IJRAR



AN ORISSAN PANORAMA: A STUDY OF THE SELECTED POEMS OF NIRANJAN MOHANTY

BY

SUJATA BOSE

RESEARCH SCHOLAR

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

UNIVERSITY OF GOUR BANGA

WEST BENGAL

ADDRESS: BLOCK-6, D-87 P.O. FARAKKA BARRAGE DIST. MURSHIDABAD, WEST BENGAL PIN-742212

MOB:9474557742

EMAIL ID: sujata.eric@

ABSTRACT

Critics like Polly Stewart opine that the specificity of a ‘region’ is achieved when the consciousness of a sense of belonging to a particular place is felt. Some other critics are of the view that the term ‘region’ is not easily definable. In fact, what we call regional literature is akin to local color fiction, an offshoot of realism which flourished from the close of the Civil War till the end of the nineteenth century. Regional literature provides ample scope for imaginative expression while giving an accurate description of a particular region, specially rural area and small towns, lending the region in discussion a unique touch.

The existence of regional literature in India is age-old and is traceable in the myths, fables and kathas of the region. Following the steps of Indian writers like R.K. Narayan, Jayanta Mahapatra etc., Niranjan Mohanty, the Orissan poet expresses his sensitive awareness towards his native place and creates a regional atmosphere in his literary works. The social life of Orissa, their religious affairs, cultures, problems have found a place in his poetry as in “Irony”, “Kalahandi”, “Grief”, “Ritual” etc. The poet creates a documentation of Orissan life through his poetry and while doing so, he transforms his work of art to a universal song of humanity.

Keywords: regionalism, nationalism, realism, place, culture

AN ORISSAN PANORAMA: A STUDY OF THE SELECTED POEMS OF NIRANJAN MOHANTY

The term ‘region’ is usually understood as the language, setting, customs, social structure or in other words the physical entity expressing certain notable characteristics of a particular area. The word ‘region’ comes from the word ‘regio(n-)’ meaning ‘direction, district’. The Oxford English dictionary defines ‘region’ as ‘an area, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries’(Web). Although region and regional histories existed before the advent of colonialism, the notion of regionalism has come into effect due to the emergence of nationalism. Certain cultural processes like history, folklore, songs, literary texts, symbols have led to the construction of the notion of nationalism in people's minds but have failed to make distinctions based on region, religion, language and class. Polly Stewart defines a region as ‘a region's consciousness of itself’ (qtd in Chapter One: Shodhganga, 28), a sense of belonging to a particular place which includes class, ethnicity, caste and economic status.

Norton Ginsberg, however, claims that the term ‘region’ has no universally accepted definition and therefore, ‘region’ is also not easily definable (stated in Conclusion: Shodhganga, 278). Donna M. Campbell in her article Regionalism and Local Color Fiction points out that ‘regionalism’ and ‘local color fiction’ flourished from the close of the Civil War till the end of the nineteenth century. She further pointed out that Ann Douglas Wood called women's regional literature as a ‘literature of impoverishment’ (974). In fact, twentieth century critics opine local color fiction as the offshoot of mainstream realism. Later on, James M. Cox pointed out that for the local colorists’ ‘region was a refuge for imaginative expression, yet it was also the enclosure that kept them in their place’ (Cox: 1987, 767). Marjorie Pryse and Judith Fetterley saw regionalism as a woman's genre. According to them, local color literature use regional materials for the interest of the urban elite class whereas regional literature has a sympathetic approach. By promoting ‘regionalism’ we are actually promoting our national literature.

Regional literature exhibit a close bond with the conventions of realism because it attempts to give an accurate description of the region, including the manners, morals, landscape, dialects of a clearly definable geographical area specially rural areas or small towns. Regional literature is not merely a photographic reproduction of a place. It is the uniqueness of a particular region that is stressed upon with a gradual move from the particular to the general i.e. regional literature surmounts the limits of the region and lends the work of art a universal touch, transforming the regional song to the saga of humanity in general.

Regional literature has made a long journey. Looking back at the works of Wordsworth we find him singing of the Lake Districts of Cumberland, Sir Walter Scott of the border countries, Jane Austen describing the countryside of London, Maria Edgeworth of London and Bath, Charles Dickens of the dingy, claustrophobic atmosphere of London. All the literary artists in the process of negotiating the regional space recreate an imaginary or real story of a people, culture and identity. Thomas Hardy creates an imaginary place in the South western part of England called Wessex, endowing the place with the features of the rural life of Dorset. Wessex is presented as a foil to the polluted industrial cities. Ruskin Bond's sense of place ties him to the beautiful scenario of Dehradun—the place of his growing up and the place he exploited in his literary creations.

