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THE POET
MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR :
REALISTIC & VISIONARY ASPECTS
*
Ed. Dr. Vijay Kumar Roy
Dept. Eng.,
Northern Border University,
Arar (Saudi Arabia)
S.No.
CONTENTS
Page
No.
FOREWORD
10
17
*DR. B. C. DWIBEDY
25
* P C K PREM
41
* DR. A. K. CHATURVEDI
54
AN APPRAISAL
* DR. VARINDRA KUMAR VARMA
57
62
*ANURADHA BHATTACHARYYA
66
8
72
10
LIFE: AS IT IS
Mahendra Bhatnagars Perception
of Life
92
* DR. A. K. CHATURVEDI
11
POETIC FRAGRANCE OF
Mahendra Bhatnagar
103
12
MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR:
A Critical Study
6
113
13
131
* JASVINDER SINGH
14
134
A LOVE POET
* DR. SURENDRA R PARMAR
15
O, MOON, MY SWEET-HEART!
By Mahendra Bhatnagar
140
16
145
17
DR.MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR
IN THE LAP OF NATURE
153
* DR. B. C. DWIVEDY
18
162
19
DAWN TO DUSK
POET MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR
166
20
DAWN TO DUSK
[BHOR SEY SAANJH]
By Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar
174
21
DAWN TO DUSK
[Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar]
185
22
190
Appendix
[1] Bio Data :
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar /202
[2] Bio Data :
Dr. Vijay Kumar Roy/209
[3] Contributors /211-213
***
1
FOREWORD
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar has a significant
place in post-independence Indian poetry in English.
He is a prolific poet who has produced eleven
volumes of poetry in English. Some of the volumes
have appeared bilingual (English and Hindi), while
some have been translated into French. Through his
poetry he raises voices pertinent to modern age.
Being born in British India and having experienced
the complexity of life of that time, he envisions an
India free from injustice, inequality, inhuman
practices and all kinds of corruption. The present
situation of India does not make him believe
independent in its true sense. What disparity and
cruelty he perceived in British India, he sees them
still continuing after independence in different forms.
Yes, one difference is that earlier these practices were
carried out by the aliens and today by the mighty and
influential people in power.
Through his simple themes, the poet portrays
varied and vivid pictures of human life as well as his
philosophy. Humanity, cultural sensitivity, fraternity,
equality, dignity, patriotism and struggle for peace
are major themes of his poetry. His poem
Marvelous suggests that tolerance is the most
important thing for establishing peace and harmony
in society, particularly religious tolerance. He sees
10
2
QUEST OF HUMANITY
IN THE INHUMAN WORLD
Dr. B.C. Dwibedy
Dr. V.N.Mishra has rightly observed in his
comments about Poems: for Human Dignity by Dr.
M.Bhatnagar -a translated volume of his Hindi
poems: His man fired with faith divine moves on
because he is firm in his conviction that one day the
heart rose shall bloom in the midst of impediments
galore (Poems: For Human Dignity-Introductory
cover page remark by Dr. V. S. Mishra). It is
definitely a giant leap by the poet towards the quest
that this small essay is going to elaborate.
For the last half a century the poet has been
with avowed activity towards glorifying human
dignity. A majority of his poems flourish with such
themes in the hearts of readers who seek human
dignity at every step. It reminds us of the humanistic
ideal: the primacy of man in everything or the
Pythagorean maxim man is the measure of
everything.
In his volume Poems: For Human Dignity at
the outset the poet hoists the flag of love as the first
marker of human dignity. From love has evolved life
and with love life is lived and bereft of love it is
17
23
***
24
Chapter-3
POETRY OF ETHICAL SOCIAL REALIZATION
-P C K Prem
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar, an academician of
repute, is one of the most prominent voices in Indian
English Poetry and Hindi. He has eleven
collections of poetry (English) including five
distinguished anthologies in English and again, five
poetic anthologies in English and Hindi. More than a
hundred verses stand translated in French. With a
number of creative and critical writings, he has done
research on Premchand and probably, this speaks of
social perspective he depicts in lyrics. Many scholars
evaluated his writings and still many have undertaken
exhaustive research work on his poetry and other
creative work. In lyrics, the poet eloquently gives
expression to Indian consciousness with a moral
tinge. If the poet wants economic wellbeing and
social equality, he is not an advocate of inane
materialism but emphasizes a moral and spiritual
order so that man tries to attain noble objectives of
life. Social and political thoughts of John Stuart Mill,
T.H. Green and Ranade reverberate in many lyrics.
