Shiv Kumar Batalvi: The Keats of Punjabi Literature

              Shiv Kumar Batalvi: The Keats of Punjabi Literature

                                    (His Death Anniversary falls on 7^th May)

                                                                                                          

                             Zindgi us ke liye ik maut thi
                             Who pa gaya hai zindagi darasal mar jane ke baad. 

Poetry has been a part of Punjab’s culture as an important feature of Punjabis’ living experience since at least, and probably long before, the time of the first major Punjabi poet, Baba Farid (1173-1265). During the following centuries, it took many different and distinct forms and besides producing a long line of distinguished poets in the Sufi and kissa (epic love story) tradition, its oral tradition encompasses a wide variety of popular poetry in its folk songs and verse-dramas on the themes of religious mythology. The classical period of Sufi and kissa Punjabi poetry came to an end at the turn of the 20th century.

By then, Punjabi poets had already started adopting modern verse forms. Bhai Vir Singh was the first Punjabi poet who introduced free verse in Punjabi poetry. During the first half of 20th century, Punjabi poetry went through the process of a complete transformation from traditional to modern with the political, economical and cultural changes that were taking place in India and the rest of the world. The world wars on international front, Marxist/Leninist revolution in Russia and India’s own independence struggle on the national level brought about several changes in the life and outlook of people that were also reflected in Punjabi literature.

By the time Shiv Kumar Batalvi started writing poetry in late 50’s, the classical Punjabi poetry period was already long over and post-partition poetry was represented by many emerging progressive and modern trends, dominated by Prof. Mohan Singh, Amrita Pritam and other stalwarts of modern Punjabi poetry.

Shiv was not just a poet of a few dozen popular poems nor was his poetry limited to a couple of topics. He was a very versatile poet of many different styles and a wide range of subjects. Throughout his brief poetic career, his poetry shows a continuous progression from the early pangs of birha (separation from loves ones) to increasingly complex emotions and different reactions to his inner sufferings and towards society at large. His sense of his own identity also went through many changes. He travelled a great distance from his first collection of poems Peeran Da Paraga (A Handful of Pains), published in 1960, to his last major work Mein Te Mein (Me and Myself) published in 1970. 

Peeran Da Paraga (A Handful of Pains) is Shiv’s first published collection of poetry consisting of 25 poems. It includes poems that he had written between 1957 and 1960 expressing pain and sorrow of separation and his desire for death. It includes some of his early popular poems.  Lajwanti (The Shy Maid) came single year after the publication of his first collection Shiv appeared to have arrived at a level of maturity that was not as prominent in his earlier poetry. This collection has some remarkable poems on many different subjects. In all of his poetry, there are certain subjects that he has touched upon once, writing a memorable poem on it, and then never coming back to the same subject. In this collection, Sheesho, an exceptionally beautiful and comparatively long poem, falls in that category. Shiv’s description of the exploitation of a poor village girl by the rich landowner is remarkable both for its poetic qualities and for Shiv’s heart wrenching pity and compassion about the poor girl’s plight. A long poem, Geet (A song -Uchcian paharan diya ohle ohle soorja – O Sun, hiding behind the high peaks of mountains) is an example of Shiv’s mastery of describing natural scenery:

The sun peeks out
From behind the high mountains, 
Planting little seedling of light.
It crushes the yellow sunshine 
Into small pieces, 
To make anklets for the mountaintops!

Ankle deep in the wind
Flow fragrances,
The birds fall asleep.
Through a clump of green trees
A water channel flows
Piping a melody!

Seeing the blue lotus
In the mirror like water
The drooping leaves weep.
The wind has tied
Tiny anklets around its feet,
And stamps her heels as she walks!
………….

[Translation: Suman Kashyap]

A totally different mood from the sadness of some of his other poems, dominates another poem by the tile of Geet (A Song):

Where rivulets of perfume flow,
There my beloved lives.
Where passing breezes halt,
There my beloved lives.

Where dawn arrives on little bare toes,
Where night throws henna-beams on feet.
Where fragrance bathes in moonlight,
There my beloved lives.
…………

[Translation: Suman Kashyap].

Atte Deean Chirian (The Sparrows of Kneaded Flour) is quite different from the previous two collections, both in matter as well as in its various themes. Shiv experimented with different themes under a dominant mood of sensuous feelings. He also returned back to the topic of birha in Shikra (A Falcon) and couple of other poems. Once again, there are poems in this collection that display his wide versatility of subjects, including various themes that are limited to single poems, i.e., Hijra (Eunuch) and Zakham (A Wound). Shiv also further experimented in some poems by writing them in the prevalent style of expressing post-modern consciousness. Shiv was awarded the first prize from the Language Department of Punjab for this collection.

