THE PENS HAVE NOT TIRED

Poets, authors and non-fiction writers of our time consider all living beings and plants as equal citizens of the earth and raise a strong voice against their destruction

- RANENDRA

Nature and environment have marked their presence in Indian history since ancient times. Vedic poets deified various forms of nature and meticulously described their functions. In the Rig Veda, the most impressive 250 verses were composed in praise of Indra, the god of rain. Vedic poets, with their remarkable imaginative expansion, presented detailed descriptions of various forms of love between deified natural forces through: the relationships of father-daughter (between sky and dawn), husband-wife (between heaven and earth) and father-son (between heaven and sun). But the full depth and sensuality of attraction manifests primarily in descriptions of the lover-beloved relationship between these deified natural forces.

In the Sanskrit literary tradition, nature appears in its fullness in the works of Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti. The images of natural environment’s freedom and spontaneity in Meghadutam (The Cloud Messenger), the description of spring in the third canto of Kumarasambhavam, the extremely vivid and natural depiction of the ocean in the thirteenth canto of Raghuvamsham are what truly make Kalidasa the crown jewel of Sanskrit poetry. According to biographer G K Bhat, Bhavabhuti’s descriptions of nature reveal that Kalidasa is not the only son of nature, but there is another one—Bhavabhuti. However, there is a difference between the two. Kalidasa took more interest in describing the soft and beautiful forms of nature: tender vines and flowers; soft leaves and lotus stems; flowing rivers and calm lakes; shady groves and gentle breezes; and charming moon and cool fragrance of sandalwood.