Arrival of the First Indian Anthology of Poetry,  part two

THE first anthology by a Guyanese of Indian ancestry, ‘An Anthology of Local Indian Verse’, was compiled by C. E. J. Ramcharitar-Lalla and published by the Argosy Company in 1934.

This book contains twenty-one poems written by five writers, all from the county of Berbice, some of the poems written since 1901, all of which point to two realities, one, that there was some amount of writing going on in the county of Berbice and two, that there was some amount of collaborating among the writers.

There were a number of commonalities shared among those five writers. First and foremost and very important at that time was the fact they were all Christians or bore Christian-looking first names.

They spent their formative years in a world controlled by a sugar plantation mentality and the pervading influence of the church.

Their poetry was also influenced by the English traditional forms and bore little evidence of ‘the distinctive lilt and metre of Indian poetry’.

And finally, they were well aware of what was happening in India, England, and other parts of the world.

In part one of this three-part series, we looked briefly at the lives of those five writers. Before we examine the poetry in this anthology, it would be useful to be guided by the foreword which was written in November 1934 by the Rev. H. Hector Chick who was the President of the East Indians Young Men’s Association.

Exactly forty years ago Mr. Joseph Ruhoman delivered a lecture in Georgetown on ‘India – the progress of her people at home and abroad, and how those in British Guiana may improve themselves.’ The burden of that lecture was saddened by a pitiful lament over the backward condition of the East Indian Community. He ended with an eloquent appeal to his fellow-countrymen to form themselves into societies devoted to the intellectual, moral and social improvement of its members.
No one can accuse Mr. Ruhoman of losing the lofty ideals of his youth. Throughout the years, in season and out, he has steadily striven to realise the best he has known, in the lives of his friends.
Recent years have witnessed a marked improvement in the people who came originally as indentured labourers from India.
There are many men who have risen from very lovely positions occupying high positions in social, legal, political and business life.

But the clarion call of former years still needs to be re-iterated. May this ‘Anthology of Local Indian Verse’ serve as an inspiration to our younger men. Still further removed, as they are, by distance and by time from the great heritage of their Motherland, may they strive to cultivate all the best that lies dormant in their souls.

When I first set out to scan these poems I watched for some marks of the distinctive lilt and metre of Indian poetry. From the very earliest days Indian literature had been written in a poetic form of inexhaustible variety and intrinsic beauty.

But owning to the influence of the Missionaries, the new desire for Western education and the study of English classics, the older and more ancient form had lapsed in favour of prose. It was not without a little curiosity that I turned to these poems.

The poems included in this Anthology are written in the English tongue and consequently tend to fall into the comparatively harsh and inflexible system of prosody. The writers follow the English traditional forms rather then the Hindi. But there are certain definitely Indian characteristics.

Several times in the course of reading them I sensed the Buddhist doctrine of Nirvana, as the poet longed to be caught up in the realms of everlasting peace. Whether the actual form of expression is Nirvana or some other, the passion to realise the Divine, either by contemplation or service, runs through the poetry of India. There is perhaps no people in the world more sensitive to the delicate touches of beauty in common things. The jingling saucepans of the weeding gang coming from the cane-fields, add music to the quiet laughter, and is caught up in the rustle of the wind through the canes. The drip of water through a leaky roof becomes the beat of eternal music far more significant than the fury of the storm.
May this Anthology become the harbinger of new developments in East Indian intellectual activities. If there is a song in the weaving canes, or a message of the Eternal in the rice-fields, may it not be lost in the noise of wrangling in the market place and the jingle of money.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

What’s happening:
* A UNESCO-sponsored one-week creative writing workshop is set for Monday, August 8 to Friday, August 12, 2011, between 09:00 hours (9 am) and 16:00 hours (4 pm). This project will be supervised by Writers in Concert (WICK) headed by Mr. Petamber Persaud. Limited places available on a ‘first come first serve’ basis. Facilitators will include local and international teachers/writers. The venue is the National Library. In order to apply, please email me your intention.