The regional literature of India is age-old though the term 'regional literature' is a later development. The regional fables, myths, kathas cast a sublime influence on the literary works while at the same time unveils the inexhaustible past of India including the geographical and cultural specificities of the regions. The Indian regional writers like Tarashankar Banerjee, Kuvempu retell stories of actual regions like Shivkalipur, Malnad; R. K. Narayan creates a fictional place 'Malgudi' in South India and sets his stories in and around this town. Poets like Jayanta Mahapatra, Bibhu Padhi have also recreated Orissa in their poems. Jayanta Mahapatra acknowledges his relationship with his native land in his own words:

To Orissa, to this land in which my roots lie and lies my past and in which lies my beginning and my end, where the wind keens over the grip of the River Daya and where the waves of the Bay of Bengal fail to reach out today to the twilight soul of Konark, I acknowledge my relationship. (Sarangi: 2009, 02)

Following the footsteps of the genius Jayanta Mahapatra, the other veteran poet of Orissa, Niranjan Mohanty has also explored his native place Orissa in his poems. Mohanty's eight volumes of poetry bear the mark of his deep love for his land and people. One needs to look through the lens of Mohanty's poetry to have a view of social life of Orissa, their social rituals, religious affairs, cultures, the glaring social problems and other aspects of Orissan life which, nonetheless, proceeds to establish the Oriya identity. The very name 'Orissa' at once recalls to our mind 'Puri' and 'Rathyatra' which commemorates the annual journey of Lord Krishna from Gokul to Mathura in the month of June:

... it's the Ganges

that lingers madly in me

like the huge round eyes of the Lord

whose annual journey around

wakes me to myself, and drags me

to the Car Festival at Puri. ("Irony", OTYOP 3)

Life at Orissa is intimately related to Lord Jagannatha. We, therefore, find Niranjan Mohanty devoting his magnum opus to Lord Jagannatha. His deep faith in the Lord is only a representation of the true faith and love of the typical Orissan people for their Lord. So, in Prayers to Lord Jagannatha, Mohanty expresses his self—

Grant me the scattering of myself

on your twenty-two steps

where nectar is sold in the form of rice ( Prayers to Lord Jagannatha, 9)

In another poem "Faith", Mohanty delineates the spirituality and religious tolerance of the regional people patiently waiting “under the burden of uncertain fears” (OTBG,64) with “coconut, camphor and garland on their hands” (OTBG, 64) to meet their Lord. The temples at Bhubaneswar, the cathedral city of India, and at Puri clearly point out to the religious mindedness of the people of Orissa while at the same time, offering a scenic beauty—of the beautiful temples at the one hand and the surfing water of the sea at Puri and Gopalpur, on the other. It is the sea that "lick away the dust and debris" (LL 11) from the "clayey feet" (LL 11).

You can always go to the sea

watch it, dancing

It's dawn-white surf, comforting,

and composing a song for you

or may be for others

who came for relaxation

when the city burns

in a sizzling summer.

Perhaps, you can rely on the sea. (“Grief”, LL 64)

In another section of Prayers to Lord Jagannatha, Mohanty points out to a certain belief among the Orissan people to tie wish stones with sacred thread around the banyan tree which, they assume, would bring about a fulfilment of their wish. The banyan tree thus, acquires the status of a symbol, as it is believed that it is under the banyan tree that the divine love of Radha and Krishna flourished. Lord Jagannatha and Lord Krishna, the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and the preserver of the Universe, both are equally revered by the natives of Orissa. Mohanty's devotional self pushed him to write a long poem Krishna based on the commitment of Radha and Krishna towards each other, but with a twist. Mohanty blends myth and reality in this long poem and presents Krishna in a humanised form. Here, Krishna is the narrator and is in continuous search of his beloved Radha. The general convention of presenting the females, be it Radha or Mira as the narrator as in Kamala Das's poem Radha, The Flute Player of Brindavan by Sarojini Naidu or Dilip Kumar Ray's Mira in Brindavan has not been followed by Mohanty. The unconditional love and devotion between Radha and Krishna is celebrated by people all over the world. The distinction between 'I' and 'you' gets blurred gradually in the poem, says S. K. Padhy and an immaculate togetherness could be witnessed—

You alone can scan me, measure me

and my irksome totality.

