These My Words Read online

  Edited by

  Eunice de Souza & Melanie Silgardo

  THESE MY WORDS

  The Penguin Book of Indian Poetry

  Contents

  About the Authors

  Introduction

  ‘What then shall poetry be about?’

  Arun Kamble (b. 1953) Which Language Should I Speak?

  Kalidasa (c. 5 CE-6 CE) Is Poetry Always Worthy When It’s Old?

  Ezhuthacchan (16 CE) From Adhyatma Ramayana

  Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004) Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher

  Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824-73) Banglabhasha

  Agha Shahid Ali (1949-2001) In Arabic

  Chandrasekhar Kambar (b. 1937) The Character I Created

  Hemant Divate (b. 1967) The Average Temperature of a Word Required for it to be Used in a Line of Poetry

  Nara (Velcheru Narayana Rao) (b. 1932) White Paper

  K. Satchidanandan (b. 1946) Gandhi and Poetry

  Debarati Mitra (b. 1946) Alphabet

  Nanne Coda (12 CE) From On Poetry in Telugu

  Bhavabhuti (725 CE) If Learned Critics Publicly Deride

  Meena Kandasamy (b. 1984) Mulligatawny Dreams

  Kunchan Nambiar (1700-70) From Prologue to The Progress to the Palace

  Chellapilla Venkata Sastri (1870-1950) I Was Born for Poetry

  Mona Zote (b. 1973) What Poetry Means to Ernestina in Peril

  Hiren Bhattacharya (b. 1932) These My Words

  J.P. Das (b. 1936) After Gujarat

  Arvind (b. 1950) First Poem

  Govindadas Jha (1570-1640) Homage to Jayadeva

  Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) From My Explanation

  Rituraj (b. 1940) Poets

  Vallathol Narayana Menon (1878-1958) From Faith and Erudition

  Nilmani Phookan (b. 1933) Poetry Is for Those Who Wouldn’t Read It

  Firaq Gorakhpuri (1896-1982) If There Are No Flowers

  Smita Agarwal (b. 1958) Daywatch in the Scriptorium

  Sunil Gangopadhyay (b. 1934) City of Memories

  Bhartrhari (c. 400 CE) Her Face Is Not the Moon, Nor Are Her Eyes

  Dilip Chitre (b. 1938) Evenings in Iowa City, Iowa

  Thangjam Ibopishak (b. 1948) Poem

  Mangalesh Dabral (b. 1948) Outside

  From Jayavallabha’s Vajjalagam (c. 8 CE) On Poetry

  Buddhadeva Bose (1908-74) For My Forty-Eighth Winter: 2

  B.C. Ramchandra Sharma (1925-2005) An Old Tale from China

  Kedarnath Singh (b. 1934) On Reading a Love Poem

  ‘In your gracious garden’

  From the Rig Veda (c. 17 CE-11 BCE) Creation Hymn

  From the oral Kannada epic Halumatha Mahakavya Creation Myth

  Akhtar-ul Iman (1915-96) Creation

  Harihara (c. 12 CE-13 CE) From Girija Kalyana The Summer Sun

  Amiya Chakravarty (1901-86) Calcutta

  R.V. Pandit (1917-90) My Goa

  Anon, Gujarati Folk Song Rain of the World

  Jyotirmoy Datta (b. 1936) Crabs on the Beach

  Vikram Seth (b. 1952) Flash

  Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh (1917-69) A Single Shooting Star

  Greece Chunder Dutt (1833-92) Water Fowl

  Kalidasa (c. 5 CE-6 CE) From The Loom of Time

  Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) The Tiger and the Deer

  Bana (7 CE) From The Deeds of Harsha A Stallion Wakes from His Sleep

  Anon, Punjabi Folk Song Lullaby

  Anon, Santhal Ritual Song Erok Sim Bonga

  Sarojini Naidu (1879-1948) The Bird Sanctuary

  From Jayavallabha’s Vajjalagam (c. 8 CE) Summer

  Sri Jnanadeva (1275-96) From Anubhavamrita, Canto IX Life of the Opened Self

  Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) From Gitanjali, 100

  Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) Wind, 9

  From the Atharva Veda (c. 2 BCE) Book XIX, Hymn 50 A Hymn to Night for Protection and Prosperity

  From the Isa Upanishads (c. 12 BCE-6 BCE)

  Umashankar Joshi (1911-88) Miles upon Miles

  Vyasa (c. 11 BCE-4 BCE) From the Bhagvad Gita

  Eunice de Souza (b. 1940) Learn from the Almond Leaf

  Melanie Silgardo (b. 1956) The Earthworm’s Story

  Siddhartha Menon (b. 1967) Beetles

  Santan Rodrigues (1948-2008) The Hang

  Anand Thakore (b. 1971) Tusker Kills Mahout at Religious Ceremony

  Are you looking for a god?’

