CONTENTS BLOCK 1 Selections from Ancient Texts Page No. Unit 1 Rigveda: Purusha Sukta 1-13 Unit 2 Isha Upanishad 14-30 Unit 3 The Mahabharata: The Yaksha-Yudhishthira Dialogue I 31-45 Unit 4 The Mahabharata: The Yaksha-Yudhishthira Dialogue II 46-76 BLOCK 2 Poetry in Translation Unit 5 Selections from Songs of Kabir 96-109 Unit 6 Selections from Ghalib 110-119 Unit 7 Rabindranath Tagore: Songs from Gitanjali 120-131 BLOCK 3 Poetry in English Unit 8 Sri Aurobindo and his Savitri 132-147 Unit 9 Savitri , Book Four: The Book of Birth and Quest 148-161 Unit 10 Nissim Ezekiel: “Philosophy”, “Enterprise” 162-173 Unit 11 Kamla Das: “Freaks”, “A Hot Noon in Malabar” 167-178 BLOCK 4 Fiction Unit 12 Somdev: Selections from Kathasaritsagar 174-184 Unit 13 Raja Rao: Kanthapura –I 185-191 Unit 14 Raja Rao: Kanthapura –II 192-200 BLOCK 5 Drama Unit 15 Kalidasa: Abhijnanashakuntalam –I 201-207 Unit 16 Kalidasa: Abhijnanashakuntalam –II 208-231 Unit 17 Vijay Tendulkar: Ghasiram Kotwal –I 232-240 Unit 18 Vijay Tendulkar: Ghasiram Kotwal –II 241-257 Indian Writing in English and in English Translation MAEL-203 UNIT ONE RIGVEDA: PURUSHA-SUKTA 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Objectives 1.3. A Background to Purusha-Sukta 1.4. Analysing the Text 1.4.1. The Purusha 1.4.2. Verse by verse commentary 1.4.3. The Yajna 1.5. Summing Up 1.6. Answers to Self Assessment Questions 1.7. References 1.8. Terminal and Model Questions Uttarakhand Open University 1 Indian Writing in English and in English Translation MAEL-203 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Block: Block One explores the foundations of Indian Literature. The Vedic hymns are the earliest extant poetic compositions from the Indian subcontinent. Apart from their esoteric content, the Vedas also offer a celebration of Nature, Creation and Life. As such they lay the guiding principles of literary creation for the Indian mind. The Upanishads take the tradition forward in the sense that while the core content still remains rooted in the ancient Vedic vision, the expression in the form of a new poetic speech achieves a wider rhythmic sweep of sound and sense. The Epics –Ramayana and Mahabharata – while shedding much of the esoteric content reinvent the body of literature by bringing it closer to the human existential aspiration and suffering and thus making it truly secular in scope. For this Block, we have selected Purusha-sukta, one of the most widely-known hymns from Rig Veda; Isha Upanishad, one of the shortest Upanishads and yet perhaps the most central to the Upanishadic thought; and A Dialogue between Yaksha and Yudhisthira on the nature of dharma and human conduct from Mahabharata. The three texts together help us understand the ontological basis of Indian thought and culture and reveal the core of Indian poetic speech in its beginnings. The Unit: The roots of Indian literature can be traced back to the compositions of Vedic hymns. Even if a well-defined poetics has not yet been given, as many scholars believe, the art of poetic composition shows beyond doubt an extraordinary perfection. Each Vedic hymn lists the name of Rishi (the Seer as the source of composition), of Devata or the presiding deity, and the Chhanda or metre used in the composition. In the Purusha-Sukta (Rig Veda X.90) , the Rishi is Narayanah, the presiding deity is Purushah and the meter for the first fifteen verses is anushtup and for the last verse it is trishtup. Not that we expect you to know Sanskrit, but nevertheless we have provided the Sanskrit text for those who know a little of the language and for others to draw their attention to certain key phrases in the original which we make use of while reading the text in English translation. Even a little familiarity with the original mantras will help you appreciate the fact that most of the chantings used in any Hindu ritual draw one way or the other from this hymn. We should also be very clear right from the start that in these pages we are studying literature, and not religion, philosophy, occult, cosmogenesis or any other such stuff. Of course, all this will surely draw us into a much wider question as to what is literature and what it is not, as also what accounts for the fine demarcation between vision and imagination. Uttarakhand Open University 2 Indian Writing in English and in English Translation MAEL-203 1.2 OBJECTIVES After going through this Unit, you will be able to: (a) Identify the ancient ontology at the root of Indian mind (b) Draw a plan of Indian cosmogony (c) Point out the root ideas behind Indian religion and culture (d) Critically appreciate the evocative nature of Vedic poetry 1.3 A Background to PURUSHA-SUKTA We said in the