Danda Kantha Swar : A marvelous Gem for Garhwali Kumaoni Literature
( Review of Kumaoni-Garhwali poetry collection Danda kantha swar edited by Dr Gajendra Batohi )
Bhishma Kukreti
Danda Kantha Swar the poetry collection of various poets has two significances . First this volume is the first ever volume wherein the Kumaoni and Garhwali poems are edited in one volume first time . Secondly, the volume is dedicated to martyrs of Kargil battle and each contributing poet offers the poem related to war. This is first verse volume in both language that poems are related to war.
When professor of Hindi language in Mumbai University , Dr Manjula Dhoundiyal read few poems of Danda Kantha Swar and the contents of the volume, she immediately told, “ This volume is as important as ‘Muse of War’ ( War Poetry Collection, 1917) or the war related huge poetry collection (1971) at Central Library Brigham”
Dr Manjula Dhoundiyal is right in her remarks. This poetry volume reminds the readers the war and patriotism related poems of famous poets as Bertolt Brecht , John Davidson, Thomas Moore, Thomas Hardy, Yahuda Amichai , Allen Ginsberg, Willium Butler Yeats , Sir Walter Scott , Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Barrett Browning , Robert Browning , Robert Burns ,William Topaz McGonagall ,Mary Darby Robinson , William Cowper , John Dryden , Henry Lawson ,Joyce Kilmer , Walt Whitman ,James Whitcomb Riley , Hugh Henry Brackenridge , John Trumbull , Ivan Donn Carswell for poetic description of the need of fighting for the country, the pain of family members of martyrs , the pride , the sacrifice of life , the usefulness of peace and son on.
The volume is not only very important because it has poems related to Kargil war , Garhwal Rifle or the sacrifices of Uttarakhandis for their motherland in various wars but it has very significance that ‘Danda Kantha Swar’ is the first ever effort to publish the poetries of various poets of two main languages of Uttarakhand that is Kumaoni and Garhwali . Uttarakhandis will always appreciate Gajendra Batohi
In this historical volume, there are Kumaoni poems of
M.D Andola (Kumaoni), Kirti Ballabh Shata ( Kumaoni), Kedar Singh Kunjwal (Kumaoni), Kailash lohni (Kumaoni), Ganesh Pandey Gajendra Batohi, Gopal Datt Bhatt , Jagdish Joshi, Jagmohan Jeena, Damodar Joshi, Devki Mehra, Navin Chand Joshi, P C Pandey, Dr Pusp Lata Bhatt , Bansidhar Pathak Jigyasu, Bahadur Bora ‘ ShriBandhu’, Vishan Datt Joshi, Mathura Datt Mathpal, Mahendra Joshi, Mahindra Matiyani, Yogendra Joshi, Vineeta Joshi : Veenu”, Vishnu Shashtra ;Saral’, Sherda Anpadh, Shr Singh Bisht, Hem Chandra Tripathi, Hemant Bisht and there are Garhwali poems of Chandi prasad Bangwal, , Chatar Singh Chauhan ‘Gurudev’, Tota Ram Dhoundiyal, Darshan Bisht, Dharma Nand Uniyal, Preetam Apchhyan, Beena Benjwal, Mangla Kothiyal, Mahaveer Prasad Gairola, Mahaveer Rawalta, Mahendra Dhyani, Rakesh Chand Nautiyal, Shakuntala Ishtwal, Shashi Bhusan Badoni, Sher Singh Rawat Gadhdesi, Satya Nand Badoni ‘ajak’.
There are other subject poems too in Dnad Kantha Swar but most of the poems are war based poems . There are following thematic war poems in this volume:
1- Call for people
2-Motherland,
3-Pain of separation,
4-Praise of martyrs
5- Sacrifice for country and Trio Colour Flag
6- Message of a soldier to his wife and sacrifice of women folks
7- Patriotism
8- The memoriam
9-Lfe and Death
There are many poems which are not related to war but are of various subjects related to rural Uttarakhand as loss from migration, discriminations against women, environment etc
On the whole , each poem is capable for creating different mood and emotions in the reader’s mind.
This is appreciable task to offer the literature of both the main languages of Uttarakhand state and Dr Gajendra Batohi should be congratulated for his efforts in calling poems from Kumaoni and Garhwali poets , editing and publishing them successfully .
Danda Kantha Swar
Avichal Prakashan
3/11 Hydil Colony, Bijnor (Uttara Pradesh)
Year of Publication: 2002
Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai, India 2010
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