, and satirical in many of his
poems. As his birth place is Jaipur, he vividly paints the landscape of Rajasthan.
An important aspect of Sharma’s poetry is his boldness. For instance, The Shifting Sand-dunes
was printed and published during the horrid days of emergency. It was during this period that
he composed his renowned poem in Hindi, Gandhi Chauraha, which he himself later
translated into English under the title: Gandhi At A Cross Road. The poems have a bitter satire
on the prowling powers, which earned the displeasure of the ruling authority. According to R. K.
Singh, "Sharma not only exhibits his art at handling a variety of situation, moods and stances, but
also his ability to assimilate Christian and Hindu symbols into a poetic way with success"8.
O.P.Bhatnagar is a great poet of contemporary Indian English poetry. He has published five
volume of poetry: Thought Poems (1976), Feeling Fossile (1977), Angles of Retreat (1970),
Onerie Vision (1980), and Shadow in Foodlight (1984)
His poetry is characterized by simplicity, variety and freshness and he always presents
expressions for multifarious social and the present day life. He sincerely restores the balance
between man and nature. His main concern is man and many sides' problems surrounding him.
Being essentially a realist, Bhatnagar, accepts things as they are with patience.
Irony is O. P. Bhatnagar's main weapon. He handles irony with effectiveness and immediacy. His
poetry is not without a sense of humour. As H.S.Bhatia says, "With the preceding period"9.
Arun Kolatkar is a bilingual poet, who writes both in Marathi and English. His first book of
poem is Jejuri (1976). Jijuri is the pilgrim centre to the South- East of Poona. Kolatkar describes
a visit of Jejuri, reaching it by bus and returning by train. During the interval, the poet goes
round, sees priests, men, animals and rodents. Jejuri is the record of his impression. S.K.Desai
says, "the protagonist goes to Jejuri not as a seeker…nor as a pilgrim…He is a kind of
traveller…a tourist"10.
Niranjan Mohanty, the well known Indian English poet from Orissa was a contravention to this
new age wisdom. In making poetry as naturally as a silk worm made silk, he soared above the
sterile academic contest between making and birthing.
He is humble and believer in the simple virtue of life. He writes with understanding and music in
his heart. His poems, therefore, breathe the artistic unassumption and natural sincerity. His work
includes: Silencing the Words (1977), Oh T his Bloody Game (1988), Life Line (1999), Poetry
To Lord Jagannath (1994), Krishna: A Long poem (2003), A House At Rains (2008), and Tiger
and Other Poems.
His poetry, at its best, was a filtration of his humanity, his home…bound vision of God
Jagannath, which is related to his native place Orissa.
R. K. Singh occupies an important place among the Indian English Poets of 1980s and 1990s. He
as a citizen artist is acutely aware of the painful realities of Indian society. His collection of
volumes includes: My Silence (1985) , Flight of Phoenix (1988), Memories Unmemoried (1988),
Music Must Sound (1990) , I do not Question (1994), My Silence and Other Selected Poems
(1996) , Above the Earth Green (1997) , The River Returns (2006) and Sexless Solitude (2008)
Publishing poetry for so many years and in the process developed a style, which is characteristic
within the orbit of the influences that have shaped his muses. Singh uses Indian lexicon to enrich
his writing and also to provide Indianness to his writing.
Woman, love, sex is the core of his writing. Each part of a woman's body speaks out a different
language convey a fresh meaning. The poet makes it clear that woman possesses a wonderful
quality of head and heart. She is only a gift of God to prove His supremacy. Singh's poem of love
and sex can be compared with those of Kamala Das for both of them have a highly personal
voice and obsession for sex. But Kamala Das hardly rises above her personal life, whereas R. K.
Singh is wide enough to focus on life in its totality. As Satish Kumar says, "Singh is a
connoisseur of finished feminine beauty. His appreciation of the hypnotic and enticing feminine
beauty has superb aesthetic excellence"11
R. R. Menon is a bilingual poet who writes in Malayalam and English. He has won many poetry
awards and earned international recognition. Menon writes on various themes like love,
corruption, social consciousness, family relationship, and so on. The tone of his poetry is very
sarcastic and ironic, which makes him different from others. His collections include: Parted Love
and Other Poems (1958), Dasavatara and Other Poems (1967), Seventy Seven (1971), Straws
in the Wind (1973), Shadow in the Sun (1976), Grass in the Garden and Heart on a Shoe String
(1978), Pebbles on the Shore (1981), Poems (1985-86), and Sound of Silence (1993).
