A tribute to poets Shamsher, Ashk

A‘perfectionist’ Hindi poet, Shamsher Bahadur Singh was never satisfied with his work, and this approach is reflected in his unforgettable poetry. The influences of modern western poetry and Urdu poetry deepened his sensibility towards integrating the arts of music, painting and sculpture with the art of poetry.

Another poet of his era, Upendranath Ashk, is known for acting as a bridge among Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu languages.
In a tribute to their outstanding contribution to the Hindi literature in their birth centenary year, School of Humanities (SOH) organised a one-day National Seminar at IGNOU on January 19.

Inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, the seminar was attended by distinguished Hindi critics Prof Namwar Singh, Nityanand Tiwari, Vishwanath Tripathi, Dr Manager Pandey, Neelabh, Harimohan Sharma and Rajendra Singh Toki.

“Regarded as a torchbearer of legendary poet Munshi Premchand’s tradition, Ashk inspired youth to write sensitively and responsibly on topics close to the masses,” said Dr Tripathi in his opening remarks. “He worked as a bridge among Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu languages. It’s disturbing to know that owing to the drought of translatory work among the Indian languages today, people are less aware of Ashk’s brilliance,” added Dr Pandey.

Remembering his first meeting with Shamsher Singh in 1942, Prof Singh said that the poet was a ‘perfectionist’ who never got tired of rewriting his own poems, thus producing some of the best works. Prof Tiwari, a well-known thinker, said Shamsher was one of the pioneers of ‘New Poetry’ in Hindi. “It is never easy, even for me, to enter his house of poems as you may not get to the core of his poetry. Despite this, readers have a distinct fascination towards his poems,” he added.
Prof Sharma touched upon many unknown aspects of Shamsher’s work, while Neelabh went emotional while remembering Ashk.

SOH Director Prof Rita Rani Paliwal welcomed the guests at both sessions.