But remember, you can measure

my totality only when I'm with you;

without you, I'm nothing ( Krishna, 59-60)

With this belief in the power of love and faith, the Orissan people epitomise Lord Krishna and Lord Jagannatha. This religious culture has penetrated into their lives and revitalises them and ennobles them in the face of gruesome affairs. Their love for the Lord drives them to a state of frenzy—

Oh Lord, on wide avenue of your love,

your devotees, your blind disciples

dance like waves, not knowing exactly

what vibrates, what stirs the air,

the water, the fire and the throbbing ether.

An unknown madness makes them fragrant. (Prayers to Lord Jagannatha, 85)

The belief in the Jagannatha culture nurtures a feeling of communal harmony in the Orissan people. The poet converses and complains to the humanised Lord Jagannatha against those people who are responsible for the Kalinga war, the battle of Plassey, the Jalianwalabagh tragedy, the Partition of Bengal, the murder of Gandhi etc. As Sudhir Kumar Arora quotes Rajendra Kumar Mohanty from Orissa Review, December-2005, 32:

Lord Jagannatha symbolizes universal love and humanism. Myths, history and legends mingled over centuries and have formed a composite culture of Lord Jagannatha. He is not only the Lord of Hindu or Indian, but also the God of entire humanity. (Arora: 2011, 55-56)

Mohanty's poems offer a documentation of the social rites and rituals of Orissa. The poet gives a graphic description of the religious rituals observed on the death of close relatives. Mohanty recalls the day when his granny died and the religious performances carried thereupon—

With six pieces of bamboo,

our neighbour Ram bhai, made out something

like a stretcher.

A mat was spread on it. And then a clean

bedsheet. And then flowers, basil plant,

my granny's walking stick, tobacco pouch

and at last, my granny. ("An Encounter with Death", LL 21)

The poet's great uncle led the procession "throwing cowrie, coins and puffed paddy," (LL 21) followed by his father, uncles, cousin brothers, relatives and villagers chanting "Hari bol, hari bol/ bol hari, hari bol" (LL 21). Ram bhai laid out granny on the pyre and asked his father to "add fire to my granny's face" (LL 22). After the funeral rites, all the people returned back without looking back or uttering a word "as the priest ordered" (LL 23). The rituals do not end here. Ten days after granny's death, all the male members of the family are required to shave off their hair. For that purpose, Boi bhai sharpened his razor and scissor and ordered all to wet their heads in the pool—

I smiled. Then uncles, then my father.

It was all over, as though, a ceremony.

1 p.m.

Shaven, we looked like followers

of Shri Chaitanya. We dived into the pool. ("Ritual", LL 26)

Apart from being religious to the core, the Orissan people are also superstitious and this also gets reflected in Mohanty's poems. In the poem "A Certain Change", the falling of a lizard on the left arm or chest, the twitching left-eye lashes, the repeated barkings of a dog, the cranky sound of a bullock cart are taken as signs of omen in the countryside. The poet, in these situations, hastily spit on his chest to avoid any ill-happenings. However, as the poet grew up in the light of proper education, his rational mind made him shun at least some of the delusive customs of the society, although not all.

Regional literature demands a sincere and honest elucidation of the region under discussion. Niranjan Mohanty is, therefore, very authentic in his descriptions of the Orissan life and landscape. He gives a graphic picture of the village farmers' euphoria at the time of harvest in late November. The sight of the field full of crops give them immense joy so much so that they dance around the fields in utter jubilation—

It's late November.

And a nuptial numbness

nibbling at the sky.

The endless paddy fields,

when the farmers

dance around

hoping to live on

year after year. ("All that Happens in a Late November", LL 28)

In an interview with Jaydeep Sarangi, Mohanty said:

Unless a creative writer establishes an impassioned connection with his own culture, land, spiritual tradition, he wouldn't discover a meaning either in life or in his creative process.... As a poet, I cannot ignore the land and its people. They occupy a significant space in my popery. I'm fully aware of my rootedness (Sarangi: 2009, 135).