P. C. K. Prem, is an author of several books. He has been regularly writing in Pahari, Hindi and
English and also contributes to various magazines, newspaper and anthologies. He is also
associated with various social, literary and cultural activities. His publications include: Among
the Shadows (19 89) , Enigmas of an Identity (1990), Contemporary Indian English Poetry
from Himachal (1992), Those Distant Horizons (1993), The Bermuda Triangles (1996), and
Oracles of the Last Decade (1998).
P. Raja is a poet of excellent fancy, imagination and reflection. He has an amazing sensitivity to
the sound and size of English words and his lines are attuned to the rhythm of his concepts.
P.Raja's From Zero to Infinity is a mixture of compassion and humour. His To The Lonely Grey
Hair contains light hearted poetry, but there is an undercurrent of pathos also in the poems. Many
of his poems deal with common subjects concerning everyday life.
Syed Ameeruddin is one of the contemporary poets in Indian Writing in English. He writes on
different themes such as contemporary social and religious issues, reality of God, man- woman
relations hip and world peace. He has published six collections of poems: W hat the Himalaya….
said and Other Poems (1972), The Dreadful Doom to Come(1974), A Lover and Wanderer
(1980), Petallic Love Times (1988), Visioned Summits(1995), and Visioned of
Deliverance(2006).
Hazara Singh's role as a poet, philosopher, linguist and critic is nationally acclaimed. He has
been contributing to Indian English writing since the last three decades and has published four
volumes of poetry entitled: Aspirations (1980), Yearnings (1987), Expectations (1999), and
Destination (2007).
A patriot by nature, Hazara Singh looks at life as an idealist. The thematic variety of his verse
holds a mirror to his deep and wide experience of life as a freedom fighter, social activist and
academic. His poetry ranges from personal to the universal and from past to the present.
Asha Viswas is one of the contemporary Indian English women poet, who along with being a
poet, is a critic and reviewer. She has two volumes of poetry entitled: Melting Memories (1996)
and Mortgaged Moorings (2001).
Her poetry is honest and origin al with genuine human emotions surging from a feminine
sensibility that is hypersensitivity. Human emotions which are common to the life experiences
of everybody, such as love, sharing, loneliness, longing, anguish, fear, pain and pleasure are
effectively brought out in her short lyrics.
Y. S. Rajan is a bilingual poet writing both in English and Tamil, is a scientist by profession. He
has written three volumes of poetry in English: Agony and Harmony (2002), Jumping genes
(2006) and Ode To an Earth W arm (2008) and One Collection of Poetry he has translated from
Tamil to English is Blossom of the Hearts (2002).
In his poetry he gives emphasis on national consciousness, social awareness, family relationship,
science and technology, peace and violence. The poets who are not discussed in this review are:
Dom Mores, K.Raghavendra Rao, Leela Dharamaraj, Pradip Sen, G.S.Sharat Chandra,
Monika Verma, Krishna Gorowara, Arvin d Krishna Mehrotra, Gauri Deshpande, Mahanand
Sharma, D.C.Chambial, Hemant Kulkarni, R.N.Sinha and I.H.Razvi.
The poets whose writings show spiritual consciousness are as follows: Swami Vivekanand,
Manmohan Ghose, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Rabindranath Tagore, Harindranath Chattopadhya, Sri
Paramhans a Yoganand, Brajendra Nath Seal, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Nirodbaran , K . D
.Sethna, Krishna Srinivas and S.L.Peeran.
The discussion of spiritual poets begins with Swami Vivekanana, who is a great saint poet,
whose poetry is marked by spirituality and mysticism. He translated poems from Sanskrit and
Bengali, but he has some original poems also to his name, some of them are: An Interesting
Correspondence, Thou Blessed Dream, The Living God, To an Early Violet, Kali- the Mother, To
The Awakened India and The Song of Sanyasin. Vivekanada's poems are full of pure spiritual
wisdom. He stressed on the need for religion, but he was careful to add that it should be a "man
making religion"12.
Then comes Manmohan Ghose, the elder brother of Sri Aurobindo Ghose, has an impressive
poetic equipment, first displayed in his lyrics in Primavera (1890) in collaboration. Manmohan
Ghose was a romantic, lyrical, elegiac and meditative poet.
