अयोध्या: सांस्कृतीक सौहार्द का इतिहास

अयोध्या रामपूर्व जमाने से भारत देश की सांस्कृतीक राजधानी रही हैं. यहां सबसे पहले फुली फली व्ह समन संस्कृती थी जिसका आरंभ हम सिंधु संस्कृते के समय तक पिछे ले जा सकते हैं. इस देश का नाम भारत वर्ष होने से पहले चक्रवर्ती नाभी के वजह से "नाभी वर्ष" हुआ करता था. यह विख्यात हैं कि नाभी जैन धर्म के पहले तीर्थंकर ऋषभनाथ के पिता थे. उनकी राजधानी थी अयोध्या. उन्होने जितने भी प्रांत जित लिये उन प्रांतों को नाभीवर्ष कहलाया जाता था. ऋषभनाथ का जन्म अयोध्या में ही हुआ. समन संस्कृती की धारा मे उन्होने बडा योगदान दिया. पहले तीर्थंकर बने और जैन धर्म की नींव रखी. जैनों के इतिहास में अयोध्या का एक खास स्थान हैं. वजह ये हैं कि अयोध्या में अजितनाथ, अभिनंदननाथ सुमतीनाथ और अनंतनाथ इन महनीय तीर्थंकरों का भी जन्म हुआ. अयोध्या एक ढंग से समन संस्कृती को चरम सीमा पर ले जाने में सहायक हुई.

अब इस बारे में कोई संदेह नहीं रहा हैं कि इस देश का नाम भारत वर्ष हुआ वह आद्य तीर्थंकर ऋषभनाथ के शूर पुत्र चक्रवर्ती भरत के वजह से. भरत की राजधानी भी अयोध्या ही थी और वहीं से उन्होने अपना साम्राज्य अधिकांश द्विपकल्प में फैलाया. मगध में नंद साम्राज्य की वजह से राजगृह राजधानी बनने से पहले यह कहा जा सकता हैं की इस देश की प्रभुसत्ता पहले अयोध्या में केंद्रित हुई थी. ना सिर्फ संस्कृतीक मगर राजनैतीक राजधानी बनने का सौभाग्य अयोध्या को मिलने में नाभी से लेकर अन्य जैन सम्राटों का भी हिस्सा रहा हैं.

अयोध्या में जैसे समन संस्कृती अपनी नींव बनाएं बैठी थी वैसे ही शिवपुजकों की आदिम संस्कृती भी साथ ही साथ में पल-बढ रही थी. बाद के समय में रघु वंश के श्रीराम का जन्म अयोध्या में हुआ ऐसी मान्यता हैं. राम मुल रुप से शिव संस्कृती के थे. मगर बाद मे दक्षीण अफगाणिस्तान से यहां वैदिक धर्म प्रविष्ट हुआ. गुप्त काल के दौरान वैदिकों को जैसे ही राजमान्यता मिली उन्होने पुराणे काव्य-इतिहास ग्रंथों मे बदलाव लाकर वैदिक महत्ता को घुसेडना शुरु किया. कृष्ण, राम जैसे अवैदिकों का वैदिकीकरण किया गया. उन्हे वैदिक देवता विष्णु  के अवतार बताने जाने लगा. यहां तक की अवैदिक शिव का वैदिकीकरण करने के प्रयास में वैदिक देवता रुद्र और शिव का सम्मीलन करने की कोशिश हुई. मगर यह सब हुआ दुसरी सदी के पश्चात. उससे पहले ऐसी कोई मान्यताए नहीं थी यह हमे अंगविज्जा और गाहा सतसई इन प्राकृत ग्रंथों से पता चलता हैं.

अयोध्या में विवादित जगह पर कई उत्खनन हुए. एक भी उत्खनन में वहां कोई पुरातन राम जन्मभ्मी पर मंदिर था इसके सबुत नहीं मिले. वहां इसाप्र्व चौथी सदी की एक मृण्मयी जैन प्रतिमा मिली ऐसा पुरातत्वविद बी. बी. लाल ने घोषित किया था. देश में मिली यह सबसे पुरातन जैन प्रतिमा हैं जो विवादित जगह पर मिली. बाद के भी कुछ अवशेष मिले, प्रतिमाएं मिली और कुछ सिक्के भी मिले मगर उन्हे राम से जोडा नहीं जा सका. हाल हे में एक दावा किया गया कि वहां शिवलिंग और नक्कासीदार खंबों के अवशेष मिले हैं. दावा सच भी हो तो वे शिवमंदिर के प्रमाण हैं, राम मंदिर के नहीं. सबसे पहले ये बात ध्यान में लेना जरुरी हैं कि शिवप्रधान हिंदू धर्म में, यह धर्म व्यक्तिगत होने की वजह से, सार्वजनिक मंदिर बनाने की प्रथा काफी देर बाद आई. सबसे पुराने मंदिर की प्रतिमा हमें मिलती हैं वह कुनींद गणराज्य के सिक्केपर और वह भी एक शिवमंदिर की हैं और इसापुर्व १५० की हैं. इसलिये अयोध्या में इसापुर्व का कोई मंदिर राम जन्मभुमीपर होगा यह बात तर्कसंगत नहीं हैं.

वैदिक धर्म यज्ञप्रधान होने से उनमें मंदिर तो क्या देवताओं की प्रतिमाएं बनाने की भी अनुमती नहीं थी. आज भी इंद्रादिप्रमुख वैदिक देवताओं के मंदिर दुष्प्राप्य हैं. हमें वैदिक संस्कृती के पुरातन अवशेष मिलते हैं वह यज्ञं के लिए बनाएं गये युपों का, प्रतिमाओं का नहीं, यह बात भी ध्यान देने योग्य हैं. राम कोई मंदिर परातन समय में बना हो इस बात की कोई संभावना नहीं नजर आती. बौद्ध और जैनों के विहार-स्तुपों के चलन में आने के बाद हिंदु भी मंदिर बनाने लगे मगर वे प्राय: छोटे हुआ करते थे. वैदिकों के मंदिर बांधने का तो कोई सवाल ही नहीं था.

मगर यह बात साफ हैं कि श्रीराम का मुल चरित्र अयोध्या से जुडा हैं. इस देश का एक आदर्श व्यक्तित्व राम के रुप में देखा जाता हैं. राम पुजनीय नहीं मगर एक अनुकरणीय व्यक्त्त्व थे इस बात में कोई संदेह नही हैं. जैनों ने और बुद्धों ने भी राम को अपना ही समझा है. जैन रामायण प्रसिद्ध हैं वसेही बौद्धों का दशरथ जातक सुपरिचित हैं. वैदिकीकरण हुए रामायण की अपेक्षा रामजीवन के वास्तविक तथ्य हमें जैन रामायण से ही मिलते हैं. राम भारतीय संस्कृती के ऐसे एक व्यक्ती हैं जिन्हे सबने, यहां तक की मुस्लिमों ने भी अपनाया हैं. हर गां, हर बस्ती में राम से जुडी कहानियां हैं. राम राम यह शब्द अभिवादन का तो हैं ही जीवन की अंतिम यात्रा के समय भी राम नाम कहा जाता हैं. मगर इस देश में राम मंदिर अब भी बहो कम हैं क्योंकि राम जनसमाज ने हमेशा अनुकरणीय आदर्श माना. पुजनीय कोई बन जाता हैं तो उसके चरित्र का अनुसरण कौन करेगा? अवैदिक हिंदु और अन्य धर्मसमाजों ने यह बात हमेशा ध्यान में रखी थी.

