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The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of

dates.

Alexandre Dumas

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CHAPTER 3

GUJ-FRANCO LITERARY LINKAGES: FRENCH INFLUENCE

ON GUJARATI WRITERS

Introduction

The principal aim of the exploration of Guj-Franco literary linkages is to

reflect upon the ‘influences’ and ‘inspiration’ that the French authors of

different genres may have made on the writers of Gujarat. There is no

attempt as such on the part of the investigator to establish one writer against

the other. It may be kept in mind that the writers studied here belong to

different time, culture and context. There is no denying the fact that many

French men of letters inspired the novelists and poets of Gujarat. This

inspiration appears disguised and sometimes it appears direct. Sometimes

the recepeient authors acknowledged it, and many a times it has gone

unnoticed. The present study has endevoured to investigate this cultural

transection. However, while dealing with the concept of influences it must

be borne in mind that

influences do not create anything; they merely awaken what is already

there.(Patel 37)

Thus, when we talk about French influence, we mean the genesis of

inspiration. The French influence, however, is less visible as it invariably

came via English. Since Macaulay’s times the country had adopted English

and, therefore French did not find much foot hold. Moreover, the anti-

French policy adopted by the British virtually eliminated the French authors

from the curricula of Indian institutions. However, the French, despite

English hostility, continued to evince profound interest in Indian subjects. It

is to be noted that so many French authors had been making various

references to India, however, the country was not wellknown or understood

on her own terms and for her own sake in France.

It is to be mentioned that the hegemonic hostility between France and

England eventually percolated down to the level of colonies like India. The

English who triumphed in the game of territorial expansion in the Sub-

continent became extremely suspicious of the French and hence they

expelled them from India. Meanwhile, the English-educated writers from

the country, in absence of French scholars, usually looked up to the English

authors. They paid miniscule attention to the niceties and nuances of French

authors who had been deliberately kept from the reach of the Indian subjects.

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The French men of letters, however, continued to inspire the Indian

intelligentsia.It was during such atmosphere that many Gujarati writers

came in touch with their French counterparts.

In west, the established literary genres like the novel, poetry, essay and

drama had been witness to optimal level of experimentation in terms of style

and structure. Some of these experiments were being carried out by the

French writers. When the winds of change in literature blew across the

continents, a conservative country like India was also swept by it. The

progressive states like, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat promptly

responded to the call of the west. Many non-conformists started

experimenting with the various literary genres under the western influences.

It is a kind of paradox that in the transection of French influences, the

English language once again played a decisive role. As stated earlier this

French influence in art in general and literature in particular came via

English literature and language. It is needless to repeat that English language

had opened the window to the world for the Indians, and by mid nineteenth

century, majority of European writers were available in English. It may be

noted that the English authors were directly available to the Gujarati readers,

but the French reached to them in English translation.

France, on the other hand continued to dominate the various aesthetic

movements such as aestheticism, naturalism, expressionism, theatre of

absurd, existentialism, dadaism, avant-garde etc, as majority of them were

either born there or were head quatered there.Since these movements had

global repercussions, the Gujarati authors who had been curiously looking

at French aesthetics for quite some times now, also came under the French

influence.Most of these influences have been contextualized, even localized

and sometimes domesticated by the Gujarati authors. Some of these authors

have been selectively explored hereunder.

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History is the nail on which I hang my novels.

True, I have raped history, but it has produced some

beautiful offsprings.

Alexandre Dumas.

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3.1 K.M. Munshi (1887-1971): A Monarch of Medieval Romance

It is widely believed that Munshi, especially in some of his historical novels

like Ver ni vasulat Patan ni prabbuta, Gujarat no Nath and Rajadhiraj came

under the direct influence of one of the greatest French authors, Alexandre

Dumas.His dexterous hands coupled with grand imagination created a quasi-

historical world which is an engagingly beautiful blending of fact and

fiction.The trilogy, consisting of a common thematic link, covers all the

three works individually as well as collectively. It has been most ambitiously

set against the background of the Solanki Era, one of the most powerful

epochs of pre-medieval Gujarat.

Munshi skillfully squeezes drama, adventure and humor into conventional

gaps in the historical records. Here background becomes foreground and

‘invented’ characters upstage the historical figures. The chronology is cast

to the winds. His characters dwell the margins of history, and they also exist

outside the frame of historical time. He is the greatest creator of an

incredibly cheerful but quasi historical accounts. He undoubtedly possessed

supreme narrative skills and had an awesome theatrical sense. He was also

endowed with an instinctive feel for human grandeur and the extra ordinary

ability to tap into the collective psyche and create modern heroes to rival the

heroes of history. It may be recalled here that when Munshi’s novels like

Ver Ni Vasulat, Patanni Prabhuta and Gujarat No Nath are juxtaposed with

Dumas’s novels like, The Man in the Iron Musk, The Three Musketeers and

Twenty Years After provide an engaging parallel.The Dumas-Munshi

literary connect, ever since it surfaced in the first half of twentieth century,

has been a subject of considerable critical inquiry.

Munshi was not only charged with brazen plagiarism but he was also

accused of pilfering much of his ‘material’ from the French genius without

making any acknowledgement. His creative integrity and honesty was also

questioned by his detractors. However, it must be mentioned in Munshi’s

defence that he was not the only author who borrowed ideas and derived

inspiration from the western authors, his predecessors like Nand Shankar

Mehta also had already emulated and adopted western style and structure of

novel in his Karan Ghelo. He had emulated the entire structure, concept and

imegory from Greek literature. Similarly, Balashankar’s poem Dejo Dosh

Na Kavivar Ne’is a direct adeptation from Thomas Moor’s Oh! Blame Not

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the Bard. Their French connect could not be studied here given the

constraints of the present study.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that the French author Alexandre

Dumas has excercised a considerable influence on the creative world of

K.M. Munshi. The Dumas-Munshi literary transaction is exparte as the

French genius has been generously emulated by his Gujarati counter part,

Munshi who has set his historical novels against the background of

medieval Gujarat.Munshi was so much mesmerized, almost enamoured of

Dumas that he lite rally imitated Dumas in many scenes and sequences of

his historical novels.He dexterously extracted ideas and concepts from

Dumas and then he transformed everything into a new form.Sometimes

characters are taken from the two different sources and then they are molded

into a new character. And sometimes two contradictory behaviors of

different characters are blended into a new creation.This amalgamation

provided novelty and freshness to his creations.

Monarque of Medieval Romantisme:

Alexandre Dumas

Source: entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com Retrieved on 18 October, 2014

As stated earlier, the French genius, Alexandre Dumas has undoubtedly

influenced the fictional world of Munshi whose first story Ver Ni Vasulat

is an indirect and invisible synthesis of Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo.

Similarly, Patanni Prabhuta and Gujarat No Nath are inspired by Dumas’s

The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.As noted above Munshi

effected a series of tranformations in terms of style, structure and

theme.Thus, In Ver Ni Vasulat the revenge element The Count of Monte

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Cristo is retained but the episodes of the imprisionment of the protagonist

and his lust for wealth are dropped. Likewise, in Patanni Prabhuta the

dissertation of the queen of the city as portrayed in Twenty Years After and

the mutiny of the people are accepted by Munshi and the rest of the elements

are dropped. His generous borrowing of concepts from The Three

Musketeers is subtle but suitable to the demands of his plot.Thus, the valour

of M.D’Artagnan has been comprehensively retained in Gujarat No Nath.

Here also the peripheral descriptive elements are dropped.The French milieu

is recreated and contextualized into the ambience of medieval Gujarat. So

far as the delineation of principle characters is concerned, it can be said that

Jagatkishor of Ver Ni Vasulat is a local avtar of Edmond Dantes of The

Count of Monte Cristo. Similarly, the portrayal of Jagatkishor’s guru

Anantanand is a result of blending drawn from Abe Feria of Monte Cristo

and Cardinal, Richelieu of The Three Musketeers.

In fact Munshi is so much obsessed with the character of Richelieu, the

prolagonist of The There Musketeers that his shadow looms large all over

the portrayal of Anantanand.

જસભુા-મીલીશ્યા. સ્વામીજી, તમે યરુોપમાાં જન્મ્યા હોત તો !

Jasubha-‘Militia. Swamiji, if you were born in Europe!’ (Bhatt

97).

The oak-like presence of Richelieu is the inspiring force for Munshi in the

creation of the protagonist of Ver Ni Vasulat.

થોડીવારે બારણુાં ઉઘડ્ુાં અને અનાંતાનાંદજી અંદર આવ્યા , બહાર જે

હસતા અને સ્નહેાળ શબ્દે શીખ દેતા હતા તે સ્વામીમાાં અહહયા આવતા દેખીતો ફેરફાર થયો. મોઢા પર જરા સખ્તાઈ-જરા દઢતા વધારે થઈ. દાંડ હાથમાાં મજબતુ થયો. કતતવ્યપરાયણતા ચમકી રહી. આ સ્વરૂપમાાં સ્વામીજી કાડીનલ–માંત્રીઓ જેવા– દેખાતા (97)

After a while the door opened and Anantanandji entered the

room. The ever smiling and lovable preacher was a different

person now. Stiff nose coupled with firm resolution held the

staff firmly. A dutiful face Swmiji resembled to cardinal

minister. (97)

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Richelieu recurrently returns to haunt Munshi every now and then

હમણાાં મારે ને મારા સ્વામી વચ્ચ ેચકચક ઝરી’ ‘ હેં,! શા માટે ?

સ્વામીનુાં નામ સાાંભળી આતરુ અવાજે કહ્ુાં. ‘એને રીશ્્ય ૂથવુાં છે!(97)

A little while ago I had a scuffle with my swamiji. Oh! For

what?” Having heard the Swami’s name, the anxious voice

said: He wants to be Richelieu.(97)

The all time great character of Patanni Prabhuta Munjal is an

amalgamation, drawn from Richelieu and Mezerine of The Three

Musketeers and Twenty Years After respectively. Along with the major

characters, there are plethora of minor figures in Munshi who have either

been directly drawn from or are inspired by their French counterparts.This

metamorphosis is carried out so subtly that any resemblance between the

original French character and its Gujarati counterpart appears

imperceptible. However, a perusal reveals that Raghubhai is a shadow of

Wilfort. Madame Danglers has inspired the character of Gulab.The duo

Bhikho-Arun owes a great deal to Beneditto. Who can deny the fact that the

legendary character of Kak is a take on M.D’Artagnan.Similarly, the grand

portrayal of Minal is based on the character of Anne.The same analogy

between the original French characters of Dumas and Munshi’s creations

can be extended to the proverbial portrayal of Jaysinh who is believed to

have been inspired by the French king Louis-XIV.

How Munshi borrowed ideas from Dumas’s Monte-Cristo for his Ver Ni

Vasulat can be further established even while undertaking a cursory reading

of the two works.There are entire events and episodes which have been

dexterously extracted by Munshi from his French resources.The

comparative illustrations provided hereunder comprehensively establish

Munshi’s indebtedness to his French master.

In Monte Cristo Caderusse goes to Monte Cristo house with an intent

to pilfer.Here Monte Cristo, disguised as Abe Busonni, enters with a

candle in his hand and stops him and with threat gets a letter

drafted.Then Caderusse comes back, however, only to be murdered

by his accomplice Beneditto.(98).

This episode in its entirety is plagiarized by Munshi in his Ver Ni

Vasulat.Here, Shyamlal enters Siddhnath’s bunglow to pilfer Anantanand’s

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horoscope along with important papers.Meanwhile Siddhnath emerges

suddenly and threatens him and gets a letter drafted. However, Munshi has

dexterously effected changes which largely conceal his enterprise.In Dumas

Caderusse is immediately murdered whereas in Munshi Shyamlal goes scot

free for the first time but when he returns after a few days to commit the

same theft, he is brutally stabbed by Gulab.

Munshi’s subtle and sophisticated liaison with Dumas continued even

in his magnum opus Patanni Prabhuta where the entire chapter

Hriday ane Hridaynath has been based on the 12th chapter, George

Villiers, Duke of Backingham of The Three Musketeers. However,

necessary additions and ommissions for the sake of contextulisation

have been subtly and skillfully incorporated.The only perceptible

difference is that in Dumas Buckingham requests Anne for her

love.On the other hand in Patanni Prabhuta, Minal pleads before

Munjal for the same. Barring this change, sometimes entire paragraph

and sometimes the whole sequence of the story is adopted by Munshi.

The comparative illustrations drawn from both the sources shall establish

how Munshi shuffled French material to create his own world of historical

fiction.While comparing the two worlds, the emphasis is to be placed on the

spirit of the word and not on the letter.

Buckingham remained for a moment dazzled ….. Anne of Austria

made two steps forword; Buckingham threw himself at her feet:

‘તેને જોઈ રાણી ગભરાટમાાં પડી -“આમ શુાં કરે છે?-જે કહવે ુાં હોય તે કહ;ે

પણ એક વખત, મહરેબાની કરી તુાં કહ ેતો તને પગે લાગુાં, મને આટલુાં કરી આપ’

The queen got frightened when she saw him- ‘what are you

doing?-Tell whatever you want to; but once, please, I’m ready to

touch your feet, Do it for me.( Bhatt 99)

Munshi did not explicitly emulate the French genius, he rather broadly

contextualized his scenes and sequences within the broad frame work

I see you to tell you that everything separates us, the depth of

the sea, the enmity of kingdoms, the sanctity of vows. It is

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sacrilege to struggle against so many things, my Lord. In short

I see you to tell you that we must never see each other again.

મેં તન ેતે હદવસ કહ્ુાં કે હુાં ગજુરાતની રાણી થઈ, તારી જનેતા થઈ:

મેં તને કહ્ુાં કે, ક્ષદુ્ર વાસના ત્યાગી આપણે ગજુરાતના સ્તાંભ થઇ

રહવે ુાં જોઈએ ; મેં તને કહાડી મકુ્યો, તરછોડયો.

I told you that day that I became your mother as well as the

Queen of Gujarat: I also told you that we must renounce desires

and become the real columns of Gujarat I threw you out and

deserted. (99)

He not only places his scenes and action within the concept of Dumas, but

he also adds quite a few aspects and tranforms the entire concept.

‘Oh! Madame! Madame! I shut my eyes and I can see you such as

you then were- Ah! that time, Madame, I was able for one instant

to be alone with you; that time you were about to tell me all, the

isolation of your life, the griefs of your heart.You learnt upon my

arm, upon this, Madame! I felt, as leaning my head towards you,

your beautiful hair touched my cheek, and every time that it did

touch me, I trembled from head to foot. Oh! Queen! Queen! you

do not know what felicity from heaven, what joys from Paradise

are comprised in a moment like that! I would give all my wealth,

all my fortunes, all my glory, all the days I have to live for such an

instant, for a night like that!for that night, Madame, that night, you

loved me, I will swear it.

મુાંજાલ ! એક પળ તો ભતૂકાળ ભલૂી જા. તુાં ગસુ્સે થયો છે તો બે તમાચા માર; આત્યારે હુાં ચાંદ્રપરુના રાજાની છોકરી નથી, પાટણના મહારાજાની પત્ની નથી, નવા મહારાજાની મા નથી, હુાં મીનળ છાં. પાંદર વર્ત પર તન ે

જોઈ ગાાંડી થઈ રહનેાર બાળા છાં. હુાં મરીશ, પણ મરતા પહલેાાં મને તારા બે બોલ તો સાથે લઈ જવા દે. મુાંજાલ ! તુાં તે હદવસ ભલૂી ગયો ? તારા વચને લોભાઈ હુાં ગજુરાત પર ગાાંડી બની; તને યાદ છે ? તુાં પાટણની શી લીલા વણતવતો હતો ? મને અત્યારે એકેએક શબ્દ યાદ આવે છે.

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મુાંજાલ ! તને પગે લાગ,ુ એક એક પળ બધુાં વવસરી જા. એક વખત હતો, તેવો એક પળવાર થા.

Munjal! Forget past for a second. Slap me if you are angry. I am

not the daughter of the king of Chandrapur now; nor am I the queen

of the king of Patan; nor even mother to the king. I am Minal.Saw

you after fifteen years; I am the same crazy girl. I shall die, but let

me carry few of your words with me. Munjal! You forgot, that day.

Do you remember! On your promise I turned crazy for Gujarat.

What were you describing about Patan’s glory? I still recall each

and every word Munjal! Forget every thing. Be again what were

you thou once. (100)

Munshi’s metamorphosis of material is equally mesmerizing

‘Duke’, said the queen, blushing, ‘never name that evening –

Oh! My God! My God!’cried Anne of Austria, ‘this is more

than I can bear! In the name of Heaven, Duke, leave me, go! I

do not know whether I love you or do not love you, but what I

know is that I will not be a, perjured woman’.

‘મીનળદેવી ! આ આક્રાંદ શા અથતનુાં ? ગઈ ગજૂરી સાંભારે શો ફાયદો ? હમણાાં તો તમે કણતદેવ મહારજનાાં વવધવા રાણી છે ,’......

‘મીનળદેવી ! મહરેબાની કરી એ હદવસોની યાદ જતી કરો, મારો જીવ રહસેાઈ જાય છે’.......... ‘ મીનળદેવી ! મીનળદેવી ! ખોખરે

ઘાટે મુાંજાલ બો્યો, ‘બસ કરો. દરેક મનષુ્યના ધેઇયતનો પણ અંત

હોય છે. મારાથી વધારે ખમાત ુાં નથી.

Minaldevi! What is the use of this lament? Past is past. Now

you are widow queen of the emperor Karnadev….. Minaldevi,

please let bygones be by gones, it lynches my life……

Minaldevi! Minaldevi baritoned Munjal, ‘stop it, there is a limit

to man’s endurance. I can not tolerate it any longer.(101)

It is largly believed that the character of Queen Anne has seemingly inspired

Munshi for the portrayal of Minaldevi.

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Anne of Austria stretched forth her hand closing her eyes, and

leaning with the other upon Estefania, for she felt her strength

ready to fail her.Buckingam applied his lips passionately to that

beautiful hand-Faithful to the promise he had made, with a

desperate effort, he rushed out of the apartment.

મીનળ મ ૂાંગે મહોડે બાવરી બનીને ઉભી રહી; જાણે ગાાંડો થઇ ગયો હોય,

એમ મુાંજાલ આગળ ધસ્યો, મીનળને પોતાના હાથમાાં લીધી, કચડી નાાંખી; બીજી પળે બળથી તેને દૂર ધકેલી, ભોઈપર પટકી, અને તે નાઠો.

Mute Minal, stood there anxiously; like a mad man Munjal rushed

forward and held Minal into his hand and almost crushed her. Then

he pushed her away forcibly, flung her on the floor and ran away.

(101)

Munshi’s world is dominated by grand warriors and the heroes who are out

to defeat one another at any cost.His characters, some of them are larger than

life, would go to any extent to triumph against each other. Just like battle

field his plot line is replete with encounters of intellects.Eternal conflict

among various characters invariably dazzles the reader.There is no denying

the fact that he frequently turned to Dumas to create that typical medieval

atmosphere in his fictional world.

Munshi’s indebtedness to Dumas extends to the area of general structure of

his novels.The Contents of Dumas’s index and chapters are sometimes

imitated by Munshi.Many a times he emulates the entire format of

chapterisation.Thus, the 38th chapter of The Three Musketeers-‘How,

without disturbing himself, Athos obtained his Equipment’–is transformed

as–‘How did Uda obtain that new?’in Patanni Prabhuta.Dumas’s titles are

conveniently and extensively imitated by him in some of his other welknown

historical novels like Gujarat No Nath. The chapter titles like –‘How did

Krishnadev spend Time’, ‘When Kak gets assurance, ---- he has become a

king’ etc.have been dexterously imported from Dumas’s Twenty year After’s

contents such as ‘How D’Artagnan --------discovers that his friend’ and ‘In

which we hear Tidings of Aramis’. Interestingly, the similar mood and

method of chapterisation is carried forward by him even in Rajadhiraj.For

instance, the reverberations of the French medieval ambience created by

Dumas are clearly heared in rubrics like ‘Liladevi initiates the game’.

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As one progresses through the quasi-historical atmosphere of Munshi, one

increasingly accumulates the impression that there are incredible parallels

between Patanni Prabhuta and two of Dumas’s classics – The Three

Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

In Patanni Prabhuta, Devprasad is shown going towards Patan on his

horse. Enroute to he encounters a stranger when his horse stumbles.

Though he becomes impatient, he develops some tentative rapport

with the stranger.Similarly, in TheThree Musketeers Artaganan

mounts his horse and sets off to Paris with an intent to earn money.He

encounters a stranger at Menong who pokes fun at Artagnan’s

horse.Interestingly the same mysterious stranger plays a very

important role in his life. Munshi’s title ‘Ghost’ is also indicative of

Dumas’s word–‘Unknown’. (Shukla 103).