His delight in nature and his passion for beauty are intense. His independent volumes of poetry
include: Love Songs and Elegies (1898), Nal and Damayanti(1916) Adam Alarmed in
Paradise(1918),and Songs of Love and Death(1926).
Rabindranath Tagore, the only Indian English poet to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Gitanjali
(1912), Tagore's finest work, is firmly rooted in the ancient tradition of Indian saint poetry and
yet reveals a highly personal quest for the divine, characterized by a great variety of moods and
approaches, ranging from ecstasy to the depth of despair. S.Z.H Abidi says, "Gitanjali is a
collection of lyric on god, man and nature unified by his romantic longing for a merger with the
divine…."13.
Sri Aurobindo Ghose, brother of Manmohan Ghose is one of the greatest Indian English poets.
To many of his contemporaries, Sri Aurobindo is a power 'out of the ordinary', a star that dwelt
apart. Sri Aurobindo Ghose's poems are full of majestic fire. His works in poetry include: Songs
of Myrtilla and Other Poems (1895) , Urvasi (1950) , Ahana and Other Poems(1915), Love
and Death (1921),Dill Prabhu (1922), Six Poems (1934), Poems Past and Present(1946), Savitri
a Legend and a Symbol (1950-51),and Ilion(1957)
Sri Aurobindo was a yogi, seer philosopher, majestic , revolutionary patriot, intellectual, a
man of letter and a poet of distinction. The range of his poetry varies from sensual love to
spiritual illumination.
Aurobindo's fame as an Indian English poet mainly rests on his monumental work, Savitri, an
epic of great prophetic vision and supreme poetic achievement. Sri Aurobindo himself
described Savitri as “a sort of poetic philosophy of the spirit and of life"14
Harindranath Chattopadhya , is a prolific poet. Although born in a Brahmin family, his childhood
and boyhood days were spent in Hyderabad with its composite culture-hindu Vedantic and
Islamic Sufi, made a mark on him. Harindranath has a number of volumes of poem to his c
redit: The Feast of Youth (1918), Coloured Garden (1919), The Magic Tree (1922), Perfume on
Earth (1922), The Son of Adam (1946), Edge Ways and The Saints (1946), The Divine Vagabond
(1950), Spring in Winter (1955), Masks and Farewells (1961), and Virgin and Vineyard 1967).
Like Vivekananda, Harindranath too feels overwhelmed by the majestic vision of the' dance of
doom'. For Vivekananda it is Kali and for Harindranath it is Shiva.
Sri Paramhansa Yoganand is a mystic poet who has failed to win favour with the critics. His first
volume, Whisper from Eternity (1935) is a collection of prose poems. He had the glimpse of God
in his guru, Sriyukteswar, and he sings of the everlasting glory of the Almighty. He has writen
poems on various themes, but all his poems are full of devotion, mysticism, spiritualism, and
Vedantic monism. His other volumes are: Songs of The Soul and Cosmic Chants. Satish Kumar
writes about his writing "his writing was to realize the inherent Divinity of man, as each of is the
child of god. Man can realize God- consciousness through practicing truth, love, harmony,
service and universal brotherhood"15.
Brajendra Nath Seal is an important poet of the first half of the twentieth century, who in his The
Quest Eternal (1936), makes an ambitious attempt to 'transcribe basic philosophical ideas in the
forms of pure poetry'. The poems in the collection are reflective, philosophical and mystical, and
highlight the importance of spirituality in human existence.
Noline Kanta Gupta, who was an ardent follower of Sri Aurobindo and has authoritatively
expounded Sri Aurobindo's thought in Bengali as well as English, is remembered for his mystic
and spiritual poetry. His poems are collected in a single volume, To The Heights (1944). There
are nearly fifty pieces in the book, and one can trace in them a study growth in aspiration and
realization, to quote K. R Srinivasa Iyenger, "This is the poetry of meditative thought, and it
mingles the qualities of dryness and strength; but now and then a light leaps up and all is
transfigured"16.
Nirodbaran is a mystical poet and his Sun Blossom, a collection of 99 lyrics, published in
1947. He is a pantheist, who believed that the whole creation is the sublime expression of God.
In the word of Satish Kumar, "Nirodbaran felt that the malaise of the spirit can only be cured
when the soul- bird diverts its weary and unstirred flight from the 'cage of night' towards his
luminous light"17.