The daily chores of the rural areas of Orissa has been minutely depicted by the poet. "The Best Sights" is an epitome of such a matchless description of the countryside. Very common sights observable in villages has been rendered uncommon by the poet when he begins to put down a catalogue of village sights beginning with the milkman—

the milkman milching the cow

keeping the milk pail between his knees,

and the white bubbles in the pail

bursting, resurfacing, bursting again

to make the pail full; ("The Best Sights", TOP 68)

The sight of a "white complexioned, bright eyed" (TOP 68) girl washing rice in a pond "in a bamboo-skin pail" (TOP 68) with her feet half immersed in water has been excellently drawn. The rain, which is a recurrent motif in Mohanty's poetry has been repeated in this poem too. The description of the falling rain through the thatched roof of the village hut is picturesque in detail and could be visualised:

the rain falling on the thatched roof

and the drops falling on to the ground

through the yellow straw,

and a few drops, like pearl,

sticking to the edge of the straw

waiting for the breeze

to quicken their falling ("The Best Sights", TOP 68)

Poets like Jayanta Mahapatra, Bibhu Padhi, Niranjan Mohanty have a special affinity for rain. Rain carries different emotions and symbols for each of the poets. Bibhu Padhi has written a number of poems on rain like "A Day of Rain", "June Rain" etc. In the poem “When it Rains” Mohanty becomes nostalgic. He meditates and watches the rain "lifting the level of water in our back-yard pond" (TOP, 50) on whose banks his dead father had planted ten coconut trees and ten mango trees. He watches the rain cleaning the "slim backs of naked children/ jumping, laughing, dancing in the rain"(TOP, 50) and making the paddy fields "green with animated whispers/ and over them, a flock of orioles' excited flutter" (TOP, 50).

Niranjan Mohanty feels quite jubilant and proud in sketching the glorious picture of his native land but at the same time does not hesitate to highlight the grim realities of his place. In spite of the light of globalization, his place suffers from unemployment, hunger, suicide, rape, over population, low salary, dowry system etc. The poet mourns and expresses with a sigh that even after fifty years of independence "nothing has changed" (“After Fifty Years”, AHR 102) there is "death-traps, everywhere", "children go rickety by day", "hospitals cure no diseases", "skeletal dogs and bony mouths move about" ("After Fifty Years”, AHR, 102). The poet finds "rotten vegetables" in the "stinking market, there are no flowers in spring time, no sweet-singing birds, the "ponds house dirts" and the "rivers swallow drain waters" ("After Fifty Years" AHR, 103). This is the true picture of yet "another hell" ("After Fifty Years" AHR, 103) after fifty years. The poet regrets at the pitiable sight of Kalahandi, a district in the western part of Orissa which was quite an affluent place years ago. The poet’s heart goes heavier when he describes the present plight of the place:

Cattle chew paper scraps and linen,

butterflies flounder about black stones.

Rivers do not flow here...

No vegetation, no fruition

only the bones' hunger seeks an ascension.("Kalahandi", AHR 31)

The poet draws a pathetic picture of the hunger-stricken people who does not even hesitate to "sleep" (AHR 31) with visitors for some food. There is an urge in the words of the old woman who wants the younger generation to survive. She says—

Tonight, you stay here. Don't feed me.

for, I'm a ripe mango, sure to fall soon.

Give that girl some food. The road lies open

for her. Touch her tenderly. Sleep with her

if you like, take her. Never permit her

to be stung once again by hunger. ("Kalahandi", AHR 30-31)

Mohanty is not confined to the strict limits of regionalism. His heart bleeds when he sees his country burning, when he hears the "tempestuous uproar" (“A Night That Keeps Crawling Towards My Blood”, OTBG 79) of terrorists everywhere. The bomb blast in the streets, the blood bath in the temples in the spectacle of the day. Mohanty candidly expresses the realities of the nation where the "chief- priest's son locked / the beggar-maid in the prison of his loins" ("Near The Temple", OTBG 66) and transcends the boundaries of the nation to general human concerns. In the poem "When We Meet" (LL) the poet expresses his deep concern regarding the the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy or the liquor tragedy in Cuttack, the spreading of diseases like AIDS in the villages, the rapid deforestation in the world bringing ecological imbalance and the catastrophic collapse of the Soviet Union. Jayanta Mahapatra also expresses the same awareness regarding the dismal situation of the country affected by poverty and deprivation. In the poem "Possessions" Mahapatra harps on the reality of the day—

Tonight, the politician will turn

on the country with his power.

