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Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan

Comparative Study

- C.S. Sreekumar

 

Life and Works

C.S. Sreekumar

Bhai Vir Singh

As Punjab is the gateway to India, various people from central and western Asia invaded India frequently through the northwest of Punjab. At the dawn of this millennium, the first stage of the Muslim conquest of Hindustan was initiated and the Bhakti movement was born that grew from strength to strength in response to the religious and social challenge of Islam. At this juncture, Guru Nanak founded Sikhism. From his era to Guru Gobind Singh is known as the Golden Age in Punjabi literature. The literary tradition was continued and the period of Modern Punjabi literature may be fixed from 1850 to 1975. Furthermore, the pre-independence period may be divided into two parts: the earlier British period from 1850 to 1900 and the later British period from 1900 to 1947. Most of the literature in those days was traditional in theme and style. However, there was a great change due to English education and the experiments of the Christian missionaries. Consequently, young students in schools and colleges were imbued with new ideas, themes and styles.  Bhai Vir Singh was one among them.

 

Bhai Vir Singh

Born on December 5, 1872 at Katra Garbha Singh, Amritsar, in a notable Sikh family of Jhang whose ancestor Divan Kaura Mal played an important role in shaping the history of Punjab during the first half of the eighteenth century, Bhai Vir Singh’s father Dr.Charan Singh and grandfather Gyani Hazara Singh were great scholars in literature as well of Sanskrit and Persian. Dr.Charan Singh (1853-1908) wrote Maharani Sharab Kaur, Jang Marauli, Hir Bhai Gurudas and Bani Beora and rendered the great Sanskrit work Kalidasa’s Shakuntalam into Punjabi. Thus, Bhai Vir Singh obtained the literary tradition from his birth onwards. He did formal education up to Matriculation at the Church Mission High School in Amritsar where he had a chance to learn the doctrine of Christianity, western science and literature. He passed Matriculation Examination in 1891 with the District Board’s Gold Medal.

 

With the establishment of the British government, the Christian missionaries propagated their religion that caused a great threat to existing religions like Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam. As a result, several new religions and social movements like Nirankari, Namdhari, Singh Sabha Movement, and the Arya Samaj Movement started in order to project their religions. Bhai Vir Singh’s father was one of the founders of the Singh Sabha Movement. In 1892, Bhai Vir Singh led the Singh Sabha Movement which gained the ordinary in the conduct of his mundane as well as his spiritual affairs in accordance with the teaching of the Gurus. At the same time, he published children’s book of introductory primers, physical geography and Urdu Lughat; undertook translation of Sheikh Saadi’s Gulstan and Bostan; established Wazir-e-Hind Press, the first printing press in Amritsar that inaugurated a new era for the Punjabi language, literature and culture; and founded Khalsa College at Amritsar which become the premier educational institution in Punjab and owes a great deal to the inspiring personality of him.

 

He founded with the co-operation of Bhai Kaur Singh Dhupia, the Khalsa Tract Society in 1894. Under their patronage, 1300 issues of Nirguniara were devoted to the discussion of serious topics relating to religion, philosophy, the life and teaching of the Gurus and the interpretation of the text of the Adi Grandh, Sri Guru Grantha Sahib. The society distributed a lot of pamphlets and publications on Sikh culture, religion and social reforms particularly on occasions of the birth anniversary celebrations of Sikh Gurus. A large number of the pamphlets was written by him.

 

In 1896, he married Bibi Chatter Kaur, daughter of Sardar Narain Singh of Devi Wali Gali, Amritsar.

 

In 1898, he wrote Sundri, the first novel in the Punjabi literature. In the following year, he started a weekly paper Khalsa Samachar for Sikhs that dealt with problems of everyday living and corporate life of the Sikh community and the development of their social and educational institutions. He published two novels, Bijay Singh Part I and Part II during the period of 1899-1900.

 

Bhai Vir Singh played an important role in the founding of the organization of the Chief Khalsa Diwan in 1902 to promote the propagation of Sikh religion, social and political reforms; to reorganize the management of the Khalsa College at Amritsar; to organize annual conference and give financial and other assistance to Sikh educational institutions all over Punjab; and to open a network of school and colleges in the country. He had throughout been the chief guide and spiritual leader of the Diwan. For uplifting the untouchables, he established a Central Sikh Orphanage at Amritsar in 1904. In the next year, he completed the great epic, Rana Surat Singh that gave important landmark in his literary career. Lehran De Har and Baba Nandh Singh were written by him during the period of 1907-1921.

