Critical History of World Literature

History of Garhwali, Kumaoni , Himalayan Literature
Kutgyali : Defining Love Differently in Garhwali Language
Review of Poetry Collection “Kutgyali” of Prem Lal Bhatt)
Bhishma Kukreti

As the world poetic history remembers Alexander Pushkin, Andrew Marvell , Carl Sandburg ,David Herbert Lawrence , Edna St. Vincent Millay , ,Edward Lear ,Edgar Allan Poe , Elizabeth Barrett , Emily Dickinson , John Donne , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Katherine Mansfield , Lord Byron , Matthew Arnold , Oscar Wilde , Percy Bysshe Shelley , Philip Larkin , Pablo Neruda , Rainer Maria Rilke , Robert Burns , Robert Herrick , Robert Frost , Robert Browning , Rudyard Kipling , Theodore Roethke , William Butler Yeats , Walt Whitman , W. H. Auden ,William Shakespeare for their finest way of explaining LOVE through their poetries, world poetry critics will position Prem Lal Bhatt as the poet who initiated creating LOVE related poems differently and exclusively in Garhwali language .
The critics of Garhwali literature ignored the senior Garhwali literature creative Prem Lal Bhatt for gifting his dues for creating new way of poems in Garhwali. The coming generations will remember Prem lal Bhatt for providing new subjects and new of defining many conventional subjects differently and for breaking conventional wisdom too. The latest poetry collection “Kutgyali” of Prem Lal Bhatt is the best example that Bhatt does find new way of explaining things in his own way. Bhatt labeled the love distinctly and is able to break the old wisdom of love explanations in Garhwali poetries. This author never read such poetries regarding love in Garhwali literature and this author wants to congratulate to Prem for creating such marvelous piece of poetries .
Usually, even today, the Garhwali language poets do not leave the shadow of Baldev Prasad Sharma ‘Deen ‘ in describing love from meeting of famous poem ‘Rami Baurani’ and ‘Tu Holi Beera uch Nisi Dandyun Man’ of famous Garhwali poet jeet Singh Negi for describing love-pain of separation. However, Prem Lal Bhatt has been successful in breaking the conformist astuteness about ‘Love’ found in Garhwali poetries whether there is pain of separation or happiness of meeting by the lovers .In fact , his many poems characterize the devotion from the new angles and the poet sees love from new prospective too. After reading all the poetries, the reader will appreciate Prem lal that he has depth knowledge of Indian philosophies - and has knowledge of real Bhakti. It seems that the poet follows both the Narad Bhakti Sutra and the Markenday’s Bhakti Sutra because in some poems the poet argues that the final solution of any love is not result but the target of love is path but in couple of poems the poet supports the theme that get love by any means. According to Narada Bhakti Sutra the aim of love is not result but walking on the love path but Markendaya says that there should be results of each love or devotion.
When some body says that ‘Love is nothing but accepting’ , the poet explains it through many poems in this collection.
When a reader reads the poem “ Va Ek Dristi Kaiki “ of Bhatt the reader will remember the famous quote about love is “ "Age does not protect us from love, But love to some extent protects us from age."
There is definitely difference between desire and achieving the desired aim and Prem lal successfully explains this reality through his poem “Dwee jindagee Samantar”
The poem “ Pyar Vo Bi Pyar Kya” explains the love but differently in these words of a unknown philosopher "Listen to your heart, for it knows the truth"
Corinthians wrote a poem as “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails“ and Prem lal Bhatt elaborates the true sense of of love in his poem “Tu dhadkan jan chhain”
Love is all about accepting and poet writes in Sweekar main”-
Kora kagaj parain daskhat chhan karyan
Teri kwee bi ibarat sweekar ch main
Like this Prem Bhatt explores many internal, known and unknown aspects of love in his forty poems in this collection ‘Kutgyali’
Prem Lal Bhatt brought many new symbols, new wordings, new metaphors/figure of speeches and imagery for Garhwali poems in this collections and the coming generations will definitely appreciate Prem Lal Bhatt for initiating new explanations of love in Garhwali poetries. Prem Lal Bhatt also brought new romances in Garhwali poetry and .became successful in surprising the readers and poets too.
However, this writer is not happy that though there were alternate words in garhwali language, Prem Lal Bhatt used Hindi words unnecessarily in many his poems

The poetries of Kutgyali are of international standard and all the poems are enough proof that th language creator of small population as Garhwali language can create the contemporary literature.
Kutgyali
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Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai, India, 2010