CONCLUSION. remarkable contribution to the field of Indian-English Poetry. imagery and verbal felicity. Unlike modern Indian English Poets who are

Transcription

1 CONCLUSION The study of the major themes of Harindranath s poetry in the preceding chapters reveals the thematic range and poetic craftsmanship of Harindranath. It also establishes him as a born poet with transcendental vision. The large body of his poetry invariably reflects the poet s remarkable contribution to the field of Indian-English Poetry. He displays his distinction in his choice and treatment of themes, exuberant imagery and verbal felicity. Unlike modern Indian English Poets who are mostly pre-occupied with transitory events, issues and subjects of the contemporary world, Harinadranath telescopes his vision to the beyond, and captures the world invisible to mortal eyes. His poetry embodies the illuminations, revelations, self-discoveries and eternities envisioned by him. Like Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore, he lends a new meaning and assigns a unique purpose and a profound mission to the Muse. His poetry, deeply rooted in Indian Culture and heritage, soars into the high Indian sky, focusing its torch on eternal truths and ever blooming beauties such as God, the highest self, the child, life and death, nature, poetry and poet s personality and contemporary world. Harindranath is a true Indian Poet reflecting in his English Poetry, the true and essential India while most Indian English poets 304

2 choose to depict in their poetry only pseudo-india that is completely westernized and far alienated from its own culture and heritage. The real India cannot be found in its politics or in its economy and in its vast scientific and technological advancement. India is a land of spirituality and mysticism. It is spirituality that defines true Indian culture. Spirituality is the essential feature of Hindu religion. Spirituality enables an Indian to exceed himself, to move beyond his senses and to embark on a spiritual quest to search for the eternal spirit pervading the whole universe, to come into contact with the divine and to be conscious of the unity of life in diverse forms of existence and the divine possibilities of man through self discovery. Sri Aurobindo correctly grasps the essential trait of the Indian mind when he writes: Spirituality is indeed the master-key of the Indian mind; the sense of the infinite is native to it, the invisible always surrounds the visible, the supersensible, the sensible, even as infinity always surrounds 1. Born into this vast world, making a journey of life in this complex world and being conscious of the end of life, an Indian Questions, where do I come from? Where do I go back? What does life signify? Who s that ONE standing behind the veil of the universe? What s that mysterious, eternal spirit that keeps the whole 305

3 world going? These questions torture him, challenge his intellect and urge him to search for answers that can satisfy his spiritual thirst This is the true essence of Indian culture. To envision these eternal truths and to make revelations of these spiritual illuminations in poetry, the poet must be a seer. The ancient poets like Valmiki and Vyasa in their eternal epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, captured the eternal, the infinite, the transcendental, the true and the beautiful and revealed to the whole world, the glories of eternal India. In our age, poets like Sri Aurobindo and Rabidnranath Tagore carried the eternal torch of Indian culture and heritage and revealed true India to the world through their works. Harindranath too followed the foot-steps of these seer-poets. He also reveals in his poetry, the infinite, the eternal, the true and the beautiful, reflecting the true face of India with the glories of Indian culture and heritage reverberating through his Muse. It is the voice of true and eternal India that is heard in the themes Harindranath dwells on, in the rich imagery he weaves and in the mystic vision he displays in his poetry. The poetry of Harindranath reveals his fascination for God and his obsession with the subject of God. To Harindranath, God is the 306

4 highest in the hierarchy of realities, God is an omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, supreme personality. God is immanent as well as transcendent. God is the cosmic-self and Spirit in and behind all things and beings. God is the Spirit and Master of our own being within us- Man s ultimate spiritual goal is to reach God and to merge with Him. These are not merely the profound spiritual reflections of the poet that are embodied in his poetry. These are in fact all the spiritual experiences that the poet treasured in the deep of his spiritually-thirsty soul. These spiritual encounters with the Cosmic- Self are celebrated in his poetry. He experienced the conception of God as a concrete and absolute reality evolved through varied phases in his spiritual quest for the knowledge of the divine. God as an incomprehensible, ancient, eternal mystery, God as an abstract and vague feeling, God as a concrete reality, God as an invisible, supreme power pervading and radiating the whole universe, God as an eternal spirit dwelling in all humans and ultimately, God as a concrete, absolute reality, accessible to man and within the orbit of human experience are the varied phases in evolutionary spiritual experience and encounters of the poet with the infinite. The poet views God as a supreme creator and destroyer of the universe, the 307

