About the Book

Since its first publication, this book has become the most widely accepted and utilized anthology of modern Indian poetry in English. Compiled by R. Parthasarathy, himself an eminent writer and poet who has contributed to this volume, it carries verse by the country's best-known poets: A. K. Ramanujan, Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Keki Daruwalla, Gieve Patel, Arun Kolatkar, Jayanta Mahapatra and Shiv K. Kumar, as well as brief introductory notes on each of them.

Excerpts for Reviews

'If anyone wants to know who the leading Indian poets are and what they write, this will henceforth be the obvious book to read.

-Indian Book Chronicle, Delhi

'This refreshing anthology is recommended to readers interested in the state of contemporary poetry. It introduces a new coinage.'

-British Book News

I should like to thank all the poets in this book for their kindness in allowing me to reprint from their published works and to look over their unpublished manuscripts. Their generosity has made this book possible. My thanks are due to the publishers and the editors of the periodicals, where some of the poems first appeard, for permission to reprint.

It has been a great pleasure to discuss this book in the making with friends, and I am indebted to Nimmim Ezekiel, Roger Iredale, S.Krishnan, Shiv K. Kumar, Jayanta Mahapatra, C.D. Narasimhaiah, K.Ayyappa Paniker, A. K. Ramanujan and M. Sivaram-Krishna for reading the book in manuscripts, offering suggestions and for their continuing help and co-operation.

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

KEKI N. DARUWALLA
from Under Orion, 1970:
     from The Epileptic
     The Ghaghra in Spate
     from Ruminations
from Apparition in April, 1971
     Fire-Hymn      Routine
From Crossing of Rivers, 1976:
     Death of a Bird

KAMALA DAS
from summer in Calcutta, 1965:
     The Freaks
     My Grandmother's House
     A Hot Noon in Malabar
     The Sunshine Cat
from The Descendants. 1967:
     The Invitation
     The Looking-glass

NISSIM EZEKIEL
from the Unfinished Man, 1960
     Enterprise
From The Exact Name, 1965:
     Philosophy
     Night of the Scorpion
     Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher
     The Visitor
from Hymns in Darkness, 1976:
     Background, Casually
     Goodbye Party for Miss Pushpa T.S.
     Poem of the Separation

ARUN KOLATKAR
From MS:
     the boatride
     form Jejuri, 1976

SHIV K. KUMAR
from cobwebs in the Sun, 1974:
     Indian Women
     My Co-respondent
     Pilgrimage
from Subterfuges, 1976:
     Days in New York
     Kali

JAYANTA MAHAPATRA
from A Rain of Rites, 1976:
     Indian Summer
     A Missing Person
     The Whorehouse in a Calcutta Street
from MS:
     The Logic
     Grass
     Lost

ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
from Middle Earth, 1984:
     The Sale
     Continuities
     A Letter to a Friend
from Nine Enclosures, 1976:
     Remarks of an Early Biographer

R. PARTHASARATHY
from Rough Passage, 1977
     from Exile
     from Trial
     from Homecoming

GIEVE PATEL
from Poems, 1966:
     On Killing a Tree
     Servants
     Nargol
     Naryal Purnima
from How Do You Withstand, Body, 1976:
     Commerce
     O My Very Own Cadaver
A. K. RAMANUJAN
from The Striders, 1966:
     Looking for a Cousin on a Swing
     A River
from Relations, 1971:
     Of Mothers, among Other Things
     Love Poem for a Wife
     Small-scale Reflections on a Great House
     Obituary
SELECT READING LIST

INDEX OF TITLES

INDEX OF FIRST LINE