THE OXFORD ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN INDIAN POETRY

This anthology, the first significant work of its kind, contains some of the finest Indian poetry written in the twentieth century. Bringing together 125 poets in English and English translation from 14 Indian languages, the collection provides an overview of the major figures, forms, and movements in Indian poetry in the last hundred years. The poets represented here include Rabindranath Tagore, Subramania Bharti, Nirala, G. Shankara Kurup, Kaifi Azmi, Anuradha Mahapatra, Salim Peeradina, and Vikram Seth. The volume also represents the best work of nearly 70 translators from various countries and contains an informative critical essay on the literary, historical, and social context of modern Indian poetry as well as notes on the poems and the contributors. As a work of craftsmanship and learning, this book is a source of pleasure, discovery and stimulation for general readers and scholars alike.

About the Author:

Vinay Dharwadker, poet, translator and critic, teaches at the University of Oklahoma.

A. K. Ramanujan (1929-1993) was a poet, translator, folklorist and an eminent scholar of South Asian language and culture.

Experts from Reviews:

'…a refreshing volume…[it contains] a number of gems that are robed in the images of experience and thought.'

The Hindustan Times

This collection offers 'kaleidoscopic glimpses of life-experience.'

The Statesman

'All in all, [This] is an admirable attempt to present the growth, the dimensions and variegated depth of Indian poetry in different language.'

Indian Literary Panorama

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. ON READING A LOVE POEM
   The Pact
   P.S. Rege
   This Night
   N. Revathi Devi
   On Reading a Love Poem
   Kedarnath Singh
   Mother
   P. Lankesh
   The Girl's Desire Moves Among Her Bangles
   Gagan Gill
   flute-music
   Rabindranath Tagore
   Women in Dutch Painting
   Eunice de Souza
   Outside the Furnace
   Aziz Quaisi
   The Knot
   Vinda karandikar
   Love Poem for a Wife, 2
   A.K. Ramanujan
   Woman, 2
   Jyotsna Milan

2. A POND NAMED GANGA
   Consolidaton to Empty Pitchers
   K.S. Narasimhaswami
   The Forest of Yellow Bamboo Trees
   B.S. Mardhekar
   from Hymns in Darkness
   Nissim Ezekiel
   The Void
   G.M. Muktibodh
   Woman
   Hira Bansode
   Man
   Archana Varma
   The Wall
   Ismail
   Tall Buildings
   Munib-ur-Rahman
   Monday
   Vijaya Mukhopadhyay
   An October Morning
   Jayanta Mahapatra
   The Well
   Padma Sachdev
   Drought
   Sitanshu Yashashchandra
   If Hot Flowers Come to the Street
   R. Meenakshi
   Desert Landscape
   Agha Shahid Ali
   A Pond Named Ganga
   Chandrashekhar Kumbar

3. HOUSEHOLD FIRES
   Spell
   Anuradha Mahapatra
   Two Women Knitting
   Mrinal Pande
   Household Fires
   Indira Sant
   To Mother
   S. Usha
   Salutations
   Shanmuga Subbiah
   This Man
   G.S. Shivarudrappa
   Amalkanti
   Nirendranath Chakrabarti
   Compromise
   Akhtar-ul-Iman
   Fear
   Devdas Chhotray
   Humiliation
   Kaifi Azmi
   Freak
   Chandrashekhar Patil
   Robinson Crusoe
   Soubhagya Kumar Mishra
   The Buddha
   Daya Pawar
   My Father Travels
   Dilip Chitre
   Girl in the Kitchen
   Viadehi
   Hot Noor in Malabar
   Kamala Das
   To My Daughter
   N. Balamani Amma
   Her Garden
   Meena Alexander
   Avatars
   V. Indira Bhavani
   Husband
   Popati Hiranandani
   Man: 1961
   Pranabendu Dasgupta
   Genesis
   K. Satchidanandan
   Sisters
   Saleem Peeradina
   Family Pride
   T.S. Venugopalan
   Times Wins
   Benoy Majumdar
   Forensic Medicine
   Gieve Patel
   Another Me
   Api
   Birthmarks
   Rajani Parulekar