Munshi’s indebtedness to Dumas appears more direct in the subsequent

delineation of action.When Deviprasad fell off the horse, ‘he turned

oblivious to pain and kept staring at the halo’. At that moment he saw a

finely attired but pale-faced woman. Likewise, having proved ludicrous,

‘Artagnan fixed his stern look on the stranger’ and saw a man ‘with no other

ornament’and ‘with complexion pale’.Look at the other parallel

also.Munshi’s ‘Deviprasad, while stumbling, saw everything in a

jiffy’.Likewise Dumas’s ‘Artagnan imbibed everything with the rapidity.’

Similarly, the entire description of the episode in which Anandsuri meets

Munjal is inspired by an identical incident in which Monsieur Bonancieux

goes to meet Cardinal Richelieu. Anantsuri is ushered in to the room by

Renuka with a warm ‘welcome.’ The sage, however, hesitatingly goes in to

meet a great statesman Munjal. Monsieur Bonancieux is ushered in to the

room by a cheerful bureaucrat.The room he was usherd into was full of arms.

Anandsuri en route to Munjal’s chamber, confronts some soldiers in a

corner, conversing with each other. Munjal was into his chamber.Munshi’s

description of his persona is extremely engaging: He was around 30 years

but very handsome. He had sword sharp eyes and a youngster’s mouchastc

ever at this age.This description with necessary changes is very skilfully

extracted from the description of the character of Richelieu who is also in

his thirties with grey hair.

While describing Richelieu’s persona, Dumas emphesises on the external

attributes. There is no denying the fact that the grand portrayal of Munjal is

based on Dumas’s Richelieu. There is no as great Munjal in real as is created

by Munshi. He was an ordinary, middle class minister, and there were

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greater ministers in the state.However, Munshi has portrayed a grand

Munjal.Though he is extremely dominating, he is a great statesman who

controls the royal couple.This entire ‘substance’ is based on Richelieu and

that is why Munshi’s Munjal rises above history. Munjal’s political matters

and diplomacy have been taken from Richelieu but his love and strange

relationship with the queen are added by Munshi.A perusal of Dumas’s other

historical figures would reveal that Munjal is an amalgamation, extracted

from so many characters of Dumas.

How generously Munshi accumulated ‘inspiration’ from his French guru

becomes all the more perceptible when one goes deeper.Having reached

Paris Artagnan goes to meet M.de Tremouille and stands near the window.

Tremouille is engrossed in writing a letter for Artagnan who is also

engrossed with the commotion in the street. When Tremouille tries to hand

over the letter, Artagnan gets very furious. ‘This time I won’t let you go.’ –

he screamed and escaped. ‘Oh! Who is this’, -inquired Tremouille. ‘He is

that….. that’ muttered Artagnan and disappeared. In fact Artegnan had seen

that stranger on the road and had even tried to catch him. As Tremouille

couldn’t comprehend anything, he found Artagnan’s behavior strange. From

this Munshi has taken ‘When Deviprasad sees that women.’ Devprasad had

come to visit his uncle Karnadev and had slept in shade. In the morning he

is awaken by Vachaspati. ‘Has the sun risen?’ inquired the Mandleshwar.

‘Yes a little while ago’ – said Vachaspati. However, Mandleshwar didn’t

reply. With popped up eyeballs, he was staring into the garden.

‘Yes Mandleshwar’ he turned. ‘See, see what do you see there?’ Vachaspati

did not understand any thing and said: ‘I can’t see any thing.’ ‘Today second

time: stop, Let me conform’ said Deviprasad.This scene is directly linked

with the beginning. Deviprashad once again sees that women, and Artagnan

also sues that stranger again. Dumas has clubbed the two scenes and Munshi

has not deviated from Dumas even here.

In Patanni Prabhuta the death of Karnadev is a high point. However, in The

Three Musketeers Louis-XIII does not die. Interestingly, the scene depicting

Karandev’s last moments is extracted from the VIth chapter of The Three

Musketeers – ‘His Majesty King Louis the Thirteenth’.

‘Take us to uncle’ said Deviprasad to Vachaspati and followed him. The

Lord of Patan was languishing in a corner.Lilo Vaidya, who was

compounding medicine, came near and said.

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With great efforts he is saved from getting unconscious, and if he

becomes unconscious again, it will be forever. (Shukla 106)

Similarly, Tremouille also goes to see Bernajoux. ‘Well then – let us

interview him.’ He also inquires: ‘But does the wounded man retain his

sense?’Tremouille briefs him about the condition of the bed-ridden person.

The wounded man, who, when he saw them enter his apartment,

endeavoured to raise himself in his bed; but being too feeble, and

exhausted by the effort, he fell back almost insensible…

Tremouille… by the application of some smelling salts, restored him

to consciousness. (Coward 62).

Bernajoux when regains senses is asked by Tremouille to tell the truth; and

everything is revealed by the dying Bernajoux.Likewise, the ailing

Karnadev tossed in the bed and feebly opened his eyes, when spoken to by

Deviprasad.His entire body was like a corpse. However, medicine had

infused some life in it. Karnadev was dying.He told the truth to Deviprasad

that ‘Hansa was alive’. On death-bed, both concede a great truth. Thus, the

description of Karnadev’s condition is borrowed from Bernajoux. It also

becomes obvious that even Hansa’s character is based on Constance. There

are lot of similarities between Constance and Hansa. Both are abducted and

imprisoned. Deviprasad and Artagnan are in their search. The following

description amply illustrates how Munshi’s scene hinges around Dumas.

On Munjal’s assurance about Hansa being alive, he barges into the

palace and shouts: ‘Hansa, Hansa.’ He didn’t get any reply from the

room.Hansa had vanished from there the day before yesterday. He

entered the room but no one was there. A few white clothes and a

rosary were on the floor. It looked a deserted room. Deviprasad could

not hold back his eagerness. (Shukla 107)

This scene, to some extent, is inspired by the rendezvous between Artegnan

and Constance.Both Hansa and Constance remain in cognito for a

considerable period of time.Both grew pale in prision but never tried to get

out of it. Both have tremendous faith in God and both were destined to be

distressed only. Hansa eventually drowns herself. Constance too meets

Artegnan when she was on the verge of death.Both Hansa and Constance

meet unnatural death – one drowns herself, the other poisons herself. It also

becomes evident that even Deviprasad’s exploits and adventures, have been

modeled on Artagnan’s exploits and enterprises.Both have been portrayed

as masculine warriors.Deviprasad remained engaged with intense activities

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for the sake of Hansa. Similarly, Artagnan took on challenges for the sake

of Constance.Both revered their beloveds.Though Artagnan was attracted

towards Miladay, it turned out to be a superfluous attraction.

Munshi seems to have realized the growing resemblance between

Deviprasad and his French counterpart Artagnan.Therefore, Deviprasad is

immediately taken away from the shadow of his French alter ego.

Deviprasad, like Artagnan did not live till the end.He meets his end at the

hands of a zealot. Now it is here that Munshi’s dexterous hand is at work.

For the delineation of Deviprasad’s demise, he turns to the character of Duke

of Buckingham who also dies in similar circumstances.Buckingham is

assassinated by a fanatic-Felton who was a conservative Puritan. He was

instigated by Miladay. The encounter between Buckingham and Felton is

replete with the atmosphere of trust and betrayal. Initially heated exchanges

take place between the two regarding an order for the transportation of a

young woman, named Charlotte Backson.

My lord, her ladyship is an angel! You know it well, and I demand

her liberty.’

‘Ah! ‘Said Buckingham, ‘are you mad, thus to speak to me. (Coward

537).

The progression of the action packed scene is intensified by the abrupt

arrival of Patrick who informs the Duke that His Lordship had a letter from

France.Buckingham is distracted towards Patrick. This particular moment is

grabbed by Felton who buried the knife up to its handle in the Duke’s side.

Felton is confronted by Lord de Winter in the adjacent room who hands him

over to the soldier. The entire description of Deviprasad’s death called for

changes galore and therefore Munshi carefully contextualized it.Deviprasad

is also assassinated by the fanatic Anandsuri who was keeping a close watch

on his life. Both quarrel amidst the waters of the Saraswati. As was

preplanned, the sage backoned his accomplice who promptly shot arrows at

Mahamandaleshwar. ‘Traitor! Traitor!’ screamed Deviprasad and caught the

sage by the scruff of his neck.Meanwhile, Vallabhasen, who was standing

on the bank, rushed to the rescue of the sage. However, due to fatal wound

Deviprasad was sinking.

It is a foregone conclusion that the portrayal of Anne by Dumas is

generously used by Munshi in the character of Minal. Similarly, shades of

the character of Buckingham have been subtly used in the portrayal of

Munjal.The elements of love in Munjal and his relationship with the queen

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have been taken from the Anne- Buckingham relationship.Munshi

skilltually blends facts with fiction. Munjal’s visit to Chantrapore, his affair

with Minal and Minal’s visit to Patan for Munjal–these episodes possess

more fictional elements than the actual history.

The real historical Minal is less appealing but Munshi’s Minal is a

multi-fasceted complex character.In fact Munshi has profusely

borrowed material from the characters of Anne and Miladay. Minal’s

cruelty, vindictiveness, courage to accept challenges–all have been

taken form Miladay. (Shukla 113).

Dumas appears to be a happy hunting ground for Munshi who returns to him

every now and then. As always the base material is drawn from Dumas’s

world and then transformed it into something new. Thus,‘Twenty Years

After’ and ‘The Three Musketeers’ provided inspiration for many scenes and

sequences which are duly localized contextualized to the demands of the

milieu.It is amazing to note here that the entire character of Tribhuvan in

Patanni Prabhuta is created out of the character of Raoul. He was a 15 yrs

boy. He loved his step–father Athos very much and even Athos too loved

his son so much.Even at this tender age he had showed his prowess and war

skills. His acquaintance with the royal family had elevated his rank and

stature. Moreover, temperamentally, he was a romantic person. He used to

meet his young beloved clendestinely in the night. One day Artegnan sees it

and he mutters; ‘So here’s a young blade who has already his love affair’

Tribhuvan is very akin to Raoul. He was 16 yrs young man. He was the son

of a great warrior Deviprasad. There was a great filial bond between the two.

Tribhuvan had already proved his prowess by controlling Patan firmly. His

honesty and loyalty was beyond question. Deviprasad was a loving and

dotting father.

How come you haven’t slept yet my son’ ‘didn’t sleep well? ‘You are

too young to have pensive mood’–said Deviprasad. (Shukla 116).

Similarly, Athos also looks after Raoul:

Already up Raoul?’ ‘Yes sir …….. I didn’t steep well’ – replied

Raoul.’ ‘Then you must have something on your mind’ said Athos.

(Coward 86)

Tribhuvan’s clandestine rendezvous with his beloved is almost similar to

Artegnan’s secret liaison with Aramis.The scene in which Tribhuvan enters

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his beloved’s house in Patan is largely based on the seen in which Artegnan

enters Aramis’s house.Artegnan waited till the army vanished.Then he

prepares to leave. However, Aramis suddenly emerges there. The Xth

chapter of Twenty Years After’- ‘The Abbe D’herblay’ – has this opening

which has undoubtedly inspired Munshi.

At the end of the village Planchet turned to the left, and stopped under

the lighted window. Aramis jumped down, and clapped his hands

three times.The window was at once opened, and a rope, ladder came

down. (87).

How loyally Munshi emulates his guru is shoen from the execution of this

scene.Tribhuvan turned towards Rajgadh when the horse of his father

disappeared. Finally, he stopped at a corner beneath the balcony and alighted

off the horse. Then he picked up a pebble and threw it at the window.In

response to it, a damsel peeped out of the window. Soon the damsel lowered

the rope with which Tribhuvan climbed up. Artegnan and Aramis too climb

up with the rope–stair. A reader is lost in the grand maze Munshi creates

with his stupendous imagination and sublime conception.However, he finds

it increasingly inconvenient to distance himself from his fountain source of

inspiration.Who would not notice that the chapter – ‘Mamo Ane Bhanej’ in

Patanni Prabhuta has close resemblance with the chapter ‘The Uncle and

The Nephew’ in Twenty Years After.

The Dumas-Munshi linkages engagingly unfold as one delves deeper in to

it. Tribhuvan’s character is heavily overshadowed by Dumas’s

characters.Here is another illustration.Tribhuvan goes to meet his maternal

uncle Munjal and starts conversation with the words.

I have come to beg something’Munjal laughs at him but Tribhuvan

continues beseeching:

‘Give me one thing’

Which thing? Munjal inquired.

‘My mother’added Tribhuvan. (Shukls 108)

Similarly, Mordaunt goes to meet his uncle Lord de Winter and asks.

I come to put to you a question much more terrible–to ask you, as God

asked the first murderer, Cain, Where is thy brother? My Lord, What

have you done with your sister who was my mother? (Coward 355)

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This question stuns both Munjal and Lord de Winter.Munjal perplexingly

responded

‘Ay what do you say’?

And Winter said:

‘Your mother?

In response to Munjal reply Tribhuvan said

‘Yes, I am telling you the truth’

Where as Mordaunt said

‘Yes, my mother, my Lord’

Mordaunt also reminds him of the past

My mother inherited the property of her husband, and you have

assassinated her. ‘My name secured for me the patrimony, and you

have deprived me of my name, and then you despoiled me of my

fortune. (356)

Munjal pretends as if he knew nothing

‘Who said?’

Tribhuvan was ready with a reply

‘I say this. She was spotted by a person and he was very clear’

On the other hand Lord de Winter reminds Mordaunt of his mother past

Monsieur …… what sort of a woman that was of whom you ask an

account from me today. That woman had, in all probability poisoned

my brother, and in order to inherit my property was going to

assassinate me; I have proof of it. (357)

Both Tribhuvan and Mordaunt negate the derogatory accounts offered by

Munjal and Winter. Mordaunt’s refraining line- ‘She was my mothere’–

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proves his profound love for his mother Miladay.Similarly, Tribhuvan is

provoked when his father’s name is dragged in

What a son can expect from the assassin of his mother (Hansadevi)?

(Shukla 109)

On the other hand Winter is hated and reprimanded by Mordaunt from the

beginning

What I do know is that five men, leagued against one woman, killed

her clandestinely by night like cowards. What I do know is that you

are one of them. (357)

Mordaunt even threatens him and leaves the place

Having thus spoken, the young man went out, and down the staircase,

calmly enough to avoid remark; then on the lower landing – place he

passed Tony. (357).

Similarly Munjal is threatened by Tribhuvan

You have rejected my request… you shall regret it. (Shukla 118)

Tribhuvan hurriedly descended the staircase and just before he stepped in

the palanquin, he ran into a she–slave (dasi).

In ‘Patanni Prabhuta’ the abduction of heir apparent Jaydev is deliberated

upon by Madanpal who also considers Minaldevi to be the main obstacle.

He was of the opinion that if he could separate the son from the mother and

restore him on the throne, it would certainly culminate into prosperity and

peace. Munshi’s source of inspiration is here in Dumas. The influential

persons agreed upon a plan under which the Prince was to be abducted from

Paris. They thought the Prince who was getting under the influence of

enemies, would not bring prosperity. They believed that the Prince groomed

by populace always respects the voice of the people. Paris is engulfed by

riots.

The whole city seemed inhabited by fantastic being; silent shadows

were seen removing the street paving, others drawing and upsetting

wagons, others digging trenches to swallow up entire companies to

cavaliers. All these people, so actively going, coming, running,

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seemed like demons accomplishing some unknown work. (Coward

418)

The city had the appearance of a siege. All were shouting

Long Live Broussel! Down With Mazarin!(420)

Mazarin initially refused to read writing which was written on the wall

However, he promptly reconciled with the new development.

In Patan also a great riot scene is created by Munshi.

The normal life in the city was thrown out of gear by chaos and

anarchy. There was a great deal of commotion in the streets of

Patan.Shantu Sheth saw the rioters from the high window of

Rajgadh.Dandanayak was completely confused. He was really scared.

(Shukla 119)

Some shades of the character of Mazarin are found in the portrayal of

Shantichandra. Both are projected as centre of power. Mazarin was an Italian

outsider and Shantu Sheth, a Jain was too from Chandravati.People

somehow didn’t trust these outsiders. Both consciously effort to assimilate

with the local people. The grand scene depicting the Queen’s escape along

with the Prince and the subsequent mayhem and disorder that was unleashed

has great parellels with the scene in Patanni Prabhuta. Here Queen Minal

along with the Prince of Patan is at the helm.The riots of Patan are narrated

exactly along the description of riots in Paris. However, Munshi has effected

incredible metamorphosis of material. There are two revolts of people in

Paris-firstly it is for Brussel’s acquittal; secondly it was to ascertain whether

the Prince was inside the palace or not. Munshi has blended the two riots to

shape a situation which serves his pupose.The queen is frightened when she

is reported about Paris riots. The Chancellor Seguier tells the queen how the

situation was worsening:

The danger was so real, the mad crowd had approached this cabinet

with such threats, that the Chancellor thought his hour had come.

(425)

The queen asked him to find out the ways to come out of it.However, the

Chancellor hesitates

I could give very good advice to your Majesty, but

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I do not dare.

On further insistence by the queen, the Chancellor asked her to leave

Broussel promptly

Madame’, said the Chancellor, hesitating, ‘it is to set Broussel at

liberty. (426)

The queen, however, found it very tough and turned pale. After a while she

asserted

Set Broussel at liberty’ said she; I never. (426)

The exchange between Minal and Morarpal, especially when the city of

Patan was faced with an inflammable situation, is a reminder of Munshi’s

French connect

‘Give me now some advice’- asked the queen.

‘I am shocked by the riots of Patan’–said Morarpal. (Shukla 122)

The queen asked him to be direct and forthright.

‘Pardon me, it you get offended

‘I offer this advice, since it is sought by so you. Why do not you send

maternal uncle to talk to the nephew?’ said Morarpal. (122)

The thunder of the queen full of proud is worth noting

Leave it, I will not even look at the faces of the traitors. (122)

Both the queens initially refuse to accept the advice. However, the French

queen had to abandon Broussel finally. Like wise, Munjal is also sent to

Patan. As soon as Broussel is released from the prision, the riots of Paris get

quelled. Similarly, when Munjal, reaches Patan after his release from the

prision, the riots of the city get quelled and life returns to normalcy in

Patan.Anne leaves the capital along with the prince and faces tremendous

hardships on her return:

------- that it is sometime more difficult for kings to return to the

capitals of their kingdoms than to go out of them.(123)

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Similarly and equally Minal faces the same hardships once she leaves and

eventually returns to the capital.

Thus, Munshi’s alliance with historical novels in general and Dumas in

particular has invariably baffled critical opinions. He believed that history

appealed only when it was composed on the lines of literature.Or else

nobody would entered the dull and dry corridors of castles and palaces.In

historical novels, he neve glorified the historical truth.History, when

composed as literature, added a new dimension of human interest.In this

regard

he was clearly and comprehensively influenced by the French novelist

Alexander Dumas.(Thaker 486)

Dumas’s impressions on Munshi’s historical subject matters may be

described as ‘inspiration’and, therefore, one should keep from calling it

‘influence’.His is not a case of what people would generally term as

plagiarism; it is rather a matter of indebtedness of a great writer to the greater

one.In Dumas’s handling of historical novel, it is clear that fiction came

first.The blending of history with fiction has been very pointedly justified

by Dumas

History is the nail on which I hang my novels (Coward X)

Munshi like his French counterpart emerged as the creator of an incredibly

cheerful and a quasi-historical accounts.He possessed supreme narrative

skills and had an awesome sense of drama.He had an instinctive feel for the

human grandeur and the extra ordinary ability to tap into the collective

psyche and create modern heroes to rival the heroes of antiquity.

The alliance of Gujarati literature with France which was forged by Munshi

was continued by the renowned modernist writer Sursh Joshi. This

phenomenon has been elaborated in the ensuing pages

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It is living and ceasing to live that are imaginary solutions- Existence

is elsewhere.

Andre Breton

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3.2 Suresh Joshi (1921-1986): A Maverick Modernist

The literary linkages between France and Gujarat enter the second phase

after the Indian Independence.The first phase literary rapport is marked by

historical romanticism which was popularized by the legendary historical

novelist K.M.Munshi,who also shared a strong connect with the French

genius Alexander Dumas. However, the post-independence era in Gujarati

literature is marked by the advent of spirit of Modernism. It is a well-known

fact that modernism emerged in Europe and then it spread to the far nook

and corners across the continents. The Indian languages and literatures

which hitherto had been following the classicist tradition of the orient, could

not remain indifferent to the various literary trends, currents and

experiments which were shaping the art, aesthetics and life of modern man.

However, the colonial masters of India who had their imperial motives did

not encourage the Indians to adopt modernistic outlook. They rather

preferred the policy of non-interference in certain affairs which eventually

resulted in the delayed advent of modernity in India. Thus, there is a vast

difference between the time scale of modern literature in Europe and that of

modern literature in Indian languages. Our literature was lagging behind at

least by hundred years.