  Sankaracarya (c. 8 CE) From Sivahandakahari

  Rasananda (c. 17 CE) Many Many Aeons

  Nammalvar (9 CE) From Love’s Messengers

  Vidyapati (15 CE) Imaginary Re-union 2

  Periyazhwar (Vishnuchittan) (9 CE) From Hush-a-bye Baby

  Akkamahadevi (12 CE) Like an Elephant, Caught

  Arun Kolatkar (1932-2004) Yeshwant Rao

  Arul Cellatturai (c. mid-20 CE) Little House (6)

  Muktabai (13 CE) Open the Wattle-door, O Jnaneshwar!

  Eesar Das Barhat (1538-1618) Let the Pot with Just Water in It

  Kanakadasa (16 CE) Saku Saku

  Allama Prabhu (12 CE) It’s Dark Above the Clutching Hand

  Bahinabhai Chaudhuri (1880-1951) From Bahinabai’s Life and Thinking

  From the Rig Veda (c. 17 BCE-11 BCE) The Dove of Death

  Guru Nanak (1469-1539) Chet (March-April)

  Basavanna (1106-67/68) Like a Monkey on a Tree

  Devadurllabha Das (16 CE) From Rahasya Manjari

  Janabai (c. 1298-1350) God My Darling

  Bullah Shah (1680-1759) Strange Are the Times

  Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) Ghazal 257: Poverty Is More Pleasant than Majesty

  Sheikh Mohamad (16 CE) So It Is Done by God Gopal

  Namdev (1270-1350) From Returning from the Pilgrimage

  Harinath Majumdar (1833-96) Jaya—

  Sheikh Farid (1173-1265) From Eight Poems

  Vipin Parikh (b. 1930) I Want a God . . .

  Periyalvar (9 CE) From Hymns of the Alvars Who Shall Deliver Me from the Body of This Death?

  Mohammad Iqbal (1873-1938) Man and God

  Eknath (1533-99) Wonder of Wonders

  Puspadanta (8 CE) From Sivamahimnahstava

  Akha (17 CE) Vaishnav Struts About Town

  Ma Basanti Cakrabartti (20 CE) Ma, If You Wore a Benarasi Sari

  Joaquim Miranda (c. mid-18 CE) From Jesus Entered the Garden

  Annamayya (1408-1503) Imagine That I Wasn’t Here

  Narsinh (Narsi) Mehta (1408-80) If You Abuse Me with Your Language

  Anapiyya (19 CE) From Napikal Nayakam Pillaittamil Come So I Can Bedeck, with Anklets and Bells

  Mahadeviyakka (12 CE) He Bartered My Heart

  Ksetrayya (mid-17 CE) A Courtesan to Her Lover

  Mirabai (1498-1546) This Pain Has Driven Me Mad

  Palalikkuttar (c. mid-14 CE) From Tiruccentur Pillaittamil

  Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) Let’s Be Girls, Ma

  Sakalesha Madarasa (12 CE) Both of Us Are Tired

  Tukaram (c. 1608) God’s Own Dog: VI

  Salabega (c. 17 CE) O Sakhi, the Flute Plays in the Grove

  Ramprasad Sen (1718-75) What a Joke!