4. THE MASTER CARPTENTER
   from Some People Laugh, Some People Cry
   Sri Sri
   The Roys
   Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
   The pleasure Dome
   Shrikant Verma
   The Master Carpenter
   G. Shankara Kurup

5. WHAT IS WOTH KNOWING
   Poem
   Labhshankar Thacker
   What Is Worth Knowing?
   Sujata Bhatt
   Situation
   Kaa Naa Subramanyam
   The Creative Process
   Amrita Pritam
   A Pair of Glasses
   Savithri Rajeevan
   The Diamond ofCharacter
   Kabita Sinha
   Tamil
   Ganakoothan
   Our Hindi
   Raghuvir Sahay
   Woman
   Siddhalinga Pattanshetti
   The Naming of Things
   Bahinabai Chaudhari
   The yellow River
   Nabaneeta Dev Sen
   Old Leaves from the Chinese Earth
   Sadanand Rege
   The Itch
   K. Ayyapa Paniker
   I and 'I'
   Khalil-ur-Rahman Azmi
   White Paper
   Nara
   Wind, 9
   Subhramania Bharti
   Forgive Me
   Shakti Chattopadhyay
   On Bismillah Khan's Shenai
   Chennavira Kanavi
   Still Life
   Shahryar
   The Alphabet
   Arun Kolatkar

6. THE DOE IN HEAT
   Green Snake
   B.R. Lakshman Rao
   Snake
   Paresh Chandra Raut
   Dawn
   Nirmalprabha Bardoloi
   In Camp
   Jibanananda Das
   Fish
   Bhanuji Rao
   Santhal Poems, 1
   Bishnu De
   A Page grom the New Diary
   Nida Fazli
   Next Page
   Atmanam
   Whirlwind
   Ravji Patel
   National Bird
   N. Pichamurti
   Face to Face
   K.V. Tirumalesh
   Frogs
   Buddhadeva Bose
   The Black Panther
   Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena

7. THE POSSESSED CITY
   Sea Breeze, Bombay
   Adil Jussawalla
   Calcutta and I
   Sunil Gangopadhyay
   Tryst
   Sunanda Tripathy
   New Delhi, 1974
   Vinay Dharwadker
   The City, Evening, and an Old Man: Me
   Dhoomil
   Winding Sand
   Narehs Guha
   Jaisalmer, 1
   Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh
   Speaking of Place
   R. Parthasarathy
   Almora Spring
   Sumitranandan Pant
   On the Slope of this Hill
   Shamsher Bahadur Singh
   Passing Through Rajasthan
   Umashankar Joshi
   Rice
   Chemmanam Chacko
   Of Mohenjo Daro at Oxford
   Keki N. Daruwalla
   Fire
   Amiya Chakravarty
   American Tourist
   B.C. Ramachandra Sharma
   Days in New York
   Shiv K. Kumar

8. DO SOMETHING, BROHTER
   Towards Delhi
   Kunwar Narain
   Lifetime
   Narayan surve
   Stone-masons, My Father, and Me
   Namdeo Dhasal
   Babur
   Dom Moraes
   The Corpse
   Jagannath Prasad Das
   Come Back, Alexander
   Sati Kumar
   Hiroshima
   Agyeya
   A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945
   Vikram Seth
   America, America
   K. Nisar Ahmad
   Burn this Sari
   A.Jayaprabha
   Purdah, 1
   Imtiaz Dharker
   I Never Saw You
   Jyoti Lanjewar
   Morsel
   Ali Sardar Jafri
   The Election
   Sitakant Mahapatra
   The Task
   Subhash Mukhopadhyay
   The Betrayal
   Nirala
   Do Something, Brother
   M. Gopalakrishna Adiga
   Salaam
   Mangesh Padgaonkar

Afterword: Modern Indian Poetry and its Context

Vinay Dharwadker
Notes to the poems
Suggestions for Further Reading
Select Notes on Poets and Translators
Indexs of Languages, Poets, and Translators
Copyright statement