Another poet in this stream is K. D. Sethna, who flourished Indian writing in English Poetry
with his philosophical and Sufi poetry. He is a more accomplished craftsman and more prolific
poet, was deeply influenced by the poetry and overhead philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. His
famous collection of poems are Artist Love (1925 ), The Secret Splendour(19 41) and The
Adventure of Apocalypse(1949). Sethna uses transparent and suggestive symbole and images
drawn from nature.
Krishna Srinivas has published a number of volumes of poems which includes mini-epics on
religious heads of main religions and Hindu philosophers and saint. He covers past, present and
future in his poetry and it is full of historical sense. He is not only a great poet but also a mystic
philosopher, visionary dreamer and preacher. According to I. H. Rizvi, "His longer poem is
undoubtedly modern epics, because their themes are grand and sublime, the main figures is
universal, they are magically forceful in the treatment"18.
Amanuddin brought out nine volumes of verse in all, but four of them are prominent, they are:
The Children of Hiroshima, The Age of Female Eunochs, Gems and Germs, and Adventures of
Atman. Amanuddin writes on variety of themes like love, light, life, death, destruction,
men, women, suffering humanity, philosophy, religion and social condition. He is a poet with a
vision and can be ranked with the most outstanding modern Indian English Poets.
K. R. Srinivas Iyengar, the famous critics of Indian English Literature, brought out three volumes
of verse. His poetry is philosophical, mystical and metaphysical. He is primarily concerned with
Eternity.
Krishna Khullar's Ashes of Immortality is a small collection of 12 poems, which interpret the
paradoxical involvement of man in search of immortality. The poet explores the meaning of soul-
search on the margin of an alien world. The poems reveal the poet's religious beliefs and
metaphysical conceptions. His other collections are Sarawali and Other poems, and Wings of
Poesy.
S. L. Peeran is also a Sufi and Spiritual poet like the above mentioned poets, no doubt he
emphasizes the need for religion, but he is careful to add that it should be a man making religion.
Critics have appreciated him for his, "reflective, idealistic, and spiritual poetry"19, which is
hoped to transform the very character of man his follies, vices and attachment with materialism.
S. L. Peeran is an important figure in the contemporary Indian English Poetry, is a bilingual poet,
writing both in English and Urdu. Although a late bloomer, who started writing poetry at the of
48, yet he has surprised the poetry world during the last ten years by presenting eleven
noteworthy volumes of poetry: In Golden Times (2000), In Golden Moments(2002), A Search
From Within(2002), A Ray of Light(2002), In Silent Moment(2002), A Call From
Unknown(2003), New Frontiers(2005), Fountains of Hopes (2006) , In Rare Moments (2007) ,
In Sacred Moments(2008) & Glittering Love (2009)
Most of his collections are published from "Bizz Buzz” publications and “The Home of Letters".
He writes on various themes which include: nature, humanity, love for God, love for human
being, family relationship, hope, sympathy, corruption and current issues. Being a legal
practitioner by profession his socio- political awareness is well reflected in his poems and as a
result, his tone is moralistic, compassionate, consoling and solicitous.
Peeran stand as a torch bearer amidst the contemporary poets, "as none of the recent
contemporary writers is writings on Islamic belief, other than Krishna Srinivas, "Muhammed: A
Long poem on Islam (1983)"20. Peeran is steeped in Islamic belief and is completely submissive
to the Almighty, Most Merciful and Benevolent.
'Love for human being' and 'Love for God’ are the dominant themes of his poetry and almost in
every collection he has presented these themes. Like Vivekananda and Aurobindo, Peeran also
stressed on universal brotherhood and unity of mankind as the religion of world .One finds in his
poetry an assimilation of diverse religions and cultural ideals and notions that manifest his
tolerant mind. -
Yes, I do have a religion
I do practice it,
Say my Namaz
But my rites, my symbols
Are act of love
To foster oneness
Love for God is the most controlling theme in his poems. He humbles himself before God
seeking His manifold blessing and mercies like the metaphysical poets of the 17th century such
as John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell and others’ Peeran too seeks the benevolent
blessing of God in the time of perils and pains, and at the times of joy:
Blow my sail, push my boat of life.
My rudder of faith is firm, I hold fast.
Neither storms, nor thunder, nor lighting can shake me.