 

In 1908, he instituted Sikh Educational Committee for extending the primary and secondary education among the masses. In the same year, he established Central Khalsa Parcharak Vidyalaya at Tarn Taran and Punjab and Singh Bank Limited at Amristar. Because of his sustained efforts, Anand Marriage Act was passed by the Indian Imperial Legislative Council during the period of 1908-1909.

 

In 1910, he wrote a play Raja Lakhdata Singh. He established an institution for widows named Vidhva Ashram at Amritsar and Khalsa Hospital at Tarn Taran in 1912 and 1915 respectively. On the basis of the life story and ethics of Bharthari Hari, he wrote Bharthari Hari Jiwan te Niti Shatak in 1916. He initiated the movements for the untouchables and the Sikh Gurudwara Reforms in 1920. Matak Hulare, a collection of short poems on Kashmir and Kalghidhar Chamatkar, a biography of Guru Gobind Singh were written in 1922 and 1925 respectively. He annotated Gur Partap Suraj Granth, popularly known as Suraj Granth, a history of the Sikh Gurus in fourteen volumes by Bhai Santhokh Singh during the period of 1926-1935.

 

Bijhan De Har, a collection of short poems; Guru Granth Kosh, a dictionary of Guru Granth Sahib; and Satwant Kaur Part III, a novel, were written in 1927. One year later, he wrote Sri Guru Nanak Chamatkar, a biography of Guru Nanak Dev. Preet Veena, longer poem, and Kambdi Kalai, a collec­tion of poems, were written in 1929 and 1933 respectively.  In 1935, he started a Blind Asylum at Amritsar owing to his humanitarian mind. He wrote Sant Gatha Part I, and Kibit te Bhai Gurudas in 1938 and 1940 respectively.

 

He founded a Free Homeopathic Hospital at Amritsar in 1943. In 1949, he was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Oriental Learning by Punjab University due to his rich contribution to the Punjabi lan­guage and literature. In 1951, biographies of eight Gurus were written as Asht Gur Chamatkar Part I. In the next year, he was nominated as a member of the First Punjab Legislative Council.   

 

In 1953, he wrote Mere Saiyan Jeo, a collection of poems and engaged in writing Santhiya Pothis, a commentary on Granth Sahib in seven volumes that was published posthumously.

 

In 1954, an Abhinandan Granth was prepared by his admirers and well-wishers. He got the Sahitya Academy Award for his book, ‘Mercy Saania Jio’ in 1955 and he was nominated to the National Academy of Letters. Two years later, the Government of India honoured Padma Bhusan to him.

 

On June 10, 1957 the poet passed away at 60, Lawrence Road, Amritsar, after spending 85 years in this world. His wife died on 28th April 1966 at Delhi. In 1973, Sikkan Sadhran and Sahitak Kalian, a collec­tion of poems, was published posthumously.

 

Kumaran Asan

Kumaran Asan

Kerala has its Arabian Sea Coast. Because of this, the Malayalam language and literature have been influenced from across the sea even if its literary history has merely extent a thousand years long. The Portuguese, the Dutch and the French invasions do not seem to have had a major impact on the Malayalam literature of the time. During the British regime, there were far reaching changes in Malayalam litera­ture. These changes constitute a veritable renaissance in Malayalam literature. The first quarter of the twentieth century brought in the full span of the renaissance in Mala­yalam literature. The Malayalam poets adopted new poetic forms like the subjective lyric, the elegy, the dramatic monologue, the description of the beauty of nature and so on from the English poetry that had been inaugurated and established by Kumaran Asan. Asan's works belong to one of the golden ages of Malayalam poetry.

 

Kumaran Asan was born on April 23, 1873 at Kayikara, a Coastal Village, 40 km north of Thiruvananthapuram, in an untouchable Ezhava Community of a cultured Hindu by Narayan Perukuti and Kaliamma.  “Narayan Perukuti was a great scholar in Malayalam and Tamil literature as well as the local classic music, Sopana Sangeetham", says C.O. Kesavan.[1] Because of this, Kumaran Asan has more chance to enjoy Kathakali and music from his birth onwards.  

