“The overpowering emotions – LOVE and LONELINESS” – Indira Sant’s and Hemant Divate’s poems

“The overpowering emotions – LOVE and LONELINESS” –
Indira Sant’s and Hemant Divate’s poems

“The overpowering emotions – LOVE and LONELINESS” –
Indira Sant’s and Hemant Divate’s poems
In the contemporary Marathi literature Indira Sant’s poetry has been considered the most influential. Very few poems of Indira Sant such as “Compassion”, “Mistlike” (1957) and “Spellbound” (1982) which talks about the separation of love and the pain in loneliness were translated in to English. Hemant Divate is the pioneer of twentieth century Marathi poetry. The essence of contemporary poetry prevails in his works. Emotions of love and loneliness are also seen in his poems like “Greeting” and “Boat.” (2000)
The history of Marathi literature dates back to the medieval ages (13th or 14th century). Mukundraj was the forerunner of Marathi poetry. The era had three styles of poetry, Sant, Pant and Tant. Saintly poets have enriched Marathi poetry with their poems brimming with sentiments. Contemporary Marathi poets are influenced by two important ideologies, which were individualism and aesthetics.
A great change is visible in Marathi poetry’s perception since 1945. The poetry up to this era seems to be inspired by romanticism. The beginning of this era saw importance given to anti-romanticism. Mardhekar’s poems initiated new-age poetry. Marathi poetry took a turn from aesthetics towards realism through his poems. Indira Sant, Padma and Sanjivini Marathe, started writing poetry during this time.
The age from 1947 to 1960 is considered as the era of new-age poetry. Basi Mardhekar was the foremost proponent of this style. Avoiding the drama and affectation of feelings of earlier poetry and writing realistic poems, using free style of composition, dissolving the difference between meaningfulness and creativity, strong despair, machine age reality were the themes of new-age poetry. Accepting newness at the same time maintaining the uniqueness of established practices is the most unique feature of Marathi poetry. After the sixties themes of modernism like solitude, boredom, loneliness, and meaninglessness of life appear through the work of the poets.
The theme of love and loneliness is seen in both the contemporary poetry and the twentieth century writing. Though the aspect of using the metaphor has change slightly according to the modernized world, yet both poets of different period have used only the metaphor that’s around them. Indira Sant in her poem “Compassion” and “Spellbound” has an image of “four walls” (Sant 123 &125) which evokes the sense of loneliness to the readers. Her poem comprises the theme of love and loneliness because she was widowed young, and had lived a quiet and private life. She was influence by the oral tradition of women’s literature, which can be seen in her poems through the musical rhythms, colorful diction, homely imagery which sensitively deals with women’s personal life.
Through the poem “Compassion” (Kanav) Sant not only mourns the loneliness that she experiences through the homely images but also records her anguish as she waits for death which has not come to her doors yet. The concern through the homely images that she gets make her obsessed with her life, were she “cry in silence” (123), due to the loneliness that she suffers through the loss of her beloved and that the earthly living makes her even more oppressed that death has not reunited her love yet.
In “Mistlike” (Dhukyasarakha) her craving for death that is to the extreme that she uses “you” to address death. “He came walking through the mist of knowing and unknowing / Mistlike.”(124) In Hindu mythology it is said that before one dies they can see the celestial beings in the form of spirits. Thus Sant might talk about her husband whose presence she had felt all these days had come in front of her eyes where she can see the spirit of her husband. This means that death has come to her doorstep but has not taken her away “And, as I looked at him, the mist / Had long since faded. And with it he. / But I was no longer alone.”(125). Death has visted her, so she has a hope that soon she will be taken away by death when she will no longer be alone.
In the poem “Spellbound” (Shapit) the poet is burdened with her life which is filled with loneliness, when she starts to question as what more is there for her to cherish in her life. She has lived a quiet and private life inside the four walls of her house. The doors and windows are growing very usual and nothing is new for her to experiment on. In one window it is the frame of the jackfruit tree which is littered, in the third window she encounter the daily activity in neighborhood houses. She says that she feels sick of all the images that she is used to, which give her only pain than comforting her. “The prince will come / will take her away. But many monsoons / Have come and gone / The sound of hoofbeats has never been heard. / And the princess will not sleep.” (125) The “prince” in the poem refers to death as well as her beloved husband. She is waiting for her prince to take her yet monsoons has past by her prince has not come to fetch her. The poet relate the arrival of death to monsoon season because as far as the Hindu mythology says that if a person die during monsoon season there are said to be taken to heaven and their sins are been forgiven. She concludes the poem “But the pacing goes on and on- / In straight lines / In squares, at angles.” (126), that nothing has changed so far in her life everything is same as it was earlier and is continues to be so.
In all these poems Sant has talked about the separation from her beloved husband, the loneliness as the pain of love. A fellow poet and critic Dilip Chitre comments on the way of writing of Sant’s style “There is certainly a sense in which the well-crafted, gossamer form of her poetry and its intense concern with the inner experience make her a kinder spirit to these poets.” (Tharu, Susie 123). The poet has used the oxymoron between loneliness and love which is to reunion in death. In the poem “Mistlike” Sant says “Even before the fragrance in his hand could reach me / He was there, in my head” (124), brings the tone of oxymoron. The poet is saying that in the loneliness she can sense the smell or fragrance of her beloved but before she reaches to it he was in her mind and not in real. This line also as a hidden meaning which speaks about the death. She says even before she could sense the smell of death it had left the place and only remind in her thought that she is craving for demise, death doesn’t welcome her. The use of “flower” in the poem “Mistlike” shows the image of death because she says that the flower that covers one by one to take her away and has come only for her. The smell of death is sensed through the flower as in Indian culture. Certain flowers and their fragrance are associated to death. Her poems are filled with the images and metaphor of love and loneliness which evokes the feeling of reunion of love afterlife.
Hemant Divate is one of the most prominent poets of today’s Marathi literary scene. His poem “Greetings” (2003) was published recently in collections of poems called Virus Alter. Like Sant, Hemant Divate also makes use of images which are personally used in modern world and can be called as homely images. Uses of words like “cigarette, ashes, suffocates”, etc., shows how the modern India has changed. His poem represents the modern world which is in the hand of Technology. His poems talk about separation between loved ones both in human perspective as well as in technological issues. In today’s world people are more attached to mobile, computers etc than to their own race. The words “detached” and “empty” were Divate have hyphenated every letter; evoke the presence of technology in human’s life which is inseparable.
In the poem “Greeting” Divate does not only evoke the feeling of love and separation but the egoistic feeling where he says “There’s a Greeting in my mind / But I won’t / Send it to you.” which are the last lines of the poem. Unlike Sant who compare her love and loneliness to homely images like walls, doors, windows, roof and mostly to nature to evoke the feeling of separation and reunion. But in today’s world people feel about their loss in love or in anything but are always stopped or taken a back cause of their ego, due to this many relationship has ended. Divate has portrayed the real essence of the modern world through most of his poems. The poem “Greeting” is very short poem compact with meanings. He feels that in modern world relationships are seen as a burden through the word “suffocates”, he compare his love to cigarette and the separation to the ashes. The “ash- tray” symbolizes that the ash is no useful anymore. Likewise the relation of love cannot be reunited again by any means. The tray is a dust bin used to through the ash waste. Due to the ego is used as a bin to throw the relationship as waste.
Hemant Divate and Indra Sant’s poems are largely different from each other due to the age both poets belong. But the emotion in separation and love are same but the end result which differs to the poet in Sant’s poem, death with leads to the reunion of love is the end result of separation, but in Divate’s poem it’s the ego which ends and stops the relationship further. A portrayal of two different worlds or ages which has an end outcome differently but the feeling of love separation and the loneliness is the same over ages, right from “Sangam” poetry were especially “Akam” celebrated the separation and the loneliness of the loved ones. Thus the overpowering emotion of love and loneliness is not only predominating in Indra Sant’s and Hemant Divate’s poems but it is portrayed from early age right from the oral tradition.