Social thoughts and anxieties dominate
Bhatnagar lyrics. He talks of mans struggle in a
world of scarce wealth. If he hints at the decay of
system, it sows seeds of a new man, a new world, a
25
***
40
Chapter-4
THE CONCEPT OF HUMANISM IN
DR. MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR'S
POEMS: FOR HUMAN DIGNITY
Dr. A K Chaturvedi
ABSTRACT
Rights,
(Marvelous)
Beware of the impact of/ Faith in birth-basedcaste/ Destroyer of unity /The feeling of segregation.
(The Fall)
***
53
Chapter-5
POEMS: FOR HUMAN DIGNITY
AN APPRAISAL
Varindra Kumar Varma
Mahendra Bhatnagar has been writing poetry
for at least six decades, and, naturally, therefore the
themes and style of his poems have changed with the
changing times.
Many of his poems have been translated into
English, but, unfortunately, they are not the kind of
poetry for which the poet is known. There are, of
course, limitations of authentic translation, but in
case of his poetry, it has undermined emotive
meaning and denied the text the beauty of rhyme and
rhythm.
Those who know Mahendra Bhatnagar know
that the poet and the person are not different. I have
had long association with him lasting for more than
fifty years, and I had the occasion to discuss with him
his poetry while editing his collection After the
Forty Poems and translating a few poems to be
included in it. Dr. Bhatnagar is basically an
emotional person with human ideals, and he feels
most concerned about the lot of the common man.
The poet began writing as a romanticist, but
because of his lover of freedom and concern for the
54
***
56
Chapter-6
ELEMENTS OF HUMANISM AND
COMPASSION IN THE POETRY OF
MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR
Harish K. Thakur
Creative voices have their own realms and
they need not run after the official accreditations
which normally are far from the ground realities. The
poet and philosopher Mahendra Bhatnagar is one
such significant voice of post-independent India who
bridges a vast span of six and a half decades of free
India. He is in a position to have a wide gyrate over
the recent Indias history, be it political, social and
economic or of science and technology. His volumes
speak of this and as a reader one finds in him a
magnum of sea where streams of different hew meet
and blend into a unique colour that is Mahendra
Bhatnagar. One special virtue that belongs to
Mahendra Bhatnagar is his relentless struggle to
reinforce himself with an energy that has the
potential to reproduce in different forms the old
blunted voices inside and this he consistently admits
in his recently written poems.
The spectrum of Mahendra Bhatnagars
poetry is quite wide ranging from themes of life and
death the two extreme poles and in between lie the
subthemes of great human concerns like love, pity,
57
***
61
Chapter-7
POEMS : FOR HUMAN DIGNITY
[Mahendra Bhatnagar]
Anuradha Bhattacharyya
Bi-lingual poet Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagars
latest anthology of progressive poems called Poems:
For Human Dignity is a rich collection of his finest
wording and thought. It looks forward to the
enhancement of cultural values and moral uplift of
the present society. The poems reflect his experience
through the ages ever since Indias independence and
his travel through the six decades to emerge on the
brighter side of the millennium.
Having spent six decades of maturity, he has
felt the pulse of his age and looked at his time with
clarity and acumen. Thus his writing reflects not only
his time in simple terms but also the complexity of
his times in vivid and varied versions.
It is not a small thing to have spent sixty years
of creativity. Bhatnagar is a true poet who writes
without any aspiration for reward or fame. He writes
from his world view and in the truest of spirits
uncontaminated by public opinion or vested interest.