5 bright side and the darkside of God. Both roles played by God in the Cosmos are equally significant and it is all the sport (Leela) of the divine which only seers can comprehend and grasp. Harindranath hails God as the creator and God as the destroyer and in his poetry, these twin-faces of God are celebrated. The poet is not content with singing and celebration of God s sport (Leela) in his contradictory roles of the Master- creator and the destroyer of creation. The poet with spiritual unrest and thirst launches a spiritual pilgrimage to reach God and to merge with God which is his ultimate spiritual goal. Harindranath depicts God and his intimate relationship with God, employing rich, soul-stirring imagery. To realize his spiritual goal, the poet enters into a soul-to-soul communion with God and the intimate relationship he establishes with God is the relationship between lovers, friends, brothers between mother and child, between master and beggar and between musician and lyre. Harindranath sings of God s nature, and God s leela, his intimate relationship with god, his spiritual quest for God and his spiritual realization of union of his self with God, guided and illumined by his mystic vision in his poetry. 308

6 The theme of the Highest -Self that runs through the collection of poems entitled Foot-falls invariably reveals the other facet of Harindranath s spiritual life. To seek the Highest-Self dwelling within the poet with the sole objective of attaining spiritual realization is the Upanishadic truth embodied beautifully in the poetry of Harindanath. The poet in his endeavour to quench his spiritual thirst aspires to know, to befriend and to live in the Highest-Self. He is not alienated from his Highest- Self. But to realize the Highest-Self and attain greater life, the poet embarks on a spiritual voyage. An untiring traveller, way-farer and sailor, the poet makes his journey towards the Highest-Self. He sets before him a spiritual goal. He envisions his spiritual destination - merging his individual self (Atma) with the Highest - Self (paramatma). Towards this spiritual goal and spiritual destination, the poet journeys untiringly and resolutely. To Harindranath, the Highest-Self is a sea, an ocean, a harp, a chariot and a bird. The imagery woven into these poems is quite natural and highly-evocative. It aptly conveys the poet s spiritual experience. While treating the theme of the Highest- Self with amazing poetic craftsmanship, Harindranath lives up to the tradition of our great Indian seers and saints. All the poems in 309

7 Foot-Falls are blessed with the illuminations of the poet s telescoping mystic vision. The theme of the child that is traceable in the collection of poems entitled The coloured Garden unveils the world of the child. Harindranath delineates the child in its varied moods and fancies and the childhood in myriad, rich colours, reliving his own happy childhood. To the poet, childhood is a colourful garden full of lovely things and the child lives in the world of innocence, beauty and happiness. The child derives pure, innocent and unadulterated joy from beauties of nature like clouds, rainbow, sun-rise, sun-set, butterflies, singing birds, blossoms and flowing streams. Harindranath portrays the child as the marvellous creation of God and the child as God descended from heavens on to the earth. The poems in The Coloured garden present the child s world of dreams, fancies, wonders, beauties and joys. In these poems, Harindranath is found singing of the child and the child s beautiful world, some poems are addressed to the child and quite surprisingly, the poet himself becomes the child, enjoying all the sweet things of the child s world. He depicts the child as an ardent lover of nature, 310

8 observing and enjoying beauties of nature, the child as a teacher in the art of happy living, the child as a celestial messenger with the message of love from heavens, the child as a blessed companion of God, the child as a prophet with the knowledge of mysteries of the universe, the child as a busy poet penning poems with no ambition for fame or wealth, and the child as a compassionate soul, crying for the suffering humanity, sympathizing with the poor and aspiring to sacrifice its own life for the blind, crippled and dumb poor children. All these poems in the coloured garden with the child as the central metaphor celebrate the childhood which the poet, now the grown-up man, has long lost. The poet, reliving childhood in these poems, attempts to regain it through dreams, fancies, wonders, desires, loves and joys of the child. Nature is one of the major themes in the poetry of Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. Nature captures the imagination of the poet and enraptures his heart with its myriad beauties. Fascinated by nature, Harindranath sings of marvels, splendours and glories of nature, exploring and unfolding its new vistas. An ardent lover of nature since childhood, Harindranath developed an intimate 311