The Gujarati literature along with Bengali and Marathi literatures emerged

as one of the early recipients of western influences in general and French

influences in particular. The path-breaking French poet Baudelaire fired the

imaginations of modern Gujarati writers who invariably turned to his

Flowers of Evil for inspiration .Most of the Gujarati writers belonging to the

preceding Gandhi an era were finding it increasingly tough to respond to or

acclimatized with the rapidly transforming climate of art and aesthetic. It is

precisely amidst the turmoil of the time, Suresh Joshi arrives on the horizon.

This maverick man of letters and a strong opponent of romantic tendencies

in Gujarati literature Suresh Joshi has brought many western literary trends

and currents to Gujarat. He was particularly inspired by the French poets

and poetry under the influence of which he transformed the nature and

substance of Gujarati poetry. Within a short span in 70’s, he emerged as the

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chief exponent of experimentalist poetry in Gujarati. It will not be an

exaggeration to say that he is the most influential voice of the new poetics

in Gujarati literature.

He has also been aptly hailed as the pioneer of modernist as well as post-

modernist trends in the post-independent period of Gujarati literature. Under

the influence Existentialism and Phenomenology, he generated a profound

post-modernistic enthusiasm in Gujarati literature which was transitioning

from a largely traditional milieu to the post-modernistic mode. It was under

his influence that ‘technique’ and ‘structure’ became far more important

considerations within Gujarati poetry. A prolific writer who touched almost

all major genres, he has modernized Gujarati literature through short stories

Grihapravesh, Api Cha, Biji Thodik Vato, novels like Chhinapatra,

Maranotar essays like Janantike, poetry collections like Upjati, Pratyancha,

Itara, Tathapi and criticism like Kinchit, Gujarati Kavitano Aswad,

Shrunvantu etc.

Under the influence of western critical schools, he emerged as the harbinger

of innovative critical outlook in Gujarati critical tradition which

subsequently influenced all interpretations of art and literature.

He was the chief proponent of a critical pursuit which didn’t stop at

thematic concerns of a text like many others, in fact, he went on to

discuss the ‘new ways’ of interpretations of the literary theory and

criticism. Considering his views on form and his incisive way of

evaluating literature, he can easily be termed a ‘New critic’, but he

was one who did not stop at ‘New Criticism. (Sagar S.5)

The alliance between Suresh Joshi and French literature is an extremely

significant Guj-Franco literary linkage.So far as his indebtedness to French

literature is concerned, it may be noted that he may take a leaf from French

context to form his notion of symbols, motifs and images, but then his

illustrations, examples and parallels are invariably drawn from the

indigenous cultural milieu.Thus, he creates a dialogue between French

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poetics and Gujarati literature. His stupendous contribution towards the

introduction of the French literary trends and currents in Gujarati literature

fall beyond research domain of the present project and, therefore, the

investigator has confined his research inquiry at a select level only.He has

been studied here as one of the major recipients of French influences.

Endowed with an open and unshackled mind, he audaciously challenged the

crumbling conventions. We may recall here that Narmad and BalvantRai

Thakor had revolted against the established traditions in Gujarati

literature.On the other hand, the philosophies of Absurdism and

Existentialism had almost revolutionized the trajectory of human thinking

across the world. Jean-Paul-Sartre, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Samuel

Beckett and Eugene Ionesco created profound ripples even in Gujarat where

writers like Suresh Joshi volunteered modernism to reach to each and every

corner.

Suresh Joshi did not allow himself to be stamped by a particular tradition or

even an ideology. No marked impact of even Gandhiji can be seen in the

work of his. Joshi was creatively more comfortable with Prahalad Parekh

and Rajendra Shah who had painstakingly deviated from the Sanskrit

tradition. Both these poets effected a decisive change as the pure poetry

started appearing for the first time.Hence one can surmise here that they

rendered the same service to Gujarati poetry as was done by Wordsworth

and Coleridge to English poetry. Suresh Joshi came at a crucial juncture in

the history of modern Gujarati literature. He openly advocated on the

convergence of western thoughts with the Oriental tradition. He was of the

firm belief that literature should be autonomous and should be accepted and

valued as literature only.

We must always be on the lookout for finding out newer areas of

experiences and newer modes of expressions. (Panchal 6)

The literary atmosphere of Gujarati literature, which was rapidly

transitioning, discovered a champion of metamorphosis in Suresh Joshi.It is

to be noted here that long before Niranjan Bhagat arrived on the scene ,

Harish Chandra Bhatt had tentatively introduced the western poets ranging

from Baudelaire to Rilke to Gujarati readers.However, Niranjan Bhagat who

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was undoubtedly inspired by the iconic French poet Baudelaire in his

Pravaldweep, completely transformed the countenance of Gujarati Poetry.

Suresh Joshi could comprehend the literary atmospherics of the day and

therefore he daringly introduced new forms and concepts in major genres

like poetry, novel, short story and essay. His dissatisfaction towards the

prevalent literary tradition compelled him to discover newer paths.However,

his dalliance with the western thought which was making inroads into the

age-old cumbersome conventions, earned him much animosity than

accolades at the hands of orthodox establishment. He is doubtedly the

‘messenger of modernity’ in Gujarati literature. Given the domain

constraints of the present study, the investigator has taken some passages

from his essays, selective excerpts from short stories and a few symbolic

poems. Such selective and restrictive analysis may not yield desired results

as an evaluation in its entirety would have done greater justice to the subject.

In addition to that, it is also difficult to explore the entire creative gamut of

such a prolific writer in the present investigation.

It would not be in excess to claim that he introduced the major Occidental

literary trends and currents to Gujarati readers.It is to be noted here that such

transactions are not mere mechanical transportations from a particular

context to a newer one.To him an influence or inspiration is something more

than what appears at external level.He himself is very clear about it:

To come under the impact of somebody means we closely observe

how he looked at and gave form to life (16).

His readiness to accept and adopt what was being thought and propagated in

the west made him a stormy petrel back home. He never wrote for the mass,

and therefore he did not write with this or that purpose in mind. He did not

hanker for power or position and he never bothered about honours and

awards.He was not interested in the politics of literature, and throughout his

life he remained totally indifferent to the literary politics. His life long

mission was to create healthy atmosphere for the nourishment of creative

literature. Out of this conviction, was born a new approach to ‘essay’ which

till his time was being written in the Kalelkar mode. Joshi’s art of essaying,

his technique, themes, his departure from tradition warrant for some

analysis.

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The Modern Gujarati Essay

The Gujarati Essay which began with Narmad and developed considerably

during the Pandit Yug [1885-1920], took a while to develop into an

established genre. Majority of conventional essayists wrote discursive prose

but nobody ever endeavoured to write from the Montaignesque point of

view. The essays that come to us from this era are mostly written on civilian

topics like education, society, morality and philosophy.However, they

certainly bore a stamp of the erudition of the age. It warrants to be mentioned

here that it was Kakasaheb Kalelkar, a great scholar of Gandhian Age who

introduced creative essay in Gujarati literature. In his essays there is a

predominance of ‘nature’ perceived through the eyes of a child. He also

sweetly blended travelogues with his essays. The Kalelkar tradition was

carried forward by Umashankar Joshi and Jayanti Dalal, though their range

was limited. It was left unto Suresh Joshi to inaugurate a new era in the

history of Gujarati essays.

In 1955, Suresh Joshi, under the impact of Rabindranath Tagore’s

‘vichitra’ essays began writing creative prose with a pseudonym of

‘Rajhans’. Immediately these essays arrested milestones in the history

of Gujarati creative essay. In Suresh Joshi’s early essays one can find

literary criticism also but afterwards such criticism disappears from

his essays. (19)

It may be noted that majority of his contemporaries wrote under the

influence of Rabindranath Tagore who also played a great role in forming

modern sensibilities of authors like Prahlad Parekh and Rajendra Shah. Joshi

too, emulated the great genius, however, he added a style of his own. His

joie de vivre, his non-conformist attitude and his innovative style were more

akin with the styles of Montaigne and Charles Lamb.He transformed the

way the Gujarati essay was being written.Thus, personal essay finds a

formidable voice in him.Intrestingly he does not confine himself to one style

only, as he moves from poetic to personal mode.

The name of village where my childhood days were passed I shall not

tell you. A very dear treasure needs to be carefully hidden away.

So as not to give any inkling to anybody. The boundaries of that

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village has the Rasa’s of marvelous and the terrible built into their

texture. (20)

He carried the reader into a utopian world of images and asked her to live in

an unmediated world. He dexterously amalgamated the consciousness of the

creator with the consciousness of the reader. He advocated that when the

creative writer comes into the contact with the outside world very intensely,

he finds out new dimensions of the real world. There is a constant dialogue

between the creative self and the outside world.

His prose style is not confined within the traditional literary rubrics as he

emphasized more on the sensuousness and imagination and not on the

intellect and reason. It is precisely this autobiographical style which leagues

Joshi with the western masters of this genre. He rarely bothered about the

factual details and used impressionistic mode. The playfulness of his mind

dictated the length of his pieces and therefore his earlier essays are having

different lengths.Thus, essays which regularly appeared in newspapers did

not have specific length. The indelible memories of childhood which was

spent in verdant landscapes of south Gujarat, crowd his mind and took him

to the eternal charms of the nature. This is evidenced in Morning sun and

Madhumalti.

The morning’s mild sun falling upon this wall from which the plaster

has already come off, and a Madhumalti creeper, between the two of

them, make a beautiful design stand out. And with that is merged the

fragrance of the Madhumalti blooms and the morning sun’s moderate,

agreeable, warmth. (23)

It may be noted that whatever reflective elements are present in his essays,

they are consistent with his creative personality. Though he was initially

unfamiliar with phenomenological approach his vision and expression took

him close to phenomenological philosophy. This is precisely the reason he

did not confirm the traditional perception of truth.He believed that truth

could not be secured by reason. It can be achieved only through the

unmaditated experiences of a person. With him, there evolves a new prose

style in Gujarati literature, the style inspired by European writers but soaked

into Gujarati milieu and ambience. In many essays the boundries between a

poem and essay merged into each other. There is no other aim but the

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playfulness of the mind.The essayist so fondly remembers the rain and it

reminds him of Baudelaire’s lines.

When the long lines of rain

Are like the bars of a vast prison. (Shah 174)

Surprisingly, much before the reader reconciles with the reality, she

confronts a totally new atmosphere.

When the earth was a tiny tot, a baby girl, God must have been telling

her stories in the manner of its streaming (Panchal 26)

The French philosophy of existentialism immensely influenced Joshi’s

perception of reality. If one reads his essays, ranging from Janantike (1965)

to Pashyanti (1993), his last collection of the essays, one gets increasingly

convinced that this writer believes in the complete confrontation with the

life. He believes that the experience per se is important, not the fruit of

experience. He possessed an extremely unique attitude towards life.He gets

annoyed with those persons who do not enjoy nature’s bounty.

Life offers plenty of attachments-alluring objects to be achieved-and

hence abundance of happiness to be reaped as well! (29)

Suresh Joshi had had a pretty prolonged creative career. He belongs to the

post independent period, the period which witnessed socio-cultural

restructuring of the nation.He very aptly mirrors the process of this transition

in his essays. During this period our country achieved great many things,

our science and technology advanced beyond our imagination but

simultaneously materialistic attitude also developed and as a result most of

the people did not care for basic values. Progress was achieved but at what

cost:

Seeing people with impaired sense of touch and sense sight, my heart

melts within me. There are people who for days together have not

touched a flower, haven’t caressed the soft line of hair on the loved

one’s nape never allowed the eye to roll about in the velvet touch of

a tree-bole. (29)

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Modern Gujarati Short story

The emergence of Suresh Joshi as a modern writer also co-insides with the

arrival of modern trends in the field of Gujarati Short story. As usual he did

not confirm tradition which emphasized on the profound, lofty and sublime

values. He believed that these values should emerge from the creative

process. He always wanted to mirror the harsh realities of life, the life

inclusive of both good and evil. He firmly believed that one cannot always

confine himself only in good, beautiful world. One cannot also run away

from the evil forces of life.

His first collection of short stories Grihpravesh was published in 1957

and the last one Ekda-naimisharanye in1981.As he was a very conscious

writer, he concerntrated on the quality.Under the influence of western

writers like Sartre and Kafka , he could create a unique creative world. He

imbedded Franz Kafka’s philosophy that one’s strength flowed from one’s

adversaries.He believed that the real artist never talked about the main thing.

Creative process, according to him is a unique experience.Here also he

departs from the conventions and perceives reality with a new

perspective.As a creator he does not see a bud but he rather perceives the

entire process of transformation where the bud blossoms into a flower.

Suresh Joshi as a creative writer is always guided by Suresh Joshi as a critic

and a thinker.If one looks at his world-view, one promptly notices a non-

conformist critic in him. He believed that modern science and technology

had impoverished human life. Creative process is sustained by imaginative

faculty but unfortunately in the commotion of information and knowledge

the imaginative faculty is lost. To him this unfortunate banishment of

imaginative faculty of human life is the greatest loss to modern man.

In order to understand the creative vision of Suresh Joshi one must go back

to his early childhood which was spent in the forests of South Gujarat. The

verdant woods of evergreen southern belt of Gujarat rendered an indelible

imprint on his mind. This is precisely the reason why Nature dominates the

creative world of Suresh Joshi.To him the negation of Nature is the negation

of meaningful world.Therefore, the main characters of his stories are totally

aware of their loss , but they are unable to adjust themselves with the

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surrounding world and as a result they always feel alienation, loneliness and

frustration.

So far as man-woman relationship is concerned, he adopts a different

perception toward woman. In his stories the woman stands for the wonderful

and mysterious world which has been lost. These women are imprisoned in

a world of their own, and hence there is a wide chasm between women and

man. These characters have intense sensitivity which helps them fight

against the world. They accept the sensuous and unmediated world. In

Setubandh, a less known story, the main character lives in suffocating world,

even though he is living with his intimate ones-he just moves here and there,

he is able to confront the world with the help of his beloved’s Bakulmala [a

garland of Bakul flowers].In another story Raurav the main character is

saved by a flower fallen from his wife’s braid or hair.

Some times the main character starts his journey towards preconceptual

world, e.g.Ek Purani Varta (An Ancient Tale) because in the day to day

world, he always lives under the fear of losing his identity. So he returns to

his old world of childhood, he remembers the dust of Vaishakh Month, the

fragrance of rice fields, the grass with dewdrops.Sometimes he dewstroys

the day to day world and creates a new world of illusions, legends, folktales,

myths. Joshi’s creative ambit is an engaging amalgamation of both urbun

and rural. In other words he may be termed as a rurban voice because he has

restricted his creative gamut within two locales-the sylvan Songadh and

marvelous Mumbai. His approach is undoubtedly Phenomenological and,

therefore, his works have a considerable level of interpolation as one work

grows into another and so on. Sometimes one story remains an exercise of a

later story. These stories are related to his novellas also. He sometimes uses

the same subject matter with different styles. Thus, the stories Thigdu (The

Patch) and Vartul (The Cycle) which convey the sense of nothingness,

inevitable death and futility of human existence employ divergent

narratives.Mark the opening sentence which so poignantly express the

loneliness of an aged protagonist Prabhasankar.

The western horizon was covered by clouds, so one could not see the

red glow of the setting sun. Earlier, a flicker of red light did come

through, but vanished in to darkness even before it could be seen. (33)

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In another story The Cycle the same notion is treated in different manner.

Here the writer does not narrate the incidents from Labhsankar’s life, instead

of those incidents, he simply presents the auditory images.

He tried to remove them some sound had not yet opened their eyes to

light. (33)

The themes of purposelessness, nothingness and alienation, largely inspired

by the French movements like Absurdism and Existentialism, seem to be

clearly dominating his creative world. He is of firm conviction that the

modern culture, a product of ruthless commercialisim and crass materialism

recognizes only the evolutionary principle of might is right.This exploitative

principle has created existential imbalance. Some mighty people behave like

dictators, for them the other fellow beings are just petty creatures, their

existence is ephemeral. In Ek Mulakat (A Visit) Shripatrai is projected as a

ruthless dictator for whom the other persons are just kind of food.

The stream of consciousness technique coupled with

phenomenological approach always dominated his art of storytelling. The

profusion of symbols, motifs and images indicate that he always abstained

from prolixity and verbosity. Each story has a style of its own.The

ambiguously complex story Be Surajmukhi Ane (Two Sunflowers And) is

explicitly written in the experimental mode drawn from the

phenomenological school.The narrator of the story is an aged writer while

walking under the scorching sun, he hears the talk of two lovers at the same

time he remembers so many things from his past.This clearly reminds the

reader of Virginia Woolf’s Clarissa Dalloway who physically loiters in the

streets of Dublin but she actually travels down her memory lanes:

Death was defiance.Death was an attempt to communicate, people

feeling the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically,

evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded; one was alone.

(Ousby 695)

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Modern Gujarati Poetry

The modern Gujarati poetry too owes a great deal to Suresh Joshi’s poetic

experiments which he carried out under the various western influences.

Since his experimental enthusiasm and innovative poetic techniques did not

conform to the poetic conventions of the day, his arrival on the horizon of

Gujarati poetry was greeted with rile and rejection.The disillusioned poet

disowned his maiden anthology Upjati as the poems did not convince him.

His poetry had not only to live up to the expectation of the readers, but it

also had to convince the creator himself.

In his prolonged creative gamut of three decades, he kept on returning to

poetry intermittently and composed three anthologies at regular interval.

Pratyancha (1961), Itara (1973), and Tathapi (1980) took the Gujarati

reader by strom.It may be noted here that he was not a prolific poet and,

therefore, he wrote selected poems on the themes that were close to his

heart.Despite his minimal poetic output, he succeded in revolutionizing the

modern Gujarati poetry. It would not be in excess to state that his ubiquitous

influence as a poet-critic was felt everywhere. He carried out plethora of

literary activities which nourished the creative atmosphere. It may be

mentioned here that it was Suresh Joshi who introduced European poets,

especially the poets of France by writing about them and translating their

poems.

It may be recalled here that Joshi’s predecessors poets like

Manishankar Bhatt-‘Kant’ Tribhuvandas Luhar-‘Sundaram’ and Rajendra

Shah appeared him a lot as they wrote sensuous poems against the backdrop

of Nature. As noted earlier Nature did play a vital role in the formation of

his poetic sensibilities.He was enamored of Nature ever since his infancy

and this association stayed with him even during his later life. This

illustration from Pratyancha amply shows that, Joshi was an apostle of

‘Nature’, at least in his early career.

ચમેલી જૂઈ જાઈ, ઉતરીતી ત્રણ પરીઓ નાવા,

કાાંઠે ત્યાાં કો બેઠુાં ગાવા; સધુબધુ ભલૂી ત્રણે બબચારી

સવાર થઈ ને નાઠી સફાળી,ઓઢણી સૌની અહીં ભલુાઈ,

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તે જ ચમેલી ને જૂઈ જાઈ !

Three fairies came to bathe

On the riverbank someone was singing

All the three forgot themselves

And in the morning they away in haste

Leaving their embroidered upper garments

Behind And the garments turned into Chameli, Jui, Jai!

(Panchal 46)

Joshi’s initial romanticism and his emulation of the conventional romantic

poets like Rabindranath Tagore did not last long as the second collection –

Itara marked a huge departure from its preceding anthology Pratyancha. In

the first anthology, it appears that an exuberant poet is in search of mature

expression.He finds it difficult to come out of shadows of legendary poets

like Rabindranath Tagore.However, in Itara we see that he acquired

maturity and expressed with a level of competence and with the boldness of

an artist who has found himself.Though Tagore’s poetic fragrance still

lingers with him, he is now more comfortable with the Continental poets like

Charles Baudelaire.

Suresh Joshi is an engaging summation of both Baudelaire and Tagore.He

imbibes the best from both of them and, therefore his creativity finds a newer

and bolder expression. If Pratyancha is a conventional expression, Itara is

a challenge to Pratyancha.The poems here challenge us to approach his

work afresh. Though a great admirer of Tagorian tradition, he tries to elevate

the Gujarati poetry to the level of western world.Of all the Continental poets,

Baudelaire touched the deepest cords in the heart of Suresh Joshi and his

creativity is totally transformed under the impact of this French poet. His

Oriental romanticism, which he inherited from the Tagorian tradition, now

gives way to the Occidental Existentialism.