I am not on a slippery path. I have my "Khizr22.
Peeran's style is his own. He uses simple but impressive words of day-to-day life like: 'pickle
and honey with Ragi-balls', ‘Music of life waning into silence’. Like O.P.Bhatnagar, Peeran
shows no hesitation in employing innovation in his poetry to suit Indian ethos and sensibility.
S.L.Peeran is a modern poet in his treatment of both the content and form. In a confessional and
essentially ironic mode he tears of the hypocrisy of the present society and reveals personal as
well as social life with an authentic touch of his Indian sensibility. To quote Krishna Srinivas,
"Peeran has gained many distinctions and he is the right man to regain what we have all lost. He
cries down the c rimes and injustice that prevail everywhere today"23.
Peeran is a poet who plays in the cradle of spiritualism and entertains the faith that the world
undoubtedly be a second heaven if there is religious tolerance; he condemns factions and groups
of all religion or classes. He advocates comrades hip, companionship and fellowship among his
fellow being. Enriches his poetry through his Sufi ideas and thought, which gives a new
dimension to Indian English Writing. R.K.Singh says, about his Sufi belief and religious
tolerance that "He is a firm believer in God, family and humanity. He stands for values like
humanity, tolerance, love, truth, faith charity, respect, justice, freedom, peace, harmony, unity
of God and mankind, promotion of education and culture and love of nature"24
According to Peeran, if man surrenders himself whole-heartedly before God, the eternal light
certainly helps him in reducing the self. He considers the religion of humanity as the supreme
religion of the cosmos and demolishes the barriers of religious orthodoxy by bringing out the
message of God from all religions.
In the poem 'A Cry of a Victim for Peace', from the collection In Silent Moments , he lamented at
the inhuman treatment of man, destruction of the nation and growing crop of double talk,
hypocrisy and falsehood, he gives the message of Ahimsa and Dharma:
Shun thy enmity and illumine thy heart
With lofty ideas of "Ahimsa" and "Dharma",
To recreate a paradise on earth, here, here! 25
So, the study of his poetry would provide a new dimension to the contemporary Indian English
Writing. In his poetry one can trace the spiritual consciousness besides political and social
consciousness. His poetry hopes to create awareness in man about his responsibility and an
enlightment through his spiritual thinking, which helps to make a journey towards God.
The study is oriented to investigate S.L Peeran’s poetic composition- spiritual consciousness with
particular attention to the influence of Islam and Sufism over his poetry and thereby to Indian
English Writing. This work would help to draw the attention of the critics for authentic criticism.
References
1. Rizvi, I.H and N.F Rizvi Origin, Devlopment and History of Indian English Poetry. Bareily:
Prakash Book Depot, 2008, p.60
2. ibid., p. 63
3. ibid., p. 68
4. ibid., p. 70.
5. ibid., p. 57.
6. ibid., p. 87.
7. ibid., p. 48.
8. ibid., p. 149.
9. ibid., p. 149.
10. Naik, M. K. Prospective on Indian Poetry in English.
New Delhi: Abhinav Publication, 1984. p. 169.
11. Rizvi, I. H.; op. cit.; p. 172.
12. Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English.
Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 1962. p.536.
13. Rizvi, I. H.; op. cit.; p. 26.
14. ibid., p. 28.
15. ibid., p. 37.
16. Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English.
Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 1962. p. 615.
17. Rizvi, I. H.; op. cit.; p. 39.
18. ibid., p. 48.
19. Singh, R. K. Voices of the present: Critical Essays on some Indian English Poets. Jaipur:
Book Enclave, 2006. p. 244.
20. Singh, R. K Book Review of A Call from Unknown. By S. L Peeran. Poet, October 2003,
p.46
21. Peeran, S. L. A Call from Unknown. ‘ Religion’. Bangalore Bizz Buzz, 2003, p.5
22. Peeran, S. L. In Rare Moments. ‘ Grace’. Bangalore Bizz Buzz, 2003, p.51
23. Srinivas, Krishna. Forward of In Rare Moments. Bangalore. Bizz Buzz, 2007, p.xiii
24. Singh, R. K. Voices of the present: Critical Essays on some Indian English Poets. Jaipur:
Book Enclave, 2006.p. 246
25. Peeran, S. L. In Silent Moment: ‘ A Cry of Victim’. Bhubaneshwar: The Home of Letters,
2002. P.13
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