 

He started his education at the age of seven under the local scholar, Thundatil Asan. In the following year, he started to learn Sanskrit under Guru Vdayamkudi Kochuraman Vidyan. He did the Sidharupa to Magham under him.. After the age of eleven he joined in second standard at Government School, Kayikara. He passed the fourth stan­dard in 1887. He continued his Sanskrit Studies under Manamboor Govindan Asan  for four years.  At that time, he used to practice the knowledge of the Mahakavyas, Dramas, Champus, Alankara Satras, etc. Afterwards, he started his career as an accountant, teacher and a priest in a small temple named Velayudan Nada Temple nearby his home

 

Sri Narayana Guru was a great revolutionary social reformer of that time. Kumaran Asan has been influenced by his thoughts and reforms. In 1891, he joined with him at Aruvipuram Ashramam where he learned Bhakti Marga and Tamil. In 1895, Sri Narayana Guru sent him to Bangalore for higher education on Sanskrit. He joined in Sri Chama Rajendra Sanskrit College for Naya Vidyan in Thaka Satra. He continued three years there. But he could not attend the final examination because some students complained the government that he belonged to a lower caste community. In those days non-brahmins were not allowed to study in the college. He left to Madras and studied Sanskrit for a few months. In 1898, he left to Calcutta and he was attracted towards the Indian Renaissance Movement led by Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. In 1900 he returned to Kerala and he associated himself with the formation of the Sri Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam in 1903. SNDP Yogam awakened the Ezhava Community to fight against the caste system and social evils and to secure political and educational rights for the backward castes. The Ezhava Movement is similar to Akali Movement in the Punjab, the Brahmo Sama j in Bengal and the non-Brahmin Movement in Tamil Nadu.

 

In 1904, the Yogam started a Monthly Magazine named as Vivekodayam, popularly known as Ezhava Gazette to venti­late the grievances of the backward classes. Kumaran Asan was the Editor of the Journal. In 1913, he became an elected legislative member of Sri Moolam as a representative of SNDP Yogam. He married Bhanumathi in 1918. In 1920 he resigned the post of the Secretary of SNIP Yogam and joined as a Legislative Member of Travancore Government. The British King, Vaise honoured him and gifted the ring and silk shawl in 1922. In 1924 January 16, he was killed by a Boat acci­dent on Pallana River at the age of fifty one.

 

Literary works of Kumaran Asan are follows in chronology:

 

      1901       Published Sivastotramala

      1901       Published a poem, Veenapoov

      1901       Published a poem, Oru Singha Prasavam

      1911       Published Nalini

      1914       Published Leela

      1915       Published Sri Budha Charitham

      1916       Published Balaramayam

      1918       Published Grama Vrikhathilay Kuyil

      1919       Published Prarodhanam and Chinthavishtayaya Sita

      1922       Published a collection of short poems, Pushpavadi, two long poems, Dhuravastha and Chandalabhishuki

      1923       Published Karuna

      1924       Published a collection of short poems, Manimala

      1901       Published a collection of short poems, Vanamala

 

 

A Brief Summary and Themes of Bhai Vir Singh’s Works

 

Sundri

Sundari

Bhai Vir Singh wrote SUNDRI in 1898, the first novel in Punjabi language. Sundari is mainly the story of a recently married Khatri girl Saraswathi, later named Sundar Kaur or Sundari on initiation into the Sikh faith. She is the heroine of the novel. She is carried away forcibly by a Mughal who happens to see her from her parents’ home on the very eve of her marriage. All the male members of the family met the officer and offered a big ransom for her release. But the Mughal didn't agree to her release. Then she says some fervour words:

 

I shall not touch even the water of this Mughal,

 I shall turn myself rather than surrender to him.