9 relationship with nature and in objects of nature the poet beheld living beings such as plants, trees, blossoms, clouds, butterflies, sunrise, sunset, the moon, the sky and mountains throbbing with life. In this I thou relationship with beauties of nature, the poet savoured immense joy. To him no object in nature is inanimate and everything in nature throbs with life, beckoning the poet to partake of the feast of beauty offered by nature. While depicting the beauties of spring and autumn, the poet is quite conscious of the Master-creator of the universe at the marvellous work of painting blossoms so colourful in spring. Nothing in nature is ugly and insignificant. With his penetrating vision, the poet can find beauty even in a worm and a toad. Even stripes in squirrels, apples, rainbow, snakes, shells moonlight, carpets and racing horses offer the poet immense joy. The poet admires the generosity of mother nature in gifting an amazing variety of beauties to man and expresses his deep gratitude to nature for being so kind and generous to man. To live a life in nature is to be in communion with the divine. So Harindranath aspires to live a rich and blessed life in nature so that he can lead spiritual life in constant contact with the divine. The distinctive feature of nature poetry of Harindranath is that the poet s celebration of myriad, 312

10 marvellous beauties of nature is laden with the illumination of the poet s mystic vision and the mystic bliss the poet experiences. Life and death is the another theme that recurs in many poems of Harindranath and the poet, fascinated by the twin cosmic mysteries of life and death, attempts to explore them with the objective of grasping cosmic, eternal truths of life and death. A true Indian -English Poet who belongs to the school of Sri Aurobindo Ghose and Rabindranath Tagore, Harindranath s outlook of life and death is spiritual as opposed to the vision of western poets and most Indian English poets whose perception of life and death is physical, hedonistic and epicurean. Harindranath s approach and treatment of life and death in his poetry reflect Indian culture and heritage. The views of the poet as articulated in his poems, imbued with mysticism and spirituality resonate with the echoes of the Gita. While dwelling on the theme of life and death, Harindranath lends novel meanings, amazing definitions and rich significance to life and death. Through the apt image of a kaleidoscope, Harindranath views life as a magical illusion with its shifting, altering, colourful patterns 313

11 and life as a series of masks worn for brief carnivals by the great masquerader, sleep, and life as an illusion s performance on a makebelieve stage. Life in a Shakespearean sense, assumes an enchanting panorama and an unending drama with humans playing the roles assigned to them on the stage of the world. Man gets reduced to a zero from the status of a hero when the drama ends. Life is a journey that continues forever. Death never ends the journey of life. In fact, death helps the soul to start a new journey. To Harindranath, life is an interim between birth and death and life is a painted pastime between birth and death. Life and death is an eternal process of shutting and opening the door. Life looks like a light and shadow show and a dance behind the painted veil in the long night, an ephemeral phenomenon. Realizing that life is a strife with its own self, a mirrored nothingness and a mingled web of joys and sorrows, the poet believes that the soul is indestructible, imperishable and eternal and the ultimate goal of human life is the realization of the divine the truth emphasized in the Gita. Harindranath realizes that in life, the invisible becomes visible and in death, the visible merges with the invisible as life is the manifestation of the divine and life is an immortal moving pyramid 314

12 towards the divine with his mystical vision focusing on the twin mysteries of life and death, Harindranath sings of varied facets and perspectives of life and death. Articulations about the poetic process and poet s personality is yet another relevant theme in the poetry of Harindranath. In many poems of Harindranath, the poet pours out his ideas, views and reflections about what poems and singing means to him and lays bare his poetic personality. He never attempts to camouflage his personality beneath words, nor does he distance his creative personality from the creative process he is involved in. He feels proud of being an artist with his mind filled with wonderous thoughts floating like boats on wings of his poetic imagination. A born and true poet, Harindranath never labours to indite poems and just as blossoms spring upon trees and rain descends over the earth, poems incessantly flow from his poetic mind. Singing is not a pastime, but a need of the poet. The poet is an untiring and ceaseless singer till the last breath of his life. He is a tiny light radiating the darkness of the world. He is a fire-fly, carrying the divine spark, flying all over. Composing poems for the ordinary as well the 315