Bibliography
Primary sources
Divate , Hemant.“Greeting.” Poetry Corner. Celebration.org, n.d. Web.12 Aug 2013
Tharu, Susie and K. Lalitha. Women writing in Indian: 600 BC to the present. Delhi: OUP, 1995. Print.
Secondary source
Engblom, Philip C. “Six Marathi Poets.” The Free Library. University of Oklahoma, 1994. Web. 12 Aug. 2013.
Jahagirdar, Chandrashekar. “The Memory and Loneliness: The Poetry of Indira Sant (1994- 2000).” Sahitya Akademi. Web. 13 Aug. 2013.
“Marathi Poetry.” Mahararastra Navnirman Sena. manase.org, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2013.
Ketkar, Sachin. “Live Update: A Brief Introduction to New Marathi Poetry.” Poetry International Rotterdam. Mumbai, 1 Dec. 2005. Web. 02 Sep. 2013.
“A Musical Tribute to Indra Sant”. allaboutbelgaum.com, 25 July 2010. Web. 12 Aug. 2013.

Bibliography: Primary sources Divate , Hemant.“Greeting.” Poetry Corner. Celebration.org, n.d. Web.12 Aug 2013 Tharu, Susie and K. Lalitha. Women writing in Indian: 600 BC to the present. Delhi: OUP, 1995. Print. Secondary source Engblom, Philip C. “Six Marathi Poets.” The Free Library. University of Oklahoma, 1994. Web. 12 Aug. 2013. Jahagirdar, Chandrashekar. “The Memory and Loneliness: The Poetry of Indira Sant (1994- 2000).” Sahitya Akademi. Web. 13 Aug. 2013. “Marathi Poetry.” Mahararastra Navnirman Sena. manase.org, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2013. Ketkar, Sachin. “Live Update: A Brief Introduction to New Marathi Poetry.” Poetry International Rotterdam. Mumbai, 1 Dec. 2005. Web. 02 Sep. 2013. “A Musical Tribute to Indra Sant”. allaboutbelgaum.com, 25 July 2010. Web. 12 Aug. 2013.