वैदिकों सहित हर धर्म-संप्रदाय ने राम को अपने अपने ढंग से देखा. राम कभी भी संघर्ष का कारण नहीं बना था. अयोध्या में अहिल्यादेवी होलकर ने अठरवी सदी में राम मंदिर सहित अन्य चार मंदिर बनाएं थे तब अयोध्या पर असिफौद्दौला अमानी का शासन था. उससे पहले, १७३७ में अयोध्या के मुस्लिम नबाब के दिवान केसरी सिंग ने अयोध्या में जन्मे पांचों तीर्थंकरों के मंदिर बनाएं. अयोध्या का अर्थ ही हैं, "जहां युद्ध नहीं किया जा सकता वह भूमी." यह नगरी किसी एक की नही. भगवान बुद्ध ने इस नगरी में आठ वर्ष वर्षावास किया था. यह संस्कृती की निर्मिती करने वाली भूमी हैं, नष्ट करनेवाली भूमी नहीं. सांस्कृतीक एकता का पुराना इतिहास इस नगरी से जुडा हैं. अब राम मंदिर की नींव भी रखी गई हैं. जैन संस्कृती के  अवशेष विवादित जगह पर मिलने के बावजुद अपनी धर्मसंस्कृती के विचार मद्देनजर रखते हुए जैनों ने उस भुमीपर दावा नहीं किया. बौद्धों ने भी अपने दावों में कडवाहट नहीं आने दी. अयोध्या का इतिहास संस्कृतियां जोडने का इतिहास हैं, तोडने का नहीं यह हम सब भारतियों को ध्यान में रखना चाहिएं. इसी में राम की महत्ता की रक्षा हैं.

-संजय सोनवणी

Origin of the country name "Bharata"

First of all, we have to keep in mind that the notion of a ‘Nation-State” is a very recent political system that came into the existence after French Revolution. That was India which never was a single politically governed entity hence there never was any need to have a single name for the entire subcontinent. The different states were known after their regional names and if larger empires comprised many regions they were known after the ruling dynastic name. Maurya, Satvahana, Gupta, Kushana, etc. empires are fine examples to make this point. 

The earliest name for the region of Indus valley (or sub-continent) appears in Sumerian records belonging to the period of Sargon (2323-2279 BCE) which mentions the ships coming from Meluha. In another inscription, the name of the region is spelled as Melukha from where men used to come to sell gold dust. Mythological legend such as  "Enki and Ninhursag" also refers to Meluha in the following words, "May the foreign land of Meluhha load precious desirable cornelian, perfect mes-wood and beautiful aba wood into large ships for you" Besides this there are other inscriptions as well those describes the import of various artifacts, dogs etc. from the region of Meluha.  According to the records the traders of Meluha had established their colony in southern Sumer in the City-State of Girsu.

We are not sure whether Meluha was meant for the whole subcontinent or just the region of Indus valley which heavily traded with Sumer. Also, it is not clear whether the Indus people had named their region Meluha or it was the name devised by the Sumerians. Since the Indus script is not deciphered so far we may not know what Indus people called their land in their times. However, this is the first reference to the name of the Indus region or subcontinent.

 

It is now clear that Indians also have preserved this name in its original form in Prakrit language as Milichha or Milakkha which was later corrupted in Vedic language as “Mlechha” and meaning also changed drastically from country name to a term meant for barbarians speaking a strange language. To new entrants in India, the Vedic Aryans,  this corruption and giving the term a convenient meaning was quite natural. The way they misused the tribe name “Sudda ( Shudra in Sanskrit) by considering them insignificant and impure, they did the same with the original country name. In the later course of the time, besides Indians, they applied these terms to foreigners as well.  But the fact is the Vedic Aryans know only the Saptasindhu region (north-west India) before they entered the subcontinent. They did not know at all what lay beyond the Indus River and its tributaries. They called “Brahmarshi Desha” to the Kuru-Panchal region where they settled initially and Aryavarta to the broader east-west region. They used the corrupt word Mleccha for the local people.

 

However, the scholars like Michael Witzel,  Asko Parpola, A. H. Dani, etc. now believe that the “Meluha” is a Sumerian corrupt form of the original Prakrit name “Miliccha”.or “Milakkha”.  Though the country name adorned entirely different meanings, the word still survives and now we can say this was the most ancient name of the country or its north-west part. This name in Purana times was again changed to Bharat Varsha gradually replacing the ancient name.

 

To find the name of the country we have to depend on mythological and epical sources. Indian mythologies are full of contradictions and inconsistencies hence it becomes difficult to arrive at any conclusion based on historical proofs. We have to infer logically from the available mythologies of various religions to reach any conclusion.
 

 Alternate Names of the country

We will have a glance at the various names the subcontinent was called with. Some of the names are indigenous and some are given by foreigners. In modern times only two names, India and Bharat, are applied to the republic of India. In popular culture, the name Hindustan also is in vogue.

Hind/Hindustan: After Meluha, ‘Hindave’ or Hind was another name for the subcontinent or just for the region around the known large river ‘Sindhu’ to the western world. The land beyond Sindhu was barely known to the westerners, even to the close neighbors Iranians. The term “Hindave” appears in Avesta, a religious scripture of Zoroastrians. To which early Rigveda refers as Saptasindhu appears in Avesta as Haptahindu because of the sound change in the Old Persian language. However, these 7 rivers didn’t belong to the tributaries of the Sindhu River but these were known large seven rivers that surrounded their known world.

May it be whatsoever, the word “Hind” was applied by the westerners in various forms to the land surrounding the Sindhu River and beyond. Vedic Aryans coming from the Helmand valley of modern Afghanistan also did not know much about the tribes that had occupied various regions beyond Punjab and hardly knew anything about the southern regions beyond Vindhya. Manusmriti’s geography evidences the fact that the Vedics gradually came to be acquainted with the various regions and tribes of the subcontinent. The lands they were situated in were called either “Aryavarta” or Brahmarshi Desha”. In short, to the early Vedics name of the nation (land) they situated in was limited to their settlements and known parts of the northern regions of the sub-continent. Name Bharat does not appear in any Vedic records as the name of the region or subcontinent.

This would mean that the word Hindave denoted just the land beyond the Indus River which was not known to the western world. The term Hindustan acquired a larger meaning when the Turks established their political power in the subcontinent. Still, from the records of medieval times, it appears that the name Hindustan was mostly applied to north India, and the southern part was still known as “Dakkhan.” In a later era, when the British started to rule the subcontinent they gave larger meaning to the term “India” as a political unit and under the umbrella term covered almost all the regions of the subcontinent.
 