  Tyagaraja (1767-1847) Tell Me Why This Bad Mood Now

  Purandara Dasa (1485-1565) I Swear

  Andal (c. 9 CE) From Tiruppavai

  Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) Krishna the Omnipresent

  S. Joseph (b. 1965) My Sister’s Bible

  Kailash Vajpeyi Momin

  Minal Sarosh (b. 1960) On the Loft

  ‘I’m ever vigilant’

  Ravji Patel (1939-68) Whirlwind

  Dhoomil (1935-75) A City, an Evening, and an Old Man: Me

  Nilakantha Dikshita (1580-1644) From Peace

  Jayanta Mahap
atra (b. 1928) The Abandoned British Cemetery at Balasore, India

  Mahadevi Verma (1907-87) No Matter the Way Be Unknown

  Nissim Ezekiel (1924-2004) Background, Casually

  Jaya Mehta (b. 1932) When a Stone Is in One’s Hands

  Nirendranath Chakravarti (b. 1924) Old Age

  Firaq Gorakhpuri (1896-1982) Annihilate the Stillness of the Evening

  Narayana (c. 12 CE) From Hitopadesa On Hunger

  Vinod Kumar Shukla (b. 1937) Those That Will Never Come to My Home

  Mangesh Padgaonkar (b. 1929) Lamp

  Melanie Silgardo (b. 1956) Between

  Basudev Sunani (b. 1962) Satyabhama

  R. Parthasarathy (b. 1934) Taj Mahal

  Shanmuga Subbiah (b. 1924) Salutations

  Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1890-1937) In Bedlam

  Manohar Shetty (b. 1953) Rumour

  Attoor Ravi Varma (b. 1931) Sitting

  A.K. Ramanujan (1929-93) Anxiety

  Aziz Bano Darab (1934-2005) Ghazals

  Kunwar Narain (b. 1927) Day by Day

  Bal Sitaram Mardhekar (1909-56) This Is the Order

  Tishani Doshi (b. 1975) Homecoming

  Padma Sachdev (b. 1940) Sun

  Jerry Pinto (b. 1966) Window

  The Empress Nur Jahan (1577-1645) On the Tomb of Us Poor People

  Kutti Revathi (b. 1974) Breasts

  Jyotsna Karmakar (b. 1950) To Grandmother, Long After

  Ranjit Hoskote (b. 1969) Fern

  Adil Mansuri (1936-2008) The City

  Sitakant Mahapatra (b. 1937) Time Does Not Fly

  Balachandran Chullikkad (b. 1957) A Labourer’s Laughter II

  Jeet Thayil (b. 1959) Spiritus Mundi

  Sitanshu Yashashchandra (b. 1941) Solar

  Susmita Bhattacharya (b. 1947) Five Acts

  Keki Daruwalla (b. 1937) Map-maker

  Lal Ded (1330-1384) From I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded

  Pravin Gadhvi (b. 1951) Shadow

  Mrinal Pande (b. 1946) Two Women Knitting

  Anon, Rajputana Folk Song A Child-Husband

  Gieve Patel (b. 1940) The Ambiguous Fate of Gieve Patel, He Being Neither Muslim Nor Hindu in India

  Gagan Gill (b. 1959) The Girl’s Desire Moves among Her Bangles

  Ali Sardar Jafri (1912-2000) A Poem

  Valmiki (c. 600 BCE-250 CE) From the Ramayana, Book VI, Canto CXVII Sita’s Disgrace

  Valmiki (c. 600 BCE-250 CE) From the Ramayana, Book V, Canto 2 Lanka

  Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1713-80) On Drinking

  ‘My heart’s own love’

  Punam Nambudiri (c. 16 CE) From Ramayana Campu The Moon-Rise

  Habba Khatoon (c. 16 CE) I Will Seek You Down the Wandering Brooks

  Mahe Jabeen (b. 1961) A Love Poem

  Baladev Rath (1789-1845) Oh, Pardon Me

  Amaru (c. 800 CE) She Neither Turned Away

  Palai Patiya Perunkatunko (c. 300 BCE-200 CE) There Are Good Omens: The House-Lizard Chirps

