THE author, who is a novelist, was encouraged to write this compilation of poems on receiving encouragement from his association with Dr Hedgewar, who had worked tirelessly for spreading Hindutva. In the poem titled Tamisra, the poet talks of the period when eleven years sill remained for the 19th century to end and when the nation was caught in the throes of slavery with foreigners ruling the country. He asks,
Kyon nahin samna kar paya-
Devi-bal kroor praharon ka?
Vishva-guru ban gaya daas
Mutthi bhar nipat ganwaron ka.
(Why couldn’t India confront the enemy and its cruelties? The leader among nations of the world became a puppet in the hands of a handful of barbarians.)
He says further:
Babar kathor, Pashan-hridaya
Aurangzeb dharmandh ajab
Taimurlang khooni pyasa
Abdali tha durdan gazab.
In this poem, the poet is describing the characteristics of the invaders like Babar, who was the stone-hearted, Aurangzeb was a fanatic, Tamur Lane was a murderer and Abdali was cruel.
Atthara sau sattavan ka-
Sangram ho gaya poorna viphal
Angrezon ka khooni panja
Jo shesh, usey bhi gaya nigal.
What he means to say is that the Mutiny of 1857 was foiled and the murderous fangs of the British swallowed whatever was left behind.
Under the poem titled ‘Shankhanad’, the poet describes Keshav B Hedgewar’s efforts in spreading the shakhas of RSS because
Hindu ka shaithilya dekhkar
Keshav roeye, kitni baar
Karmavir the, ruke nahin par
Shakhaon ka kiya prasar.
In the verse, the poet says that Hedgewar saw and cried over the resignation of the Hindus to their fate but without losing hope and as he happened to be an active volunteer, he went about establishing shakhas of the Sangh.
The poems are short, simple and moving.
(Prabhat Prakashan, 4/19 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110 002; www.prabhatbooks.com)