 

The novelist narrates her as an embodiment of faith and purity. When she went to turn herself, her elder brother who had already became a Sikh under the name of Balwant Singh and had joined a band of Sikh soldiers, appeared and saved her life. Afterwards, she also joined her brother's band. Again and again they were captured and rescued by one Sikh band or another. At that time Zakaria Khan (1726-1745 AD) was the last Mughal Governor of Punjab. The Sikhs in those days were mostly hiding in the forests and mountain recesses. Sundri was respected by the Sikhs because she followed all the duties of the Sikhs. She is brought to the harem of the Governor of Lahore where she resists all temptations of a good life as the Governor's wife and over and above succeeds in preserving her chastity. The death of Zakaria Khan in 1745 led to a war of succession between his sons, Yahya Khan and Shah Nawaz Khan. In 1756, Jasput Rai, brother of Lakhpat Rai who is the Dewan of Yahya Khan was killed in battle by the Sikhs. The Sikhs were attacked from all sides near Gurdaspur and a large number of them were brutally massacred. At this time 'Sundari' saved a Pathan who was brutally wounded. He killed her when he came to know she belongs to Sikh community.

 

The novelist successfully reveals the details of the historical events and narrates the incidents through a simple theme. He did not follow the style and treatment of the theme because his intention was to awaken the Sikh community through their cultural heritage and tradition.

 

Bijay Singh

Bhai Vir Singh published the novels Bijay Singh Part I and Part II during the period of 1899-1900. Bijay Singh is a story of Hindu youth, Ram Lal, who became a Sikh under the name of Bijay Singh. This created panic in his family and only his wife, Sheel Kaur, welcomed this. He leaves the home with his wife and his young son. Because of the beauty of Sheel Kaur, Mir Mannu desired to have her in his harem. But Begum Murad, wife of Mir Mannu, was against this. Bijay Singh was arrested. Mir Mannu died and his son succeeded to the throne and later his son also died. Then the Begum began to rule. She wanted to check the intrigues of the courtiers. So she made a common cause with Ahmed Shah Abdali of Kabul. Begum falls in love with Bijay Singh and offered to marry him if he should become a Muslim. Bijay Singh resists all these temptations and at the end he is delivered from prison. Afterwards Bijay Singh is seriously injured in an encounter with Abdali forces and comes into contact with his wife. He died of his wounds and soon his wife also.

 

The novelist narrates the story with historical facts through the character qualities of various people, fanatic and tyrannical rulers, greedy priests, high headed mullahs, a lot of helpless common people and the young men surcharged with passion to end the torturous life at the hands of the Mughal rulers by joining the Sikh forces.

 

Satwant Kaur

Satwant Kaur Part I and Part II were written in 1900 and 1927 respectively. The novel is a longer story with greater complications. A destitute and helpless young Sikh girl, Satwant Kaur, was kidnapped by the Muslim invaders during the eighteenth century. She and her infant son ultimately find themselves in the Governor's house at Kabul. The Amir's wife takes care of her safety and chastity against the designs of her husband. She ultimately succeeds after many years in stealing out of the fort at Kabul along with her son, who has now grown into an eighteen years old youth, and the Amir's wife herself. They join a Sikh band of guerillas who bring them to Punjab. After­wards, they are initiated into the Sikh faith.

 

The theme of the novel was strong, and the novelist showed both skill and a sense of creation. There was greater correspondence between incidents in the novel, and historical events, and more attention was paid to building up characters other than that of the heroine.[2]

 

Rana Surat Singh (1903)

In Rana Surat Singh, the poet constructs a story and places it in recent history, which strongly reminds one of the fateful periods of the Sikh people after the destruction of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Kingdom. Surat Singh, a small Sikh Chief married the beautiful Raj Kaur, daughter of a hill Raja and inherits his father-in-law's principality. But soon afterwards he is killed in a battle with an unspecified foe. His widow, Raj Kaur, is drowned in grief, even to the neglect of her princely duties. She is advised to seek solace in the company of Saints who gather in the Gurudwara to sing the word of the Guru. Through the blessings of a Saint she is able in the company of her old nurse to fly into the four domains in the upper world, named as in Guru Nanak's Japu. Ultimately Rani Raj Kaur is persuaded to live in uninterrupted remembrance of her deceased husband and attend to her duties.

 

The poet describes the nature, its sounds and silence, lights and shadows and calm and storm. The poet wonderfully narrates the advancement of spirituality, the Sikh principle of meditation and peace, and the domain of meditation and religious life. Bhai Vir Singh started to write this epic in 1902, completed it in 1904 and it was published in 1905.

