11-05-2025
The Mantra of Mother India
'Mother India' has been remarkably authored by the phrasal monarch Arbind Kumar Choudhary and comprises 99 Indianised versions of Arbindonean sonnets. In this breathtaking anthology, cultural culmination, mythical monarchy, patriotism, spiritual sanctity, and lyrical outbursts bloom and zoom from one sonnet to another with great poetic precision and vision. Most of these Arbindonean sonnets contain three rhymed quatrains and one rhymed couplet, which bring to light the fusion of phrasal words, artfully woven like the beads of a garland.
As we delve into this engaging work, we find a painterly depiction of a strife-stricken society that highlights the greatness of Mother India. The inclusion of mythical gods and goddesses lays fertile literary ground for India's mythical monarchy to shine globally. Themes of camaraderie, cultural synthesis, and above all, the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, elevate India as a superpower of humanity. In this work, the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, is portrayed as the messiah of the downtrodden and voiceless, while Sardar Patel is depicted as the architect of India's unification. Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Movement is equated with the greatest movements in Indian history, while Subhash Chandra Bose is glorified as a man of iron—mighty and majestic.
India, heralded and addressed by names such as Hindustan, Aryavarta, and Jambudweep, has remained a sacred land of gods, goddesses, saints, messiahs, gurus, and incarnations since time immemorial. The book's poetic brilliance shines through its rhymed passages, personifications, alliterations, assonance, striking imagery, phrasal clusters, and sensational presentation—making 'Mother India' a masterpiece in Indian English poetry. Buddha is revered as the celestial Sultan of Hindustan, while Mahavir enlightens the intellectual knights for the betterment of society. Indians are depicted as wise as Vidur amidst a world of Bhasmasurs.
As a social critic, the poet presents socialists as selfish as Dhritarashtra. Consider this couplet filled with phrasal richness:
'The merchant of doom is he / Who breaks a butterfly on the wheel for the social butterfly?'
Another couplet exemplifies alliteration:
'Pitambar of Porbandar / Perfumes the passage for the pauper.'
Fruits like Ramphal, Sitaphal, Hanumanphal, and Amritphal symbolically revive India's cultural essence time and again.
India is referred to as the mythical, cultural, historical, religious, and Yoga capital in one of the Arbindonean sonnets, crafted with poetic beauty. Life is portrayed as a treasury of misery on this virgin land. Shravan Kumar's filial love, Modi's diplomacy, Vibhishan's loyalty to Janakiraman, Ambedkar's struggle against untouchability, Savitri's ultimate sacrifice for Satyavan, the cultural river Ganga, the Kashinath dynasty, and many others leave behind an eternal fragrance.
Vajpayee's uncompromising stand against corruption earns him the title of the king of morality in Indian history. Horse trading is portrayed as a curse to a man like Vajpayee:
'Like a bird of passage / Who embraces defeat from one vote for morality's sake?'
The concept of love is captured poignantly in the couplet:
'What the eye does not see / The heart does not miss?'
Indian cultural heraldry becomes the artillery of Choudhary's poetry amidst many a starry territory.
