Nationalism in India as Reflected in the Hindi Poetry

The Hindu Poetry is the cultural record of the development of nationalism in India. It reflects how the Hindu nationalism germinated as early as in Chandra Bardai’s Prithvi Raj Raso, how it became militant in the Poetry of Bhushan who used the sentiment of heroism to develop national and ethnic pride, how it began to give way to secular nationalism in the trasitional phase of Bharatendu who lamented the glorious past and the miserable present of India, how it gradually became more and more vocal, liberal, all-embracing and even militant,especially in such hands as Maithilisharan Gupta and Sheedhar Pathak, and then - when nationalism under Gandhi’s leadership was on a full swing - in such poets as Makhan Lal Chatturvedi. In the postcolonial phase, however, there developed the notes of frustration, disillusion, resentment and anger as the people’s expectations remained unfulfilled, and consequently a mixed sense of doubt and critical inquiry creeped in and the emotional mode of expression was replaced by the realistic one. The Poetry of the nineteen-sixties particularly marks the significant change as reflected in such poets as Girija Kumar Mathur, Dinkar, Raghuvir Sahay and Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena, and in a more pungent tone in the anti-establishment poets, Rajkamal Choudhury and Dhoomil.