 

Raja Lakhdata Singh

This play was published in 1909. Bhai Vir Singh wrote this play as a reaction to Bawa Budh Singh's play which he regarded as profane. The novelist narrates an ideal Sikh Raja who guided by a Saint goes about in disguise to see for himself the various social evils and corruptions in which the Sikh peasantry and other classes of his subjects are caught. The evils like drinking, lechery, indulgence in opium and other drugs, village feuds and litigation are elaborated in the play. Through this narration, the novelist focuses on the tenets of Sikhism.

 

Bharthari Hari Jiwan Te Niti Shatak

This poem was written in 1916 and consists of two parts. The first is the life of an Indian monarch, a poet and scholar, who renounced the world. The remaining part is a translation in verse of a treatise that the monarch wrote on the theme of morality nearly 1,300 years earlier.

 

Baba Naudh Singh

The novel was published in book form in 1921. It reveals the life of an inconsolable young widow to seek reunion with her departed husband. She is obsessed by this idea. As she is credulous, religious char­latans and tricksters deceive her and she is robbed of her wealth. She is rescued by a young Sikh.. She lives with Baba Naudh Singh and is transformed into a woman of abiding faith. Instead of being a restless inconsolable weak woman, she is transformed into a woman who herself becomes a source of comfort and con­solation to another woman who has lost her brother.

 

Baba Naudh Singh is Bhai Vir Singh's spokesman. Through this novel, the novelist creates Baba Naudh Singh, an ideal character and the story of the young widow is connect­ed with the theme as to how we can cope with stress caused by the death of our dear ones.

 

Preet Veena (The Flute/Lyre of Love)

This is a single poem divided into seven parts. The poet narrates the union of two souls, who have been separated for a long time. Many hurdles are placed in the way of their coming together by selfish and  power-drunk people, who are in­capable of comprehending the inner strength of true lovers. The ruler of the land imprisons the lover at one end of a vast lake and his beloved at the other end. But the lovers over­come all obstacles and are united with each other in the middle of the lake.

 

The poet describes the nature and its rhythm, beauty of the lake of Gulmarg in Kashmir, and evergreen environments in the Kashmir Valley. The poem reflects the true devotion for nature, humanity and harmony.

 

Sikkan Sadhran (Longings and Unfulfilled Desires)

Bhai Vir Singh wrote about a hundred short poems on the theme of man's longing for his creator, the eternal desire and divine spirit. These poems were put together in a volume title Sikkan Sadhran which was published posthumously in 1973.

 

Sahitak Kalian (The Literary Buds)

Sahitak Kalian consists 160 short poems. It was published posthumously in 1973. These poems revealed the significance of simple situa­tions, i.e. man's life worth if spent in the service of humanity.

 

A Brief Summary and Themes of Kumaran Asan’s Great Works

Vina Poovu (A Fallen Flower)

Kumaran Asan wrote his first poem, Vina Poovu in 1909, an elegy upon a dead flower. The theme is quite simple - the sad fate of a flower fallen from its glory. A bud is born of a vine and bathing in the ripples of Moonlit nights and dancing with the rays of the morning Sun it blossoms into youth. Her glamour holds the butterfly hosts in thrall but her heart goes forth to a kingly bee. She offers the cup of her charms to him. The pitiless hands of Death have fallen on her. It is an inexo­rable law of nature. This is the way of all living things, tears are of no avail, and life after all is but a dream.

 

The forty odd stanzas are rooted in one central idea and they constitute an organic whole. The plan of the poem as also its elegiac tone, reminds one of western models of the poems of Shelly and Keats especially but its thought content is essentially Indian and Vedantic.[3]

 

Nalini

The plot of the poem is narrative style and denouement. Divakaran loves Nalini since his childhood. But her parents did not agree. Then Nalini abandons everything for love and does penance, for five long years, and ultimately finds the person whom she adores. But he has already taken the path of renunciation. She feels her heart will break but as he leaves he pauses for a moment to impart to her the Supreme Wisdom, the secret of renunciation. In a moment of blissful detachment she is able to shake off the shackles of physical existence and dies. The poet describes the divine love in the poem. He narrates the spiritual love.

 

Leela

Leela is a main character in the poem. Leela and Madanan were playmates in their childhood and lovers in their youth. Her father gives Leela away in marriage to a rich merchant. Madanan becomes mad and wonders the wilds chanting the name of his beloved. Leela's husband dies. Leela returns to Madanan and finds him mad. She falls at his feet. He kisses her and runs away. He is drowned in the rising waters of a river. She too follows him. In this poem, the poet narrates the tempestuous pa­ssions of the lovers. The poet portrays the incident in the chronological sequence with dramatic unity in the poem.

