Jasimuddin and Rural Bangladesh
By Sadik Islam
Jasimuddin was a Bengali poet, writer, lyricist, folklore collector and a radio personality. He was born in the village of Tambulkhana in Faridpur District on January 1, 1903, the son of a school teacher. He obtained his MA degree from the University of Calcutta, India.
Popularly known as Polli Kobi, or Folk Poet, Jasimuddin is famous for his depiction of rural life and nature from the viewpoint of rural people. The structure and content of his poetry carry a strong flavour of Bengali folklore.
His Nokshi Kanthar Math (The Field of Embroidered Quilt) is considered a masterpiece. Some of his other memorable poems include Rakhali, Baluchor, Sojon Badiar Ghat, Hashu, Rupabati, Matir Kanna and Nimontron.
Jasimuddin was mesmerised by the natural beauty of Bangladesh. Nature and the day-to-day affairs of the rural people, the very heartbeat of the idyllic Bengal, came alive in his poems.
He worked along with Dinesh Chandra Sen as a collector of folk literature. He wrote voluminously on the interpretation and philosophy of Bengali folklore. In his poetry, our folklore, fairytales, age-old traditions and the lives of common people get genuine treatment, which is rarely found in other writers.
The poet is most at ease with rural flavours and this is found in Nakshi Kanthar Math and Rakhali.
In Nakshi Kanthar Math, he gives voice to the tragic love of a village boy and a girl. Rupai, a peasant boy, falls in love with Saju, a girl in a neighbouring village. Eventually they get married. But after a dispute with some farmers where people get killed, Rupai is forced to flee his home. Saju, who loves Rupai more than life, waits every minute for her husband to return. Days, months, years pass, but Rupai is unable to come home. Saju begins to record her pain in stitches on a nakshi kantha. There, she embroiders all her sadness and lifes tragedies. Finally, Saju dies. Before her death, she requests her mother to put the embroidered quilt on her grave. Rupai returns one day, and he, too, dies beside the grave of Saju, clutching the nakshi kantha of his beloved wife.
Nakshi Kanthar Math not only depicts the tragedy of a rural boy and girl, rather in its long lyrical and balladic form, Jasimuddin truly portrays both the human nature and physical landscape of Bengal. Here, obliquely Jasimuddin expresses his detest for urbanisation; his emotional heart shows revolt against social injustices and the helplessness of nave villagers.
Pallijanani (Rural Mother) in Rakhali is another notable poem that sketches a grave picture of rural Bengal. In the poem, the poet celebrates the selfless love of a poor mother _ the emotion gets deeper when the mother is near her bed-ridden son, who is near death. The destitute mother citing taboo for not being able to buy a toy for her dying son just shakes our heart. She represents the thousands of hapless mothers of rural Bengal. The night becomes darker and her son becomes sicker; the bad omen of a hooting owl makes the situation graver. The lack of ability to buy lifesaving medicine is very much shocking, and with the adroit touch of the poet, a simple incident becomes a great work of art. The use of natural symbols in the poem is also noteworthy, as it is with other great poems of Jasimuddin.
Kobor (Grave) from Rakhali is an exceptional poem, probably the best ever elegy in Bangla verse. Written in the dramatic monologue style and unparalleled in its deep melancholic tone, the depth of sadness of an old man narrating the story of loss of all loved ones is just woeful. In Kobor, an ignored village tale is told with magnificent nobility. The first two lines say it all: Here under the pomegranate tree, is your grandmothers grave/ For thirty years, my tears have kept it green. How much literature can be close to life, this poem is ample evidence. It portrays grief and reality of life burdened with misery of our village people. The drama of an old man losing all near and dear ones is vividly brought back to life here. The ill treatment of newly wedded child brides is also not spared in this heart-wrenching poem.
Jasimuddin deeply loved life in general. The nature cult of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, of course, got befitting treatment in his poetry, and like Tagore, Jasimuddin upheld humanity above all. His collection of folklore surely gave impetus to his rural-centric writing. Being sick of urban life, Jasimuddin sketched the real picture of rural life and showed how magnanimous it could be. He found peace of soul in rural Bengal, something we can hardly feel these days. So, the poems of Jasimuddin are invaluable treasures for us that remind us of our glorious past, uphold our culture and heritage and preserve our social roots.
But Jasimuddin was born in an age when Tagore and Nazrul captured all the attention of the readers with their magical writings, and few even thought of going beyond their spell-binding charisma. In spite of all that, Jasimuddin walked his own way; a different individual who showed great penchant for originality that attracted the attention of both rural and urban readers. When Jasimuddin was writing, modernism was being cultivated by the then frontline writers of Bengal. Still, Jasimuddin managed to stick to his own school of thought, and that is due to his love and devotion for rural people. No other could equal his temperament and lyrical mode, which are so close to the weal and woe, loss and gain, laughter and sadness of everyday life of poor villagers.
Jasimuddin died on March 13, 1976, and was buried near his ancestral home.