કદાચ હુાં કાલે નહી હોઉં, કાલે જો સરુજ ઉગે તો કહજેો કે

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મારી બબડાયેલી આંખમાાં, એક આંસ ુસકૂવવુાં બાકી છે ;

કાલે જો પવન વાય તો કહજેો કે, હકશોર વયમાાં એક કન્મયાના ચોરી લીધેલા

સ્સ્મતનુાં પક્વ ફળ, હજી મારી ડાળ પરથી ખેરવવુાં બાકી છે;

કાલે જો સાગર છલકે તો કહજેો કે, મારા હ્રદયમાાં ખડક થઈ ગયેલા

કાળમીંઢ ઈશ્વરના ચરેૂચરુા કરવા બાકી છે ; કાલે જો ચાંદ્ર ઉગે તો કહજેો કે

એને આંકડે ઘરેવાઈને બહાર ભાગી છટવા, એક મત્સ્ય હજી મારામાાં તરફડ ે

છે : કાલે જો અસ્નન પ્રકટે તો કહજેો કે, મારા વવરહી પડછાયાની બચતા

હજી પ્રકટાવવી બાકી છે. કદાચ હુાં કાલે નહી હોઉં

Lest I may not be here tomorrow, If at all the sun rises tomorrow

Tell him that I guard under my closed eyes a tear for him to dry.

If at all the wind blows tomorrow, Tell him, I still have the ripe fruit

of a young girl’s smile, I had stolen in adolescence,

That he has to shake off. If at all the ocean splashes his waves

tomorrow

Tell him that I have in my heart hard hearted god turned into a rock

and he has to break him into pieces.

If at all the moon rise tomorrow

Tell him I have in me a fish tossing about restlessly and yearning to

escape having been plied with his hooks

If at all the fire raises his flames tomorrow

Tell him that he has still to light up the funeral fire of my estranged

shadow. Lest I may not be here tomorrow. (49)

Joshi’s poetry, particularly in the third and last phase, is marked by a

marvelous metamorphosis as he increasingly turned to self

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introspection.Musing with the self comes to the forefront and occupies the

central place as the existential inquisitiveness dominates his poetic world

now.The absurdist piece Panch Anknu Natak reminds how closely he

emulated Baudelaire and Ionesco.

રાતનુાં પાાંચ અંકનુાં નાટક પરુૂાં થવા આવ્યુાં છે ત્યારે,

છે્લા અંકના છે્લા દ્રશ્યમાાં, મારો જ મ ૂાંગો ચહરેો,

થાક્યોપાક્યો ; દ્રષ્ષ્ટ અંધકારને અંધકાર સાથે રેણ

કરીને જોડતી ; જીભ શાપ ઉચ્ચારવા અધી બહાર નીકળેલી –

હુાં અચરજ પામીને જોઈ રહુાં છાં, હા, કેવળ જોઈ રહુાં છાં.

હુાં અહી ક્યાાંથી ? આ હુાં જ છાં ?

The five act play is just to complete at late in the night

when overpowered with extreme fatigue

I see my dumb face, In the last scene of the last act;

My eye wielding a piece of darkness with another

My tongue half curling out in an attempt to utter a curse

and I wonder as I see. Yes, I am merely looking at.

‘How come I am here?’ ‘Am I really he?’ (52)

He was emotionally attached with the sylvan surroundings of Songadh and

its natural landscape. However, the introspection of the self as the sense of

human futility impelled him to ponder over the meaningless of human

existence. Mark the explicit parallels between T.S.Eliot’s Gerontion and the

poem given here.

Here I am, an old man in a dry month,

Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain

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My house is a decayed house,

And the Jew squats on the window sill, (Jain 23)

હુાં એક અદનો આદમી, નાના ઘરની નાની બારી પાસે બેસીને

નાનુાં આકાશ જોનારો ; પણુ્યશાળી તો નહી ,

પાપી પણ નહી. પાપ પણ મને તચુ્છ ગણે,

મારી સાથે આંખ મેળવ્યા વવના જ ચાલી જાય ;

I am a mere common man Sitting by a small window of my small

house, Looking at a small stretch of sky;

Certainly not a blessed one, Neither a sinner too.

For sin I am insignificant nobody, It simply passes by me

Even without casting a glance at me. (Panchal 52).

He decidedly deviated from the poetic conventions he inherited. Instead of

the utopian romance that was created by his predecessor poets, he was more

interested in the life that one lived and the existence that one had. How

stoutly he rejected the conservative conventions is metaphorically expressed

in this stanza.

દાદાનાાં,જૂનાાં,સાંકેલીને પેટીમાાં મકેુલાાં,

વસ્ત્રોમાાં સચવાયલેો તટેલો જ ધમત મારો વરસો

My only inheritance in the faith preserved in torn and worn out clothes

of my grandfather carefully folded and put in a wooden box. (52)

He rejected vehemently not only the prevalent literary conventions but also

stoutly negated the existence of God. He was convinced that once the

existence of God was questioned, the human perception of life would drift

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towards non-conformation and iconoclasm. To him God is merely a

consolation and not anything else.

દીવાલ પર ભગવાનની છબબ, એની પાછળ માળો બાાંધનાર ચકલી

એમને જેટલા જાણે તટેલા જ હુાં પણ ઓળખુાં.

A photograph of god hanging on a wall

I know of him as much as the sparrow

Building her nest behind the photograph knows. (52)

Modern Gujarati Critical Tradition

There is no denying the fact that Suresh Joshi has left an indelible imprint

on the countenance of Gujarati critical tradition. Since he was a self

conscious creative writer, his critical faculty remained alert all the while. He

believed that the basic function of a critic is to create a healthy atmosphere

in which every genuine writer could express himself freely. It may be noted

here that when he arrived on the literary scene of Gujarati literature,the

atmosphere of modernity had precedes him.Niranjan Bhagat, Hashmukh

Pathak,Priyakant Maniyar and other creative writers were writing modern

poetry.However, the conservative critics did not welcome the change that

was being propagated by Niranjan Bhagat and other modern poets.

Suresh Joshi stoutly rejected the parochialism of the conservative class and

endeavored to disseminate the continental literary values. He single-

handedly brought the veritable cornucopia of western geniuses like

Dostoevsky, Baudelaire, Rilke, Saint John Parse, T.S. Eliot, Franz Kafka,

Jean Paul Sartre, Albert- Camus, E.M.Forster, Thomas Mann etc.to the

shores of Gujarat.Though trained in Sanskrit critical traditions, he was very

much impressed by the western methods of New Criticism. Thus, Kinchit

advocated the necessity of sustaining intellectual climate, Gujarati Kavitano

Aswad emphasized more on the work per se rather than on the biographical

details.Since he was extremely influenced by the modern critical traditions

of the west, the reverberations of literary innovations and experimentations

can clearly be perceived from his works.

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It is unanimously acknowledged that he was a stormy petrel of his age. His

iconoclasm, his non-conformatory attitude and his rebelliousness eternally

earned for him both aversion and accolades. His contemporary critics

considered him as a formalist critic, the critic who emphasized on the formal

aspects of a work of art. Joshi vehemently argued that the artist’s prime duty

is the annihilation of the content. He had firm conviction in Paul Klee’s

belief that the work of art is to be experienced primarily as a process of

formation, never as a product. It is a foregone conclusion that French

critics and poets had made a huge impact on his critical sensibilities. He

believed that it was much more important to understand poetic process than

to understand the rules of criticism. This principle of Paul Valery completely

transformed his critical perceptions:

…what we call a ‘poem’ is in practice composed of fragments of pure

poetry embedded in the substance of a discourse. A very beautiful line

is a very pure element of poetry (Shah 220).

It becomes extremely obvious from the critical concepts and idioms he

employed that western schools like existentialism, absurdism and

phenomenology had played a very important role in shaping his critical

faculties. In his career as a critic he went on writing about existential thinkers

and writers like Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Sartre, Camus, etc.

However, his critical approach was more akin to the approach of critics of

consciousness.It maybe noted here that in his existential approach he is

closer to Sartre who had advocated a humanistic approach rather than

anything else.

Modern Gujarati Novella

Suresh Joshi expanded the creative gamut of not only the short story but

also of the short novels .He prefers to write a novella instead of bulky

novels. His Vidula is different from his later novellas. Though partly

written in traditional mode, this work introduced an engaging character of

Vidula.She is ahead of her times, she is a revolting type, who neither cares

for the society nor for her husband. Kathachakra, which employs

mechanically contrived narrative style is largely an experimental work.It

abandons the linear timescale. Chhinpatra, on the other hand, has

profusion of poetic images and symbolic allusions.That the brevity of

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expression is the hallmark of Joshi is evidenced by the way he describes

the first rendezvous between the hero and heroine.

One who is as close as a tear in eye at one moment, recedes as far as

a star twinkling in space at the next. (Panchal 41)

With Chhinpatra, he endeavored to take Gujarati Novel away from

stagnancy and self complacency and give it a new direction. This work, it

may be noted, established him as a force to reckon with in the realm of

Gujarati novel. His Marnottar refuses to be catalogued with conventional

literary rubrics.The whole work is almost in the form of a series of lyrical

outbursts or cries and this indirectly makes one to think it as an extension of

the essays in Janantike. Mala of Chhinpatra here appears as Mrinal.There

are absolutely no events whatsoever, the work is in the form of series of

untiteled lyrical prose pieces, many of which end with a lyrical retrain ‘who

Mrinal?’

Suresh Joshi’s commitment towards experimentation and the inspiration and

influences that he received from western writers, especially from France,

comprehensively contributed to the making of his creative world. There is

no denying the fact that he has left an indelible imprint on the realm of short

stories and fiction of Gujarati literature.

There is no exaggeration in the claim that this stormy petrel of 60’s has made

a massive impact on modern Gujarati literature.Without hankering any place

or position in power hierarchy, he dedicated his entire life to amelioration

of literary culture of the state of Gujarat.Like other visionary poets, he too

was much ahead of his times. His French connect was carried forward by

his contemporary epoch making poet Prof. Niranjan Bhagat. The following

pages have profiled his rendezevous with France.

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What strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need do is

stroll about with our eyes open. Life swarms with innocent monsters.

I should like the fields tinged with red, rivers yellow and the trees

painted blue. Nature has no imagination.

Charles Baudelaire.

I am interested in poetry, cities, and the nameless, faceless, crowds

roaming the roads in the cities. [….] I am a child of the city, an industrial

city.

Prof. Niranjan Bhagat.

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3.3: Prof. Niranjan Bhagat (1926 - ) A Poet of urban Consciousness

The principal purpose of this investigation is to explore Prof. Niranjan

Bhagat’s literary linkages with the legendary French poet Charles

Baudelaire who has inspired many poets across the world.It may be noted at

the outset that both poets, belonging to the two different continents, are

otherwise poles apart in terms of time and context.The task of comparing

two legendary poets like Charles Baudlaire and Niranjan Bhagat is not only

arduous but also extremely vulnerable in terms of fair assessment.However,

a humble endeavor to juxtapose the two icons in the company of each other

has been made in the ensuing pages.Andre Gide’s observation on such

comparision speaks volumes.

Some unknown man in Moscow and myself can be impelled toward

the same idea, and despite the intervening centuries James can link to

Virgil. (Patel 37)

While looking at the cross cultural continental influences one may recall

Andre Gide’s statement that

influences do not create anything; they merely awaken what is already

there. (37).

It is imperative that a proper evaluation of literary atmosphere around the

independence period is undertaken. Somewhere around 1940, the

nationalist and social consciousness of the Gandhian era in Gujarati poetry

gave way to a consciousness of the aesthetic. The poet Prahlad Parekh

(1911-1962) initiated a process of modernity which got further perfected in

the hands of Harishchandra Bhatt (1906-1950), Rajendra Shah (1913-2010)

and Niranjan Bhagat (1926-….)

These poets created a whole new world of poetry in which the

emotion of love appeared in bright solid colours accompanied by

beautiful rhymes and metres. Both lyricism and poetic language find

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a full throated expression as Keen images and sensuous symbols

intervene with melody. This is how Niranjan Bhagat’s poetry took

shape which it first appeared in

Gujarati.(www.gujaratonline.com/arts/nbhagat.htm)

It is hardly a matter of surprise that Niranjan Bhagat came under the

influence of western modernism with his wide range of exposure and

experience as a teacher of English literature. His poetic consciousness has

been moulded by poets like Baudelaire, Pound, Eliot Auden and Rilke. His

poetry indicates the first contact Gujarati poetry made with modernism.

For the first time, a Westernised sensibility with its concomitant urban

bias and alienated psyche ranges over the scene. (Ramnathan vii).

The Baudelaire-Bhagat poetic linkage has been a subject of much critical

interest.It is universally acknowledged that the great Parisian poet

Baudelaire is the first modern poet who inaugurated modernity among

modern poets.He has inspired infinite number of modern poets across the

world in the last 150 years in one way or the other. His writing combines

strong emotion, acute aesthetic sensibility and formal perfection with the

everyday settings and language of the modern city.

Poete Paysage Urbain : Charles Baudelaire

Source: www.thefamouspeople.com Retrieved on 18 October, 2014

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Marcel Proust, a well known critic novelist undoubtedly acknowledged

Baudelairen modernity.

He never spoke of anything, (and he spoke of the whole human soul)

without showing it through a symbol, and always such a physical

symbol... Think of his women, his spring times with their scents, his

mornings with the street-sweepers’ clouds of dust… All the true,

modern, poetic colours, remember he was the first to find them.

(Clark.Jacket page)

His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expreses the changing nature of

beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century. He

always believed the beautiful is always bizarre.

Prof. Niranjan Bhagat also inaugurates a new phase of modernity in Gujarati

Poetry with his Pravaldveep. However, Bhagat’s anthology is not an

imitation of Baudelaire’s Tableaux Parisiens. The poem Sansmruti in

Chhandolaya is about a feeling of agony felt by the poet as he welcomes the

first anniversary of India’s independence.The ‘happy event’ is inextricably

tied in with the partition and Gandhi’s assassination.

Sansmruti is a skilful achievement in its deft employment of the

Jhulana Chhand and by using which he invokes Narsinh Mehta’s

context and invests it with a new metaphor. (Ramnathan xi)

The appearance of Pravaldveep heralded a new era in modern Gujarati

Poetry. The appearance of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal which included

Tableaux Parisiens proved a turning point in the history of modern

poetry.Similarly, the adevent of Chhandolaya which included Pravaldveep

revolunationise the Gujarati poetry.It may be noted here that Baudelare’s

magnum opus goes published in 1857 whereas Bhagat’s masterpiece

appears in the year 1957. Thus, there is a distance of 100yrs. How the city

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of Paris must have metamorphosed in the last hundred years or so is

poignantly expressed in Le Cygne.

Le vieux Paris n’est plus(la forme d’une ville Change plus vite,

helas! Que le coeur d’un mortel)

Old Paris is no more.Ah, truth to tell, Cities change faster than the

human heart!)(Shapiro 160-1)

A contrastive perusal of the two collections-Tableaux Parisiens from Les

Fleurs du Mal and Pravaldveep from Chhandolaya immediately establish

analogies and parallels between them.If the city of Paris is the raison d’etre

of Les Fleurs du Mal then the city of Mumbai is at the core of Pravaldveep.

Though Pravaldveep is about times, places and characters in Mumbai, yet it

is more of a psychic landscape rather than a geographical entity.The

Tableaux Parisiens contain a panoramic peagent of the city of Paris in which

the urban civilization appears in myriad colours.After all the background of

Baudelaire’s development is the background of urbun civilization.

Similarly, the city of Mumbai dominates the landscape of Pravaldveep. The

mirage of Mumbai such as places, persons, time and character is dominated

by the myriad colours of complex life. These poems evoke emotions of pity

as one hears about the ugly side of the city. The pain and agony of city life

is subtly and poignantly portrayed here yet the poet could successfully

capture the soul of the city and one of the reasons for it that he was typically

an urban poet.The Mumbai city that dominates the creative psyche of the

poet is the Mumbai of modern day.The façade of this life is extremely

illusory.The prophetic soul of the poet predicts an imminent catastrophe for

this city.

રસ્તે રસ્તે ઉગે ઘાસ, કે પરવાળા બાાંધે વાસ

તે પ્હલેાાં જોવાની આશ,હોય તને તો કાળ રહ્યો છે કગરી ! (Dalal 61)

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Grass will grow one day in every street, The coral build its home

here, Before that happens, go if you will: Time beckons you to

come. (Ramnathan 2)

Prof.Bhagat takes us to the pilgrimage of this modern forest where fierce

creatures i.e. humans roam freely. This modern forest, consisting of

concrete, stone, cement and glass, has dwellers who are just like shadowy

paintings. They are seemingly unknown yet friendly faces. To undertake the

pilgrimage one needs neither bags nor bedding. Describing the late evening

of Paris Baudelaire had written.

Man turns to a beast of prey and starts to rove.

Prof.Bhagat echoes the same Baudelairean sentiment Aranya, jan jya

aganya pashu hinstra shaa ghumta (Fierce creature-human-roam this

forest). Baudelaire was of the firm conviction that human beings are

naturally inclined towards crime and not towards virtue.To him crime

appeared a natural human attribute whereas virtue was an artificial

attribute.Baudelaire comfortably reconciles with such creatures.

Have hell’s exhalations, molten sighs,

Risen, cooled, set and frozen here?

Prof.Bhagat’s aversion, on the other hand, scales the level of

cynicism.Whether on seeing a lion at the zoo or on seeing a lion at museum

or while seeing the Fish in the aquarium, the poet is haunted by the misery

of modern man. The caged lion at the zoo reminds him of the futility of the

modern culture and civilization that man has created around him. The

human-animal paradox, so poignantly expressed, tellingly mirror the

inexplicable entrapment of modern man

વપિંજરે પરૂી તને જણાવશુાં, સમાજની કળા બધીય, સભ્યતા ભણાવશુાં ,

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અને બધાાંય માનવી અમે થશુાં, તને જ જોઈ જોઈ સભ્યતા થકી પશ.ુ

Caging you, we’ll teach you social graces, And cultured ways. And

watching you, We humans will turn beasts; civilized, true,

But nonetheless animals like you.(Ramnathan 8)

Prof.Bhagat is essentially the poet of urban consciousness and, therefore, the

urban dweller is at the center of the world of Pravaldveep. Baudelaire as a

poet was born in Paris. Similarly, Prof.Bhagat too is a product of urban

civilaisation. If the caged lion of the zoo reminds the poet of the condition

of modern man, the fish of the aquarium certainly enhances his sense of

ennui. The Piscean metaphor, so succinctly employed In the Aquarium to

express the futility of human existence and the mindless rat race of the

modern man, frighteningly unfolds a panoramic picture.

વેંતવેંતમાાં જ ગાઉ ગાઉ માપવા, અને ન ક્યાાંય પ્હોંચવુાં,

સદાય વેગમાાં જ પાંથ કાપવા, ન થોભવુાં, ન શોચવુાં.

It measures miles in fingerlengths, And swims towards no goal;

Darts rapidly from point to point, Neither pausing nor

pondering.(Ramnathan 11)

The aimlessness of modern man who roams rapidly without any specific

destination, has been the raison d’etre of many modern poetry. The

reverberations of this inexplicable angst and ennui pervade through

T.S.Eliot’s The Waste Land:

….. When the human engine waits

Like a taxi throbbing waiting. (Dalal 15)

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The dwellers of Pravaldveep too lead an aimless life. Where do these people

come from? Which place do they desire to go to? This awareness about the

perplexing aimlessness of modern man recurrently perturbs the poet.

સવત આ કઈ હદશા ભણી રહ્યા ધસી ? સવેગ શી ગવત, તવમસ્ત્રલોકની પ્રવત ?

Where are they headed? At such tremendous speed?

A world of darkness? (Patel 40)

As one progresses with Pravaldveep, one increasingly gets the feeling that

in handling the scary city-scapes Niranjan Bhagat is closer to the creator

Tableaux Parisiens then to the maker of The Waste Land. The Eliotesque

Waste Land is inhabited by the spiritually sterile, lost and violent souls. They

are insignificant and impotent Hollow Men who have lost everything

including their shape and form.

Not as lost, Violent souls, but only, As the hollow men.

The stuffed men. (Jain 69)

The poet of Pravaldveep also confronts the same soulless and stuffed figures

in the illusory city of Mumbai.

નટો સમાન વશે શો કરે, ધારે મખુે સરુ્ય મોહરુાં હાસ્યનુાં,

રસાદ્ર, ભાવઊવમિરાંગરાગપણૂત, હોય શુાં ન એ જ અસ્લ રૂપ આસ્યનુાં !

Masked actors in a play, smeared with smiles,

To laugh and talk and entertain, as if these faces are for real!

(Ramnathan 31)

What pains the poet the most about the inhabitant of Pravaldveep is the

irrevtrievable loss of his true identity. This urban dweller who sports and

spares innumerable masks, looses his true identity as he gets lost in the

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labyrinths of urban life. Though he is surrounded by the ocean of humanity

he is still isolated and lonely. He is merely a mechanical ghost moving in a

machine made society. He is completely cut off from his roots and has gone

away from nature. He is in the modern forest where there is no asphalt road,

no stream, but only strange buildings. Here he confronts no fairies but only

moving cars and trams. It is a barren Waste Land where flowers refuse to

blossom and saplings struggle to sprout.