 

Duravastha (A Tragic State)

In this poem the poet describes social problems like the caste system. The theme is a bold and unorthodox one. In this, the poet successfully connected the theme with the tragic Moplah Revolt of Malabar (1921). Muslims plundered and looted a Brahmin house after murdering the inmates during the Khilafat Movement. One girl alone escaped and took refuge in the cottage of a Harijan whom she married subsequently. She admired his qualities. The poet stresses that the caste difference is not an index to human qualities and opposes the man-made differentiations.

 

Karuna (Compassion)

The poet took the story of Karuna from Buddhist lore. Vasavadatta, a Courtesan of Madura is attracted by the handsome Buddhist Monk, Upagupta.  She sends her message of love to him. But he disappoints her. Eventually she becomes the mistress of a rich merchant and finds it risky to serve two masters at the same time. She brings about the death of her first lover. Her crime is discovered. Then Upagupta thinks that it was the most opportune moment. He meets her and offers her the peace that is vouchsafed in the Buddhist way. The poem is intensely emotional. The poet was ins­pired by the philosophy of Buddhism.

 

Chandala Bhikshuki

The theme of the poem is taken from Buddhist lore. The poem describes the story of a Chandala maiden named Matangi. She is fascinated by the conduct of Ananda, a disciple of the Buddha. Ananda accepts a drink of water from her hands and becomes spiritually infatuated. Afterwards she becomes a nun of the Buddhist order. The king could not possibly view the entry of a low-caste maiden in the Sangha. But he is convin­ced by the blessed one that caste has no sanction either in religion or in order of social morality. The poet combines the theme of renunciation and the dignity of the casteless society propagated by the Buddha.

 

Chintavishtayaya Sita

In this poem, the poet takes the theme from the Puranas. The poem belongs to Khanda Kavya category. Sita, the main character, sits under a ‘vaka’ tree and then recollects her past, tinged with the pent-up emotions of a wrangled wife. Her thought are beautifully narrated with sorrow and chastening philosophy. Sita is conceived as the symbol of love which transcends the self. Her suffering and sacrifice are the legacy of the wife and mother the world waer. Asan reveals the agony and the pain and the final overcoming of them by Sita as symbolic of the lot of all sentient and sensitive human beings.[4]

 

A Comparative Study

 

Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan lived through the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries. Most of their works belong to romantic category. Therefore, one can see so many similarities in their works. A compa­rative study of the two throws light into similarities and dissimilarities of their poetic perceptions.

 

In Romantic era, the poets around the world were inspired by English poets. The impact of English poetry on the works of Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan was most visi­ble in the adoption of new poetic forms like the subjective lyric, the elegy and the dramatic monologue, description of the beauty of nature- forests, rivers, birds and animals, the seasons, sunrise and sunset, moonlit, nights, trees and flowers - point to the influence of Wordsworth, Shelly, Keats and Tennyson.

 

Bhai Vir Singh lyrically narrates the beauty of nature in Rana Surat Singh, an epic poem, in which he emotionally narrates the Platonic love, separation, sufferings, beauty of nature, and the like:

 

There was an even space amidst mountains

Small yet brilliant, clean and beautiful

Inside the Himalayan range

At some distance from a spot of worship

It was resplendent on account for the greenery in it

It had several kinds of trees and creepers

Grown up in diverse places, waving in air

A hill stream with crystal clear water

Coming down the hill with cold fluid

Passing through this domain going down

In some places with soft flow but in some making noise

A beautiful monuments in its bank

Constructed upright with white lime

With a  decorated dome with miniatures around it

And covered with golden plate at the top

The walls inside made of white marble

Intersections of different colours running through it

There is an egg-shaped grave under the dome

It is made of subtle design

On the grave beautiful flowers are lying

Which have been placed by loving hands!

 

Through these rhythmical arrangements, Bhai Vir Singh describes the scenic beauty of the environment concerned with the various events. Kumaran Asan also narrates the same aesthetically in Oru Vina Puvu:

 

Ah flower, how exalted was your state

When once you show in splendour like a queen!