  Vedanta Deshika (1268-1369) From the Prologue of Mission of the Goose

  Leela Gandhi (b. 1966) Noun

  Waris Shah (1722-98) From Heer-Ranjha

  Mustansir Dalvi (b. 1964) Peabody

  Anon, Rajputana Folk Song The Jewel Knight

  Bilhana (c. 10 CE-12 CE) From Fifty Stanzas of a Thief

  Anon, Chhattisgarh Field Song Complaints

  Anon, Punjabi Song The Ballad of Laila

  Chandidas (c. 15 CE) The First Stage of Radha’s Love

  Shah ‘Madho Lal’ Husain (1539-93) Open the Book, Brother Brahmin

  Jayadeva (c. 12 CE) From Gita Govinda Song Seven

  Habba Khatoon (c. 16 CE) Let’s Go to the Upland Woods, My Friend

  Kutti Revathi (b. 1974) I’ve Brought This Summer Just for You

  Dom Moraes (1938-2004) Asleep

  Harsha (c. 12 CE) From Ratnavali

  Anon, Goan Folk Song (17 CE) On the Banks of a Lake

  Ilanko Atikal (c. 5 CE) From The Cilappatikaram, Canto 1 The Song of Praise

  Anon The Dalliance of the Leopards

  Anon Love Song

  Anon Distance Destroys Love

  Anon The Song of Phatmal (c. 1600 CE)

  Janna (12 CE-13 CE) From The Tale of the Glory-Bearer

  Cempulappeyanirar (c. 1 CE-3 CE) What He Said

  Allur Nanmullai (c. 1 CE-2 CE) What She Said

  Anon Song

  Annamayya (1408-1503) A Woman Talking to Herself

  Shah Abdul Latif (1689-1752) The Wayward Heart

  Anon (c. 9 CE) From The Muttollayiram His Infatuates Complain

  Mir Taqi Mir The Miracle of Wine

  ‘The broom’s the limit’

  Amrita Pritam (1919-2005) Daily Wages

  Balraj Komal (b. 1928) Saba’s Hands Wear a Bridal Henna Tint Now

  Bhanudatta (c. 15 CE) From Bouquet of Rasa

  Balaram Das (c. 15 CE) From Lakshmi Purana

  Sutapa Bhattacharya (b. 1942) Draupadi

  Kamala Das (1934-2009) The Stone Age

  Cantirakanti (b. 1961) Wanted: A Broom

  Trilochan (1917-2007) Champa Doesn’t Know Her Alphabet

  Arundhathi Subramaniam (b. 1967) Tree

  Sumangala’s Mother (4 BCE) ‘Tis Well with Me

  Anon, Gujarati Folk Song My Husband’s Home

  Soma (c. 4 BCE) The Sceptic Says

  Rukmini Bhaya Nair (b. 1952) Paranomasia

  Harindra Dave (1930-95) The Speck

  Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan (b. 1935) Tar and Broom

  Mamta Kalia (b. 1940) Compulsions

  Tukaram (b. 1608-50) Where Did It Go Wrong?

  Anon, Rajputana Folk Song There Is No Limit to Desire

  Shakunt Mathur (b. 1920) Waiting

  Shobha Bhagwat (b. 1947) Husbands

  Bilqees Zafirul Hasan (b. 1938) Dignity

  Anon From The Gathasaptasati Let Faithful Wives

  Anon, Gujarati Folk Song Room Zoom

  Bihari (c. 16 CE) What One of Her Companions Said to Another

  ‘The sky between us’

  Manohar Shetty (b. 1953) Personal Effects

  Anuradha Mahapatra (b. 1957) Cow and Grandmother

  Markanda Das (15 CE) From To the Cuckoo

  Shakti Chattopadhyay (1934-95) A Memory Comes Back

  Srinivas Rayaprol (1925-98) Married Love

  Dhurjati (16 CE) My Chest Has Been Worn Away

  G.S. Shivarudrappa (b. 1926) My Pocket

  Natwarlal Pandya ‘Ushnas’ (1920-2011) I, My Father

  Anon, Bodo Folk Song Marriage Song

  Madeshwara (c. 14 CE) From Male Madeshwara

  Gnanakoothan (b. 1938) Son to Mother

  Anjum Hasan (b. 1972) In My Mother’s Clothes

  B.S. Mardhekar (1909-56) Son-in-law

  Narasinh Mehta (1408-80) Here Is a Palanquin

  O.N.V. Kurup (b. 1931) Those Who Have Lost the Nectar

  Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi (b. 1933) In the Smell of Rice Fields in Autumn

  Daljit Nagra (b. 1966) In a White Town

  S.A. Usha (b. 1954) To Mother

  Anon, Satpura Folk Song On One Side of the Ganga

  Kampan (1180-1250) From the Ramayana Patalam 8; Jatayu Gives Up His Life

  Tulsidas (c. 1527-1623) From the Ramayana Childhood of Rama

  Vinda Karandikar (b. 1918) A Stalemate

  Adil Jussawalla (b. 1940) Colour Problems in the Family

  G.J.V. Prasad Desperately Seeking India

  Imtiaz Dharker Bombay, Mumbai

  Vinod Kumar Shukla Dhaulagiri

  ‘River of blood’

  Keshav Malik (b. 1924) In Praise of Guns

  Sri Sri (1910-83) Really?