The disjointedness of the modern urban society coupled with the chaos and

disorder caused by the so-called urbanization and development have

inspired plenty of poets. They have, however, reacted and responded to this

modern malaise in their own way. Baudelaire and Niranjan Bhagat both

have intensely portrayed urban scenes in their poetry. Though both the poets

are poles apart in terms of time, culture and context, they have developed

their own creative pattern and symbolism. Bhagat’s poems like At the

Aerodrome, At the Fountain Bus-stop and In the Café are intensely personal

poetic expressions with a system and structure of their own. Bhagat’s ‘train’,

‘tram’, ‘bus’ and ‘car’ are sharply personalized metaphors.

However, Niranjan Bhagat, when juxtaposed with Charles Baudelaire,

offers an engaging analogy. This, however, immediately ceases as one reads

them separately. It may be recalled here that both the poets are poles apart

in terms of time and cultural context and are products of two divergent

milieux. Thus, the world of Baudelaire is replete with the profusion of

morbid imagery, the glory and gruesome spectacles of death, the macabre

and the malicious. You have poems like Danse Macabre and Skeletons

Digging. However, there is a conspicuous absence of such sepulchral poems

in Pravaldveep. Indian Poetics, it may be surmised, has rarely reconciled

with the portrayal of such scenes in dance, drama and poetry. The Western

Poetics, on the other hand, has traditionally acknowledged death as an

integral part of existence. It is noteworthy that even a poet like Baudelaire

too was not very comfortable with the dreadful world he created in his

poems.

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Perhaps our nerves are too delicate to accept a symbol so manifestly

dreadful! (Patel 41)

The Baudelairean poem is inspired by Ernest Christophe’s image of female

skeleton which he had carved in wood. Mark the ghostly reverberations of

the deadly guffaw that emanate from the wooden statuette.

Her eyes are depths of gloom, and vacuity

And her skull, with flowers in the artful braid,

Sways gently on her fragile vertebra

O spell of nothingness foolishly arrayed! (41)

The depiction of death in such nude terms is absent in Gujrati poetry. On the

other hand Niranjan Bhagat’s world is not at all gory and gruesome. Though

there is impatience, anxiety, anarchy and chaos but at the same time there is

a soothing tranquility also. How eons apart are the two poetic worlds –the

one conceived by Parisian Prophet and the one imagined by legendary

Gujrati poet!. The scarry skeletal statuette of Baudelaire’s world is no way

near the stone statuette at Flora Fountain.It is lifeless, yet more lively.

કાચકાાંકરેટના અનન્મય કાનને , સદાય શાાંત , સ્વસ્થ , આશવાંત આનને

ઉભી છ વવશ્વમાલણી, વસાંતસ્વપ્ન નતે્રમાાં અમલૂ ;

A glass and concrete jungle; In its midst always Quiet, comely,

With hope-filled face, She stands. (Ramnathan 19)

A confession of hopes, dreams, failures, and sins, Les Sept Vieillards subtly

endeavours to extract beauty from the malignant. It portrays the frightening

reality of a crowded city. It is a swarming city, a deadly place where the

ghosts catch the walker’s sleeve in broad day light.

Fourmillante cite, cite pleine de reves,

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Ou le spectre en plein jour raccroche le passant!

Les mysteres partout coulent comme des seves

Dans les canaux etroits du colosse puissant.

Swarming city, city full of dreams,

Where ghosts in broad day light catch the ` walker’s sleeve!

Mysteries everywhere run like sap through

The narrow channels of the powerfull colossus. (Clark 89)

The ubiquitous presence of the tortured demons, the morbid and

macabre, and the sepulchral mood make the possblity of death much more

immediate in Baudelaire.

Ta carcasse a des agrements Et des graces particulieres;

Je trouve d’etranges piments Dans le creux de tes deux salieres;

Ta carcasse a des agrements!

Your carcass has attractions And graces all its all

I find strenge spice In the hollows of your two salt-cellars

Your carcass has certain attractions! (159)

Prof. Bhagat, on the other hand, looks at the suffocating commotion of the

crowd through a very personalized image. He goes as far as to predict a

geographical annihilation of the city.

ચલ મન મુાંબઈનગરી, જોવા પચુ્છ વવનાની મગરી ! Come, let’s go to Bombay city, That tailless crocodile.

The city of Paris appears in myriad hues and colours in Baudelaire.

Interestingly, the poet finds more constancy in this city than in a human

heart.

Paris change! mais rien dans ma melancolie

N’a bouge! palais neufs, echafaudages, blocs,

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Vieux faubuorgs,tout pour moi deviant allegorie,

Et mes chers souvenirs sont plus lourds que des rocs.

Yes, Paris changes! But my wistful woe

Reminds! For me, all becomes metaphor:

Faubourg and palace-old, new-come and go;

Weighty, my memories of what is no more. (Shapiro 162-3)

Women are Baudelaire’s main source of symbolism. They are luminous

guide of his imagination but also monstrous vampires that intensify his sense

of spleen, or ill temper.

Toi qui, comme un coup de couteau,

Dans mon caeur plaintif es entrée;

Toi qui, forte comme un troupeau

De demons, vins, folle et paree.

You who came plunging like a knife

Into my heart, sore with chagrin;

Who, daft and frilled, attacked my life

Like demon horde let loose therein. (66-7)

The old and moribund actresses whom he confronted on the roads of Paris

agitate him the most. Their eyes are wells filled with a million tears. These

hapless creatures who are victims of ruthless infinity are ripe for eternity.

Their pathetic condition and miserable existence impel the poet to ask this

existential question.

Ruines! ma famille! o cerveaux congeneres!

Je vous fais chaque soir un solennel adieu!

Ou serez-vous demain, Eves octogenaires,

Sur qui pese la griffe effroyable de Dieu?

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Ruins! my family! o fellow brains!

I say a solemn adieu to you every evening!

Where will you be tomorrow, octogenarian Eves,

Over whom hangs the terrible claw of God. (Clark 97)

What perturbs the poet the most is the reality that these disjointed monsters

were once women. Today they are broken hunchbacked or twisted. The poet

exhorts the denizens of Paris to selflessly love them because.

Ou tordus, aimons-les! ce sont encor des ames.

Sous des jupons troues et sous, de froids tissus.

…….let us love them! They are still souls.

Under holed petticoats and under cold, thin stuffs. (Clark 93)

The Baudelarian world of spleen and melancholy, however, is

metamorphosed when it appears in a new avatar in the poetic world Prof.

Bhagat.The poem Patro is par excellence. Here his poetry scales new

altitude. One also notices a significant influence of Rilke’s poem The Voice

(Nine Leaves With A Little Leaf). However, the world Rilke created and the

world Prof. Bhagat created are inherently common as well as contradictory.

In Rike’s world we have The Begger’s Song, The Blind Man’s Song, The

Leper’s Song, The Widow’s Song, and The Idiot’s Song. Similarly, Prof.

Bhagat’s world is inhabited by characters like Hawker, Blind Man, Bagger,

Prostitute, Leper, and Solliloquy. Against Rilke’s nine characters, Prof.

Bhagt has created six powerful persona. Amazingly Rilke’s The Beggar’s

Song interpolates with Prof. Bhagat’s Pheriyo ( Hawker)

From door to door in shower and shine

I pass continually;

Into my right hand I consign

My right ear suddenly. (Dalal 14)

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જોકે મને સૌ ફેહરયો કહ ેછે છતાાં ફરતો નથી , પણ એમ તો મારુાં નસીબ ેક્યાાં

ફરે છે ?

I may be called Pheriyo but I don’t roam; Neither does my fate.

Prof. Bhagat’s Prostitute is undoubtedly the gem of characters. Though the

anthology has a touching poem Falkland Road on the miserable condition

of these ill- fated women, Prostitute elevates the poet’s social interrogation

to a new stratum. The piercing probe of the poet poses some discomforting

questions to the so-called moral custodians of society.

હુાં તો ભવોભવ સ્ત્રી હતી, ને કોઈ ભવમાાં તો સતી ;

આજે હવે ? જાણે નનામી ,

Birth after birth, in all my many births I’ve been a woman; one

incarnation, even a Sati and now? Know me as name as nameless.

(Ramnatham 46)

Since time immemorial, the patriarchal set-up has exploited women and

suppressed them eternally. Prostitution is stigmatized and defined in

patriarchal terms. The poet vehemently contends that society may consider

‘such’ profession bad, yet it’s a necessary evil.

સલામત છે તમારા ્હલેની ભીંતે

મઢેલી કો છબી જેવી કુાંવારી કન્મયકા વનત્યે ;

આમારી જાત જીવે છે , પ્રભનુી ્હરેબાનીથી સદા જીવશે જ ધરતી પર,

Your virgins are safe as the framed pictures

On your drawing-room walls

Thanks to us who live, God’s mercy be praised. (46)

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How piercing the phrase-God’s mercy sounds in the entire context of the

poem! Prof. Bhagat perceptibly is inclined more towards Rilke and

Baudelaire, the poems in Pravaldveep have rhythm of their own. It may also

be noted that Prof. Bhagat is not confined to the world of Rilke and

Baudlaire. The echoes of Eliotesque images can clearly be heard in some

poems. This stanza from The Waste Land can be compaired with a stanza

from his Gayatri.

…When the human engine waits

Like a taxi throbbing waiting.

(The Waste Land.III The Five Sermons) (Jain 51)

સ્ટેન્મડ પે એક આ ટેક્સી આવીને અહીં ક્યાાંકથી

ક્યારની કોણ જાણે કે હાાંફે છે બહુ થાકથી . Draws up a taxi ( from where? ) and there

Waits, panting and exhausted.(Dalal 15)

Prof. Bhagt’s ‘inspirational borrowing’ from the west and from the best has

undoubtedly enriched the modern Gujarati poetry and for that he deserves

kudos and not complaints. The strain of unorthodox perception positions

him above the conventional poets and, therefore, when the Leper passes by

the prostitute, he evokes a mixed reaction in him.

એપોલો , પડખેથી પવતયો પસાર થાય છે , એને જોઈને વેશ્યા અહો , શી

ખશુનસીબી ! કોઈનીય ેઆંખ જયાાં રોકાય ના , છૂરી સમી ભોંકાય ના ! Prostitute (Apollo, Leper passes by, seeing him.)

How fortunate! No one’s gaze stabs him like a knife! (Ramnathan 51.)

The Blind is a supreme character of the entire series. He is confortably

ensconced in Heaven, however, he is so enamoured of the worldly

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allurements that he is tempted to be born on the earth again. Unfortunatly,

in his haste he forgets his vision back in Heaven. Like Sophocles’ Tiresia

though he is visually impaired, he could see the whole world. He talks about

the eternal darkness of human heart. It was told to him in heaven that the

earth where he was destined to go was such a beautiful place. The poet

leaves this metaphysical ambivalence in the mind of the reader: Which place

is better ….. Haven or Earth?

I came in a hurry, leaving my eyes behind

In the shade of the Kalpavriksha tree.(45)

Once he arrived on the Earth, he realized that even the blazing Sun would

fail as glasses. The entire experience of moving from Heaven to Earth is a

colossal failure. He could ‘see’ that he had jumped from fire to the frying

pan and had slided from one darkness to another. The darkness of eternal

abyss impels him to ask.

Who says sun, moon and stars are lit?

They only shake a moment in the darkness. (45)

However, a realization eventually dawns upon him as he ponders over the

mysterious ways of the world. He specifically urges the reader not to take

him as a philosopher or a sleepwalker. His soloquies have a strong overtone

of arrogance and attitude.

Don’t dwell in blindness All you who call me blind! (45)

The Baudelairean Blind man in Les Avengles, however, evokes greater

sympathy among the readers. Each line of this poem moves the reader as the

account of the plight and predicament of this less privileged person unfolds.

The city of Paris may sing or scream but.

Their eyes, in which the holy spark is dead.

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Are raised toward the sky.

………………………………………

They wander thus through blackness beyond measure,

That brother of eternal silence. Even

Now, O city, while you sing and bray. (Patel 44)

Prof. Bhagat invites the Beggar to join the party with The Blind man. The

Beggar is also an inhabitant of the same world in which millions of

privileged people live. Ironically, the creator of this inherently contradictory

and unbalanced world is the same Almighty. The very existence to the

Beggar is so cumbersome that he has spent his entire life without having a

smile on his battered and wrinkled face. In the ruthless world, he knows, his

beseeches for help and his prayer to God for better life have gone unheard

Who then should help whom? Who pray to whom? His life has been a bundle

of pain and agony only so whenever or wherever he manages to laugh at his

life or his creator or at this world under any pretext, he profusely expresses

his gratitude to God.

આ વણહસ્યે ગજુરી ગઈ છે જજિંદગી , એમાાંય હસવાનુાં મને એકદ તો જો કે મળયુાં

બહાનુાં , પ્રભનુો કેટલો તે પાડ માનુાં ?

This life has joylessly gone by; For a few bursts of laughter, one, perhaps

two, Must I continuously thank God? (Ramnathan 45)

The Beggar, a ruthless victim of societal alienation and callousness, is a

victim of loneliness and isolation. Despite his pathetic condition he is able

to hold his head high beacause he has seen the world and the world is like

that only. He had very high hopes from the Maker of the world who created

such inherently contradictory but beautiful world to live in. The words that

he utters when the prostitute passes by him, are replete with piercing irony.

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અરે આ દેહ પર છે કેટલી દૌલત !

દસમાાં ભાગ ની મારી કને હોત તો આમ ના બોલત !

Her body proclaims money! Had I had

One-tenth of her earnings, I’d sing another tune. ( Patel 44)

The analogy between the ‘static’ Hawker and the ‘nonstatic’ Blind man is

poignantly expressed in contradictory terms. The Hawker who is supposed

to be in motion perennially is projected as a static person. On the other hand

the blind man is supposed to be static owing to his impairment is projected

as a nonstatic person.

આ આંધળો છે તે છતા ફરતો ફરે છે બેપતા ! This blind man! How he walks about! (Patel 44)

The analogy between the poems of Pravaldveep and Tableaux Parisiens can

be further established in few more poems. Baudelaire’s L’aube Spirituelle

(Spiritual Dawn) offers ‘pink’ and ‘white’ dawn accompanied by the

gnawing ideal. There prevails a vengeful mystery around. However, the

Spiritual skies in their inaccessible azure opens to the earthbound man who

still dreams and suffers.

Des Cieux Spirituels l’inaccessible azur,

Pour l’homme terrasse que reve encore et souffre,

Spiritual Skies in their inaccessible asure Open to the earthbound

man who still dreams and suffers. (Clark 49)

The alluring ambience of dawn and the dazzling dusk have been fountain

source of inspiration for romantic poets since time immemorial. However,

in Baudelaire the dawn appears in a nonconventional manner.

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Quand chez les debauches l’aube blance et vermeille

Entre en societe de l’Ideal rongeur,

Par l’operation d’un mystere vengeur

Dans la brute assoupie un ange se reveille.

When to the lodgings of debauchees the pink and white

Dawn comes, accompanied by the gnawing Ideal, A vengeful

mystery begins to operate:

In the torpid brute an angel awakes. (49)

The depressant world Baudelaire as portrayed in Le Crepuscule du Matin is

extremely harrowing and frightening.In the grave-yard like atmosphere of

the poem, one does not find even an iota of romanticism. Mark this symbolic

pattern. The inauspicious smoke of the chimney, the portentous yelling of

the crow, the moribund souls on the hospital beds, the loiter of the

debauchees-all increasingly enhance the sense of depression. One can hardly

miss out the hard hitting realism of the last stanza.

L’aurore grelottante en robe rose et verte

S’avancait lanternment sur la Seine deserte,

Et le somber Paris, en se frottant les yeux,

Empoignait ses outils, vieillard laborieux.

Dawn, shivering in a pink and green dress,

Was advancing slowly over the deserted Seine

And somber Paris, rubbing its eyes,

Was picking up its tools,a hard-working old man. (109)

In Baudelaire, the city of Paris is projected as a worker.

The Eternal Wheel chugs on. Is there any end? (Patel 46)

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Baudelairean poetic reverberations are also heard in Niranjan Bhagat’s

Gayatri – the pinnacle of not just Pravaldveep but also of his entire creative

gamut. The poet has created a mesmerising word picture of the city of

Mumbai.He looks outward to detail failures and degradations in city refuge,

and looks inward to record broken spirites and extinguished soul light. The

‘ocean of humanity’i.e. Mumbai compelles the poet to ask this question –

How can peace live here in this commotion and din and bustle of the city?

Amidst the chaos & commotions nobody knows what the peace is. The poet

finds the ‘unclaimed corpse of peace’ on the roads of the city along with the

shuddering street lamps. The shutting eyes put out their lights. The curious

sun peers over the horizon seeking some excuse to rise again. The usage of

personification elevates the utterance to the level of metaphysical conceit.

તાળવુાં ફાટતાાંવેંત લોહી કેવુાંક રેલત ુાં ,

આખાયે આભમાાં રાતારાંગનુાં તજે ફેલત ુાં ;

His head splits open, its blood spills out,

The whole sky blazes then with reddish light. (Ramnathan 52-53)

The sun-beams fall on straight and metalled roads. The ripples of oceanic

waves coupled with the dampness that emanate from the ground create an

incrediblly vibrant atmosphere. It brings life in each and every objects and

particles. It infuses life in the dreamland fairy who languorously rises from

her bed at the sunrise.

બગાસુાં ખાઈને ખાસ્સુાં , સસુ્તીથી જે ભરી ભરી આંખો બે હાથથી ચોળી , અંગે

આળસ જે નરી ખાંખરેી , ત્યાગતી શય્યા નગરદ્વીપ – સુાંદરી ,

Hugely yawning, languorous eyes now rubbed awake, Limb’s

laziness shaken off, this island city, Heavenly maiden, dreamland

fairy. (55)

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To Baudelaire the city of Paris is an aged working man whereas Prof. Bhagat

calls the city of Mumbai a heavenly maiden dreamland fairy.

In the conventional metaphoric sense, the setting of the Sun symbolizes the

end of the day and also sometimes the end of the life. The drifting of the Sun

towards the West brings the feeling among the people that finally the day is

over. However, the day-metaphor generates new connotations, especially in

the context of Paris. Baudelaire’s Paris is not a mere geographical entity, it

is more than that. The life in the Baudelairean Paris begins after the Sun has

set. The moment the night strikes, the prostitution flares up like and ant-heap

in the streets.

How the city of Paris remained raison d’etre of Baudelairean poetic vision

was acknowledged by Laforgue in 1885.

He was the first to speak of Paris as one damned to the daily life of

the capital……… but all in a noble, distant, lofty manner. (Clark xiii)

As noted earlier the city of Mumbai is at the center of Prof. Bhagat’s poetic

consciousness.He also portrays almost similar picture of the city in Colaba:

Evening.

આ શહરેની કામના આમાંત્રે ફૂટપાથ પે અરવ રહ ેજે માંદ નારી સરી

એને અંગ અસહય વાસ વહતી ( બચત ેઅસાંતોર્ની) Silent tread a woman passes by, inviting the city; her body’s stench

Assaults my nostrils: she reeks of discontent. (39)

The din and bustle of the city of Paris creates roisterous ripples in its

ambience.In Baudelaire one clearly hears the hissing of the kitchens, the

yelling of the theaters, and the commotion of orchestras. In Prof. Bhagat also

one hears almost the similar sounds. The clattering of cups, the clanking of

forks and knives and the creaking sounds of trams – all contribute to the

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commotion of the city which is already reeling under the burden of excessive

population.

Prof. Bhagat’s achievement is all the more astonishing when he is compared

to the canonized French poet. It must also be stated that Prof. Bhagat’s

explosive mixture of dissenting message in traditional form has remained

exuberantly alive in the work of other major Gujrati poets It becomes

increasingly evident in both these urban poets that they are hugely

uncomfortable with life of their respective cities. However, the Baudelairean

portrayal of the Parisean nights is metamorphosed in Prof. Bhagat. He is

pained immeasurably when he envisions the sun being set in the horizon of

darkness, because the night brings along with it the eternal abyss and infinite

darkness. The incurable sickness prevails everywhere. Psychic souls

recurrently arrest attention of both the poets, however, physical ailments

also dominate their poetic visions. The increasing darkness of the night

enhances the pain of the patients who find their agony doubled in the dread

of the night Prof. Bhagat in Evening so poignantly expresses this anger and

distress.

