“Language” – A profound meditation

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Sitanshu Yashaschandra’s poem, “Language,” stands as one of the most profound meditations on the essence of linguistic identity in modern Indian literature. This sprawling, deeply personal yet universally resonant poem transcends mere literary exercise to become what can only be described as a living organism, one that breathes, laughs, weeps, and ultimately survives through the Gujarati language it celebrates.

The poem’s opening declaration, “I have always liked her: this our Gujarati speech”, immediately establishes language as both feminine presence and collective inheritance. This personification develops through stunning complexity in the following lines:

• As Nurturer: The image of language caressing a speech-disabled girl’s hair (“Seated next to her, softly, she would/caress the girl’s long hair, slowly,/on a lonely evening, silently”) reveals Gujarati as maternal comfort beyond words.
• As Trickster: The uproarious episode where Kant’s devotional line “Thou bathed me, Dear Father” becomes unintentionally comic in Gujarati (“look, how this naughty Gujarati tongue/takes the great poet for a long, swift ride!”) showcases language’s subversive vitality.
• As Wounded Entity: The latter metaphor of Gujarati as Hemala Patel’s daughter, moaning like an arrow-struck cow (“as the arrow strikes and the cow moans,/so, you softly moan”), transforms language into a martyr figure.

This tripartite personification enables Yashaschandra to explore the paradoxical nature of the Gujarati language, which is simultaneously strong enough to nurture civilisations yet vulnerable to cultural erosion.

Yashaschandra constructs what linguists call “language ecology” through meticulous cataloguing of the Gujarati language’s living contexts:

• Domestic Realms: Conversations about “school-admissions” and “the virgin’s saltless fast which Kalubha’s girl recently observed” ground the poem in familial spaces.
• Public Spheres: References to “the departure time of the State Transport bus from Mangal Mahudi village to the city of Godhra” and “honourable minister and supplication” reveal language’s civic functions.
• Cultural Bridges: The unexpected invocation of Bengali poet Jibanananda Das (“our Jibo-nana-ndo Dash’s Bon-olota’s poetic beauty”) demonstrates Gujarati’s ability to absorb external influences while maintaining a distinct identity.
• Scientific Discourse: Even “vitamins and minerals” find linguistic accommodation, proving Gujarati’s adaptive modernity.

These vignettes collectively form what the poet calls “many more incessant melodies”, the unbroken flow of daily communication that constitutes a culture’s heartbeat.

Yashaschandra conducts a remarkable philological excavation through:

• Historical Layering: Ancient dohas like “Shooing away the crow, suddenly she/saw the loved one (come back from his journey” (from Siddha Hemachandra’s Apabhramsa grammar). Contrasting warrior ethos in “it was good, O sister, that he was killed (in battle)”.
• Mythic Genealogy: The speculative origin story where Gujarati “walked along, right to the dungeon, holding on/to Narasimha’s finger in her small hand” ties linguistic birth to the Bhakti movement.
• Sacred Transition: The sublime metaphor of language moving “from the vocal cords of God/to the throat of man” suggests divine-to-human transmission of speech.

This historical consciousness elevates the poem from personal reflection to cultural epic.

Yashaschandra’s lament for contemporary linguistic degradation unfolds through devastating imagery:

• Mechanical Reproduction: “Printing machines, radio valves, vibrating machines” represent industrialised language.
• Digital Dehumanisation: The “face formed of T.V. dots…eyes wide open, yet does not see me at all” epitomises communication without connection.
• Commodification: The “harsh, greedy eye of the new Sultan” watching the returned necklace symbolises cultural appropriation.

The poet’s diagnostic precision makes this section read like a linguistic autopsy, where “the heart has already failed” but the mechanical body keeps talking.

Beneath the cultural commentary, the poem flows with profound existential inquiry.

• On Speech and Silence: The paradoxical dictum “Be quiet, if you want her love” challenges Western logocentrism, aligning with Indian philosophies of ‘mauna’ (meditative silence).
• On Authentic Communication: The definition of “Authentic man…is a living being who can hear others speak” echoes Martin Buber’s “I-Thou” relationship while rooting it in the Indian context.
• On Linguistic Epistemology: The realisation that “Speech – what it says it hides” and that meaning flashes in “half-a-gesture/a look of your mother’s eyes” anticipates contemporary semiotic theories.

The poem culminates in a messianic hope that balances despair with resilience:

• The Coming Poet: The anticipatory repetition “He will come,/soon he will come,/the performer, the poet, the man” suggests linguistic salvation through artistic authenticity.
• Defiant Utterance: The urgent imperative “speak your Gujarati tongue, speak up/in Gujarati speech, say it/in the speech of man” transforms from request to revolution.
• Transcendent Possibility: The final image of “the eyes of the child in the womb sparkl[ing] in the mother’s face” symbolises language’s perpetual rebirth against all odds.

The poet has effectively employed poetic devices to convey meaning.

• The opening apostrophe – “I have always liked her: this our Gujarati speech” immediately establishes language as both goddess and beloved. The consistent use of feminine pronouns creates an intimate dialogue between the poet and the tongue.
• Through tender imagery- “she would/caress the girl’s long hair, slowly,/on a lonely evening, silently”, the poet employs tactile kinaesthetic imagery to convey the comforting presence of language.
• The abrupt shift to humour when Kant’s devotional line becomes comic reveals language’s mercurial nature through situational irony. The poet’s laughter bubbles up “from near my navel”, using organic imagery to show language’s visceral power.
• The phrase “bitter-sweet…school-admissions…vitamins and minerals” creates a rhythmic cadence that mirrors everyday speech patterns.
• The repetition of soft vowels in “caress the girl’s long hair, slowly” mimics the gentle motion described.
• The majestic simile “A single, unbroken, massive upsurge of amrit,/call it Mandakini, call it Ganga” elevates language to sacred geography through epic cataloguing.

Yashaschandra’s masterpiece ultimately presents Gujarati as both nectar (“a single, unbroken, massive upsurge of amrit”) and wound (“the deadly arrow”). This duality captures the essence of all living languages – simultaneously immortal yet fragile, divine yet human. What emerges is not just a tribute to Gujarati but a universal manifesto for linguistic conservation. In an era of AI-generated text and disappearing dialects, Yashaschandra reminds us that “His language is man’s humanity” – and to lose authentic speech is to risk losing our souls. The poem’s final challenge, “Speak, O man, speak,” resonates far beyond Gujarat, becoming a clarion call for all endangered languages in our globalised world.

 

 

 

 

WORKS CITED

Yashaschandra, Sitanshu. Language. Translated by Aparna Dharwadker, Modern Indian Poetry: An Anthology, edited by A.K. Ramanujan, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 123-125.

Yashaschandra, Sitanshu. Language. The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry, edited by Vinay Dharwadker and A.K. Ramanujan, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 89-91.

Yashaschandra, Sitanshu. Language. The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India, edited by Vivekanand Jha, Hidden Brook Press, 2013, pp. 342-343.

Yashaschandra, Sitanshu. Language. These My Words: The Penguin Book of Indian Poetry, edited by Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo, Penguin India, 2012, pp. 156-157.

Yashaschandra, Sitanshu. Language. Translated by Aparna Dharwadker, Poetry International Web 2005, www.poetryinternationalweb.org/pi/site/poem/item/13937](https://www.poetryinternationalweb.org/pi/site/poem/item/13937

Yashaschandra, Sitanshu. Language (Original Gujarati & English Translation). Reality Sandwich, 2011, www.realitysandwich.com/sitanshu-yashaschandra-language-poem](https://www.realitysandwich.com/sitanshu-yashaschandra-language-poem