Indian classicism, where to locate and re-locate,
Trace it out,
Our heritage and its legacy
In folklore an oral traditions
Or memoirs and mementos,
The souvenirs
And relics of art and its tradition?
Indian classicism in Vaishnava songs,
In nirgunas,
The folk dramatization not,
The Ramlilas and Krishnalilas,
The Vedic hermitage
Vibrating with recitations
Of hymns and incantation.
Indian tradition and its philosophy
In khayal, thumri and raagas
And the olden beat of music,
Rock-built temples standing as a witness
To an age bygone,
The terracotta plates
With figurines in different poses.
They making the statues of ashta-dhatu,
Eight metallic substances,
The copper, bronze, gold, rock and textile
Statues of Buddha,
Buddhas radiating
And beaming with joy,
Buddhas golden and meditating.
They reading the Ramayana, the Mahabharata
Not the Sanskrit version often,
But the local, vernacular version,
They drawing from characters,
Quoting and deriving
And the mind getting lifted
To mythico-didactic things.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
IThe poem successfully tries to explores our heritage through our relics, oral traditions and folk art, classical literature, classical music, classical architecture and sculpture etc. This all gives us a sense of belonging and our proud identity. Remarkable poem.