બચતાનુાં બચત્ર આ પેખી પોતાનુાં ભાવી ભાખતા ,

મતૃ્યશુૈય્યા પરે સતૂા રુનણો વનશ્વાસ નાખતા

The sick, seeing funerals pyres burn,

Read their futures in them, and they sigh. (61)

Baudelaire had portrayed the painful picture of the Parisean patients who

were scared of the descending darkness [death?] of the night. The somber

night of hospital is choking them as the dreadful time sharpened their

suffering and sorrow. Les Petites Vieilles is an extremely moving Tableaux

Parisien of unfortunate women whom society has drove to the fringe and

branded as ‘disjointed monsters’. The poet’s vehement refusel to concede to

the societal demands that such souls be treated arbitrarily is a

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testimonmoney to his humanitarian conviction. Their existence is all trivial

and trifles as they sport painted smiles and powdered faces. However, these

ill-fated creatures are all broken from inside. How cumbersome the

existence is.

Ils trottent, tout pareils a des marionettes;

Se trainent, comme font les animaux blesses,

Ou dansent, sans vouloir danser, pauvres sonnettes

Ou se pend un Demon sans pitie! Tout casses

They trot along, just like marionettes;

Drag themselves like wounded animals,

Or dance without wanting to dance, poor bells

On whose rope a pitiless demon hangs! All broken. (Clark 93)

There is equal profusion and expression of angst, ennui and agony in Prof.

Bhagat’s character Prostitute which so poignantly and profoundly mirrors

the miserable condition of prostitutes. A prostitute leads a life which does

not have any name or identity. Poet’s deliberate selection of sobriquets like

Radha and Rani for these nameless creature is replete with irony. It must be

said that some kind of sacredness is associated with these names which have

been given to the so-called most unsacred creatures. There prevails an air of

artificiality around their existence. One cannot negate the candour with

which they request us to take them at face value.

દેહ છે, દેખાવડો ? એ તો ઉપરની છે સગુાંધો;

લાગણી ? લટકાાં કહો, ને ચાલશે કહશેો અગર જો માત્ર ધાંધો . My body worth looking at? Believe me,the Fragrance is external.

Affectoin? Trickery really; or call it business if you will. (Ramnathan 47)

The poet’s apprehension about the impossibility of redemption and salvation

of these cursed creatures finds a subtle expression in the final line which

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commences with conjunction ‘And’. It must be noted that this linguistic

usage indicates the continuum of their miserable condition.

And men will carry on coming to us forever. (47)

The enigma called ‘life’ has been an eternal subject for poets since time

immemorial irrespective of culture or context. The ephemeralness of

existenece has enamoured innumerable poets since antiquity. The kingdom

of death is an unknown realm from wherebound no traveler ever returns and

recounts the actual experience. While dealing with the subject of death, it

must be said, Prof. Bhagat is closer to T.S.Eliot

આ તો સૌ વનત્ય જન્મમે ને પાછાાં વનત્ય જ જે મરે ! ( પરાંત ુકૈંક એવાાંય ેકે જે

પાછાાં ન હો ફયાત , વળી છે કેટલાાંયે જે જન્મમતાવેંત હો મયાત !)

ઓગળી જાય સૌ યાત્રી રાત્રીના અંધકારમાાં

All those born daily die daily; some

Are still-born; some never will return.

All travelers melt into night’s darkness. (63)

The expression of existential agony in Baudelaire seems to have

undoubtedly inspired Prof. Bhagat.

Most of them have never known a heath

Or home-it might be said they died at birth.

Thus, both these poets who belong to two different geo-cultural spheres,

subtly mirror the hellish aspects of urban human existence in their own way.

If Charles Baudelaire inaugurates an era of modernity in Europe in

nineteenth century, Prof. Bhagat undoubtedly imparts new identity to

modern Gujarati poetry in twentieth century. Though there is no reciprocity

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or exchange of poetic ideas between the two path setter poets as both

chronologically belong to different ages, the idiom with which they spoke is

understood by the entire humanity.Their painful pictures, though located in

Paris and Mumbai respectively, are the real cityscapes that one comes across

anywhere in this so called modern but actually disjointed world. It wouldn’t

be an exaggeration, if a humble claim is made, that but for Prof. Bhagat, the

modern Gujarati poetry would have certainly appeared inadequate.

Prof. Niranjan Bhagat’s French legacy, to some extent has been carried

forward by the supreme surrealist of modern Gujarati poetry, Sitanshu

Yashschandra Mehta. The following pages shall profile his priceless

contribution to modern Gujarati poetry.

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The imaginary is what tends to become real.

Andre Breton

When mother arranges the kitchen… it is real and when the

mischievous child creates disorder in the kitchen it is surreal.

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta

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3.4 Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta (1941- ) A Supreme Surrealist

The Guj-Franco literary interactions scaled new altitude into the dexterous

hands of a versatile genius, Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta, who has

extensively contributed to the post-modern Gujarati literature. Mehta is a

poet, play-wright, translator and a renowned academician. Known for his

creative, sarcastic, sensitive and experimental writing, he has left an

indelible imprint on the Gujarati literary ethos through his various works.

The decades of seventies and eighties are the most happening periods in the

life of this versatile genius who not only was awarded the Full Bright

Scholarship but was also conferred upon a doctorate in the discipline of

aesthetics. It was during the mid-seventies, the poet had a brief sojourn in

France. He earned his doctorate under the guidance of Dr. Newton P.

Stallnecht on the aesthetics of the great Indian sage Bharat’s Natyashashtra

and the celebrated German philosopher Kant. It was precisely in the 70s that

the poet came under the various western influences.

The Post-modernistic artistic experiments and trends of the west immensely

influenced the poet who acquired a significant exposure to the post-war

trends and currents which were shaping the literature, across the continent.

The background of the Gujarati-Sanskrit literature on the one hand and

exposure to the latest trends in western literature on the other shaped the

sensibilities of the poet. His seminal research in the realm of comparative

literature earned him the master’s degree. In the mid-seventies, before

returning to India he stayed back in France for a year and it was during his

sojourn here that he got acquainted with the art and culture of country. The

Occidental schools, especially the art and aesthetics of the German poet

Kant, immensely inspired the poet.

The decades of seventies and eighties witnessed a lot of experiments in terms

of theme, style and structure. The Gujarati authors of the period were

bringing in so many western literary influences and experiments. Sitanshu

Yashchandra Mehta also daringly experimented with the theme and

symbolism of Gujarati poetry. His adaption of Ionesco’s Macbeth in

Gujarati is an important link between the literatures of France and Gujarat.

He also compared and contrasted Ionesco’s Macbeth with that of William

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Shakespeare’s. It may be recalled here that he never confined himself to the

traditional poetic conventions of Gujarati poetry.

He did not confirm himself to the conventional imagism and

symbolism which opened new linguistic horizons. It was this new

arena which took him to the realm of surrealism. (Thaker 468)

France, where surrealism was launched as a concerted artistic movement by

Andre’ Breton made a huge influence on the mind of the poet. The expressed

aim of surrealism was a revolt against all restraints on free creativity,

including logical reason, standard morality, social and artistic conventions

and norms, and all control over the artistic process by forethought and

intention.

To ensure the unhampered operation of deep mind, which they

regarded as the only source of valid knowledge as well as art,

surrealists turned to automatic writing [writing delivered over to the

promptings of the unconscious mind] and to exploiting the material

of dreams, of states of mind between sleep and walking and of natural

or artificially induced hallucinations. (Abrahams, 310)

The infinite venues of surrealism opened new vistas and broadened his

poetic horizons. When asked to define surrealism, his intuitive reply was

equally surrealistic.

When mother arranges the kitchen… it is real and when the mischievous

child creates disorder in the kitchen it is surreal. (Joshi, Y. 13)

He further stressed that pre-meditated and structured expression is real, and

the chattering and babbling of a febrile patient is surreal. Thus, anything

disorganized, according to him, is surreal. In the Gujarati poetry of eighties

surrealism is synonymous with Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta. The

humorous interpretation of surrealism, as noted in the preface to

Odisyusanun Halesun is equally interesting. It may be presumed that the

artistic canons of surrealism must have baffled the conventional art lovers.

At the same time this notion was so confusing to the academics that each

person developed her own interpretation of this movement. While recalling

the various interpretations of surrealism by the mischievous students, he

notes

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Sir’s realism is surrealism. (Yashaschandra 11)

Odisyusanun Halesun is a trend setting anthology of modern Gujarati

poetry. It possess thematic experiments, linguistic innovations and to some

extent, a kind of poetic revolt. The metered and structured Gujarati poetry

was introduced to an extremely incredible level of experimentation in terms

of theme and syntax. Here the poet listens to the inner voice that rises within.

These poems have an incredible level of spontaneity and intuitive

expression. There is no logical or chronological evolution of thought and

hence the entire expression appears surreal and absurd. Here illusion has

been juxtaposed with disillusion. Fantasy freely marries fiction and reality

rallies against imagined world. The echoes of post-structuralism can be

clearly heard from this.

ખળખળ - શુાં હશે પથ્થરો તળે ? પથ્થરો માાં શુાં હશે ? શુાં હશ ેપથ્થરો માાં ?

Rippling - What lies beneath the stones?

What lies in the stones? What are stones? (Joshi, Y. 13)

The realm of surrealism offers him infinite possibilities of poetic innovation

and experimentation. And therefore he generously plays with words and

meanings.

પગલાાંમાાંથી ચરણો ચા્યા ગયા છે કોના ?

આ ચાાંદો કેમ આજે ઊનયો છે ગઈ કાલનો ?

Whose footprints have vanished from footsteps?

Why has this yesterday’s moon risen today? (13)

The first phase of his creative gamut mirrors the multiple Occidental

influences, particularly those of post-structuralism, deconstruction and

surrealism. In the preface to the Odisyusanun Halesun he defined his poetic

experience and expression with a fascinating lucidity. His range gamut went

beyond geographical frontiers and defied constraints of time. The self-

explanatory subtitles of his preface to the Odisyusanun Halesun are just like

the Preface to Lyrical Ballads. It is a poetic manifesto as well as his own

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caveat against the futuristic action-reaction of the conservative readers.

These subtitles include મોજામાાંથી મેજ (Table from the Waves), આપણુાં આ

દુમાંજલી/તીમાંજલી મકાન યાને ઘર (Our Double Storied/ Triple Storied

House Means Home), દહરયો કયો? (Which Sea?), રાઈટીંગ ટેબલ કયુાં?(Which

Writing Table?) and આખો ઓરડો (Whole Room).

The poet yearns to reach to the unknown realms of the unconscious and

identify the ‘ID’ and the suppressed desires. He believes that it is the duty

of the poet to bring such suppressed emotions and desires to the conscious

level and that is where the surrealistic poetry is born. This is not an easy task

as the poet has to enter the unfathomable realm of the unconscious. The

journey of the poet towards the unconscious is fraught with confrontation

with ‘Super Ego’ which may not allow the poet to run away with the realities

of the realm of subconscious and, therefore, a poet has to transform the entire

substance with the help of his own images and symbols into something

concrete and mould it accordingly. In such enterprise a poet may use

different linguistic and thematic codes which eventually offer myriad

possibilities to the poet who may be at variance with the reality of existence.

એક દીવાલની બે બાજુ ઊભેલો હુાં મને કદીયે મળી શકતો નથી

મેં મારી હત્યા કરી છે . મારા હાથમાાંથી હવે મેં છરો આંચકી લીધો છે .

મને સજા કરો . મને બચાવો. ઓ હુાંઓ !

Standing at the two sides of a wall: I cannot meet myself ever.

I have murdered myself. Now I have snatched knife from my hands.

Punish me. Save me. Oh I am!’ (15)

This exhortation to the reader acquires multiplicity of meanings. The poet

knows that the kind of poetic world he was creating was completely at

variance with the prevalent poetic conventions. Just like Robert Frost’s

traveler, he is at the cross roads ‘standing at the two sides of a wall’

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His poetry exhorts to be seen from dual angles. The world that the poet

creates has to be understood in the context the poet creates. It is the context

which is to be approached from within as well as without. It is the context

created by both conscious and the unconscious. It is the world created by his

text, co-text and sub-text. And therefore any conventional approach to his

poetry will yield nothing but disappointment. His rigorous and concerted

experimentalism with both theme and language creates a new wave poetry

which sometime eludes a lay reader.

શા માટે તેં મારે વવર્ ેકયો પ્રેમ ? જોયુાં નહી , આકાશમાાં વાદળા વવખરાઈ

જાય છે ને બદલાય છે ઈશ્વરના ચહરેાઓ ? નથી જાણતી તુાં , કે હોડીના વગે

વડે કોઈ સ્પધાત ન કરી શકે પાણીની ઝડપ સાથે ?

Why did you have love about me? Didn’t you see, the clouds disperse

in the sky, And changing are the God’s faces? Don’t you know that

nobody can compete with, the speed of water by the pace of a boat?

(14)

Sometimes the seeming simplicity touches metaphysical heights.

Sometimes he displays childlike curiosity and poses plethora of queries-

beginning with whys, what and whens. His inquisitiveness creates a unique

world which the reader is expected to explore. This world is an

amalgamation of conscious with the subconscious having text, subtext and

context of its own.

નાદના નવાાં ગગન , ને ગગન ગગનને પાત્ર બઝલાશે વવશ્વ નવા ક્યાાં ?

ક્યાાં છે ? ક્યાાં ? હુાં પસાર થયો જેમાાંથી , એ શુાં હત ુાં , આયનો કે બારણુાં ?

New skies of the sound, And the sky shall create the new world

Which? Where? Which? What was it from which I got through Mirror

or the door? (14)

His association with surrealism continued in entire seventies as he kept on

experimenting with surrealistic expressions of his poetry. He is well aware

of the perils of the less trodden poetic path which was replete with

hindrances. However, he did not subscribe to the school of conventional

romantic poetry which always enjoyed greater popularity. He accepts the

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poetic device known as dramatic voice and creates a poetic world of its own.

To attain the desired results and effects he resorts to a series of poetic

experiments.

One requires characters, masks, different utterances, different

rhythms and patterns, dialogues, questions and the language of

controversy. Everything is present in most poems of Odisyusanun

Halesun. (Yashaschandra, 12)

The poem પો્પાઈ અથાતત બો્બાઈ નગરમાાં એક ખેલ યાને વહન નામેં ભલૂ

bears a pretty elongated title. Structurally it reminds you of Eliotesque

experimentation and thematically it is close to the Baudelaire-Bhagat

expression. It mirrors the schizophrenic subconscious of the cityscape

through theatrical terms. In order to express the psycho-social unconscious,

the poet has resorted to the various experimentations.The myriad malaise of

Mumbai, the metro politan city, are projected through an incredible

exhortation to masses to come out of their eternal slumber.

રે પો્બાઈ નગરમાાં રહનેારા ! આવો બહાર આવો સખુશૈયામાાંથી ,

રસોડામાાંથી,કાતહરયામાાંથી , પાગલખાનામાાંથી , ગ્રાંથાગારમાાંથી

,જેલમાાંથી , જેલમહલેમાાંથી , હો જી ! સ્કુલમાાંથી, એક ભલૂમાાંથી,

ઊલમાાંથી ચલુમાાંથી , ઓ હો હો !કો‘વાયેલા મળુમાાંથી, અરે મુ્ લાના

વમનારામાાંથી, ગાંગાના કીનારામાાંથી, યા ઘોર્માાંથી, યા રોર્માાંથી

,હોશમાાંથી, સાંતોર્માાંથી

Oh! The dwellers of Pombai city! Come. Come out from your

comforts, from kitchen, from attic, from asylum, from library, from

prison, from prison-palace, Oh You! From school, from an error, from

frying pan and from fire, Oh! From rotten roots, from the minarets of

mosque, from the bank of the Ganges, from the echoes, from anger,

from consciousness, from contentment. (Yashaschandra, 71)

Most poems in Odisyusanun Halesun are surrealistic in terms of themes and

linguistic experimentation. It becomes evident in almost all the poems that

the poet’s penchant for films and theatre has tremendously influenced his

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poetic expression. The opening poem A Surreal Odyssey has an extremely

high degree of cinematic effect as well as incredible level of theatricality.

Each poem in this anthology has definitive status. Death is a surrealistic

experience here. Famine is not merely a fantasy but a surrealistic experience.

There are surreal songs as well as surrealistic characters. ‘Fox’, ‘Seahorse’

are not mere creatures but multi-metaphors. Similarly the poem ‘man na

mayavi maidan’ (Illusory Ground of the Mind) is the one poem where the

surrealistic expression is found at the highest level. If one reads the poem

casually, one ends up with an ordinary meaning of the poem. However,

when analyzed closely, the poem yields a supreme mystic experience. One

cannot miss the existential quest in the opening stanza.

આવે ના કોઈ તોય પગલીઓ પડયા કરેમનનાાં માયાવી મેદાન !

તટેૂલે ખણૂે ખણૂે મગૃજળ દડદડયા કરે પથ્થહરયાાં કોના એંધાણ ?

Nobody comes yet the footsteps fall on the illusory grounds of mind!

Mirage trickles at the broken corners, whose stony trails? (38)

The poet has profusely invited plenty of creatures to be a part of his

surrealistic odyssey. There are plenty of avian, reptiles, animals, and

creatures and unless the readers identify the creatures, they cannot really

enjoy or understand the world of the poet. They all are dwellers of infinite

subconscious realm. How famine impacts the life on earth is shown in the

poem Dukal (Famine) where the readers are taken into the world of

crocodile, tortoise, hippopotamus, cheetah, seahorse, bats, cats, whales and

ants. There are also ants in the long poem Manu, Yam ane Jal: A Surrealistic

Mythological Story.

હોહોહોહ કીડીઓ તયાત કરે કુાંડાળે ગોળ ,

Oh, the ants swirl and swim

Readers are led to believe that the ants are symbolically none other than

human beings. The poet constantly reminds the reader that the world is

nothing but illusion and the eternity is infinity.

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અરે, આ વરાળનો ના તાગ, જોઉં તો આગ, જોઉં તો જળ

Oh! This unfathomable vapour. Sometimes fire. Sometimes water.

The journey with the hoofed horses of Death- A Surrealistic Experience

takes the reader to the world of hoofless seahorses. This is an endless

journey. The poet constantly reminds the reader that the city of Mumbai has

its own animal kingdom. Here one is introduced to the herd of mad

elephants, the rotten rabbit and his parrot friend who is trying to soar in the

sky. Fox, on the other hand becomes the central metaphor in the animal

kingdom of Mumbai. Fox is not projected in conventional terms as a cunning

creature; it is shown as a creature which possesses infinite destructive

capacity. And, therefore, when it approaches, it brings utter destruction

along with it. The milestones and landmarks are demolished. The poet

conveys how perilous the encounter with the subconscious can be.

રૂપેરી નદીના પનૂવમયા સપનાની ચાાંદની સપાટી પર ઢગલે કાટને , રુાંવાટે

ખાદેલુાં કાટ , કાટ પગલ ેખેચાત ુાં સાાંધા ઘસાતા તીણી લાળીએ ઊછળતુાં

કાટત ુાં વશયાળ .પેલી ગમના કેડીભસૂ્યા વનમાાં ભરાઈ ન રહતેા અકારણ

લબડી આવ્યુાં આ પાસ .

On the silvery surface of moony dreams of silvery river. A the rust

mound, molted and rusted scrubbing the rust. When rubbed jumps this

rusty fox, It did not stand in the pathless sad woods, It came hither

without any reason. (22)

The poems of this anthology are cityscapes and subconscious. They are one

and not different at all. The animals in these poems are dangerous, intrusive

and aggressive. They are not the animals of zoo or aquarium.When

deconstructed, each poem yields multiplicity of meanings. Some poems deal

with absurdity of human existence. The poet invites not only the various

creatures of the animal kingdom to be a part of his world, but he also

incorporates various bridges as a part of his metaphors and symbols. The

authorial voice throughout maintains a neutral stance though the voice is

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present in each and every situation. This voice is stationed at the dual sides

of the wall; however, it never meets the author. It is to be borne in the mind

that the presence or absence of social bridges has a direct connect with the

human existence. Despite having bridges, sometimes one fails to reach out

to the other side of life. Bridge does not necessarily connect, sometimes it

disconnects too. These bridges are a reminder of the failure of the

communication and interaction. Therefore the life in the city of Mumbai is

expressed with the help of multiple metaphor ‘bridge’. How subtly and

poignantly the infinite agony and pain of existence is expressed in these

words. This is surrealism par excellence.

આ નીચ ેઊંડી નદી છે , આ ઉપર છે તે સાાંકડો પલુ છે. આ ફાાંકડો છે તે

હકનારો છે. જોયુાં ? ને જુઓ , આ ડાબે હકનારે છે તે ઘાસ છે . આ જમણે હકનારે

છે તે ઘાસ છે. આ ઘાસમાાં ઉભો છે તે ઘટેો છે

Beneath lies the deep river, there lies the narrow bridge above. Here

is the great bank of the river… There lies grass on the left bank. There

lies grass on the right bank. The ram is standing on the grass. (92)

‘Bridge’ is a connector but at the same time it can get quite intimidating in

this world. The city of Mumbai is made of cement and concrete and the

density of structures built with the help of cement and concrete has earned

it a dubious distinction of being a man-made jungle. There are snarls of pools

and bridges which pass through the city. The bridge of the poem Shiyal (fox)

is extremely intimidating. Bridge metaphorically can be considered as the

spine of the city structure. The fox is made to walk on the bent bridge. How

many bridges are built across the city of Mumbai! The failure of

communication or absence of interactions between human beings is very

subtly expressed through the symbol of bridge. The poet, like William

Blake, asserts that there are mind-forged manacles. These manacles are

biases and prejudices and they don’t allow human beings to intersect with

the fellow human beings. The poet vehemently argues that there are plenty

of pools and bridges but there is no connect or touch. With the help of the

bridge we have lost something forever. The poet his an eternal quester and

he is in search of this lost world.

