Ramdhari Singh Dinkar: A people’s poet

Since time immemorial, veer rasa or heroic sentiment has been exploited by writers and artistes to underline the indomitable spirit of humankind in the face of adversity.

This struggle to stand up to the unconquerable might not have necessarily resulted in a victory every time, but it certainly gave men and women the characters to emulate, and ideals to strive for.

However, there have been very few authors in modern times who have been able to manifest the sentiment of heroism through their writings.

Ramdhari Singh Dinkar was one such poet. Born in Simaria village of Bihar’s Begusarai on September 23, 1908, Dinkar said he was a socialist, but with desi or traditional roots.

His genius lies in his remarkable ingenuity through which he addressed themes of nationalism and social justice while deriving his characters from religious stories or Hindu mythology. A patriot to the core, he inspired ordinary countrymen to overthrow the foreign yoke.

But he was blunt when the country was partitioned, holding mirror to politicians with his soul-stirring poem Janatantra ka Janm, with its line ‘Sinhasan khali karo ki janta aati hai’ (vacate the throne, people are coming) used by Lokanayak Jayaprakash Narayan as a warning to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974.

His epic poem Rashmirathi, written in 1952, is also an example of his crusade against social injustice prevalent in Indian society.

Narrating the life of Karna, a character from the Mahabharata, the poem laid bare the plight of the Dalits. It is remarkable that despite its Hindu characters, it spoke to every Indian, regardless of caste, creed, race or religion.

This was perhaps possible due to Dinkar’s unshakeable faith in the primacy of human existence over the religious and caste divide.

As the agony of Partition remained etched in his memory, his message was always loud and clear — nobody can claim exclusivity over the Indian civilisation.

Today, 51 years after his death on this day in 1974, the true homage to the “national poet” would be to pledge for unity in diversity, a sentiment he amply expressed in his work Sanskriti ke Char Adhyaya.

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