Kurukshetra

 Kurukshetra is one of the most famous and widely read poem by the renowned hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. Based on the epic of Mahabharata in a modern sense, it depicts the futility of wars and violence in totality. 

Ramdhari Singh was born 23 September 1908 and died on 24 April 1974, known by his pen name Dinkar, was an Indian Hindi and Maithili language poet, essayist, freedom fighter, patriot and academic. He emerged as a poet of rebellion as a consequence of his nationalist poetry written in the days before Indian independence. His poetry exuded Veer Rasa, and he has been hailed as a Rashtrakavi ('national poet') on account of his inspiring patriotic compositions. He was a regular poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan and is hailed to be as popular and connected to poetry lovers for Hindi speakers as Pushkin for Russians.

As a student, Dinkar had to battle day to day issues, some related to their family's economic circumstances. When he was a student of Mokama High school,  it was not possible for him to stay on till school closed at 4 P.M. as he had to leave the class after lunch break to catch the steamer back home. He could not afford to be in the hostel which would have enabled him to attend all periods. How could a student who has no shoes on his feet manage the hostel fees? His poetry later showed the impact of poverty. This was the environment in which Dinkar grew up and became a nationalist poet of radical views. 

Dinkar was awarded with many notable awards like Sahitya Akademi and Padma Bhushan Award in 1959, and Bharatiya Jnanpith Award in 1972.

In Kurukshetra, Dinkar tells us about the aftermath of a war, and take the Mahabharata, the Hindu epic as a baseline. He tells us about the guilt, remorse and regret one feel after the deadly destruction. The amount of lives lost of young innocent men, destruction of their families, just because of the ambitions of the kings of a nation. 

Dinkar reminds us of the horror of Kurukshetra, where the old Dritrashtra and Gandhari were made to see the last rites of their sons, meanwhile the Pandavas rejoiced their victory yet lost so many humans and relationships in the process. And as much Yudishthir as a King remembers the bloodshed of Kurukshetra, as much as he is drawn towards guilt and finally give up the world. 

The poet asks the lord, who has given up all hope on the society, humans and their nature, that when will there be Dharma and love in the world? When will humanity be finally around humans? Instead of killing each other and giving into their demonic actions and desires, when will the humans behave according to Geeta? When there will be true justice and peace in the world? 

The poet has given up on hope in humans. He talks about how selfish and devilish beings can behave. Even the mighty divines like Bheem drank Dushasanna's blood after killing him, and Draupadi washed her hair with his blood after 13 years of keeping them unkempt. If the divines can act in such a cruel way, what hopes do the normal humans have? 

Kurukshetra is a soul searching poem by Dinkar in which he puts up uncomfortable questions in front of society, because that's the power he believes in, the power of words to change the society, where he questions what does one get in a war? Who wins a war really? And even the party who wins, do they, can they actually celebrate their bravery over thousands of corpses and gallons of flowing blood and flesh? 

Dinkar will always remain a jewel in Indian literature. To know more about Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and his work, log on to Shabd.in today.