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લાખો લોખાંડ પલૂ ઠેર ઠેર બાાંધ,ુ ઓળાંગુાં ગોતાગોત

Millions of iron bridges everywhere. To build, to cross, to search.

However, the poet fails to find anything worthwhile.It is to be kept in mind

that Odysyusanun Halesun is not all about pools and bridges. The poet very

passionately speaks about one of the five elements i.e. water. The water of

this world is not merely the life sustainer; it can also become a life destroyer

at times. This duality of existence, the eternal struggle for survival and the

infinite endeavours that life makes to remain afloat is so beautifully

expressed with the metaphors and symbols drawn from the animal kingdom.

‘Ants on yellow leaves struggling for survival’ is almost a metaphysical

metaphor. The ant is absolutely unaware of the fact that the help and succor

it has sought is that of a decayed leaf which probably cannot even float. The

ant is given this solace through its subconscious that the leaf will take it

ashore. These tiny creatures’ struggle for survival becomes the leitmotif of

the poem. The poet rapidly moves from the microcosm to the macrocosm,

from the individual to the universal and from the mundane to the

metaphysical.

The mid seventies bring about a complete metamorphosis of the poet.

Having a prolonged sojourn in the realm of the subconscious, he now drifts

towards the conventional poetic mode. He had had a pretty long brush with

the realm of post-world war literature as he spent considerable time in the

west in his formative years. He got acquainted with the contemporary

western poetry and daringly endeavoured to break the shackles of

conventional poetic mode. However, the dry, dull and pedestrian world of

surrealism failed to sustain his poetic fervor. As it happened that many

romantic English poets sought poetic shelter into the unknown and remote

medieval world, he also returns to the medieval metre ‘Jhoolna’. He did not

create the kind of medievalism as those created by the English poets Keats

and Coleridge. However, re-launch of ‘Jhoolna’ metre is an important

phenomenon of modern Gujarati poetry. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to

equate this metrical revival with that of the revival of verse drama at the

hands of T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats.

Jatayu, the most definitive of his poems, is a product of this transition. This

is the other extreme of this genius who was hitherto lost in the untrodden

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paths and unknown recesses of the subconscious. If the Odusyusanun

Halesun is the product of the poet’s alliance with the subconscious, Jatayu

is the product of his consciousness. The first is a supreme illustration of

verse-libre, the latter is the metrical expression par excellence. The poet has

left behind the exhaustion and fatigue of the journey of the subconscious.

Meanwhile the inevitable occurrences and happening of personal life hugely

impacted the mood of the poet. His earlier quest of ‘What is to know’ is now

‘What is to be’. This existential transition is the important feature of the

poetry of the second phase. He is now more at home with the familiar world

of medieval metre. His metrical composition appears at time when people

were interestingly turning oblivious to Gujarati prosody. Thus, his prosodic

endeavor is as great as T.S. Eliot’s efforts of reviving poetic drama in the

modern times.

Another interesting phenomenon of the second phase of his poetry is that he

invites mythological characters to participate in the arena of his poetry. Like

the celebrated Indo-English playwright Girish Karnad, he reinvents and

reinterprets the Indian Mythology in modern context. There is a fundamental

difference between the two poetic worlds- the first phase poetry was written

vastly under the influence and inspiration of western literature and the poetry

of the second phase is closer to Indian ethos and milieu. The poetry of the

first half is a summarization of the vast academic experience, erudition and

exposure to the western literature and thought. Here, the poet indulges in all

sorts of thematic and linguistic experimentation. The French symbolist

school, post-modernism, existentialism, surrealism have hugely contributed

towards the mouldings of poetic sensibilities of this period. Here, he keeps

attacking the conventional poetry and its structural monotony.

પોતાના ઘટૂણ પર માથુાં ટેકવી ,

મારી છાતીમાાં અજ ાંપો સાવ શાાંત છે. કેવા હશ ેએના નેત્ર ?

Resting its head on the knees, the unrest is tranquil within me. How

would have been his eyes?

The appearance of definitive poem Surang ensured complete demolition of

archaic linguistic mountains. Its personalized language replete with

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condensed symbolism heralded a new wave in modern Gujarati poetry. Its

surrealistic reportage on existential inquiry took the Gujarati language to the

extreme frontiers and into the world of renounced guerrilla rebels Che

Guvvera and Ho Chi Minh.

હને્મક તેન્મક કચ ડાન્મક તોન્મક હાાં હને્મક તોન્મક ડટ કાાંચ ટાાંક હા!

Here, the inconsistency and experimentation of language becomes a

surrealistic experience. The readers are lost in the cacophony of

homophonemically patterned words which, on a closer scrutiny, do not give

desired meaning. The meaninglessness of the meaning becomes a kind of

meaning here. No wonder the renowned critic Pravin Darji called the poet:

The Poet who aptly knew the psycho analytical relation between wit

and revolt” (Yashaschndra 15)

Paying glowing tribute to the intrepidly adventurous experimentation of the

poet, the same critic warmly welcomed his anthology as “gleeful revolt.”

As noted above the second half of his creative gamut is marked with a firm

return to his roots. He is done with the dryness and hollowness of surrealistic

and half-modernistic poetic modes. The appeal of the critical doctrines of

post structuralism and deconstruction were now on decline. The unknown

and abstact realms of surrealism could not sustain his creative interest any

longer. And therefore, he returned to his roots and his own socio- cultural

milieu. This is his virtual second coming. He goes back to the epics and

reinvents the character of Jatayu (Vulture). Jatayu is a long narrative poem.

What amazes the readers is the fact that even in post-modern period, some

poets revisited the mythological traditions and conventions in order to

procure a befitting character and contexts for the modern readers. In the

world of literature the post- modernistic interpretations of mythologies,

legends and myths are not all that alien. The pioneer of romanticism S.T

Coleridge beautifully employed the myth of albatross in his supremely

celebrated poem The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner to explore the meanings

of Christian tenets of sin and expiation. Similarly, T.S Eliot turned to the

Christian legend of Thomas Beckett and his martyrdom in his play Murder

in the Cathedral.

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Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta’s Jatayu myth, derived from the epic

Ramayana, is reinterpreted in the contemporary context. He has beautifully

contextulized the volpine myth with the malaise of modern times. The

structural apparatus is supplied by the mythological bird, Jatayu (Vulture)

who had lost his life while battling with the demon king Ravana, who had

kidnapped Sita. The poet provides modern contexts to mythological texts.

The epical scale of the poem justifies the epical borrowings of the poet as

the poem effortlessly flows into seven different cantos. That Sitanshu

Yashchandra Mehta is an eternally experimental poet is proved by the frame

and form of this poem which is diagonally contrary to the world of the earlier

anthology Odisyusanun Halesun. This ambitiously composed anthology is

an expression of the world which is replete with the angst, ennui, anguish

and frustration. On the other hand, the second anthology Jatayu is an

expressions of personal pains, anguish, anger, frustration and, to some

extent, personal disputes. Even a cursory reading of a random canto of

Jatayu would reveal that Sitanshu as a poet never went to the language; in

fact, words spontaneously rattle from his pen and crooned the page. The

meter ‘Jhoolna’ has been patronizingly employed and spontaneously

handled throughout the poem

નગર અયોધ્યા ઉત્તરે ને દાખ્ખણે નગરી લાંક

વચ્ચે સદસદજયોત વવહોણુાં વન પથરાયુાં રાંક

The city of Ayodhya towards north and towards the south is the city

of lanka. In the midst is spread the poor flameless forest.

રાવણ આવ્યો , સીતા ઉચ્ક્યા, દોડયો ને ગીધ તરુાંત એક યદેુ્ધ મરયો , એક

યદેુ્ધ મરયો, એક યદેુ્ધ મરયો, હા હા ! હા હા ! હાયો , જીવનમાાં હવે ઢકૂડો અંત.

Ravana emerged and lifted Sita, rapidly ran the vulture one waged the

war, one waged the war, and one waged the war Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Defeated, the end of life was near.

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હવે તરણાય વાગે છે તલવાર થઇ મારા બહ ુદુખે છે ઘા આ કેડા વવનાના

વનથી કેટલુાં છેટુાં હશે અયોધ્યા આ અણસમજુ વન વચ્ચ ેશુાં મારે મરવાનુાં

છે આમ ? ....નથી દશાનન દક્ષીણે અને ઉત્તરમાાં નથી રામ

Now, even grass hurts like a sword….my wounds pain a lot How far

is ayodhya from this wayward woods? Am I to die amidst immature

woods? No Dashanan towards south and no Rama towards north

(Joshi Y. 16)

There are descriptive stanzas and the poet swiftly moves from description to

narration. There is an incredible amount of theatrical devices on the one

hand and unbelievable level of rhetoric and verbal felicity on the other. What

amazes the reader is the sustenance of creative urge which obviously may

have lasted for years. The modern reader who finds comforts in smaller

poems, is pleasantly surprised to see the epical scale of the poem. The

employment of mythological apertures is constantly in the mind of the poet

and, therefore, in order to create ancient-medieval atmosphere, he profusely

employs archaic idioms and medieval metaphors. New words and idioms

are coined with an enviable felicity. The archaic idioms coupled with the

words bearing medieval connotations create an atmosphere of conventional

expression

ગોળ ગોળ મ ૂાંઝાય ખાલીપાની ઢીકડે ઉનીઉની એકલતા

Repeatedly nervous’Warmer loneliness with emptiness

On the other hand an apt usage of individual words and expression help the

poet create the intened ambience of medieval age.દહમદુ - ભવુન – ભયાંકર

વત્રભવુન સુાંદર શ્યામ These idioms are so culturally rooted that they get

untranslatable. The expression terrible traverse is almost Miltonic in its

range of connotation. Similarly, in Jatayu the poet has followed the

conventional narrative mode, traditionally known as Aakhyan.

કેરી સાખ ેકોહકલા અને જઈ ઘટા સાંતાય મ્રત્યફુળનાાં ભોગી ગીધો બપોરમાાં

દેખાય

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Cuckoo tastes the mango and then hides behind the foliage’

Vulture, the devourers of forbidden fruit, are seen in the noon

જુઓ તો જાણે વગર વવચારે બઠેાાં રહ ેબહ ુકાળ

જીવનમરણ વચ્ચનેી રેખાની પકડીને ડાળ

Look, how long are they perched without any thought

Having clasped the twig of life and death.(16)

The poet’s obsession with surrealism, it appears, still haunts him and,

therefore, he is seen intermittently revisiting the unexplored realms of

subconscious. It imparts a sort of obscurity of expression. Over the years his

poetics and metaphysics have witnessed a complete metamorphosis.

Initially, he was more obsessed with the notion of –‘What is to know’;

however, in the second phase of his creative gamut he is more inclined

towards ‘what is to be’. In philosophical term this is a paradigmatic shift

from his initial philosophical posture. While referring to the modern Gujarati

sonneteer, Labhshankar Thakar, he writes

And Labhshankar Saheb, there is another aspect also. That, I exist is

that I have to exist in the home or out of it, awakening or slipping,

with the work or without, at home or in abroad, while attending the

death ceremony of Sun Yat Sen’s Mother–in-law. I have to exist (18)

The poet is well aware of the fact that his poetry had failed to evoke a kind

of response it ought to have and, therefore, he places his caveat on record.

But the basic fact is that this incomprehensibility can not be

accepted….Wounds are inflicted and, therefore, I write poetry (19)

The contemporary poet Labhshankhar Thacker has given a long narrative

poem, Story of the Man. Almost in similar terms the poet has a composed a

poem wherein he beautifully intermingled fear with desire. The poem Siege

is his finest utterance on humanity.

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ભડ કોણ ને કોણ કાયર ? બધાાં માણસ . આમનેયે માણસ ને સામનયે ે

માણસ. મરતાાંયે માણસ ને જનમતાાંયે માણસ. ગાભણાયે માણસ ન ે

વાાંઝણાયે માણસ સતાયે માણસ ને પાપણાયે માણસ. ચો્પીલાયે માણસ

ને મઢૂ એય માણસ. ગમતાયે માણસ ને અણગમતાયે માણસ. જાણીતા ત ે

જાણીતા કઈ કેટકેટલા માણસ માણસની સામે આ તો લટકા કરતા માણસ.

આમને યે માણસ ને સામને યે માણસ .

Who is brave? And who is coward? All humans Here is human and

there is human. At the birth human and at the death also human.

Pregnant humans and barren are also human Good humans and

sinners are also humans Extrowards humans and introwards are also

humans Likeable humans and dislikeable are also humans. Known

and unknown how many humans Human dancing in front of a human

Here is a human and there is also human. (18)

A majority of conventional poets invoke the goddess muse and pray

profusely either in the form of invocation or a routine prayer to be offered

as a mark of one’s obeisance. On the other hand, many post-modernistic

poets seem to negate the existence of God. However, Sitanshu Yashchandra

Mehta does not invoke the goddess Saraswati in conventional form. He

rather commands the goddess to do away with her career and adopt a new

form. In Sinhvahini Stotra, he commands the goddess

Sharda Disembark from thy peacock and mount upon the lion (18)

The poet asks the goddess to wage a war for mankind. However, he will not

remain silent and therefore, he continues to wage war for man through his

poems like Vakhar (Godown), Sandhuka Sing Sade (Bull’s Horns Rot) Here

the authorial voice condenced with humanism touches new altitude of revolt.

હવે , માઈબાપ , વેઠાત ુાં નથી. સડ્ુાં સાચવે ને જીવતુાં મારે , એવી તે કેવી

વખાર આ અપની , નામદાર ?

Oh elders! Now, can not be tolerated my lord which preserves the

rotten and kills alive. What is this Godown… My lord? (20)

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The poet wages infinite wars for the sake of humanity and, therefore, there

prevails a beautiful mingling of rile and revolt, love and compassion in his

poetry. The rise of religious fundamentalism, the poet argues, has paused

threat to the existence of humanity on this planet. In Bomiyan Buddh, he

contends that divine virtue shall eternally radiate on this planet.

મવૂતિ ન હોત ન હોત જો એ જાતે તોયે એમ જ ઊભા હોત : પદ્મલોચન શાાંતમખુ

લેહરાતો આંચલ સ્સ્મત માંહડત હોઠ વરદ હસ્ત

Even in place of the idol he himself would have stood there: Lotus eyed,

Tranquil face, Furling paunch, Smiling lips, Sacred Palms.

The mid seventies which is also the most prolific and fertile decade of his

creative gamut also hosted him as a literary critic. This is the most happening

period of the period. Simankan and Simaulanghan is a series of critical

essays on ‘Aesthetics’. Both the Oriental influences and inspiration have

gone into making of Mehta as a strict literary disciplinarian. His critical

gamut ranges from shape, symbols, and experiences to Umashankar Joshi

and Allen Ginsberg. The resultant comparative appraisal of the two strands

is not a mean achievement by any literary yardsticks. Only, a poet critic like

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta would have achieved this fete. Similarly, his

doctoral thesis Ramaniyatano Vagvikalp (1979) is a seminal work which set

high standards in the field of research.

Odisyusanun Halesun has been hailed as an anthology of ‘confrontation and

revolt’. It maybe recalled that the confrontation symbol was used by a poet-

critic of Philippines -Andres Cristobal Cruz in his famous poem Famine.

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta and the poet of Philippines had participated

in an international conference and had also worked together on translation.

It was Andres Cristobal Cruz who had paid a glowing tribute to the poetic

sensibilities of Sitanshu Yashchandra Mehta.

It is in a confrontation … With the central crises of his being, and

(that of) his society, that is how this Indian poet is

revealed.(Yashaschandra 17)

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta could not remain indifferent to the post

modernistic literary theories such as post structuralism and deconstruction

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that were creating ripples among the French litterateur. He was particularly

impressed by the French psycho analyst Jacques Marie Emile Lacan’s

conception of the unconscious. The French critic, it may be noted, had

deviated from the Freudian interpretation of the unconscious when he

declared that the unconscious is the discourse of the others.The poets have

to reach to the other to make it part of their subject. The conflict between

subject and object is perennial.

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta’s association with France continued in mid

80’s also. In the year 1985 he was invited to France again by the George

Papandreou Centre and later Berlin also invited him in year 1988 to recite

his poetry. He met here the world renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe

who rendered an indelible imprint on his mind. The Indo-African colonial

experience easily brought the two authors together. For Achebe, Sitanshu

Yashaschandra Mehta was not a poet from the state called Gujarat, but he

was rather a representative of India. While gifting a copy of his celebrated

African trilogy Achebe wrote

For Sitanshu Yashaschandra with whom I had a memorable meeting

and discussion in Berlin, October 1988 may this be the beginning of

conversation between India and Africa. (23)

The poetic persona of Odisyusunun Halesun is Odysseus himself. He is a

tireless traveler and an invisible warrior. Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta

establishes a poetic-creative connect between the proverbial Grecian warrior

and the Gujarati reader. It needs to be mentioned that the sailors and traders

of Gujarat who are known for their adventure and enterprise have been

visiting the unknown shores and realms since antiquity. And therefore, the

poet is confident that the globe trotter Gujarati reader would easily recognize

his poetic enterprise.

Gujarati sailor and readers are adventures and enterprising and they

can navigate the ocean within and without.(18)

Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta along with Suresh Joshi and Prof. Niranjan

Bhagat is another literary giant from Gujarat who has been comprehensively

responsible for bringing French literary influences to Gujarat. In the last few

years he apparently seems to have returned to his roots, but his association

with the French literature in particular and art in general continues till date.

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His radio drama - Hey, Makanji Where Are You Going?- We Are Going At

Amthalal’s Place was critically acclaimed. Similarly, his drama Vaishakhi

Koyal (Cuckoo of the Summer) is adapted from the story of Thomas Hardy.

Like vise he also based his Tokhar( Horse) is based on Peter Shepherd’s

Equs. His other plays include Aa Manas Madrasi Lage Chhe. (This Man

Looks Like a Madrasi) and, Grahan (Eclipse).

Gujarati literature, meanwhile, found a new voice in Esther David who has

carved a niche for herself among the literati of Guajrat. The ensuing pages

profile her French connect and the contribution she has made in modern

Gujarati literature.

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My audience is the world, which is still ignorant about the existence

of Indian Jews. I was motivated to write as I was confused about my

own cross cultural conflict of being Jewish.

Esther David

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3.5 Esther David (1945- ) A Voice of Minority

Source: www.readg2.com Retrieved on 19 October, 2014

The exploration of Guj-Franco cultural bilateralism, especially in the realm

of literature is inadequate without the proper assessment of this multi lingual

author from Gujrat. This versatile writer, Esther David, who was born into

a Bene Israel Jewish family on 17th March 1945 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is

an amazingly exciting multi lingual author from Gujarat. Her father Reuben

David was a hunter–turned–veterinarian, who founded the Kamala Nehru

Zoological Garden and Balvatika in the city of Ahmedabad. Her mother

Sarah was a school teacher. As a child, she spent a lot of time in the zoo,

watching and communicating with the animals her father nurtured there.

However, she was artistically inclined since childhood and therefore, the

artistic ambience of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda suited her.

It was during her MS University days that she met a well-known sculptor

Sankho Chaudhary who taught her Sculpture and Art History. After her

graduation, she returned to Ahmedabad and started her career as a professor

in Art History and Art Appreciation. The city of Ahmedabad has had some

great Art centres and schools where she taught Art and Aesthetics to a

number of students. Her association with the famous school Sheth C. N. Fine

Art, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University and

NIFT enriched her learning and teaching experience. For her, writing career

was not an accident at all. She grew up in a family where education and

academics were part of a child’s upbringing. Her ancestral house in the old

walled city of Ahmedabad had a rich library, the place where young Esther

spent all her leisure time reading whenever possible. It was during her MS

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University days that she started writing on the subjects of fine Arts. She

would have become a good writer then only however, destiny willed

otherwise and she had to switch over to the field of sculpture. Family

commitments and social engagements did not allow her to evolve as a writer

for a considerable time and therefore she taught sculpture and Art History in

an Art school in Ahmedabad.