13 extraordinary, the poet aspires to sing of joys, sorrows, hardships and tragedies of all kinds of people. Committed to the masses, the poet longs to share the sufferings, woes and tribulations of the underprivileged, the down trodden and the miserable. However, a lonely soul unseen and unnoticed by the world and lost in solitude, the poet keeps penning poems ceaselessly without caring for bouquets and brickbats from the world and he remains dedicated to the Muse. Even the Master-creator of the universe seeks the poet s blood to create the sun-rise. To Harindranath, every poem that oozes out of his pen is a baby born out of the womb of the poet s creative mind and the whole poetic process is the process of the labour pains the mother undergoes to deliver a child. The poet, beyond the touch of the God of death, is blessed with the boon of immortality. Armed with poetry, a flashing sword, the poet can overcome all the evils of the world and he can win the whole world. That s the wonderful power of the poet in Harindranath s view. As the true artist, the poet needs to identity himself with the objects on which he compose poems and the poet, with his vision penetrating into the objects, captures the spirit of the objects. Each poem penned by the poet is the revelation 316

14 of the divine and through his poetry, the poet thirsts to reach the divine. A high spiritual mission is assigned to poetry and Harindranath directs his Muse towards the realization of this profound spiritual goal. Ever in the state of unbroken inspiration and with his poetic mind dancing like a peacock to the melodies of singing birds, Harindranath remains a blessed soul and true poet, penning poems untiringly and ceaselessly with no lust and greed for fame and money, but for a higher, unearthly, profound and meaningful purpose. The theme of poetry and poet s personality reveal how poems are born in the poet s mind and what boons and power the Muse bestows over the poet and how the rainbow tinted personality of the poet gets manifested in the poems penned by the poet. Though primarily a mystic poet dwelling on the subjects of God, the highest self, nature, the child, life and death, Harindranath does not turn a blind eye to the goings-on of the contemporary world and readily responds to socio-political issues of the modern life. Shocked by the holocaust caused by the world war, the poet vividly paints a gloomy picture of war-wrecked, horrible scenario in his 317

15 poetry. He castigates the scientific advancement and the cruel masters responsible for the huge havoc wrought by war. Moved deeply by the gruesome assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Harindranath depicts this dark historical event of India. In the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi, he visualized the death of human values and the emergence of the cult of violence in the modern world. The poet is agonized, gazing at his country which was once the land of greatmen, philosophers and saints and which is now infested with terrorists and is bleeding. He unmasks and exposes the hypocrisy and colossal frauds of the criminal geniuses like charles Sobharaj behind the façade of education and culture. He pricks the colourful bubble of modern man s life and reveals the hollowness and futility of chimerical and fatal pleasures of modern man. He shows how the whole of humanity is drifting towards the gloomy shores with the ignorance of the spiritual and emphasizes the spiritual path and the power of the soul. Pained deeply at the disrespect shown to the older generation, the poet wishes the young to respect the old and to be guided by the wisdom of the grey-haired. However, Harindranath sings in praise of the true heroism displayed by the martyrs and inspiration offered by them to future generations. 318

16 Acutely aware of economic inequality and social evils prevailing in the Indian society, Harindranath longs for the emergence of the egalitarian and idealistic society, free from the ills of caste, creed and colour where the rich and the poor would live in perfect harmony. A freedom fighter and a patriot to the core of his heart, Harindranath likes India to be free from colonial rule, and be independent and self-respecting. Though the poet is horrified at the gloom enveloping the world, he is not disheartened. He envisions amidst the gloom, the radiant hope for the emergence of the future man, the redeemer of all ills and evils and the dispeller of the gloom of the world. A true Indian poet rooted in Indian culture and heritage, soaring to mystical heights and singing of profound subjects of eternal significance, Harindranath hardly alienates himself from socio-political scenario of the contemporary world and the suffering humanity. Mysticism and Marxism often go hand in hand, celebrating both worldliness and otherworldliness in his poetry. His is the voice of ancient India and modern India India that is complete and true. So to read Harindranath s poetry is to understand 319