He has reached the threshold of the new millennium
with his head held high.
62
** *
65
Chapter-8
STRUGGLING FOR LIFE
P C K Prem
To understand Mahendra Bhatnagar is not very
easy, for when one goes through apparently straight,
evocative and experiential lyrics he creates baffling
yet simple syntax and puts stress on understanding.
At Eighty-Seven, he is energetic, vigilant and
stunningly expressive when he speaks of man and
age. He appears gentle and unpretentious but
piercingly strikes an imposing note, as one perceives
lips emitting an inscrutable restrained smile. A
brilliant shine on the face amazes and the terraces of
white beard with indistinctly dark patches and broad
forehead with slowly withdrawing hairline open up
varied experiences he had. All speak of a kind of
bigness, some inconceivable largeness. He
believes in panoramic vision of life, and one discerns
restrained efforts in his creative writings where he
maintains a massive structure of thoughts and
feelings together, a fantastic synthesis.
He looks back and talks of history in man and
man in history but conception of past swiftly wanders
in regions of mans hopes and future indefinite. He
struggles with varied thoughts and feelings and
synchronizes each word and feeling with immense
input of import and objective. Whatever moves in the
mysterious flow of life in the world, he holds it
66
***
71
Chapter-9
LONELINESS WITHIN AND WITHOUTTHE
'SELF' :
A Study of Mahendra Bhatnagars
Struggling for Life
Dr. Sulakshana Sharma
Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray:
And, when I crossed the wild,
I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child.
No mate, no comrade Lucy knew;
She dwelt on a wide moor,
The sweetest thing that ever grew
Beside a human door
Lucy Gray or Solitude by William Wordsworth.
Reading
Mahendra
Bhatnagars
latest
collection of poems, Struggling for Life (2015), is an
enriching and a rewarding experience. The poems in
the collection have been translated into English from
Hindi by many eminent Indian-English poets. The
book has been edited by P C K Prem, who is a
celebrated critic, poet and a novelist. Owing to the
simplicity of the language and the ease of expression,
72
74
The poet ends his plea with the line, No, you
cannot be washed out (204). The company of the
82
spiritualism.
In his poem, Continuity (13), the poet
reinstates the fact that seclusion helps an individual
to momentarily snap from the present and peep
through / . . . inner past / extinct (13). The past
memories and experiences embedded in the
subconscious mind are evoked at such times:
Becoming indifferent in seclusion,/ on the
experiences of my life/ when I brood on peacefully.
/Then all of a sudden/ Taking a turn on my own accord
/I return to the present,/ to the entanglements of earthly
life. (1-4, 13-18)
86
***
91
Chapter-10
LIFE: AS IT IS
Mahendra Bhatnagars Perception of Life
Prof. Dr. A. K. Chaturvedi
As the title indicates, Mahendra Bhatnagars
poetic collection Life: As It Is reflects the poets
philosophy of human life that continually flows like a
river and glows like a ray. The poems contained in
this bilingual collection, according to Dr. R.
Kichenamourty deal with a wide range of themes
mostly philosophical in nature. His views on Truth,
Destiny and Death are quite thought provoking.1
The very first poem Reality compares life to a
flickering lamp that keeps on burning day and night
in the darkness of sky that is limitless. The sense of
gloom looms large over his heart when he thinks of
the bitter reality of death. The poet pessimistically
asks:
In life there are only heaps of pebbles,/ where
are pearls?
he puts it:
Then alone I could know the secret of life and of
the world /when I was badly hurt by my own selves and
by others. (Enlightenment)
***
102
Chapter-11
POETIC FRAGRANCE OF
Mahendra Bhatnagar
Dr.Arbind Kumar Choudhary
Mahendra Bhatnagar, D.H. Kabadi,Y.S.Rajen,
P.K. Majumder, I.K. Sharma, I.H. Rizvi, Syed
Ameeruddin, S.C. Dwivedi and several others belong
to the contemporary creative milieu who have been
blooming at the literary horizon with a number of
poetry collections to their credit. Dr. Mahendra
Bhatnagar is primarily a bilingual writer who credits
eleven volumes of poems in English and twenty
volumes in Hindi to his credit that speaks volumes
about his poetic credit to the literary world. As a
great poet Mahendra Bhatnagar touches all aspects of
lives misery, life, fate, death, nature, biography,
poetry, art, ambition, hypocrisy, love and many more
in one poem after another for the restoration of a
counsel of perfection.