Inconstant are the fortunes of the earth;

What a glorious past and now how low you lie!

The mother-plant with loving care

Enfolded your infant charm in calyse soft;

The gentle breeze came rocking you to sleep

To the lullaby of the murmuring leaves

Bathing oft in milk-white moonlight

And frolicking in warm sunlight,

With companion buds you spent your childhood

In care-free ways of endless glee

 

Mahakavi Kumaran Asan imaginatively describes a flower that has just fallen and speculates on the nature of the life and love. Lyrical lament on the transitoriness of beauty and an assertion of human kindship with nature are reflected in his poems.

 

Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan obtained the literary tradition, culture and heritage from their ancestors. They were educated in English and Sanskrit, so that they could go through all classical works of English and Sanskrit as well as their own literature. Bhai Vir Singh's first poetic contri­bution was the translation of a popular English poem into Punjabi verse in 1893. Kumaran Asan's Sri Buddha Charitham also was begun as a translation - of Sir Edwin Arnold's light of Asia - but it is as good as an original in view of the spontaneity and individuality of the verse. Because of this, both of them were inspired by English works and they used to translate them.

 

Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan worked as journalists in Khalsa Samachar and Vivekodayam respectively. They edited and served them as the vehicle for publishing the ideologies of their organisation and for their self expression as the poets. They started a new era in their languages. They pub­lished so many articles, poems, speeches and so forth regarding their Gurus in the journals.

 

In those days backward classes and widows were oppre­ssed and humiliated in Kerala. In Punjab, Sikhs were tortured by the British. Because of the humanitarian heart of Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan, they developed social reforms for the upliftment of them and disseminated their emotion to­wards them through their works and social activities. For this purpose, Bhai Vir Singh and Kumaran Asan led the Singh Sabha movement in 1892 and Sree Narayan Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam in 1903, respectively.

 

Kumaran Asan vehemently opposed the caste system. It can bee seen in his poem, Duravastha (A Tragic State):

 

The same indeed the Hand that cast

The Brahmin and the Harijan;

and what a range of  glorious deeds

of valour, love and intellect,

hast than thwarted from fruition

0 Hindu faith, because of caste

And how many the finest men -

the Sankaras, the Perumals -

and bards - the Tunenans and Kunchans -

who - in they womb,  aborted lie,

alas, my mother Kerala,

because of caste*s blood thirsty ways!

And there do lie, Mother Bharat

six to seven crores gems in thee,

which, burnished, would priceless be,

and lustrous - but now cast away!

 

Bhai Vir Singh was deeply affected by the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh in his native town. He fought against the British rule and he expressed his intense love of freedom as in his poem, Ganga Ram:

 

Never shall I be a servant

Never lose my freedom

Freedom is my birth-right

This is the divine gift

The gracious Lord may ever foster,

My precious spirit of freedom

 

Great spiritual leaders like Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, Sri Narayana Guru, and Guru Nanak and others have repeatedly taught us that all men are brothers and have preached the same fundamental values of goodness, charity, tolerance and love. Bhai Vir Singh propagated the duties of Sikhs in accordance with the Gurus through his literary works. He defines Sikhism through the life of Rana Surat Singh and his wife, Raj Kaur:

 

Sikhism is to keep one's consciousness divinely

Strengthened and inspired

And to live a practical life of positive

And hopeful optimism.

 

Kumaran Asan also did the same in Sri Buddha Charitham which highlighted the thoughts and teachings of Buddha.

 

Their poems show that both of them were inspired by the philosophy of their respective religions. Religion widely expanded their minds so that they could see and understand the happiness, love, life, sorrows, and separation of all the living things. Because of this, both of them always wrote about human emotions and they drew the vivid picture of life in their canvas of mind. We can see the truthful picture of life in one of Bhai Vir Singh’s poems:

 

The world's a bubble; and the life of man

Less than a span;

In his conception wretched, from the womb

So to the tomb;

Curst from the cradle, and brought upto years

With cares and fears;

Who then to frail mortality shall trust,

But himns the water or but writes in dust

Yet since with sorrow here we live opprest,

What of life is best?

Courts are but only superficial schools

To dandle fools,

The rural parts are turned into a den

of savage me:

And where's a city from all vice so free,

But may be termed the worst of all the tree?