17 and experience true and complete India. Harindranath lives up to what Rabindranath Tagore voices of the poet s mission: I say that a poet s mission is to attract the voice which is yet inaudible in the air, to inspire faith in the dream which is unfulfilled; to bring the earliest tidings of the unborn flower to a sceptic world 2. Certainly, the voice of the inaudible of the Invisible Worlds is heard, the faith in the dream of the idealistic society is experienced and the joyous tidings of the beauties and glories to be born are heralded in Harindranath s poetry. However, to conclude that Harindranath is concerned only with the themes of God, the Highest- Self, the child, nature, life and death, poetry and poet s personality and issues of the contemporary world is to wrongly assess his poetic genius and it is akin to holding a candle to the blazing sun and to dishonour the Himalayan creativity of Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. Such a conclusion is always incomplete, erroneous and unjustified as there are many more themes to be explored and more and more visions of the poet to be unveiled and truths of profound significance to be captured in his poetry and to be revealed to the world that is yet to know completely about the muse and poetic genius of Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. More and more researchers and critics must come 320

18 forward to embark on digging out the poetic mines of Harindranath and exploring his poetry and coming out with handfuls of pearls of beauties embedded and hidden in his poetry. To facilitate more research scholars and critics to dive into the explorations of Harindranath s poetry, universities, publishing houses and literary organizations must leave no stone unturned in preserving and publishing all Harindranath s works and making them available to the scholars and critics. When more and more explorations are embarked on by researchers and critics in the years to come, more light will be shed on Harindranath s works, the world will know about the true poetic genius of this poet who has long been ignored and the votaries of the Muse will realize the truth that Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, one of the most glorious sons of Mother India, carries the mantle of the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore and the literary world would realize the truth in the glowing tributes of Sri Aurobindo Ghose and hail Harindranath as one of the most glorious Indian Poets. 321

19 References: 1. Ghosh Sri Aurobindo, The Renaissance in India (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, All India Press, 1973), P.6 2. Tagore Rabindranath, Talks in China (New Delhi: Rupa & Co, 2002), P

20 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY I) PRIMARY SOURCES: Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : A Treasury of Poems., Hind Kitabs Ltd Publishers, Bombay, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Foot-Falls, Writers Anvil., Hyderabad, 1983 Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Mirage and mirror., B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Iconoclast., B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : A Bird Sang on a Bough., B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : The Feast of Youth., The Theosophical Publishing house, Adayas, Madras,

21 Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Strange Journey., Pondicherry, Bharatha Shakthy Nilayam, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Horizon Ends., P.R. & Sons, Bezwada, 1948 Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Virgins and Vineyards., Pearl Publications Private Ltd., Bombay, 1967 Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Roses of Eternal Life., Sri Venkateswara University, Tiripati, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : The coloured Gaden., The society for the Promotion of National Education, The common weal office (publishers), Adayar, Madras, 1919 Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Blood of stones., Padma Publications, Bombay,

22 Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : The Divine Vagabond., The Theosophical Publishing House, Adayar, Madras, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Foot-falls., Writers Anvil, Hyderabad, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Reflections., B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath : Life and myself., Writer s Anvil, Hyderabad, Vinayak Krishna, Gokak : The Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Poetry., Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, II) SECONDARY SOURCES: (A) BOOKS: Amga, H.L : Indo-English Poetry., Jaipur, Surabhi Publications,

23 Berfield Owen : Poetic Diction., New Delhi, Deep & Deep Publications, Desai, S.K. & Devy, G.N. : A critical Thought., An Anthology of 20 th Century Indian English Poetry, New Delhi, Dhar A.N. : Mysticism in Literature., New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers and distributors, Dwivedi, A.N. : Indo-Anglian Poetry., Allahabad, Kitab Mahal, Ghose, Aurobindo : The Future Poetry., Volume-9 Pondicherry, Birth centenary Library, 326

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26 Markarand, R. Paranjape : Mysticism in India., Delhi, B.R. Publishing Corporation, Mukherjee, Meenakshi : Considerations., New Delhi, Allied Publishers Private Limited, 1977 Nandy, Pritish : Indian English Poetry , Editor s note, Calcutta, Oxford & IBH Publishing Company, Dr. Radha Krishna.S : Eastern Religions & Thought., New Delhi, Oxford India Paper Back, Oxford University Press, Prof. Raghavacharyulu, D.V.K. : The Critical response., selected Essays on American, Common Wealth, Indian and British Traditions in Literature, Madras, Maemillion,

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28 (B) Articles: Prof. Chalapathi Rao, I.V. : Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Triven.,, Vol.59, July Sept, Ghose, Sri Aurobindo : Review of the Feast of youth, Arya., 15 November, Prof. Reddy, Venkata K : From mysticism to Marxism, - An approach to Harindranath, Triveni, Vol.59,July-Sept,