As a social painter Mahendra Bhatnagar
paints a lovely picture of the hypocrisy, bureaucracy
and plutocracy through his poetic world for the
revival of a different facets of nature and exhales his
poetic fragrance for the essence of the spiritual world.
His more than three decades selfless service to the
literary world has reserved a permanent berth in the
103
Mahendra
Bhatnagar
discusses
the
significance of love in the life of the human beings
because lack of love and wisdom stirs raw mind for
terrorism. It is only love that can connect man with
man, man with woman, and man with animals, birds
and plants. The poet gives solution in his poem
Duty while he sings:
To love People, /Mute animals, birds, seacreatures,/ The forest creepers, /The trees,/ Is what a
man must do.7
References:
1. Sabharwal, R.K Bhushan, Concerns and Creation: A
Critical Study of Mahendra Bhatnagars Poetry, 2012,
Delhi, Indian Publishers and Distributors.
2. Bhatnagar, Mahendra, Life As It Is, 2012, Delhi,
Indian Publishers and Distributors.
3. Sabharwal, Dr R.K.B, Concerns and Creation.
111
***
112
Chapter-12
MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR:
A Critical Study
Mrs. Purnima Ray
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar is a versatile Indian
poet writing in Hindi and English. His poems have
been translated into several Indian and foreign
languages. He has eleven volumes of poetry in
English and a collection of his 108 poems translated
into French by the present reviewer. His poems have
been anthologized. His eighteen poetry-collections
(Hindi) are compiled in three volumes. Many
research works and critical studies in Hindi and in
English are also published on his poetry. Dr.
Mahendra Bhatnagar is a very multitalented person.
He worked as Professor, Chairman (Board of
Studies) and expert member in various academic
committees of several Indian Universities and
audition committees of All India Radio. His poems
had also been included in various Text-Books of
curricula of Educational Boards and University of
India.
Mahendra Bhatnagars poems are simple yet
thought-provoking, deep and symbolic, and
philosophical. His present book Life : As It Is is a
collection of one hundred and ninety-nine beautiful
poems. His poems are philosophical in Nature, and
deal with wide range of themes. As he gained many
113
each heart with love! / Sing / The stone will turn into
wax, / The hot desert into a tidal sea. / Sing, / the
whirlwinds will calm down, / The dark night / will
turn into a golden day!
Like Milton, he believes that the mind is its
own place : O sing / The world shall excel the
Heaven in beauty, / No man will suffer old age, / A
man will only an angel be, / And a woman, /A divine
damsel she will be! (The Worship of Art) Sing, O
sing / That the spring may come / To the distressed
life; / he boughs and flowers may dance ..
He can exclaim: Sing, so that life a lyric may
become! / Sing, so that each particle / a friend may
become! (Sing) When he says : Sing, so that
suffering a music may become! (Sing)
It is very unique in the history of world poetry.
He delivers new lessons : I shall not bow down
before misfortune, / Though remained unsuccessful in
life, today! Not even for a moment kept dormant / the
feeling of devotion, / No matter, if I am defeated!
(Irresistible) Human life doesnt brighten up without
futilities, / I have great confidence that / The flowing
stream of life will not cease. (Support) To weep on
misfortune is a crime here. (No Life)
He is fond of : Those who suffer the calamities
of life laughingly / Are my only companions!