 The name Indica (Indoi) given by Greeks also did belong to the Sindhu River. The present official name ‘India’ is a further development of the Greek pronunciation Indoi.  This does mean that the Indus River played a significant role in providing regional identity to the people of the subcontinent.

Jambudwipa:

 

Though mythologically a popular term but scarcely used to describe the subcontinent, the Jambudwipa term has occupied almost every Mythological book. Jambudwipa is one of the seven continents divided by different 7 kinds of oceans. The descriptions of all these seven islands seem to be a fantasy of ancient mankind. It has no resemblance to any material world. For example, Jambudwipa was full of monstrous Jamun trees. The Puranas portray Jambudwipa as being depressed on its south and north and elevated and broad in the middle. The elevated region forms the Varsha (region) named Ila-vrutta or Meruvarsha. At the center of Ila-vrutta lies the golden Mount Meru, king of mountains. On the top of Mount Meru, is the vast city of Lord Brahma known as Brahmapuri. Surrounding Brahmapuri are 8 cities - the one of Lord Indra and of seven other gods. The city of Brahmapuri is said to be enclosed by a river, known as Akash Ganga which after encircling the Brahmapuri "splits up into four mighty streams", which are said to flow in four opposite directions from the landscape of Mount Meru and irrigate the vast lands of Jambudwipa.

Jain mythology also has preserved the myth of Jambudwipa. According to Jain cosmology, Jambūdvīpa is at the center of Madhyaloka, or the middle part of the universe, where the humans reside and is divided in continent islands. Jambudwipa is surrounded by salt-ocean and so on. Mount Meru is at the center of the world surrounded by Jambūdvīpa, in form of a circle forming a diameter of 100,000 yojanas.

Jambūdvīpa continent has 6 mountains, dividing the continent into 9 zones (Kshetra). The names of these zones are: Bharat Kshetra, Mahavideha Kshetra, Airavat Kshetra, Ramyakwas, Hariwas, Hairanyvat Kshetra, Haimavat Kshetra, Devkuru and Uttarkuru

  
Though the above description does not fit to any land the name Jambudwipa seems to have applied to India at many places in ancient scriptures. The knowledge of geography was so limited in the ancient past that the people used their imaginations to have a mythical picture of the universe they lived in. Jain mythology applies the name “Bharat Varsh” to a part centered by a mountain but the description of the geography almost is imaginary. But an inference can be derived that though the knowledge of the subcontinent and the world was very limited, the name “Bharat” was applied to the subcontinent in ancient times and that the oldest memories have been preserved in Jain and Hindu mythologies.

Nabhivarsha /Ajnabhvarsha

As the knowledge of mankind grew the names of the land were given after the name of the ruling dynasty. Nabhivarsha is the first such name that was given to the land where King Nabhi, father of the first Tirthankara Rishabhnath, ruled extensively. Nabhivarsha was considered as a part of Jambudwipa. But this name did not gain much popularity as the son of Rishabhnatha, Bharat, shadowed his grand Fathers popularity, and the name Nabhivarsha or Ajnabhvarsha was soon got

replaced with Bharatvarsha. Adipurana gives a detailed, but a mythical account of the era of Nabhi. However, it can be derived that Nabhi was a popular king who ruled over a large part of the subcontinent hence the region was named “Nabhi Varsha” (Region of Nabhi).

Bharat

 

Of two official names, Bharat is one that has been in the use since millenniums. As we have seen in Jain and Hindu mythologies “Bharat Varsh” (Region of Bharata) appears in the description of the mythical Jambudwipa. However, there has been always a controversy over the issue of who was that Bharat after whom the subcontinent was named?

 

We have to deal with this issue very carefully.

Bharat Tribe

Rigveda mentions a mighty tribe Bharat ( Bharata or Tritsu, a hypothetical sub-clan of Puru Tribe) which was initially associated with other Vedic tribes as a political or religious alley and sometimes as a leader. The king Sudasa, the hero of the celebrated Battle of Ten Kings is supposed to belong to Bharata (Trutsu) clan. He had defeated the Puru tribe, which is referred to as Anarya, Ayajju, as well in this battle. We have to bear in mind that these Rigvedic tribes dwelled in the Basin of Helmand River which earlier was known as Sarasvati to the Vedics and Harhvaiti to the Zoroastrians. The Mahabharata does not mention the battle of Ten Kings at all nor the celebrated Sudasa who brought such a great victory. This only does mean that this Bharata tribe had nothing to do with the Puru/Kuru clan of Mahabharata. In Rigveda Bharatas and the Purus had turned into enemies. In the line of the great king Pururavas, we find no mention of the Bharat tribe. Instead, he was against fire-sacrifice-oriented religion and hence was killed by the Vedic Brahmins.  Also, in Rigveda, Bharata and Puru are the names of the two distinct tribes whereas in Mahabharata both are the personal names.

The Mahabharata genealogies are restricted to the regions where the distinct Puru/Kuru clan (descendants of Nahusha) ruled and not the Sudasa. Hence, there was no need to mention the Sudasa, his predecessors or successors in the Puru/Kuru lineage in Mahabharata. Most probably, the later writers of the Mahabharata had borrowed the names of Yayati’s sons such as Puru, Anu, Druhyu (From Sharmistha) Yadu, and Turvasu (From Devyani) from the Rig Vedic tribal names to bridge the missing or forgotten link in the genealogy. In reality, there cannot be any possible relationship between these tribe names with the personal names of Yayati’s sons, unless they were borrowed directly from the Rig Veda. If we try to assume that, the Yayati’s sons, establishing different kingdoms, formed the Rig Vedic tribes, we do not get any such support from the Mahabharata. Yayati had cursed his other sons except for Puru when they declined to transfer their youth to him. (1.84, Mahabharata)

The supposed Bharata clan of Sudasa and Bharata (Son of Dushyanta) of Kuru lineage were two distinct families/persons. The Rig Veda nowhere mentions the famous Kurukshetra through which the Saraswati is supposed to have flowed. Had the Ghaggar been the lost Saraswati and the Bharata clan of Sudasa ruled on the banks of the most revered river Saraswati and in whose reign, the most sacred scriptures had been composed; one would expect his mention in Mahabharata. But it is not the case. If the Puru’s of the Rigveda are considered to be the same as those mentioned in Mahabharata, Puru’s of  Rigveda were sworn enemies of Bharata’s who were decisively defeated by the Bharata clan. Hence Bharata of Mahabharata has nothing to do with the Bharata clan/tribe of Rigveda hence Bharata clan which delved in Afghanistan cannot be associated with the country's name.

