Remembering Gangadhara.

When we read Gangadhar Mehers poems we are bound together in an endless communion with a timelessness of a song and nostalgic mingling with the past because of the colloquial shifting of poetic words, rhythm from ancient lyrical poetry and thematic choice from mythology in an age when Oriya poetry was undergoing a transition in theme and diction towards modernity at the hand of Radhanath Roy. The feelings and the theme in his poetry dont sound melodramatic and overwrought as in his epic poem Tapasvini the poet adopts a kind of diction overtly colloquial and musical. He uses metaphor of a lotuseyed beautiful woman for the auspicious dawn that descends from heaven being stirred with a thirst for a vision of virtuous Sita who stands at the courtyard of the cottage with flowers embedded with pearls of dew on her palm. In canto IV the poet expresses metaphorically in a letter given to Sita by the royal maid from Ajodhya, In vain I am the night, o my enchanting friend O! Full moon, The blooming lilies of my eyes forever lost Alien is my heart even from a vestigial joy Appear in void of a woman unadorned Lamenting bitterly after you parted from me. (Translated from odia by the writer of this article) The verbosity of Baidehisa Bilasa dealing with the same theme is almost transformed into a more poetic and aesthetic sublimity in Gangadhars poetry. A closer affinity between Man and Nature is explored for the better employment of poetic elements like simile, metaphor and images. When sita is shedding tears in the Ashram of Valmiki Nature sympathises sitas sorrow. Gangadhara presents a beautiful image of the baby deer that stops drinking milk from his mothers breast hearing the heart-rending cry of Sita. The sorrow of sita has touched the heart of the baby deer and is prevented for a moment to satiate the hunger. We are reminded of similar kind of contrasting images in Confuciuss Book of Odes written in sixth century B.C. where the beloved in the arms of the warrior- lover beholds a deer dying on the snowy - bed of the forest. The happiness of love is combined with a feeling of sorrow by the use of contrasting images. The poem does not die with the passage of time but is born again when we read it because of

the employment of melodious meters like Rasakulya, Kalahamsakedara, Kedarakamodi, Natavani, Kalyanapaditala from classical literature in combination with the modern meters like Chaturdasakshara, Ramakeri, Bangalauri and Chokhi. The wonderful blending of emotion and feelings along with the adornment of poetic ornaments in Gangadharas poetry bestows him immortality as a cultured poet. Bhababhutis employment of pathos for cathartic impact on the readers is strongly predominant in Gangadharas Tavaswinias it ends with the reunion of Sita and Ramachandra. Gangadhara was highly influenced by Kalidasas Raghubansam and Abhigyana Sakuntalam to the extent that many lines are found to be almost translation , the poet might have been spellbound by the wonder of kalidasas poetic words ,the abyss of his imagination and thematic choice. The impact of great writers on poets cant be ruled out. Shakespeare also followed the character and plot from Plutarch as he was mesmerized by the dialogues, plot and characters of Plutarch that were of rare kind. When Radhanath Roy wrote on the Romantic tragedy of the legends of the west, Gangadhara wrote on the mythology and historical legends of India. Gangadhara was a highly cultured poet as he had gone through the Sanskrit poetry, poetry of Radhanath, Upendrabhanja and Dinakrushna and synthesized in a beautiful manner to build his poetic craft. In the lyric poetry Gangadhara appeals to the ear for a more genuine unification of poetic sensibilities, musicality, immortal thoughts, pleasure and truth of life. His poem Madhumaya brilliantly muses the eternal truth of life and caters to the musicality which embodies Gangadhara as a music maker and the philosophical insight like William wordsworth to share the aesthetic values for mankind . I am a drop shimmering in the sea of nectar Soared up to the deeper bluish of the sky Again descend to the nectar-stream Ever flowing to the sea where I had begun. If I am dried up on the sinful ways of life Comes down again as dew through soft air Flows down slowly in the nectar-stream Brims and mitigates in the glistening bay. (Translated from odia by the writer of this article) In Gangadhars poetry we have a vision of the past and a visualization of the present and future, the superhuman world of heroes like Dusyanta, kichaka, Ramachandra in his poems Pranaya Ballari, Indumati,kichakabadhha who have remained in our consciousness psychologically as archetypal symbols. The myth-making to introduce the ideals of the old to bring a contrast of the present is an arduous task by the poet. It takes us to the accretions of civilization and

presents the apotheosis and paroxysm of human life through his timeless music of eternity for aesthetic delight as well as to culture the human values to rise above the death for preserving the humanness in us. Gangadhara Meher wrote epics, lyrics , patriotic songs , Nature poems ,poetry for farmers namely Utkala Laxmi, Bharati Rodana, Bhakti and became an immortal poet to delight and teach from his lived experience of the world perceived within and outside .His poems are are impregnated with the milk of human kindness, thoughts and imagery for aesthetic articulation of the spiral movements of human consciousness from temporal to a higher self to explore the reality and possibility of human existence and to elevate oneself to conquer death by realizing the power of the divinity through rigorous self-churning of ones experiences on earth. Gangadhar was born on Sravanapurnima , in a full moon day in 1862 at Barpali village amidst poverty in a weavers family but remained immortal as one of the greatest literary luminaries to provide a wonder of joy as a true pilgrim of literature as Eliot wrote The man who suffers he creates.

Rajendra kumar padhi Rajendrapadhi62@gmail.com Lecturer in English Womens College, Bargarh. Sir, If chosen it may kindly be published on the eve of Gangadharas Birth Anniversary on 2nd of August 2012. Thanking you R.k.padhi