Hindi, Brajbhasa, and Bengali Poetry of the 19th Century
Indian poetry of the nineteenth century is my major research interest. Far from being left behind by the rise of print culture, this poetry reshaped itself in response to various notions of social reform and artistic innovation. Often this meant attempting to downplay the eroticism of Indian lyrical traditions by stressing the martial, the classical, and the presumably more idealistic romanticism of the West. The different audiences which would encounter these works in print had to be accommodated, even while published poets continued to participate in the traditional oral cultivation of poetry.
By SAGAREE SENGUPTA
My current research on the Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Datta (1829-1873) springs directly out of my work on the Hindi and Brajbhasha writer Bharatendu Hariscandra (1850-1885). Hariscandra knew of and was inspired by the conscious efforts Bengalis had made to identify a literary canon. This canon needed to suit developing ideas of national and regional identity within the framework of British colonial domination. This meant that in addition to identifying classics from the past, works such as literary epics, auditorium dramas, and novels would have to be produced in order to fill gaps in the projected canon.Also of interest to me is the central role of the multifarious and prolific creative writer in the definition of regional identity. Several such figures have been prominent in various South Asian regional literary canons, and they were in general self-conscious about the roles they played within their own traditions. Michael Madhusudan Datta and Bharatendu Hariscandra are examples of this phenomenon, and their pronouncements on their respective missions have, to an extent, become part of received literary lore. In my work I consider the importance sof both Michael Madhusudan Datta and Bharatendu Hariscandra as icons of renewal to their regional literary histories, and also how detailed examination of their lives and works complicates their status as national heroes. Hariscandra acknowledged his failure to make the variety of Hindi that is known as khari boli Hindi as poetically attractive as Brajbhasa. In addition, several generations of critics have pointed out Michael Madhusudan's failure to maintain the heroic tone in his epic Meghnadbadh Kavya. These are illustrations of the conflict between the poets' internalized tendencies and their stated intentions.
While the growth of prose literature in the nineteenth century is of undeniable importance, poetic genres which had wide currency at the time have often been overlooked. The separate projects I am pursuing are meant to contribute to comparative literary study across the regions and languages of South Asia. The active exchange which has long existed among literatures in different South Asian languages has been neglected in favour of the critical emphasis on the relationship with Western literature. Turning the attention of scholars towards literary connections among the South Asian regions themselves may help to dispell some of the myopia that has resulted from dependence on more accessible genres and languages. *
Kabi-matrbhasa, or Bangabhasa Bengali sonnet, by Michael Madhusudan Datta, 1860 (Upon turning back to Bengali after attempting to be a poet in English)
O Bengal! Such a crowd of gems in your treasury,
Yet ignorant me, I neglected them all and travelled to foreign lands
Drunk with the lure of the wealth of others
I adopted a beggar's ways at that evil hour
And spent many days bereft of comfort and happiness.
Sacrificing slumber and food, I dedicated body and soul,
Fixed on a boon that could never be granted.
I sank myself in fruitless austerity; I sported in slimy
Weed-filled waters, forgetting my native lotus grove,
Until forgiving Lakshmi, my ancestors' goddess, spoke in a dream:
'My child! Such a richness of gems in your mother's
Treasure-chest, and you in this beggar's dress today!
Go back, unknowing one, go back to your home!'
Happily, I obeyed her command, and in time
Once more found my mother tongue
That precious mine laced with a bounty of gems.
Sagaree Sengupta is Visiting Assistant Professor Languages and Cultures of Asia and teaches Hindi and Urdu at the Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
E-mail: sagaree@uts.cc.utexas.edu