(Companion)
His Introduction is a wonderful poem where
he speaks of himself and we identify him as the great
123
***
130
Chapter-13
SUCCINCT AND THOUGHT PROVOKING
POEMS
Jasvinder Singh
The purpose of poetry is to spread the message
of harmony and co-existence among humans all over
the world as a unified society. Apart from enthralling
and entertaining poetry also explores horizons in
search of beauty, truth and uniformity in love and
true understanding. In the light of this aspect the
poets in once voice made the fellow men realize the
meaning and purpose of life with sustenance of love
and beauty all around.
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar, has enormously
authenticated the significance and existence of love
in thoughts around himself. He has also sufficiently
proved his credentials as an ambassador of universe
through his unison with a band wagon of other fellow
poets in India, and all over the world. He has created
a lively impression by taking the reader into his
world as if sauntering in to his world of love and
beauty.
The poet has put in all concerted efforts to
endear himself through messages in his poetry on
love - its nuances and its different vibes to enchant
131
132
It has been seen that the poet has poured out the
inner feelings emanating from the core of heart to
take the readers in his own world of fascination and
win their hearts with surging emotions in almost each
of his poems. He has worked wonders as a wordsmith
to become an ambassador of the universe, the title
most poets are acclaimed with.
Love, beauty and philosophy depicted in these
poems make the revelations reverberating in heart
and mind of the reader. What enthralls me the most to
record my interaction to his poetry is the golden
opportunity of perusing his subtle thoughts in the
poems.
The poet has won accolades of laudations and
endeared himself beyond any doubt. We may look
forward to more such poems from him.
***
133
Chapter-14
DR. MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR:
A LOVE POET
Dr. Surendra R Parmar
Dr Mahendra Bhatnagar is a famous and most
discussed poet in Hindi and Indian English Poetry.
Great people are known by their works and not by
their words and Dr Mahendra Bhatnagar is one such
name. He is well known for his poetic contribution.
He is a progressive poet of renown. His poetic career
demonstrates his humanistic vision. Prof. Suresh
Chandra Dwivedi says,
Dr Mahendra Bhatnagar is one of the
significant post independence Voices in Hindi and
Indian English Poetry, expressing the lyricism and
pathos, aspirations and yearnings of the modern
Indian intellect. Rooted deep into the Indian soil, his
poems reflect not only the moods of a poet but of a
complex age.
His poems have been translated into many
Indian languages as well as international languages.
There are poets who could very well express the
emotions in their poetry without having such
emotions at all. Such poets can express their
emotions in catchy words but there are a few poets
who could have understanding and can inspire people
134
138
***
139
Chapter-15
O, MOON, MY SWEET-HEART!
By Mahendra Bhatnagar
Anuradha Bhattacharyya
Modern India has fully understood the
importance of the international language that English
happens to be. This is evidenced in the fact that many
Indian middle class families prefer only English as
their medium of verbal communication. Many writers
of fiction express themselves comfortably in English.
Although India has a rich tradition of creative writing
in the various provincial languages, a great urge
towards international readership has prompted writers
to express the same creative thought in English.
Recently many works of art that are originally in
modern Indian languages have been translated into
English by academicians to gain wider readership. As
part of this new trend, Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar, a
major Hindi poet who has been publishing his poetry
since 1941, has translated into English and brought
out anthologies of all his poems. O, Moon, My
Sweet-Heart is a collection of his love poems that
have been translated by him with the help of
constructive contribution from his colleagues and
friends whom he acknowledges right at the beginning
of his book.
140
Both of these can be read in a melodious singsong in the Hindi original. Various poems are
accompanied by the translators footnotes that
suggest that the translation is only a paraphrase; there
is nothing in such poems which an English reading
public might understand so the whole effort is a
waste.
On the flip side, a poem reads, roughly we
shall open the complexes of doubt and inferiority
easily on the simple honest surface of faith (p 4849). In another poem, the poet chides the hesitant
recluse to open the doors for strange encounters,
since who knows whose footfalls might create new
music in ones heart! (p 66-67) Many other poems
suggest that the beloved is far away and remembered
only as a thought, a feeling or a wish. This is what
the title, O, Moon, My Sweet-heart refers to. A
poem directly addresses the moon as a far away land
of beauty and happiness which lasts only till before
142
***
144
Chapter-16
NEW ENLIGHTENED WORLD:
Songs of Renascent Spirit.