His face will be well under control

And tomorrow, sixty thousand children will go hungry

again.

Poets will sip their tea in stupid-looking cater,

or dangle in unknown fields

like embarrassed scarecrows. ("Possessions", Shadow Space 24-25)

Mohanty is aware that his city is the city of "dust, debris and dung" ("Ants", LL 45), yet he calls this city his very own. His city is the "city of murder", "a city of beggars", "a city of mosquitoes", "of hoarding, harrowing/ hoodwinking, hammering,/ and whoring" ("Ants", LL 45). The people in the cities have transformed to cracked stones and only their groaning voices are audible which gradually become mute. Yet this "clairvoyant city" of Bhubaneswar "is the urn of my salvation" ("Bhubaneswar", OTYOP 80). This is the place where the poet turns back time and again to find solace from all the worries of life.

This is the place I return to

when the entire world rocks on

a swing of sleep. Perhaps, I'm

more comfortable here, more at ease

more secured than a babe asleep

uninterrupted burying his face

between the mother's breasts

under the blanket of a winter night,

without glamour of dreams or clamour of fright. ("A Place", LL, 82)

---------------

WORKS CITED

1. Arora, Sudhir K. Niranjan Mohanty: The Man and His Poetry. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2011. Print.

2. Kumar, Archana. “Krishna: The Divine Quest for Human Love.” A Great Orissan Pilgrim: A Study of Niranjan Mohanty’s works. Ed. Jaydeep Sarangi. New Delhi: Sarup Book Publishers, 2009.115-124. Print.

3. Agrawal, Dr. Tarit. “Regional Literature: The Saga of the Changing Traditions of India.” Ashvammegh xviii, July 2016, pp. 1-5, regional-literature-changing-traditions-india-paper/

4. Bhise, Alka and Amol A. Fartode. “Robert Frost as a Regional Poet.” International Journal of English Research, vol. 3, no. 3, May 2017, pp. 52-54, archives/2017/vol3/issue3/3-3-28,

5. Campbell, Donna M. “Regionalism and Local Color Fiction.” American History Through Literature, 1870-1920. 2006. 971-977, cms/lib/PA01000188/Centricity/Domain/667/English/Huck Finn/Regionalism.pdf

6. Cox, James M. “Regionalism: A Diminished Thing.” Columbia Literary History of the United States. Ed. Emory Elliott et al. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. 761-784. Print.

7. Fetterley, Judith and Marjorie Pryse. Writing Out of Place: Regionalism, Women, and American Literary Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. Print.

8. Mishra, Binod and Sudhir K. Arora eds. Festivals of Fire: A study of the Poetry of Niranjan Mohanty. New Delhi: Adhyayan, 2010. Print.

9. Mohanty, Niranjan. Oh This Bloody Game! (abbr. to OTBG) Berhampore: Poetry Publication, 1988. Print.

10. -------. Prayers to Lord Jagannatha. NewDelhi: Indus(HarperCollins), 1994. Print.

11. -------. On Touching You and Other Poems. (abbr. to OTYOP) Kolkata: Cambridge, 1999. Print.

12. -------. Life Lines. (abbr. to LL) Kolkata: Cambridge, 1999. Print.

13. -------. Krishna. Bhubaneswar: Avanti, 2003. Print.

14. -------. Tiger and Other Poems. (abbr. to TOP) New Delhi: Sarup and Sons, 2008. Print.

15. -------. A House of Rains. (abbr. to HR) Kolkata: Cambridge, 2008. Print.

16. Padhy, S.K. “The Eternal Flute-Player: A Study in Niranjan Mohanty’s Krishna.” The Atlantic Literary Review 7.2 (Apr-Jun 2006): 89-101. Print.

17. Sarangi, Jaydeep ed. A Great Orissan Pilgrim: A Study of Niranjan Mohanty’s Works. New Delhi: Adhyayan, 2009. Print.

18. Singh, Rajni and Uttam Kumar. “Orissan Culture and Landscape in the Poetry of Niranjan Mohanty.” Festivals of Fire: A Study of the Poetry of Niranjan Mohanty.” Eds. Binod Mishra and Sudhir K. Arora. New Delhi: Adhyayan, 2009. 66-78. Print.

19. Wood, Ann Douglas. “The Literature of Impoverishment: The Women Local Colorists in America, 1865-1914.” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1 (1972): 3-46, 10.1080/00497878.1972.9978296

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