Introduction that we are going to ask some very serious questions about literature. What is at the core of an artist’s inspiration? Does one write, paint or sing to please oneself and others? Is the function of art merely to entertain, to offer some kind of escape, a relaxation, from the harshness of everyday living? Most popular forms of writing, and entertainment media like TV and cinema seem to be doing nothing else. Many people think that these are also some form of art. How would you distinguish a serious Bharatnatyam or classical music performance from their counterparts in Indian cinema, for example? One school of thought posits that serious artists are a breed apart. At one time, according to Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics , artistic inspiration or “ furor poeticus was interpreted as the superhuman state during which the poet glimpsed the ultimate nature of things, the divine archetypes.” Not only is the artist in direct communion with the divine sources of Reality, but the inspiration rushes down onto him from the very selfsame source. Such was also the view of Vedic seers. The Vedas affirm that “poets are hearers of truth”–kavayah satyasrutah . The Rishi hears the mantra : he receives it in sound-waves and in no way ‘composes’ it. That the mantras of Purusha Sukta are used in almost every Hindu ritual is an ample testimony to the fact that this hymn represents a revelation of some primordial mode of Reality. A hymn that attempts to formulate the core of the highest formless Truth is surely a pointer to the supreme labour that Indian poetry had in its purview. The English translation of the text is by Edward J. Thomas. The original text in Sanskrit is also provided. 1.4 Analysing the Text In this section we shall attempt a textual analysis of each one of the sixteen verses. In the process we will also discuss some of the major key concepts woven in the text. 1.4.1 The Purusha : Among the key concepts in the Purusha Sukta , the most central and significant is the concept of Purusha. The concept of ‘Being’ in the Western philosophy comes closest to the Indian concept of Purusha. The following entry is taken from the Glossary of Sanskrit Terms given at the end of Sri Aurobindo’s The Life Divine : Purusha — the Conscious Being; Conscious Soul; essential being supporting the play of prakriti ; a Consciousness — or a Conscient — behind, that is the lord, Uttarakhand Open University 3 Indian Writing in English and in English Translation MAEL-203 witness, knower, enjoyer, upholder and source of sanction for Nature’s works; the true or spiritual person. There are more than one etymological interpretations of the Sanskrit word Purusha but the one that is most widely accepted puts it as –‘purisheteiti purusha’. Puri is ‘city, house or dwelling place’ and shete means ‘sleeps’; therefore, the dweller in a defined space, or simply, the Inhabitant is the Purusha. To a simple enquiry “who lives in your body?” one would immediately respond: “I live in my body.” This would lead to further inquiry: who is this I, or who am I? In ancient Greece, the Oracle of Apollo announced, “Know Thyself” is the gateway of all wisdom. As one begins to dig deeper, one meets not one but many purushas : the one who dwells in the body is termed annamaya purusha ; the one who inhabits the vital sheaths is pranmaya purusha ; further on there are manomaya and vijnanmaya purushas ; finally, there is the Purushottama , the Supreme Being. What we are generally aware as ‘I’ is the ego. How is this ego different from purusha ? Well, the answer is a little cryptic: only the purusha knows itself and the shadow, ego; but the ego which is always in a denial mode, refusing vehemently to acknowledge any other lord of the house except itself, is by definition blind to any perception of the Purusha . If you find all this interesting, you are surely on your way to discovering knowledge and bliss, which for sure remains one of the central purposes of literature, indeed of all art. Vedic Rishis and Upanishadic Seers return again and again to drop hints, to provide clues to their disciples about this mystical Existent. What the disciple, the learner, makes of these hints depends on the disciple. With this, let us turn to our text to study its rich symbolism, imagery and metaphors as pure and sublime poetry. 1.4.2 Verse by verse commentary: Verse 1: Thousand-headed was the Purusha, thousand-eyed, thousand-footed. He embraced the earth on all sides, and stood beyond the breadth of ten fingers. lglz'kh"kkZ iq#"k% lglzk{k% lglzikRk~A l Hkwfea fo’orks o`RokR;fr"Bn~~ n'kkaxqye~ AA 1AA The thousand heads, eyes and feet symbolise the infinity of forms which the Purusha can take.