Dr. C.L.Khatri
Prof. Bhatnagar is a prolific octogenarian poet
in Hindi who breathes poetry and lives poetry for a
Tagore an vision of world. He has his own vision of
life that identifies with Tagores vision in Heaven of
Freedom. It is not pain and anguish alone that
constitute poetry. It can also be a humming bee of a
new awareness and a Vivekanandian soul steering
call to arise, awake and stop not till the goal is
achieved. He is a poet of positivism, a new hope and
resolution for a better world. The paper presents a
readers response to his translation of Nav Prabuddha
Viswa (New Enlightened World) by Dr. Ansu and
revised by Dr. Mukesh Sharma. It is believed that the
translation of poetry is near impossible and that in
this process the spirit and the beauty of original
poetry is lost. While accepting the limitations, one
feels the need for translation of poetry. Tagores
translation of his own Gitanjali or Harivansh Rai
Bachchans translation of Robert Frosts poems is a
significant example of successful translation of
poetry. While Tagores is a transcription in prosepoetry, Bachchan recreates a new melody in Hindi
transcription of Frosts poems. The present paper
145
Or
The east has hurricane of new awareness today!/
The eternal faith holds firmly the human heart today !
(p.22)
He further adds:
Awake and open the eyes before the spreading
new light! /Then use and enjoy each commodity!(Ibid 34)
***
152
Chapter-17
DR.MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR
IN THE LAP OF NATURE
Dr. B.C.Dwivedy
When Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar started
writing poems he was perhaps in the dawn of his life.
In this journey while showering nectar through his
pen he has perhaps reached the dusk, still the
memoirs of youthful exuberance shine bright. He has
won against the hazards of time and yet the game
continues the batsman not out.
When I read one of his recent editions Dawn
to Dusk I was full of spontaneous praise for him
though it is a mixture of old and new poems. Brighter
ideas came to my notice than those of Forty Poems.
He is a bit revolutionary and always progressive in
his thought. This time I find the poets growth of
mind is towards nature increasingly establishing a
supernatural relationship with moon, stars and so on.
It is certain that his talk with the moon carries special
message for the world. It is a remarkable feature of
his poetry.
In his earlier days he was talking with moon
and the talk is continued still. The moon has proved
to be the paragon of beauty to him.
In 1950s when the poet was bubbling with
153
159
***
161
Chapter-18
FROM A READERS DESK
ON READING DAWN TO DUSK
BHATNAGARARION' POEMS
Dr. Narendra Sharma Kusum
There is an unfortunate cynical conclusion
that our age is not congenial to poetry. Poetry has no
future, it is almost dead such statements are not
infrequent since commercialism has made us most
un-poetical and un-musical. Consumerism has robbed
us of our concern for poetry. Such a situation is not
new. Even during the Victorian Age, people seemed
to be skeptical of the future of poetry. Arnold while
assuring them of the bright future of poetry said in
his essay The Study of Poetry (1880) that, The
future of poetry is immense, because in poetry, where
it is worthy of its high destinies, our race, as time
goes on, will find an ever surer and surer stay
More and more mankind will discover that we have
to turn to poetry to interpret life for us, to console us,
to sustain us. Without poetry, our science will appear
incomplete; and most of what now passes with us for
religion and philosophy will be replaced by poetry.