Also, we should bear in mind that the Bharata tribe, too, is enigmatic. Though, it has been attempted to relate this tribe with Sudasas (Tritsus) and the Purus, the name Bharata does not appear in the Rig Veda as a name of any particular tribe whose existence can be shown independently. Bharata is mentioned in the Rig Veda in about 15 verses, but in at least four verses, the name Bharata appears as a synonym of Agni, at one place of Maruts and at some times of gods. At some places, the Bharatas are mentioned as insignificant, such as in RV 7.33.6. However, from Rig Veda, it seems that the term ‘Bharata’ is a generic term, like Puru, not specifically the name of any tribe. The seer Vishwamitra is said to be among the sons of Bharata, the third Mandala of Rig Veda is attributed to Vishwamitra hence, it often is called Bharata book. But Bharat in Rig Veda remains a very mysterious term, not associated with any tribe or person of fame.

 

The Manusmriti mentions the name of the region where they were settled in following manner-

 

 “The region of Kuru, Matsya, Shursena and Panchal  is called lands of Brahmarshi.” (Manu-2.19)

 

“The land lay between Himvat and Vindhya and which is spread towards the east of Prayag and west of Vinasana is called Madhya Desha.” (Manu 2.21)

 

“But the wise men call this land ‘Aryavarta’ land that lay between both the mountains and between the oceans of the west and east.” (Manu. 2.22)

 

Manu and other Vedic literature nowhere mention “Bharata” as the name of any region or sub-continent hence, India could not have derived the Name Bharata after a tribal name that delved not in the sub-continent but eastern Iran.

Daushyanti Bharat

The second claimant is another Bharat, son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala from their pre-matrimonial relations. Mahabharata gives him comparatively very short space. He ruled the Kuru kingdom and did not seem to have expanded its boundaries to create a mighty empire. Though his descendants were also called “Bharatas”, it nowhere is mentioned that the kingdom was known after him. The kingdom was always known as Kuru-Panchal. “Mahabharata”, the name of the epic derives from the tragic war taking place between the descendants of Bharata. However the original name of the epic was “Jaya” which contained just 8800 verses which later was expanded to 24000 stanzas and came to be called “Bharata”. Again in later course expansion of the epic continued to reach almost one lakh shlokas and came to be known as Mahabharata. The original poet never intended the epic name should be called after Bharata and hence he had titled it “Jaya” (Victory).

Mahabharata in Adiparva (69.49) and Anushasan Parva (76.26) indicate that the descendent and predecessors of Bharata will be known as Bharatas. This does mean that it has no territorial reference as some may want to believe.

However, when Bharata's name for the subcontinent came into the vogue some authors of the past tried to connect Daushyanti Bharata with it. However, though Bharata has shown conducting many fire sacrifices including Rajasuya it is clear that he never brought, forget the subcontinent, even north India under his control. The fact is evident from the various independent kings of the south and north who participated in the Bharata war.

The epic name “Mahabharata” does not belong to any territory but to the war fought between the descendants of king Bharata. Hence we cannot connect Daushanti Bharata with the country name.

 

Dasharathi Bharat

We know another Bharata, son of King Dasharatha of Ramayana. Some believe that the country name belongs to this Bharata. However, the link is very weak. Bharata was the younger step-brother of Rama whom his mother Kaikeyi was eager to make crowned king by sending Rama into exile. However, Bharata did not accept the throne; instead, he preferred to rule the kingdom as caretaker king. Since he neither was the crowned king nor did expand the kingdom, and remained confined to the traditional boundaries of his ancestral kingdom, it will be unwise to credit him for the country's name.

Most importantly, there is no scriptural evidence including Ramayana to suggest the country name was given after him.

Rishabhanath’s son Bharat

 We have seen that India (or most of its part) was also called Nabhi Varsha. According to Hindu and Jaina Puranas Nabhi was the father of the first Tirthankara Rshabhanatha. “Varsha” means ‘territory’ so Nabhivarsha would mean the territory of king Nabhi. Though we do not know the boundaries of Nabhi’s territory it is obvious it must have been substantially large to be named after its emperor. The capital of Nabhi’s empire, as per mythology, was Ayodhya, known as Viniy in his times.

Whether Rishabhnatha was a historical person or not is a hotly debated issue since his lifetime’s description we get is too mythical. As we go back in ancient history, since memories become vague, the normal tendency is for the descriptions to become mythical.  Mythical accounts cannot be discounted just as sheer imaginations, but the historical facts can be searched after proper analysis of the myths.

Apart from Jaina literature, we find names of three Teerthankara’s, Rishabh, Ajitnatha, and Arishtanemi mentioned in Yajur Veda which approximately belongs to the 8th century BC. Being Veda’s an independent source, the information can be taken as reliable though the time of all these ford makers has to be speculated. But we can safely place them in the pre-Vedic era.

Bharata (from Sunanda) and Bahubali (from Sumangala) were sons of Rishahnatha. Bharata became an all-conqueror whereas Bahubali renounced worldly pleasures and took an ascetic life in South India. Bahubali is to this date showing his presence through his huge statue at Shravanbelgola. If faith and folk traditions are believed Bahubali was indeed a historical person, deified in course of the time. Bharata was a historical person who established his empire to be known after him.

We have more scriptural evidence that establishes that traditionally Rishabha’s son Bharata is responsible for the country's name. Apart from Jain Puranas numerous Hindu Puranas like Vishnu Purana (2,1,31), Vayu Purana (33,52), Linga Purana (1,47,23), Brahmanda Purana (14,5,62), Agni Purana (107,11–12), Skanda Purana, Khanda (37,57) and Markandaya Purana (50,41 clearly credit Bharata, son of Rishabhnatha, for the designation Bharata Varsha (territory of Bharata). For example, Vishnu Purana mentions:

ऋषभो मरुदेव्याश्च ऋषभात भरतो भवेत्
भरताद भारतं वर्षं, भरतात सुमतिस्त्वभूत्

Rishabha was born to Marudevi, Bharata was born to Rishabha,
Bharatavarsha arose from Bharata and Sumati arose from Bharata.
—Vishnu Purana (2,1,31)

ततश्च भारतं वर्षमेतल्लोकेषुगीयते
भरताय यत: पित्रा दत्तं प्रतिष्ठिता वनम (विष्णु पुराण, २,१,३२)

This country is known as Bharatavarsha since the times the father entrusted the kingdom to the son Bharata and he himself went to the forest for ascetic practices.
—Vishnu Purana (2,1,32)

This would mean that in popular and mythological culture it was a fact that the Son of Rishabha, Bharat, was credited for the territorial name Bharata. However, it appears that before the second century BC Bharata's name was used for the region of Gangetic plains which gradually came into use for the entire subcontinent.

Purana’s final recessions were compiled during the third-fourth century AD, during the Gupta era, and when the Sanskrit language had fully developed. The origins of the Purana and Epics are now traced to the Prakrit origins which later were transliterated to Sanskrit with many Vedic additions and deletions. Without going into much detail about this it suffices to say that the designation “Bharata” was initially limited to north India and later on it came to refer to the subcontinent.