Mainu Vida Karo  is another collection of songs full of symbols of death and pain of separation that he expressed in different forms .

Assan Taan Joban Rutte Marna
Mur Jana Assan Bhare Bharaye
Hijar Tere di kar Parkarma
Assan Taan Joban Rutte Marna

(I am going to die in the season of youth,
I am going to depart without emptying my contents,
After completing a cycle of separation from you,
I am going to die in the season of youth)

            Loonan  is an epic-like verse play and is considered by many of Shiv’s critics as his masterpiece and most significant literary achievement. Shiv reworked the theme of Puran Bhagat, a mythical folklore of Punjab about the implications of marrying a young girl with an old man. In the traditional story the young wife is depicted as an evil villain in her relationship with the grown-up son of her husband from his first marriage. Shiv wrote his poem from the perspective of injustice to the young wife. He altogether changed the traditional character of Loonan that is portrayed in the legend as a wicked, lustful and cruel woman. He made Loonan a sympathetic character and challenged the male dominated society to reconsider their norms and moral values. Shiv was awarded Sahitiya Academy award for this book in 1967.

            In Loonan, Shiv presents a remarkably incisive and insightful appreciation of women’s sufferings in a patriarchy and exposes its moral values as the tools that force women to sacrifice their individuality to fit in various roles assigned to them. Reading the deliberate politics of the monarchical discourse in the legend, Shiv presents it from women’s point of view. More importantly, Shiv rejects the glorification of patriarchal assignment of women’s role and instead

            Mein Te Mein (Me and Myself) is a long narrative poem that is written in a very different style and on themes that Shiv had not fully explored before. With this book, Shiv reached the height of his poetic evolution and practically the end of his poetic career. It is in the form of a monologue in search of his identity and inner self that is being torn apart by the demons of past and emotional responses to different events in his tortured life. The poem depicts the tragedy of modern man’s life in many different settings. There appear many autobiographical elements in this poem and it can be considered as an investigation by the poet of the complexities of his own life.

            One of the most prominent aspects of Shiv’s poetry is its ever-increasing popularity that has continued to grow since his death and has surpassed all other Modern Punjabi poets. Besides more than 20 books and numerous articles that have so far been published on his life and poetry, his poetry has also been the research topic of many doctoral theses at various Indian universities. Perhaps the most important market-based indicator of the popularity of Shiv’s poetry is the large number of recordings of his poems made for commercial audio albums by Indian and Pakistani Punjabi singers, including: Surrinder Kaur, Jagjit Zirvi, Pushpa Hans, Assa Singh Mastana, Mohinder Kapoor, Jagjeet Singh, Chitra Singh, Kuldip Deepak, Jagmohan Kaur, K. Deep, Dolly Guleria, Bhupinder Singh, Mitali Singh, Kavita Karishnamurthi, Deedar Pardesi, Jasbir Jassi, Neelam Sahani, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Shazia Manzoor, Ghulam Ali, Tufail Niazi, Shaukat Ali and others. Hans Raj Hans released an album in October 2002 solely based on Shiv’s poems.

             Other than Punjabi Sufi and Qissa poets of classical period, no Punjabi poet except Shiv Kumar Batalvi has ever gained mass popularity on such a large scale. Shiv’s popularity has now reached a point where ignoring it as a yardstick to measure the significance of his poetry will amount to a contempt of the collective mind of Punjabis. He has hit a chord with the psyche of Punjabis of all backgrounds. A closer look at his poetry reveals that the success and popularity of Shiv’s poetry, to a large extent, has its genesis in following the centuries old traditions of classical Punjabi poetry. Not in its purpose, content or message, especially of Sufi and religious poetry, but in skillfully adopting the diction, vocabulary, symbolism and many of its other important aspects. By imbibing the essential elements of classical Punjabi poetry, Shiv articulated an acute historical sense and combined it in the most aesthetically pleasing way in his otherwise contemporary poetry.

            At a time when many of his contemporaries were looking towards the western and, in particular, the progressive literature from around the world to learn new techniques of writing poetry, Shiv Kumar Batalvi took his inspirations from the classical literature of his own land. He adopted many of its techniques to express the crisis of disintegration of human soul as he saw it in his own life and time. In most of his poems, the listener and reader encounter the same familiar characteristics of Punjabi classical poetry: simple language and idiom of village folks; celebration of death; lyricism; images and metaphors of rural Punjab and skillful depictions of Punjabi culture. Shiv stands out among all Punjabi poets in his unique representation of various colours and shades of Punjabi culture.