Domestic cares afflict the husband's bed

or pains his head;

Those that live single take it for a curse,

or do things worse;

Some would have children,  those that have

them moon or wish them gone;

What is it,  then,  to have, or have no wife,

But single thraldom, or a double strife?

 

Our own affections still at home to please

Is a disease;

To cross the sea to any foreign soil,

Perils and toil;

Wars with their noise off right us when they cease,

We are worse in peace:

What the remain,  but that we still should try

Not to be born,  or being,  born,  to die?

 

In the following lines, he regards the world as a play of God as we are all in His hands:

 

I play on the lotus-leaf today;

Tomorrow I shall be with Him!

He drops me, and He draws me up –

A dew-drop on the lotus-leaf

 

Kumaran Asan has the same view on life. He describes the life in his first poem, Vina Puvu:

 

Turn back, my eyes, this flower will wither fast

And mingle soon with dry forgotten dust

Beware! This is the lost of all, how can tear help?

This earthly life, alas, is but a dream

                        

Both of them said that nothing was permanent and change was the law of life. They write the truth, beauty and goodness though their poems reflect the philosophy of a holistic life.

 

Conclusion

 

Bhai Vir Singh led the Singh Sabha Movement for religious revivalism as well as to counteract the activities of Christian Missionaries. But Kumaran Asan led the Ezhava Movement for their upliftment from religious castrophicism. For this purpose, Bhai Vir Singh propagated the teaching of Guru Nanak through his works and Kumaran Asan propagated the ideology of Sri Narayana Guru and Buddha. Both of them were inspired by Romantic poetic ideals and Indian renaissance because they lived in the same period and got literary tradition, heritage and culture from child­hood onwards. Both poets widely used female characters in their works. They wanted to encourage the women folk be­cause in those days, women were humiliated and tortured. Kumaran Asan used only the poetic genre. But Bhai Vir Singh handled all literary genres. Kumaran Asan and Bhai Vir Singh have so far no equal in their own literatures. Both of them were revolutionaries in the social and literary fronts. Their major poems are works of transfiguration and transportation. They move from the unreal to the less unreal, from the less unreal to the real and from the real to the more real. Because of this they could narrate the multifarious layers of human existence and depths and heights of life. Thus their works became immortal.

 

Bibliography

 

1.       Bhai Vir Singh, An Analytical Study, G.S.Khosla, Heritage Publishers, New Delhi, 1984

 

2.       Bhai Vir Singh, The Sixth River of Punjab, Lt.Col.J.S.Guleria, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi,1973

 

3.       Baba Naudh Singh, Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, 1989

 

4.       Bi jay Singh, Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, 1983

 

5.       Comparative Indian Literature, Chief Editor, K.M.George, Kerala Sahitya Akademi, Trichur, 1985

 

6.       A History of Punjabi Literature, Sant Singh Sekhon and Kartar Singh Duggal, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1992

 

7.       A History of Malayalam Literature, P.K.Parameswaran Nair, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1967

 

8.       A Study of Bhai Vir Singh's Poetry, Pritam Singh Safeer, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, 1985

 

9.       Satwant Kaur, Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, 1987

 

10.   Sundri, Bhai Vir Singh, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi,   1983

 

11.   Bhai Vir Singh Shataldi Granth, Edited by Harbans Singh, The Bhai Vir Singh Shatabdi Samiti, New Delhi, 1972

 

12.   Bhai Vir Singh, A Literary Portrait J.S.Guleria, National Book Shop, New Delhi, 1985

 

13.   Introduction to the Study of Comparative Literature, Theory & Practice, Teesi Publications, Madurai, 1997

 

14.   Aasaante Padyakruthikal (Malayalam)-Poems, N.Kumaran Asan, Current Books, Kottayam, 1990

 

15.    Encyclopedia of Indian Literature, Chief Editor Amaresh Datta, Shahitya Akademi, 1989

 

16.   Bhai Vir Singh, Poet of the Sikhs, UNESCO Collection of Representative Works-Indian Series, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan,   New Delhi, 1976

 

17.   A Brief Survey of Malayalam Literature, K.M.Tharakan, National Book Stall, Kottayam, 1990

 

18.   Bhai Vir Singh, A Short Biography, Prof. Harbans Singh, Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, New Delhi, 1990