We have another important proof to establish this fact. The name Bharat (Pr. Bharad) appears for the first time in Hathigumpha inscription of Jain emperor Kharvel of Kalinga belonging to the second century BC. The inscription states, “[नगरिय कलिंग] राजनिवासं महाविजय पासादं कारयति अठतिसाय सतसहसेहि [।।] दसमे च वसे दंड संधि साम [मयो] भारदवस पठानं मही जयनं … कारापयति. (Line ten, Hathigumpha Inscription) which can be translated as “… And in the ninth year [His Majesty] caused to be built [in Kalinga Nagari] the Great Victory palace the royal residence at the cost of thirty-eight hundred thousand (coins). Then in the tenth year, [His Majesty] the embodiment of politics, diplomacy, and peace, caused [ the army] to march through Bharatavarsa for conquest.”

This inscription is historically important because this is the first inscription that mentions Bratavarsha. Also, this inscription indicates that to Kharvel, Bharavarsha was a territory through which he marched for his military exploits. So, by Kharvela’s time entire subcontinent was not named after Bharata. Kharavel being a Jain monarch his reference to Bharat is certainly related to the son of Rishabha and none else as in the same inscription Kharvel describes how he won back the image of Jina (Rishabhnatha) that was moved by Nanda king to his capital.

 

We have another inscription from Wai (Maharashtra) belonging to the first century AD that also mentions Emperor Bharata and Bharatkshetra. The six-lined inscription in Maharashtri Prakrit was found on the pedestal of a broken idol. A line of the inscription reads “भरहखेते भरहसमो भरहणाम विखाह....” (In Lands of Bharat there is a king named Bharat who is as famous as Bharat.)

 

In Jain Puranas, north India is mentioned as Bharat Varsha and South as Airavat Varsha. In the third century BC, many Jains migrated to the south owing to the worst famine and carried the name Bharata along with them and by the fourth century AD the name was applied to the entire sub-continent. This is why Vishnupurana states that-

उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।
वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।

"The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bharatam; there dwell the children of Bharata land.”

 

It seems that with growing interactions between the foreign worlds the people of the subcontinent must have felt the need for a single name to refer to the whole of the subcontinent and hence Bharata came to refer to the landmass that lay between the Himalayas and the ocean of the south.
 
 Etymology of Bharat

Since Prakrit is the original language, we have to bear in mind that the original name of the country was “Bharad” or “Bharah” as mentioned in the Kharvela and Wai inscriptions and Jain records. The Sanskritisation of the “Bharad” is Bharat. Bharad would mean “who provides”. And Sanskrit etymology also supports this.
In Sanskrit, the word Bharata is derived from the artificial root ‘bhru’, which is said to be meaning provide for, to be maintained, cherished, or one who protects. From this root ‘Bhrata’ (Brother), Bhartru, and so the Bharata words have been evolved, all mean the same. The name ‘Bharata’ (Bharada, Bharha) originated keeping this meaning in mind. King Bharata was the protector of the earth and the cherisher of the people. Hence the country getting name after him was natural as the land also fulfills and supports the meaning that the word “Bharat” has. The land which cherishes and provides is also Bharata.
 
Conclusion-

Looking at the available scriptural and inscriptional proofs the country name Bharata came into existence from the legendary Chakravartin King Bharata, son of the first Tirthankara Rishabhnatha. Apart from mythological stories we can trace the origin of the country's name to this Bharata as other claimant personalities or tribes of similar names stand weak in light of the scriptural as well as inscriptional records. The name “Bharadvas” (Bharatavarsha) initially must have belonged to the regions controlled by Bharat which terminologically was expanded to apply the whole of the subcontinent to revere the memories of a lawgiver, just and mighty emperor, and the land also stood to the meaning of that term. The Vedic Bharata tribe or Daushyanti Bharat couldn’t have been responsible to name the subcontinent after them as it is not supported by even scriptural proofs.

-Sanjay Sonawani

Monsoon Sonata

A cloud burst
solemn and serious
will issue
from the cluster of clouds
in soul forms
And
We shall drench ourselves in self delight

Sometime
that day will come…
But in the meanwhile
let’s sing the monsoon Sonata

¨¨¨

Water-harmonica is resonating
On the shores of the sky
And the anklets jingling
At the feet of the horizons high
To its rhythm are approaching
Group of graceful clouds well nigh
And my eyes in tremulous anxiety
Feast upon this bounty

This is the very first day of rains !

¨¨¨

The Monsoon Sonata is intoxicated
it’s the song of the liberated heart
of frothing rivers and unbounded sea
it is the cherished intent
Come brothers … come all
And fill the cup of your heart
with notes of this rain hymn
Trickling drop after drop

¨¨¨

In the heart of the earth
Countless green sprouts hold sway
As though through those prodigious lips
The earth’s singing today
The dusky sky
Thrilled to the core
Spins gay birds
And it wafts high and low
an aerial encore

Thus it is that the whole sum
Is today tuned to a hum
¨¨¨


That maiden of tender parts
Is leaning, oh so well arched !
Her lips upon the bowed canopy
of clouds wisely earmarked
And this delicate verse
Caught in the cloud’s arms
And the rain pouring on me
Whispering an easy song :
“Glory to love ! Glory to hearts strong !”

¨¨¨


The rain bursting
from the clouds
And I say
“Come brother … Get wet ! ”
Such benign rain
Might not issue again
And if you stay aloof
Your old age thirst
will sulk under the roof

¨¨¨

In this little pond
The sky is stealing
A look at itself
The way lord peeps
At his sprit
In my little eyes human

¨¨¨

Come ….
Today we shall role
Over and over
On this green and velvety turf
Blue clemency is streaming
From the sky above … for us !
There ! Those beady drops
The crests of green blades
But wait … touch ‘em not ….
let ‘em also look at the world
Sweetheart ….
Hold your breath
Its time the dusk
Kissed this evening.
¨¨¨
the dainty lilies
are laughing innocently
like a new-born child
the soft and pliant wind
is planting kisses
and swelling and racing
To the horizons
The clouds too are swell
And on their lips too
A delicate, lovely smile has sparkled.
¨¨¨
I stand here wrapped in clouds
On the far shore of the horizon !
The thrilling verdure of the earth
Has become my bosom
And it hails out to me :
“ You are mine
Albeit, in you alone I abide … “
Today, why do I see
My own stir
In every atom of nature ?
¨¨¨
Who are these heavenly courtesans
Visible to me ?
The notes of which unknown song
Are ringing in my ears ?
Why rhythm is impelling me
To string this metrical composition ?

The clouds are brimful …
The rain is pouring
Which great bard
Hums in my ears
This wordless song ?
¨¨¨
Today the earth is giving birth
To weird notes
Everything’s as though enchanted
And blossomed
In a single soul

The fellowship trickling
From plants and shrubs
Has left me spellbound
In country suburbs

The minds thirsty …
Full of tremulous anxiety !
But of what consoling sorrow
Does the heart show !

Brother, the sky weighs upon me
And I am myself perplexed
At the rain in me !