It must go without saying that so long poetry has the
capacity to console us, to sustain us, it can never die
162
***
165
Chapter-19
DAWN TO DUSK
POET MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR
Dr. Anshu Bhardwaj (Sharma)
Emerging as a major Indian Hindi poet of all
times Mahendra Bhatnagar represents his epoch most
emphatically in the beautiful verses of his latest
poetic volume entitled Dawn to Dusk translated into
English by Dr. Mukesh Sharma ,Kedar Nath Sharma,
Dr. Narendra Sharma Kusum and himself. It is a
matter of happiness for the readers who can enjoy his
verses in both languages-Hindi & English. The title
of the present book is of three words. First Dawn
which means morning, and the third word is Dusk
which means evening and the second word that is
preposition to that shows a relation between the
words Dawn and Dusk . Hence the verses contained
in this volume reveal the glimpses of the condition of
time of dawn to dusk of his life.
The present volume Dawn to Dusk is a
composite of seventy one poems which are broadly
categorized under twelve sub-headings on a wide
variety of subjects of nature, time and objective
observation of contemporary life and situation. They
are thus:
166
***
173
Chapter-20
DAWN TO DUSK [BHOR SEY SAANJH]
By Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar
Kedar Nath Sharma
easily discern.
In all 32 poems have been translated into
English by the poet himself, 12 poems after the first
27 are translated by Dr. Mukesh Sharma, 16 by Dr.
Narendra Sharma Kusum and 11 by K.N.S.
The first three poems of this collection are
about the stars. Taron Sey (To Stars) shows how the
poet comprehends the twinkling stars delineating the
human predicament of exploitation and oppression.
The youthful poet studies objects of nature in the
light of what he observes in the society of that time.
Timir Sehchar Tarak shows that happiness and
sorrow of human life are similar to the rising and
setting of the stars during the night and day the twin
divisions of time in which human beings have to live.
The natural association of light and darkness points
out that the trials and tribulations alternating with joy
and merriment in human life too are natural.
In Jagtey Tarey (The Waking Stars)
Mahendra Bhatnagar is not only poetical but also
factual as unlike human beings the stars are bereft of
dreams and devoid of happiness and sorrow which
the human beings experience. This poetry can
conveniently be called romantic but is much deeper
than that.
Pure romanticism is tangible in the poem
Sandhya (Evening). In it the poet has depicted a
photographic picture of the landscape which he
himself is watching while sitting on a mound.
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184
Chapter-21
DAWN TO DUSK
[Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar]
Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagars recent collection
Dawn to Dusk makes the reader aware that the poet
himself has felt journey through the evening of his
life. The title cover of the book carries two
photographs, one from the prime of poets life (of
1948) captioned with Dawn the other from recent
2010 captioned with Dusk. The creative piece
written by Sunil Sharma established the importance
of the poet in present times. The critic rightly writeThis deep humanistic concern for the marginalized
of the cruel system as is the case with restive
romantics is the hallmark of his gentle oeuvre that
falls like a cascading rain singing a joyous song in
the open meadows of England or of the Indian plains.
The sonorous voice is like that only. It soothes like
the moving ragas. (Blurb)
The poetry of Mahendra Bhatnagar really
calms and soothes the dull ears of mortality. It
whispers the songs of human pains and agony so it
echoes longer than other sensational or emotive
poetry. The present collection evinces the fact that
true poetry will be an ideal companion from dawn to
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187
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189
Chapter-22
BEAUTY AND DELIGHT:
A QUEST IN TWO CONTEMPORARY POETS
[Mahendra Bhatnagar & D.C. Chambial]
Dr. B.C. Dwivedy
Delight is the soul of existence, beauty the
intense impression, the concentrated form of delight;
and these two fundamental things tend to be one for
the mind of the artist and poet.(Sri Aurobindo. The
Future Poetry p-226)
Life is a quest for delight, there is no doubt
about it, be it in whatever form. Delight lives in
beauty and never in the ugly and beauty removes the
pall. If one sees beauty in the ugly that is great, that is
delight in true form and only a poet can do so. Keats
has announced it in Endymion:
"Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From
our dark spirit such the sun the moon
(Life As It Is-57-M.Bhatnagar)
191
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201
FORTY
POEMS
OF
MAHENDRA
BHATNAGAR [Ed. Prof. L.S. Sharma, Head
Dept. Eng., Vikram University Ujjain (M.P.),
Foreword : Dr. Vidya Niwas Mishra, Tr. Amir
Mohammad Khan, L.S. Sharma; Pub. S. Chand
& Co.,New Delhi 55, 1968]
[2]
[3]
[4]
DR.
