G M MUKTIBODH ABOUT THE POET Gajanan Madhav

G. M. MUKTIBODH

ABOUT THE POET � Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh (13 November 1917 – 11 September 1964) was one of the most prominent Hindi poets, essayist, literary and political critic, and fiction writers of the 20 th century. [He also remained assistant-editor of journals like, Naya Khun and Vasudha etc. He is widely considered one of the pioneers of modern poetry in India. Muktibodh’s poetry is experimental and intensely speculative.

THE VOID � ‘The Void’ is a surrealistic poem which brings out destruction and violence resulting from excessive self absorption and a sense of meaninglessness of life. The Void, or nothingness is presented in a negative sense. It signifies moral and spiritual vaccum which has given rise to barbarism and cannibalism. This void then spreads from one person to another like an infectious disease and is therefore more horrible and dangerous.

THEME AND SIGNIFICANCE � � The void in has been depicted as a terrible monster inside everyone of us. It is the void of spiritual sterility and so it denotes and connotes the bankruptcy of all human values such as love , sympathy and kindness. The void has been visualized like a Dracula with huge jaws containing flesh eating carnivorous teeth which have the capacity of grinding and gobbling up everyone. Thus the poet portrays a Picture of corrupt human state with moral vacuity in which every thing, all forms of life are smothered and destroyed. Through an inbuilt paradox , the poet says that the void is not empty but stuffed with corruption and violence. The dearth of every kind which has become natural to human beings is always demanding for more blood of which there has been collected a pond full in the empty space inside the dark jaws. The implication is that its a natural hunger has devoured the human spirit in its jaws to turn man into beast , naked and barbaric , utterly black, debased deprived and it has eaten all the humans from within. Thus the poet creates a fantasy of the void as frightening monster the presence of which is surely felt.

� � � The poet says that this void though results from the state of self absorption, it does not remain confined to the affected individual society. It is much more malignant than any other conceivable contagion and exercise its malignant effect on whomsoever it comes in contact or range. The evil forces manifested in this void on enlarging their domain and thus grip the whole mankind. It creates more voids as the infected ones infect others and thus the void expands and continues extending its frontiers of evil. The pronoun’s “I” and “My” have been used for the void and “they”, ” those ” and “them” for the people affected by the void. the poet portrays the formidable power of the void’s evil prospering more speedily in the modern world. The void has been depicted as a durable , fertile, producing tools of violence and the rejoicing at achievement. Thus the void breeds evil, anarchy, violence and corruption which are always increasing. It is a paradox that death which is supposed to kill is giving birth to fresh new children. Here the new generation being born are symbolized by not life but by death which further reinforces the ever going emptiness in the society. In the concluding lines from the poet depicts the void as the image of a dehumanized society in which violence and injustice are not challenged but accepted as a part of the social system. The void has overpowered us so much that we are submerged in it and we are help less to do anything against it. Thus paradoxically it is not the void that is within us, but it is who we are within the void. The void in fact is everywhere , moving about and spreading violence, causing destruction of all values and we are helpless before its onslaught.

SO VERY FAR � ‘So Very Far’ was published in an anthology of poems ‘Chand Ka Munh Terha Hai’ in 1964. This poem too has a marxist flavour and shows the poet’s anger at exploitation and the injustice as well as his own helplessness in setting things right. The poem is a bitter criticism of the rich and influential sections of the society, which have risen up the social ladder through corruption and money power.

THEME � � ‘So Very Far’ focuses on the wide disparity between the rich and the poor in our society and the helplessness of the intellectuals like the poet in being unable to improve the situation. The poet is acutely aware of the role of corruption and money power in bringing about upward social mobility. But due to the circumstances in his life, he feels incapacitated to play his role of an agent of change and cleanse the system. The poem points towards the economic disparity in society and total inaction on the part of the intellectuals, who are supposed to reform it. The poignancy of the situation is clear in poet’s realization of the need of scavenger, and his inability to play that role.