She started writing about Art and Aesthetics for the renowned national daily,

The Times of India, Ahmedabad edition in 1979. Later she became a

columnist for Femina, a women’s magazine within a span of few years, her

name was found either as an art critic or as a reviewer in major dailies of the

state and the country. It was during her association as a columnist with the

various magazines and dailies that she realized that she started writing for

herself. She started to write in both, English and Gujarati often focussing on

the history and culture of the dwindling minority community – Jews in India.

Her parents were not very religious and therefore had had a more liberal

upbringing at home at least in religious terms. However, she felt the need of

knowing Judaism as a form of research for her novel The Book of Esther,

which is based on a Jewish family from Alibaugh and Ahmedabad spanning

of 150 years. Her interaction with the cantor of the synagogue in Ahmedabad

introduced her to the world of Judaism. Tempramently, Esther wasn’t all

that religious and therefore, her association with traditional Jewish religion

wasn’t very strong.

I mingled with the Jewish community and made note of their life-

styles. I am still not religions and uncomfortable during religious

functions, but I like to observe and study the Jewish community of

India. (conversationwithwriters.blogspot.com)

The Walled City

Her first book, The Walled City which was published in 1997 was set in the

walled – city of Ahmedabad. It engagingly recounts the history of the culture

of the town. It should be noted that though many books have been written

on the culture and history of Ahmedabad, this book warrants for a special

mention because it has been published by Syracuse University Press USA

and is listed in the library of modern Jewish literature. Written in the

impressionistic style, this work has been received as a brutally honest

literary work which is exclusively Indian. In a predominantly Hindu society,

her work offers a mirror to the Indian -Jewish culture which remains foreign

dispite having a peaceful cohabitation of hundreds of years. The novel

captures beautiful moments of life with an individual voice. The

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circumscribed lives of woman, however, span the thresholds and cause

tragedies.

It is a canvas of small things, which takes the form of big shadows

on the wall. (Karkaria, TOI)

Esther as an author has sensitively responded to her multi cultural

environment and the spiritual and cultural heritage. It is very likely that the

ethnic minority invariably complains about persecution at the hands of the

dominant class. However, as a member of a microscopic minority, i.e. Jews,

she did not complain against the dominance of majority nor did she ever

suffered from persecution mania. Through her novels she tried to understand

herself and her religion. She is well aware of her subject and her target

audience.

My audience is the world, which is still ignorant about the existence

of Indian Jews. I was motivated to write as I was confused about my

own cross cultural conflict of being Jewish.

(conversationwithwriters. blogspot. com)

The odyssey the auther narrates in this novel is replete with life and death,

hopes and aspirations, rejection and acceptance, pessimism and optimism. It

is about the narrator, a young Bene Israeli Jewish girl growing up in India.

Jews are an ethnic minority in India, the country where the Hindus have

dominance. The narrator is surrounded by Hindu cultural milieu consisting

of many Gods and Godessess with human faces. As a Bene Israeli, the

narrator has to cope with her own Gods and Godessess which do not

resemble to their Hindu counterparts. In a country of color and socio-cultural

festivities, the narrator feels “walled” in because of her Bene Israeli roots

and her Jewishness.

The back ground to the novel is provided by the old city of Ahmedabad.

The usage of multi-layered metaphor ‘walls’ is indicative of the barriers that

have come up between the two groups. Thus, we have walls of the city, walls

of Indian communities, walls of the Jewish community, walls of the family,

and the walls of just being a woman. It is about the fate of a dwindling

minority community and all about the sterility which is setting in the Jewish

community. In a way, the novel is about the existence of the minority, and

about an immense cross-cultural conflict. It is about the city of Ahmedabad,

and how the city of Gandhi has been reduced to a city of violence. The novel

which attracted a lot of critical acclaim, passionately probes the entire issue

of ‘home’ and ‘roots’. It was translated into various languages including

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Gujarati where it appeared with Renuka Sheth’s title Bhint. It may be noted

here that it was also translated into French by Sonja Terangle; with the title

La Ville En Ses Murs. The French version of the second edition was

shortlisted for the coveted literary position Primier Liste de Prix Femina in

France. It is quite heartning to note here that this is for the first time a

Gujarati writer’s work hit the international headlines, especially in France.

By the Sabarmati

Esther David’s association with the city of Ahmedabad continued in the

work By the Sabarmati. As the title indicates the river Sabarmati,

synonymous with the city of Ahmedabad, provides background to the

various stories which were inspired by Mani, the maid who also appeared as

an important character in The Walled City. The author confesses to her

reader that it was Mani who inspired her for this work.

Mani kept me amused by telling me stories. Some she invented. Some

were folk tales and some ghost stories. (estherdavid.com)

Mani occupies a considerable space in the consciousness of the author as

she searches for Mani in the women she met around. Some of the stories

were born out of the author’s interactions with the girls and women who

worked with her, most women the author worked with, confided in her and

shared their personal pain and anguish.

Between laughter and tears, I made footnotes of their personal

problems, which enabled me to help them better. (ibid)

An incredible level of linguistic as well as thematic simplicity is maintained

by the author in this collection.The excessively cumbersome climate, the

somberness and solemnity of Walled City warranted for change, atleast in

terms of expression and, therefore, it was required as an author to come out

of the ambience of the preceding work. No wonder the next work she

produced is enchantingly lighter.

The book is like a window opening in to a variegated garden, where

the flowers are the colors, the smell and taste of on known foods and

rituals of those who live by the Sabarmati. (Sharma 99)

This work is a water color painting both in technique and imagery. The

author portrays some unforgettable scatches of women who have emerged

in their own right from Bhavnagar to Bhuj and from Ahmedabad to Surat. It

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must be said that her writing is deeply rooted in real life and the ‘Gujarat

Scene’ provides core and context to each narrative. Each story is locally

contexualized but it conveys universal message. The apparently ordinary

looking locales and characters are coloured with sense metaphors and

incredible endings.

The Book of Esther

Her next novel, The Book of Esther, which is based on a Jewish family from

Alibaugh and Ahmedabad, spans a period of 150 years.This work, deeply

personal and unflinchingly honest, is partly inspired by her family. It

chronicles the lives of a prodigiously talented Jewish family (characters all),

sweeping across places, generations and times with a deft and sure

hand.Like Nissim Ezekiel, she returns to her minority background and tries

to discover the true meaning of Jewish Heritage in an alien ethos. The sense

of belongingness to her cultural milieu and her yearning for her true identity

propel her to enter into the realm of fact and fiction. The novel begins in the

nineteenth century, with the redoubtable Bathsheba steering the fortunes of

the family, which finally chooses Ahmedabad as home. The descendants

inherit the healing touch; but Joshua, defying tradition, chooses to tend to

the voiceless, founding the city’s first zoo.The journey takes her across

continents, to Israel and France, only to find its way back to the nest.-

Ahmedabad- like a homing pigeon.Through an enchantingly confessional

narrative, the author creates an extremly plausible world of colorful Indian-

Jewish characters. She beautifully portrays the Jewish family (her own?),

sweeping across locales, milieu and cityscapes with a dexterous pen.

The Book of Rachel

Hugely acclaimed nationally and internationally, The Book of Rachel, is a

seminal critique on the preservations of Jewish traditions in India. It was

translated into French by Soonja Terangle with the title Le Livre de Rachel.

The title of the book has an Old Testament feel to it. The novel’s protagonist,

Rachel is something of a heroine and his portrayal is a tribute to the ancient

myth about the origins of the community. The story of the survival of the

seven couples invokes an emotion similar to that inspired by Marina

Shemesh’s The Western Wall in Jerusalem. Though the novel is deeply

imbued with religion, history and culture, food remains the central theme

throughout the narrative. The author has presented interesting bits of

information regarding Kosher cuisine – for example, how, coconut milk is a

useful substitute for dairy milk which Jewish dietary law prohibits from

being cooked with meat–as well as elaborate descriptions of preparing for

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an Indian ‘passover’ or ‘pessach’, and the communal preparation and

presentation of a fruit based malida as an offering of thanksgiving.

This astonishingly captivating novel has a unique structure in that the

novelist has provided each chapter with the name of a dish, found in a rare

reciepe of Bene Israel. On the face of it, this is a culinary story about an

ordinary woman’s life. David creates all the characters who are not confined

to a particular place or culture, rather they belong to cultures and

generations. She weaves a heart-warming tale of a woman’s battle to live

life on her own terms, in both gripping story and a chronicle of a unique

community. This work, which has enjoyed global recognition since its

appearance, has substantially contributed towards Guj-Franco literary

bilateralism. In 2012, Le Livre de Rachel was presented at Salon du Livre

de la Haute Vallae de Chevreuse; 12eme Saison, Livenval and was awarded

the ‘Prix Michel Tourmier’ for best translation in French.

My Father’s Zoo

Her My Father’s Zoo is a personal tribute to her illustrious father, Reuben

David, a hunter turned veterinarian who founded the Kankaria zoo in

Ahmedabad. It has stories related to animals in the Kankaria zoo, which was

nurtured by the author’s father who was a champion of wildlife and was

popularly known as the gentle animal keeper of Ahmedabad and a miracle

man who could walk into the cages of lions and tigers. As a young girl,

Esther had this opportunity to observe how each bird, animal and reptile

made a home. It was said in those days that the zoo man could communicate

with the birds and animals whom he loved and made part of his extended

family. He not only housed the reptiles but also tigers, lions and langoors

and other animals.The book is a real life story of a man who had established

an incredible rapport with animal kingdom. Interestingly, the author has

made the book doubly readable by offering each chapter with the name of a

bird or animal. The author’s illustrations of birds and animals bring them to

life on the page.While roaming with the animals in the wild, the reader also

recalls the habitat ambience of Rudyard Kipling’s animal world.

Shalom India Housing Society

Esther reverts to voix de la minorite in Shalom India Housing Society which

is set around Bene Israeli Jewish families living in Ahmedabad. The novel

revolves around the dilemma of the last of the Jews of Ahmedabad, trying

to hold their identity in India. Each chapter which tells the story of a family,

raises some basic questions about belonging to India and migrating to Israel.

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The novel which has been translated in French as Shalom India Residence,

also explores the inter-cultural relationships between the Indian Jews and

other communities.At one level, the book offers sociological diagnostics of

Bene Israel (sons of Israel) Jews who arrived in India some two thousand

years ago, according to myth, if not historiography. On another level,

Shalom India Housing Society is a literary meditation in which

Prophet Elijah becomes a flaneur (roamer / lounger) a creative force

created by Charles Baudelaire. A flaneur trawls a city searching for

its soul. (TOI)

Set in the fictional society in Ahmedabad, formed after the communal riots

in 2002, the novel engagingly weaves together the lives if its residents

through a series of stories that capture the delimma of the last Bene Israel

Jews in India. How are their relations with other communities changing?

Ought they to leave? Where can they go? Do they belong to India, or in

Israel? Will they feel at home in Israel? The author converses passionately

with the readers and takes them into the world of miniscule minority- the

Jews, and tries to trace the ‘misunderstanding’ between parents and children

and many more. The novel probes the shifting layers of religious and

national identity from the way people dress, to the textures, tastes and colors

in which people dream of homelands imagined or left behind.

The delicate relationship between the dominant majority Hindus and the

dwindling minority Jews has rarely been examined with such flair and

finnese. The arrival of Bene Israelis in India some two thousand years ago

and their subsequent assimilation with the mainstream cultures of India

created a unique cultural identity of Jews who speak languages like

Konkani, Marathi and Gujarati.The Indian Jews as an ethnic group have a

unique ethnic profile which is invariably confused with Christians. Esther

locates her space in this book within such enchanting colors and

contradictions of life. The book is a celebration of the life of each resident

of the society to a community of people who landed on India’s ‘safer’ shores

some two thousand years ago. The Jews, after the riots, seem to find solace

being with each-other, despite their differences. In many ways wondering

whether, like the Promised Land, was their safer shore? The age old safety

of their society is jeopardized after the communal riots between the majority

Hindus and the ‘major’ minority, especially the Muslims. The book mirrors

the joys and pains, the conflicts and concerns of an ethnic minority which

endeavors to find the space between the Indian traditions of their homeland

and their Jewish heritage.

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Surrounded by their Hindu and Muslim neighbours, the residents of

these charming apartments find ways to laugh (the laughing club

meets an every morning on the lawn) and love, whether it is a crush

next door or an internet date with a distant Israeli. (Asian Age).

The fancy dress competition has been used as a multi-layered metaphor.

Here the chapters and characters are introduced through the dressess and

garbs they sport during competition. The entire process is very

psychological. Since each Jewish character taking part in the competition

assumes another role, sometimes these characters appear ludicrous,

sometimes sporty and many a times lovabaly naive. The fancy dress has

been success fully used by theater artists as it is an extremly expressive

theatrical device. Here in the novel it seems to state that the minority

communities are always acting, they rarely express their true identity. If a

Leon is secretly homosexual, Yael is forcibly dressed up as a mummy even

if she wants to dress up in a Gujarati chaniya choli.

Each story in Shalom India Housing Society has an apartment to itself

and depicts all the issues that the Bene Israeli community faces in a

world that is becoming increasingly aware of religion. But laced with

humour, it cuts on the seriousness of the whole issue and laughs at

and with the people who live in shalom India housing society. (ibid)

The Man with Enormous Wings

The Man with Enormous Wings which has been based on the communal

violence of Gujarat in the year 2002 audatiously questions majoritarian

subjugation of the minorities. Esther painstakingly revisits the Gujarat

violence and mirrors the deep wounds inflicted by the communal frenzy.

Some of these wounds may have healed up, however, the indelible scars

remain on the psyche of the affected people. Amidst this chaos and

lawlessness appears the man up in the sky with his wings enormously

stretched over the city. He may be the Saviour of the city. The reader is

immidiately told by the author that the man with enormous wings is none

other than the apostale of peace and non-violence. He is the one who took a

pinch of the salt and shook the mighty British Empire. Unfortunately, the

same salt is now smeared on the oozing wounds the communal frenzy

inflicted upon the people of Gujarat. Communal violence virtually destroyed

the age-old harmony that had existed between the majority Hindus and the

major minority Muslims. The communal frenzy did not stop at the doors of

major minority as its flames engulfed the members of other ethnic groups

like Parsis.

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The author does not try to preach through her account of ‘communal strife’,

she just tries to put things in order for us to see. The introductory chapter

takes the reader through a tour of the city Ahmedabad. The city de tour takes

the reader right from The Walking Dargah to The Shaking Minarets to The

Divine Laughing Club. These rubrics are extremely important in the sense

that each one of them indicates the various shades of life-the life that was

and the life that is. At the end of every vignette there prevails a sense of

loneliness and void, a kind of emptiness that comes from losing something

precious. The bold expression of the author gets bolder in the second part of

the book which menacingly describes the sequence of political events that

shattered the seemingly peaceful state of Gujarat. This part at the book is

vivid in its imagery – starting from the arrival of the Train and the storm it

brought in its wake. The author audaciously and without any fear of

persecution employs the explicit political imagery. The vignettes then are

stark and disturbing with the Man with the Enormous Wings providing

shelter in his wings to those who are lost and injured. He is the conscience

of the city who no one wants to listen to.

Esther has been globally acknowledged as an authority on the ethnic issues

of Bene Israeli Jewish groups who are found in the different pockets across

India. She has been generously contributing to the various journals and

magazines which explore the ethnic issues, especially Jewish Heritage,

Rituals and Arts in India. Her work has also been featured in anthologies

that include City Stories, Growing Up as a Woman Writer and India’s

Jewish, Heritage, Rituals Art and life Cycle. Before Esther David became

an author, she studied art at Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao

University, Vadodara, Gujarat. She has been a sculptor, art critic and has

taught art history and art appreciation at well known design schools of

Ahmedabad. She was chair person of Gujarat State Fine Arts Academy and

is still part of the art world and illustrates her own novels.

She also created an art movement known as ‘Intuitive Art’ and has

worked with uneducated natural artists of Ahmedabad. These

paintings, sculptures, quilts and patchwork paintings were exhibited

at UNESCO, Paris in 1993 at Gallery Bonvin on the theme of Art in

underprivileged Areas and Intuitive Art on the International women’s

Day. (estherdavid.com)

She is the first writer from Gujarat whose works have been published in

French and probably the first and only writer who has been translated in

French. In the last couple of decades she has emerged as one of the most

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important Guj-Franco authors from Gujarat who has strengthened literary

linkages between Frnace and Gujarat. Her alliance with the literary circles

of France got further reinforced when she was selected as Writer in

Residence at Villa Mont Noir, France in 1999-2000 and at St. Nazaire,

France 2001-2002. As a writer in residence she co-ordinated a review

magazine on Indian literature for maison des ecrivains et Tradu-cteurs. She

was a regular invite in the various literary events which are regularly held in

France. Thus, in the year 2002 she participated in Les Belles Etrangers 2002,

a writer’s conference in France.

Her other writings also show how well received she has been among the

literary circles of France. Her erudition and stupendous scholarship, coupled

with an incredible level of sensitivity towards ethnic issues, earned for her a

regular space in French journals and magazines. It must be noted that she is

the only Guj-Franco author who has co-ordinated MEET Review No.6,

titled New Delhi-Bucharest, on Indian Literature in 2002, for the Maison des

Ecrivains et des Traducterus, St. Nazaire, France. She is the only Gujarati

author who has written in English and has been translated in French. Thus,

select extracts from Book of Esther were published in French in Les Annals

de Villa Mont Noir, Centre Departmental de Residence d’ Ecrivains

Europeens, France, 2001. Similarly, an extract from By the Sabarmati in

French was also published in Globe Memoires, 2000. An extract from Book

of Rachel, translated in French for a catalogue, was also published by the

French ministry of culture and Salon de Livre, Paris, for a conference of

Indian writers Les Belles Etrangers in 2002.

She has been recognized universally as a woman writer from Gujarat who

has shown immense sensitivity towards the issues of endangered ethnic

groups such as Jews. These groups have been dwelling in the urban centers

of the state. The Hadassah, Brandeis, Institute (HBI) had chosen to feature

Shalom India Housing Society in the Hadassah-Brandeis, 2010-2011

calendar, which highlights 12 eminent Jewish woman authors from across

the world whose writing illuminates a particular city. The title of the

calendar was Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them.

With her books dealing with a micro-mini community of Jews in Gujarat,

she is the first Guj-Franco writer who has carved a niche for herself in the

literary fraternity of both France and Gujarat. Her daughter Amrita is a

renowned filmmaker in France and her son-in-law, Nathaniel is a journalist

with Lemonde in Paris. It is heartening to note that the ethnic minority Jews,

hitherto neglected by the mainstream literary discourses, find an assertive

voice in Esther who takes it to the world stage. The emergence of Esther as

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an important multi-lingual voice in the last few decades is a very significant

development in the history of Guj-Franco bilateralism.

Summing Up

Thus, the iconic authors such as the monarch medieval tales, K.M Munshi,

the versatile Suresh Joshi, the pioneer of modernistic Gujarati poetry, prof.

Niranjan Bhagat, the champion of surrealism Sitanshu Yashachandra Mehta

and the voice of minorities, Esther David have elevated literary linkages to

a new altitude.

Munshi skillfully squeezed drama, adventure and humor into liquid plots

and cast chronology to the winds. His characters dwelt the margins of

history, and existed outside the frame of historical time. He undoubtedly

possessed supreme narrative skills and had an awesome theatrical sense. He

was also endowed with an instinctive feel for human grandeur and the

extraordinary ability to tap into the collective psyche and create ‘modern

heroes’ to rival the ‘heroes of history’. The investigator arrives at this

summation that Munshi is the greatest creator of an incredibly cheerful but

‘quasi historical’ accounts.

Suresh Joshi, who created a dialogue between French poetics and Gujarati

literature, treaded on the path which had been less taken hitherto. He

emerged as one of the path breakers in modern Gujarati literature. His non-

confirmatory style coupled with iconoclasm paved a new path in literature.

Niranjan Bhagat, who came under Baudelairean influence, undoubtedly

imparts new identity to modern Gujarati poetry. Both the poets, irrespective

of time, culture and context, spoke of the whole human soul. Their painful

pictures, though located in Paris and Mumbai respectively, are the real

cityscapes that one comes across anywhere in this so called ‘modern’ but

actually ‘disjointed’ world. No wonder that the first phase of post-

independence Gujarati literature has been rightfully named after this poet of

urban consciousness.

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Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta’s surrealistic experimentation imparted new

identity to the modern Gujarati poetry. Likewise Esther David is the first

English author from Gujarat who has been recognized in France with

considerable solemnity. It happens for the first time in the bilateral history

of the two that the minor partner i.e. Gujarat pays back its obligations to the

dominant partner i.e. France through publication of her books.

The Guj-Franco bilateralism also encompases the various arts. It shall be

profiled in the next chapter.

171

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174

Architecture is the learned game; correct and magnificent of forms

assembled in the light

Le Corbusier.

Let us read and let us dance-two amusements that will never do any

harm to the world

Voltaire.

For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and

spontaneity

Henri-Cartier Bresson.