  From an oral political narrative (c. late 19 CE) The Bedas of Haligali

  Ajneya (1911-87) Hiroshima

  Amrita Pritam (1919-2005) Ode to Waris Shah

  Anon, Songs from the North (Kerala) From Unniyarcha and Aromal Unni

  Imtiaz Dharker (b. 1954) Gaddi Aa Gayi

  Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-84) The Morn
ing of Freedom, 15th August 1947

  Robin Ngangom (b. 1959) Flight

  Anon (c. 16 CE) From Purattirattu How Do I Know This Is My Son?

  Tenneti Suri (1911-58) Here Comes God

  K. Ayyappa Paniker (b. 1930) Philistines

  Auvaiyar (c. 100 BCE-250 CE) Elegy (for Anci)

  Khadar Mohiuddin (b. 1955) From Birthmark A Certain Fiction Bit Me

  Akbar Ilahabadi (1846-1921) Satirical Verses

  Rangrelo Bithu (16 CE) Praises Galore to the Land of Dhat

  Vanparanar (c. 100 BCE-250 CE) A Woman and Her Dying Warrior

  Sarala Das (15 CE) From the Mahabharata

  Mirza Mohammad Rafi Sauda (1713-80) From The State of the Realm

  Ajneya (1911-87) Kalemegdan

  Raghuvir Sahay (1929-90) Cycle Rickshaw

  Jaysinh Birjepatil (b. 1933) The Secunderabad Club

  Shrikant Varma (1931-86) Process

  Tabish Khair (b. 1966) Remembering Tiananmen

  Lakhmi Khilani (b. 1935) When That Day Comes

  Kunwar Narain (b. 1927) Ayodhya, 1992

  Vyasa From the Mahabharata Bhishma and Parsurama Engage in Combat

  Book XI Gandhari’s Lament for the Slain

  Anon, Political Song This Night Is Endless

  Pash (1950-88) No, I Am Not Losing My Sleep

  Narayan Surve (b. 1926) Lifetime

  Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena (1927-83) Red Bicycle

  Nirala (1899-1961) Breaking Stones

  Chandrashekara Patil (b. 1939) Once Upon a Time

  Purandara Dasa (1484-1564) Where Are the Untouchables

  Gieve Patel (b. 1940) Continuum

  Anon From Bharath An Epic of the Dungri Bhils

  ‘Sleep on your left side’

  Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (b. 1947) Bhojpuri Descant

  Bhavabhuti (c. 725 CE) From Act 2 Rama’s Last Act

  Gopal Honnalgere (1942-2003) How to Tame a Pair of New Chappals

  Dharmakirti (c. 7 CE) The Tradition

  Siddalingaiah (b. 1954) I Must Have a Word

  Vallana (c. 900 CE-1100 CE) The Oblique Invitation

  Ravidas (1376-1448) I’ve Never Known How to Tan or Sew

  Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) A Strange Darkness

  Kabir (c. 14 CE) Let’s Go

  Vemana (c. 17 CE/18 CE) Why Marry?

  Kanaka Ha Ma (b. 1964) Series of Omens

  Anon (c. 13 CE) From The Art of the Courtesan

  Ravji Patel (1939-68) That Afternoon

  Rabindranath Tagore (1866-1941) They Call You Mad

  From Jayavallabha’s Vajjalagam (c. 8 CE) What She Told Her Daughter about Unchaste Women

  The Dhammapada (c. 4 CE/5 CE) From The Fool

  Namdeo Dhasal (b. 1949) Stone Masons, My Father, and Me

  Kabir (c. 14 CE) Listen Carefully

  M. Gopalakrishna Adiga (1918-92) Do Something, Brother