Garhwali, Kumaoni, Himalayan Literature

In ma kankwai An Vasant : Concerning for Humanity and Development in Rural Uttarakhand
(Review of Poetry collection ‘In Ma Kankwai An Vasant by Virendra Panwar )
Bhishma Kukreti
Virendra Panwar is the result of Dhad poetry movement and Uttarakhand movement in Garhwal. Therefore, each poem of Virendra is concerned to rural Uttarakhand and humanity together.
From the point of views of love for own language, endurances for progress of literature , Virendra Panwar’s work could be appreciated as the critics appreciate the works of Eduards Aviars, Amanda Aizpuriet , Vizma Belševica, Uldis Berzins, Lons Briedis, Ronald Briedis, Janis Elsbergs, Klavs Elsbergs, Inga Gaile, Juris Krombergs, Liana Langa, Janis Rockpelnis, Maris Saljes, Karlis Verdins, Mara zalit, Inese Zandere, Imants , Petris Zirnitis for their contributions in developing Latvian poetry by all means .
There are seventy eight poems selected for this first poetry collection by Virendra Panwar published by Dhad Prakashan, Dehradun in 2004 AD and each poem not only is capable of provoking the readers but becomes an instrumental medium for taking some action in futre by the readers.
The subject of this volume may be divided into :
1- Concern for no development, slow development in rural Garhwal
2-Corruption in political world and government agencies which making all planning failure
3- Deterioration in social and individual values at all level.
4- Speedy Migration from rural Uttarakhand and its worsening effects in social structure
5-Low attention on ecology from all sections of society and state agencies
6-Unemployment and its negative effects , which paving the path for unseen poverty in the villages of Uttarakhand
7- Speedy Changes at all levels and many changes diminishing the human values
8- Many poems are related to humanity and are of philosophical nature but are challenging
Virendra Panwar is very much concern about the development of Garhwali language literature and he creates poems in many forms as Doha (couplets), neo-lyric, modern poetic form, gazals,. His main contribution is to popularize the Haiku poem in Garhwali language . That is why , though Ganesh Khugsal Gani is father of Haiku (1992) in Garhwali language, mistakingly the Garhwali gazal King, editor and critic Madhusudan Thapliyal writes that Virendra Panwar initiated haiku poem in Garhwali . His using various form in creating poems in Garhwali shows his concern for taking garhwali literature at the international level.
Virendra Panwar is the master of using conventional and new symbols in his poetry and uses figure of speech, metaphors to enlighten the readers and is successful telling the tail in minimum words. Many times , Panwar uses Garhwali proverbs too for making the poems easily understandable
Madhusudan Thapliyal rightly states that the volume is one of the best volumes of Garhwali language poetry collections . Lokesh Navani, the founder and major force of Dhad Poetry movement , says that this volume will inspire for the next gene in contributing for Garhwali language

Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumabi, India, 2010