Literary landscape of North India
INDIRA PARTHASARATHY
KNIT INDIA THROUGH LITERATURE, Vol.IV — The North: Sivasankari; Westland Books Ltd., 571, Poonamalle High Road, Kamaraj Bhavan, Aminjikarai, Chennai-600029. Rs. 900.
The heritage of a country is represented by the evolution of its ideational culture. India with its ethnic diversity, linguistic variety, and climatic differences, fulfils the definition of a continent, geographically speaking. But, from time immemorial, this country known as Bharath in the past, has always been identified within its own natural boundaries as one cultural unit with various modes of artistic expressions. This is best illustrated by the same Rama story being retold in every language of the country in different ways (without offending the main frame of the content) befitting the cultural flavour of the region in which the particular language is spoken.
Stupendous task
Sivasankari must be highly commended for taking upon herself the stupendous task of projecting a holistic concept of the Indian literature of the contemporary era — a project which, in fact, belongs to the realm of a university department dedicated to the study of comparative Indian literature, or to that of a learned literary academy enjoying institutional support.
Inspired by a tale her mother had told her, when she was a child, Sivasankari took up this project “to share the literary bounty with all her countrymen,” nearly 17 years ago and has successfully brought this endeavour to fruition with this fourth volume that deals with the languages spoken in Northern India, such as Kashmiri, Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi. Sanskrit is also included in this volume, although one may ask whether Sanskrit can be regionalised as such. And her answer is that “…for centuries, Sanskrit ruled the roost in the Kashmir valley more than in any [other] part of the country.” Literaure is not the only mode through which Sivasankari has chosen to ‘knit’ India. She has also used history and geography, in the sense, that she has travelled extensively in the country during her literary odyssey to portray the distinctive identity of each region in the background of its cultural antiquity and chronology. The myths and legends she narrates, relating to the places she visited, jostle with meticulous historical details to make her travel descriptions absorbing and reader-friendly.
She has interviewed 22 writers across five languages, of whom six are women. Two of the men writers are Dalits, one of them in Punjabi and the other in Hindi. This gives a comprehensive view of the literary landscape of the Northern region.One of the Sanskrit scholars interviewed claims that five million people in India have Sanskrit as their mother tongue, which is good to hear but difficult to believe!
Interviews
Sivasankari has interviewed many of the outstanding authors in these languages — Prof.Rahman Rahi (Kashmiri), Prof.Gurdial Singh (Punjabi), Qurratulain Hyder(Urdu), and Nirmal Varma (Hindi), to name a few. Samples of their writings and a brief history of the languages have also been given.
Balbir Madhopuri (Punjabi), and Mohan Dass Nemishray (Hindi) are the two Dalit writers featured in this volume and their views on writing and literature appear to be no different from the views of the rest of the Dalit writers in the country, as all of them have one thing in common — that they represent the oppressed class of the society and have been the victims of the varnashrama dharma since the Vedic times. Even if they get converted to another religion that promises equality, they are not free from the social stigma of belonging to the lowest caste, as evidenced by what Balbir says about Sikhism.
Most of those interviewed have bemoaned that it may not be possible to eke out one’s livelihood by being a full-time writer in their language. This is true of full-time writers in almost all the languages in India, except perhaps English. English, according to Sheldon Pollock, who edited ‘Literary cultures in History’, is also an Indian language, “as the Indo-Anglian literature has a distinctive culture that constitutes the intrinsic part of Indian consciousness.” Maybe, Sivasankari should have included English also in her magnum opus!
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