¨¨¨

Just once ….
I experience of that tender caress
That soft touch !
And for my sake
It seemed as though
the clouds spilt
the meaning of life
Then I received my summons
From this rich quarters
And the heart started ringing unexpectedly
With the Monsoon Sonata
¨¨¨
This cloud burst
In sage-hearted
For those
Who live in god’s righteous light
My heart is streaming out
From this cloud !
I am viewing the subtle rain drop
Upon my tender lips
And in my eyes
And in every other eye
There’s a new monsoon
The whole world seems to have
Become cloud-laden
And rainy today !
¨¨¨

Oh my dearest rain princess
Secure yourself in my embrace
Be perfumed by my intense love
Let your little jingling bells clink
upon the silken leaves,
in rains wink
Let your warmth and affection stream
From the dark corners of your eyes
In this cold and breezy dream
Keep humming in all my parts
Give lips to every breath of mine
¨¨¨
When I see the humble evening
at the dusk
standing their damp and wet
the shadows of my pensive mind
are cast away
and an ancient songs
Unknowingly trickles from the lips
Nothing makes sense ….
Who am I ? where do I belong ? …
For do whom I exist ?
¨¨¨
Wait
Let the sky dash down now
Then sing the song of innocent sky
With your delicate lips
O naïve dear !
These moments are meant
For witnessing this celebration
In speechlessness
They are not the birds
To be captured in words
¨¨¨
Someone, god knows why and how
Who whispering through these atoms …
So full of sentience


Enthralled, I try to understand
This eternal existence …
Like my being !
But sky still overcast
And dewy eyes are raining in torrents
Slowly and slowly, the rain will stop
The clouds of feelings will clear out
Then the dispassionate blue sky
Shall reveal itself to me
Forever !
¨¨¨
Sometimes I am all stirred up
And I fall into the tumultuous medley
Agonized by the cruel wordly chum
I keep collapsing
But the churning goes on
In its indefatigable velocity
And my collapsing
Is also a part of it !
¨¨¨
The birds are chirping …
That’s the innocent sparkling
Of your laughter
I look around bemused
And see all the stroping shadows
Of the past
In the sunshine of the rainbow
I grow misty once again
Lost in myself
¨¨¨
Wait
Let me sing more
Of the perpetual music
Which intends to liberate me
From the whole caboodle today
Allow me
To experience that love
At least now …
That love which you can’t give me.

¨¨¨
How fabulous
This life is…
Subtle like gorgeous cloud
And akin to a mystical evening
Which has been blown by
the south west wind
So enigmatic…
Like the ever evasive grasp
Of a flighty, whimsical damsel
She is sometimes little known
Sometimes better known
Yet unknown
¨¨¨

Your eyes are brimming with tears !
O my girl, look at the sky overhead
Weeping with a hundred thousand eyes
And look at the dispassionate ocean too
Try sometime if you please
To feel the storm
In my deep
You shall then relies
How painful it is
To deceive one’s tear
falling in one’s own eyes
And yet struggle
To stand upright
Though the very tumbling plight
No ! it serves no one right
To fall by little woes
Or let disappointments
Deceit and unfair measure
To break you, my dear !
¨¨¨
Moments
Like lovely silver sand
In my fist ….
May forever stay
In my dreamy world !
But there !
Dodging through the fingers
Of my torn fist
They are slipping out
With great speed !
¨¨¨
Now there’s no time
For brooding on remorse
The sun’s setting
And the road is winding away
O mind, do not tarry now
Frenzied by the calls from the past
For the knack of deception
Even whilst the end has come
Continues to be Time’s
¨¨¨

Don't get soaked today
Don't get drenched in rain
The clouds are thick
Like Thieves
Rather than daring the foul air
Stay put in my hug, my dear !
¨¨¨
Every leaf
Is flushed with green sap and spirit
And the throats of the birds
Ring out with celestial melodies
This pathway so shy and bashful
Saves the girdle of chastity
Winding carefully her half-blossomed
youth
From meeting the delicate grassy hug
As should a girl in garment wet

The delicates silver dream
Dreamt by the blue sky
And the swaying and swinging green
Flouring of the crop
Is throbbing
In my formidable embrace-
One vast embrace !
¨¨¨

Your laughter is scattered
upon the whole earth my dear
It's become the cream of sandal !
And your hair do
Is gone helter skelter
Along the blowing wind
I have become a cloud
In these mysterious woods
I know not in whose tender arms
I am slowly being captured
¨¨¨

Leafless tree
Is doused and bathed
As a barren erotic relation
Looking down at this rain shower
In the puddle underfoot
For a distance....
Rather cheerless
Of life incessant.

The rain never stops
It keeps pouring
In a pit-pat rhythm
And the fortuitous monsoon sonata
Resonates constantly
Through my heart
Through our sweet whispers

My misty, dreamy love,
Sometimes it's you
Who comes in the form of the monsoon
And I wrap you around my body
On some still damp morn
With my heart saturated.... reborn !
¨¨¨

Really speaking
Nowadays I fear nothing
Neither the ominous deluge of rains
In dark and witchy nights
Nor the lash of lightening
Which whips the heart
Nothing daunts me
" The end of the world could not be
More terrible than this"
I have transgressed such fears
And I now stand on adult
I've known the void
Which seems like an emissary of Death
And abides in the heart of rain
¨¨¨

Now and again
Even I feel like becoming
A hot, ashen tableland
And be aloof
Without a care for the world !
The disgust born of swallowing
Treason and betrayals
Sometimes impels me
In chance moments of paroxysm
To rain on
With a vicious ravening war cry
But then if feels instantly
That I wasn't born
for such vile acts
Even if I burst
The thirsty green earth
Must blossom and vegetate anon !
¨¨¨
There should be someone mine
My own upon whom
I can exercise my unprincipled rights
But then
Why must I alone feel this ?
This sky too has nobody
Nor has the monsoon known
Anyone as its own
And this stupendous world's court
Does it need a point of support ?
And if I am
A part of this setient tree
Why does this thirst unquenched
Ever grows in me ?
¨¨¨

Death to me
Now feels my own
To hug its bosom
Names a deep pleasure
And a feeling of security

How can one escape
The woes pouring curse
And the rain of traitors humours ?

To escape these rain currents
We must ride
The cloud property which causes torrents

¨¨¨
Which lord is strumming
The lute of infinite strings ?
It is raining....

The solemnity
With which that peasant
Joined his palms
With the same solemnity
I too lauded that music

I'm frozen...shivering...frenzied
Imbibing in me
The Monsoon Sonata
Sung by the Lord
¨¨¨
Dreams and visions
I sure like to see

Their delicateness
And limitless sensitiveness
Are object of my love

How subtle are dreams
Like ripples in the lake
Sinless and innocent
As the rainy sky
¨¨¨

Now wipe out tears
And consider this sapling
Even in this cruel, crazy, indecisive world
It is treating itself to the joy
That lies in living life
And experiencing
The unprecedent moment
Say, my dear, why then are you
So fearful ?
¨¨¨
The sorrows keep coming
Like the punctual steps
of monsoon
... They have to come !
How else my dear
Are you to know
The value of life ?

