''Jatayu'' is a
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
poetry collection by
Sitanshu Yashaschandra
Sitanshu Yashaschandra Mehta (born 19 August 1941), better known as Sitanshu Yashaschandra, is a Gujarati language poet, playwright, translator and academic from India.
He was the President of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. He was awarded the Sahi ...
published in 1986. It is a collection of
surrealistic poems based on
Indian mythology, romantic temper, modern consciousness, and nature. It won the
Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987.
Contents
Jatayu includes 34 poems divided into eight mutually unconnected sections. Each section has a line or a stanza taken from a poem to serve as a caption. The critic
Dhirubhai Thaker
Dhirubhai Premshankar Thaker (27 June 1918 – 22 January 2014) was an Indian Gujarati writer, who was best known for creating the ''Gujarati Vishwakosh'', a 25-volume encyclopedia of the Gujarati language.
Life
Thaker was born on 27 June 1918 ...
has classified these poems in five categories; surrealistic poems, poems based on Indian mythology, poems of romantic temper, nature poems, and poems reflecting modern consciousness.
Of the six surrealistic poems, "Pralay" (The flood) and "Moen-jo-dado: Ek Surreal Akasmaat" are considered the best by several critics. "Pralay" presents a feeling of death or destruction, with the help of situations described in several modes of narration. Sitanshu has used images like the
cobra, the moon,
pallbearers,
pests
PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...
, a pregnant maiden, flood, famine, fire, a woman and
nothingness
Nothing, the complete absence of anything, has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BC. Early Greek philosophers argued that it was impossible for ''nothing'' to exist. The atomists allowed ''nothing'' but only i ...
to arouse the feeling of death or destruction.
The title poem, "Jatayu", is an experiment in
Akhyana, a poetic form of medieval Gujarati literature inspired by the character of
Jatayu
Jatayu ( sa, जटायुः, IAST: ) is a demigod in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', who has the form of either an eagle or a vulture. He is the younger son of Aruṇa and his wife Shyeni, the brother of Sampati, as well as the nephew of Garud ...
in the epic ''
Ramayana''. It presents a feeling of the distressful condition of modern man.
Reception
''Jatayu'' was well received by readers and critics. Dhirubhai Thaker acclaimed the poems for their technique of sound of words, symbols and surreal diction. He further added that in some poems like "Haa" and "Ghero", which however are fine pieces of imagery, the language loses its sharpness due to the long and unclear expressions.
The book was selected for the
Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987.
It had its first edition in 1986, second in 1991, third in 2000, and fourth in 2009. The fourth edition includes an audio CD of poems recited by the poet himself.
Translation
The book was translated by
Chandra Prakash Deval
Chandra Prakash Deval is a Rajasthani poet and translator. He is also the convener of Rajasthani Advisory Council of Sahitya Akademi.
Translations
He has translated Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Hindi and Punjabi poems and books into Rajasthani. ...
into
Rajasthani
Rajasthani may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India
* Rajasthani languages, a group of languages spoken there
* Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the region
* Rajasthani architecture
* Rajasthani art ...
in 1996.
The title poem, ''Jatayu'', has been translated by
Rachel Dwyer
Rachel Dwyer is a professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema at SOAS, University of London.
Life
Dwyer took her BA in Sanskrit at SOAS, followed by an MPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford. Her PhD resear ...
into English.
References
External links
* {{Gujarati Vishwakosh
1986 books
1986 poems
Gujarati-language poetry collections
Sahitya Akademi Award-winning works
Indian poetry collections
20th-century Indian books
Jatayu