MAHENDRA
BHATNAGARS
POETRY [Tr. Prof. H.C. Gupta, Pub. Indian
Publishers Distributors, Delhi 7, 2002]
DEATH-PERCEPTION LIFE-PERCEPTION
[Tr. Prof. D. C. Chambial, Pub. Indian
Publishers Distributors, Delhi 7, 2002]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[9]
LYRIC-LUTE
[Tr. Dr. Shaleen Kumar Singh, Dr. Kalpna
Rajput & Others, Pub. Vista International
Publishing House, Delhi 53, 2007]
A HANDFUL OF LIGHT
[Tr. Prof.D.C. Chambial, Pub. National
Publishing House, New Delhi 2, 2007]
REPRESENTATIVE COLLECTIONS:
[1]
[2]
LOVE POEMS
[4]
NATURE POEMS
[5]
[2]
LIFE : AS IT IS
[Poems of faith & optimism: delight & pain.
Philosophy of life]
[3]
[4]
[5]
***
206
***
208
***
210
CONTRIBUTORS
[1] Dr. B. C. Dwibedy
M-9419288136 / bairagikvs@rediffmail.com
P.O. Sukinda (Dist. Jaipur) - 755-018, Orissa
[KV-No. - 1, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu - 180-001
(J&K)
[2] P. C. K. Prem
M-9418033910 / pckprem.katoch@gmail.com
Kotoch Cottage, Ludar-Mahant House, Palampur
- 776-061 (H.P.)
[3] Dr. A. K. Chaturvedi
M-9425790023/ dr. chaturvediak@gmail.com
269, C. P. Colony, Morar-Gwalior - 474006
[4] Varindra Kumar Varma
M-9827158904/ varindravarma@gmail.com
2-A/3-A, Phase - 2, Raj Kishore Nagar,
Bilaspur - 495006 (Chhatisgarh)
[5] Harish K. Thakur
M-9418008900/ harish070@gmail.com
'Conifers call', Thakur Bldg., New Totu, Shimla 171011 (H.P.)
[6] Anuraadhaa Bhattacharyya
M-8968173906/ an6radha@yahoo.co.in
310, Sector 22-A, Chandigarh - 160022
[7] Dr. Sulakshana Sharma
M-9816060338 / smarthshelly2005@gmail.com /
c/o Munish Sharma, Advocate and Asociates,
Above Arora General Store, Near Bali Watch
211
Company,
Palampur - 176-061 (Dist. Kangra-H.P.)
[8] Dr. Arbimnd K. Choudhary
M-9435514875/
arbind442002@yahoo.co.in
arbindchoudhary11@gmail.com
'Kohinoor',
SARASWATI NAGAR, ITABA PIPRA ROAD,
PIPRA
P.O. - DUMARI - 858 117
(Dist. Begusarai / Bihar)
[9] Smt. Purnima Ray
M-8902636776 / purnimaray1@gmail.com /
77, Green Park, Keshab Ganj Chati, P.O. Rajbati, Burdwan - 713-104 (W.B.)
[10] Jasvinder Singh
M-9810618461 /
jasvindersingh1947@hotmail.com
7/841, Govind Puri, Kalkaji, New Delhi - 19
[11] Dr. Surendra R Parmar
M-9427723431 /suren r 1979@gmail.com
14, Jasuda Nagar,Savli - Vadodara -Gujrat
[12] Dr. C. L. Khatri
M-9934415964 / drclkhatri@rediffmail.com.
'Cyber Literature', 'Anand Mutt', Near St. Paul
School, Harnichak, Anishabad, Patna - 800002
(Bihar)
[13] Dr. Narendra Sharma 'Kusum'
M-9414829376 /
7 Ch 2, Jawahar Nagar, Jaipur - 302004 (Raj.)
212
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214