The value of a single smile
Harvested in the land
Manured with a thousand tears...
My love
Never count it any less
¨¨¨
To go on loving everyone
Like the rain
Which pours indiscriminately
On all beings, all creatures...
This is pure religiousity

May be
Sweet saplings will sprout
Or may be it will grow
Thorny bushes by the scores

But does the rain
Ever care about it ?
¨¨¨
This right
Is reserved for poems
But these fine words
Breaking from my lips
Aren't mine

The note and the cadence
Rising from my heart
Isn't mine

These woes...this sorrow
Or my un requilted love
I don't even give any meaning to it

Events transpire, eke out responses
but my abyssal soul
Stays untouched by them

What is all this ?
And how did it come about ?
Or better still, who filled
This subtle verse in me ?

I know it not !
I know it not !

I'm simply living on
And singing on extravagantly
With full liberty

My weeping and waiting
Nights after nights
Or lawless laughter
Of lunatic seizure
Are but sports..

Beyond all this I've secured
My immortal existence
Dispassionately watching
All these miracles
And spotting the change of humours

Everything
From an unknown of obscure intent
Transpiring for reasons unknown
And me too unknown
To my own self

How then can I even name
This poem to my fame ?
¨¨¨
Life's extremely beautiful
Because of my emotions
I refuse to give up
My madness
Which consists in frisking about
· In libertine delight
Monsoon shall come
Again and again
And every time
This heart will stream
With a new Monsoon Sonata
Of myraid colours !
Today perhaps
There's a writhing of agony
Tomorrow a pink flush
Of affection
May be upon it
And the day after
There might just be
An unattached well being
And my last Monsoon Sonata
Might even be mute...
Because then I wouldn't need words
To express it !

The sky is incensed
And can be sensed
But in this manner wise
I won't ever try to search
The meaning of compassion
Which in human eyes lurches
For I know
That it's all distant...
Beyond the realm of the knowable
Therefore the song of my life
Is in living alone

People cry
Or laugh mischievously
But everyone's pure
For if some rainy season
Grows thorns on earth's bosom
Of that piece of earth
it's seldom a fault
Nor is the rain, nor thorns
Are censurable for that cause

Mounted upon a rain cloud
I'm sailing across
With an aqueous melting heart
Crossing over all these intense moments

And my heart's bewildered !
¨¨¨

O life! How charming are you
Akin to my dreamy sweetheart !

Come my chum
Let's love far too much
And if you can
Tell me the truth of your heart
And my import
By myself apprehended
Or....
No... just forget it
For does not true delight
Come from misty will-less sight ?
¨¨¨


This jingling of life's veena
Makes me crazy
The bird in me soars intoxicated
Along this musical path
the ocean of melodies
Swell around me
An my arms tug and clasp
All about the tree of life

Seated in the door of death
Through every particle of this earth
And thro' millions of lamps in the sky
I am singing the song of life
¨¨¨

Even though
The detached cloud of sorrow
The moon shines in the heavenly eye
And from this rock too
Creepers joyously look at the world
I say unto these :
O' name one amongst you
Never leave me alone
For your lesson
An your deed
Every breath of mine
Is a carpet indeed !'
¨¨¨

Drunk
Of the elixir of life
I go on dancing an tipsied
I do not care
For those vile ones
Who dared sell their deities

Aren't we the pilgrims
Of immortal way !
What remorse must we bear then
Of pits and potholes mundane ?
¨¨¨

Incessantly pours the rain
Of flowers incensed
with musical nectar

And I
Picking up dream shells
Off the shores
Walk along this way
Wayward...and lost !
¨¨¨

I take great delight
In weeping as well
Whence my head is still
Upon the brimful bosom of the sky
The pacifying caress
Of my father in the heaven
Lightens up my difficult path
I am neither indignant, not remorseful
I grudge no offender
Because I am infatuated
And with millions of my arms
I strike notes on countless guitars.
¨¨¨

Hearing this pit-pat
And swaying along
Weaving rich scarves of dreams
One sweetheart of unnamed creed
will come
Searching for me...
O how eager I am !
How frequently my heart pine for her !

She
The princess liberty
And I/me
At her mercies !
¨¨¨

In holding the touching moments
Close to the heart
I was touched as well
An I forgot my grief here
Becoming a disciple
Of an anonymous regime
And peering at this world
Speechlessly....
Now I can hear the whispers
From little lunar beams
Who calls me from there
So gently?
Who sings through my veins
So soothingly ?

On rainy nights
Propped next to the window
I stand glued
To the vistent rthytm of torrents
Looking at this mysterious down pour
I am ever lost in a mammoth dream

In the incessant mad splash
I sense the world
Trembling, stroping and humbled
By the rain

The icy drizzle
Which raises shivers on the body
With every cold breeze
Can't restore conciousness in me

The monsoon courses on
making me reckon
The spirit giving hand of eternal life
....The hand that blesseth

Then taking me close
To the endless moments and realisations
The monsoon gives me a vision
Of the mysterious, vital world

Such lust as
That the night may never en
The moments may never trickle down
with such immediacy
This music of humanity
Breathing through the pores of the world
Very rarely such intensity
Wins over the atoms of the spirit

The world is fearful
And flings itself
In the arms of secure affections
Searching for support
As though this rain is a rain
Of clamities and death
The one which will scrape away
All prosperity

By the lightening thunder
They wake up
And search for security
In the lap of a sweetheart
A wife or a mother

They feel
Outside in half-awakening
Something dreadful awaits them
With its jaws wide open
But I stay undaunted here
Fully awake and askance
All these discoveries
And I grasp the Monsoon Sonata
Overflowing from all quarters

O my heart’s companions !
Today I pen this Monsoon Sonata
With drops of rain and drizzle
Painting them with emotions
Yours and mine …
Hopes … frustrations … terrible setbacks
Of expectations ….
And the void gained
In attempts at love unrequited
And search for truth profound

My soulmates !
Wake up … Rise to your feet
Let us find the ray of truth
Streaming from
These dark and swelling clouds
Let us sing the Monsoon Sonata
To our hearts content
Because today
We need to resurrect our values of life
Which are slowly breaking away
We need to weave the world
In harmonious music
We need to sing the never ending song of
humanity

In unison

Wake up … Arise …
The hour of dawn has struck
And the rain too pours
For the same effulgence

This rain…
It shall slacken in a few moments
And then there will be a brief day
Do not miss these sun’s rays
Which come and go in moments
Lest you are left forever
Searching for succour
In rain’s fear

These clouds in delicate part
Like your illusory contact
And their leisurely deport
As you weigh your steps in court
So wild and willful
That I can’t … can’t …
Hold’em in arms full
They slide away and ship
From my embrace and grip
Like you …


Lightening a glitters
From all the ten quarters
The fiery roar of Rudra resonates
And the heart of space rents
Then exudes Sprit from afar
Sounding notes of Omkar


the winds blw in blasts …
Earth has lain prostrate
Before this
Shaivic sky great
A Surrender…
Of things down and under!

Me to humbled
Bow unto the high
Like creepers and bent trees
And moments stopped abruptly
In me mettuer feebly :
“Om Tryambakdm yajamaje…”

My friend !
When I see the stormy rewind
In the interiors of your mind
And the disgust
About hypocrites unjust,
Then I too remember
The fierce monsoon’s old number.…

That furious monsoon
Which leashes its watering streams
Compresses its vast being
And sails along panting
From horizon to horizon
Unspilt …

Oh how easily it dries up the heart …
How carelessly forgets its own part …

But then my friend!
If you are to leave in shower
The same unlearned human feather
What use in pouring and fall?
This unseemly rain’s ball

Even so, the fool …
Who ask this question?
From the walled city and closed mansion
Perchance happens
To come by rain’s puns
So in the end
All men in joy do tend

Then why must you not melt ?
Crumble and have it all felt ?

My friend!
Just as this world needs
A gallant rain of punctual deeds
You too are much needed !
To prove the fullness of all things seeded !

I pine from monsoon
Because it peels away
The adultish filth grey
And with its thousand arms wet
Washes my notions set

A greem skin in rain
Makes me a sinless child again…

It puts out hopes old and fresh
Annihilates the lusts of the flesh
Ruling over my dreams
And all plain empty schemes
Monsoon blows on my soul’s streams

A green skin in rain
Makes me in sinless child again …
Those wasted agonies
Ambitions lost to thorny trees
All turns into dew and fog
Wet drops alas
Behind the glass

And then of a sudden
The unborn rain starts its hum
Raising fresh sprouts handsome
Of sensations pure
To stay and lure

A green skin in rain
Makes me in sinless child again …

------------------------------------------


Come, let’s go out
And walk on the wet soil
Carving our footprints
And monsoon hints
Upto the horizon let’s go on
Where god stands leaning on
Spreading his inscrutable mesh
With cloudy veil and an illusion fresh


See !
How in your stride
The whole Nature does abide
Oh my comrade !
You are not alone
In salvation or marching bone
For your quest for emancipation
Touches all creation

Whether that horizon
Draws near or not …
Whether the nectar in the clouds
Trickles down or not …
Running after it is still fraught
With joy and reward of our lot

Why must we save Time’s parch?
Why then, stop our march!

-----------------------------------------------

Sometimes I too feel secure
In becoming a cloud obscure
Like a peeping cloud’s tease
And nobody’s grasp to please
No hint as to who I am !
No breath to shape, no rhythm !

But how silly is my urge
If I am to myself so opaque
How can I ever say
That I’d for you

Become an open book
Or a transparent nook

----------------------------

Why guard existence ?
For whom must we save all Sentience ?
If we must dance at all…..
On the floor, in a ball
Let’s storm the whole wake
A glade festival make !
If excess alone dispersed
Why let our steps be cursed ?

Until we are fully drained
And our substance’s all rained
Our life’s but
A barren cloud
A cursed star
An earthly shroud

As for me ….
I shall pour on and on
Until the heart’s last dawn
Pour I’d upon rain
Or earth’s loving terrain
Or on hills depopulated
Or on brimming ocean spated

Maybe I can’t make
Much obeisance in this wake
But when there’s no more to shed
And nothing more to be said
I’ll have this pleasure gained :
“Host is gone, only guests remained.”
---------------------

Death and its palpable fear
Had gotten me too
With its pangs and throbbing tremour

A page to life !
Me too just a liveried boy in band
And my spend errand !


Me thought
What should my death impart ?
And whatever might start ….
Will it these muslin memories
Well tie and depart ?

But ever since I’ve made a note
Of monsoon’s lavish note
And experienced again and again
Some frenzy in dropping rain
Since them
Just one feeling profound
Has had my mind bound :

‘If these very clouds pour
Drop for drop
From the strore
And then the same drops
Make the cloudy crops Then all end’s just an immigration
Of the same drop to other station’
It maybe that
The form’s little thin or fat !
And the time’s bit of a stir
A little here or there !
Maybe even the land
Where these newfangled clouds pour
Is different in its core !


But it’s the same cloud burst
Last, middling or first
And no cloud gives up its joy
Of trickling away from the sky
In monsoon’s glad strings
In wet rain’s wings.

Why then must I fear
Death or transmutation dear ?

I too shall die
And may be rekindle
In some sprout’s sigh
Or in soil humble

But the low earth too
Must the rain’s caresses obtain
Give herself up in pain
To give birth to a new strain

----------------------
Sometimes
I start streaming out of myself
And shining lashes of thunder
Express my sense of wonder

Occasionally I sink downwards
Thro’ drops of words
And the soul in me pours
Swiftly like feathers

I ford over and span
Ends of the horizon
Traversing the whole course
With my heart’s force

Aren’t you like me
Another cloud free ?
And don’t you too pour
Drive yourself ashore?

Maybe at times
Raining is like meaningless rhymes
And so we other times perhaps
Mere anguished raps

Yet in fact …
You are yourself a monsoon
Cloaked in a swoon
Like a cloud upon the moon

And me …
A season of rain
Streaming out of wordy domain from an existence to an empty vein
The day I’m full drained
And not a drop in me sustained …
That day it shall scarce matter
What cloud was I ?
High born or low
… a prince or a beggar ?

For this joy of mine
Can never be plundered …
“I rained my all and surrendered.”

-----------------------------

My dear
You keep pouring over
On some cloud of the earth or other
Or as often
Just stay barren …

But is it really thy Providence ?
For a pregnant cloud does issure
Only when it has a motherly hue

So are you a pregnant cloud ?
Not just hopes secured !
Nor those dodgings merely heard !

Oh my dear !
Just try and keep your steps with me
For I am teaching nothing
Oh yes, I’m teaching nothing

Because no on unto Nature
Takes up like a tutor or sir
And He alone who is formless
Sings to all an eternal solace

But we are ever so dumb
Trampling upon the divine crump for our souls too are untaught
With no seer in the clouds caught

We are all lusty morass
Clouds dense, laden with mass
And he labour to pour our lives
In this divine monsoon’s jives

All fools thus admiring passion
Seek forever the same salvation …
Come, let’s get away from mentions
Forgetting the bygone illusions …

Come with me …
Don’t stifle the rain in thee …

For it doesn’t matter for once
Even it the hailstorm comes
May the soul freezing icicles crumble
In death’s ghastly rumble
… Never mind that !

May be blooms and flower
Your pouring might spur
… It doesn’t matter !

Just come with me …
And pour like torrents for once …

Care not whether it’s love or gore
Pent up feelings or kindly store
Just pour, even things insane
For nothing’s new to Nature’s vein


Oh feel that you too are on old corn !
Only new chests to pride adorn !

Do you or rain’s origins care ?
Whether such-and-such drop
Is from oceanic vapur atop
Or same lake’s or river’s dollop ?


Then why do you for ends bother !
Hide from rain and skin’s shower !

Oh ! come with me …
I insist, because I’m nobody
just earthly mist …


Come, let’s soar high !
Becoming clouds thin and dry !
Let’s race with this windy fawn …
Respond to the outcry of this horizon …

Let’s get away somewhere ….
And drawn ourselves there …
To leaves nothing to mortal career

Oh come, let go …
Keep your step with me and go …