In the arena of poetry, it is easy enough to name men – from Rabindranath Tagore to Nissim Ezekiel to Sumitranandan Pant – who have contributed to the wealth of Indian literature, but most of us are left stumped at the prospect of naming female poets.
But India has been and is home to several fascinating women too who have penned beautiful poems that will enthral the most demanding of readers. Here is List of India’s Fantastic Female Indian Poets:
1. Kamala Surayya
“Don’t write in English, they said, English is
Not your mother-tongue.Why not leave
Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses
All mine, mine alone.” – from An Introduction, Kamala Das.Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins,
Every one of you? Why not let me speak in
Any language I like? The language I speak,
Any language I like? The language I speak,
2. Mahadevi Varma
“मधुर-मधुर मेरे दीपक जल!
युग-युग प्रतिदिन प्रतिक्षण प्रतिपल
प्रियतम का पथ आलोकित कर!” – from Madhur Madhur Mere Deepak Jal, Mahadevi Varma.
युग-युग प्रतिदिन प्रतिक्षण प्रतिपल
प्रियतम का पथ आलोकित कर!” – from Madhur Madhur Mere Deepak Jal, Mahadevi Varma.
3. Mira Bai
“I am mad with love
And no one understands my plight.
4. Balamani Amma
She was highly respected and known as the “poetess of motherhood.” She was born in Punnayurkulam in Kerala in 1909. Although she received no formal education, her maternal uncle and his collection of books helped her become a poet. She received several awards in her lifetime, including the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship. Some of her famous works are Amma, Muthassi and Mazhuvinte Katha.
“Your grandmother knows
Nothing is destroyed
Everything exists in human forever
In my old heart there are
so much of riches, still
for your hands too
to play with.” – a translation of Muthassi, Balamani Amma.
Nothing is destroyed
Everything exists in human forever
In my old heart there are
so much of riches, still
for your hands too
to play with.” – a translation of Muthassi, Balamani Amma.
5. Nandini Sahu
Nandini Sahu is an acclaimed Indian poet, writer and critic. She has several English books and poems to her name, and is also Associate Professor of English at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. Born in 1973 in Orissa, she is the recipient of two gold medals in English literature and the Shiksha Ratna Purashkar. Some of her popular books are The Other Voice, a Collection of Poems and The Silence.
“Does your laugh tear your shrunken lips?
Open your wardrobe, cover the breast of the poor,
apply on your lips the balm of a millennium’s rebellion.
apply on your lips the balm of a millennium’s rebellion.
Who says death is the only truth?
See, your body of fog is still seated on the throne.
You still shine in the firmament of stars.” – from Death Stands at a Distance, Nandini Sahu.
6. Amrita Pritam
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Amrita Pritam was a poet and writer who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. She was a prominent Punjabi novelist too and is known as the leading Punjabi poet of the 20th century. Born in Gujranwala in Punjab, she had a career spanning six decades and is credited with writing more than a 100 books and poems. She won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1956 for her poem Sunehade, and became the first woman to do so. Some of her popular works are Aaj Aakhan Waaris Shah Nu and Pinjar (a novel).
“When the body perishes
all perishes
but the threads of memory
are woven of enduring atoms
I will pick these particles
weave the threads
and I will meet you yet again.” – Amrita Pritam.
7. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
“Sinhasan hil uthey raajvanshon ney bhrukuti tani thi,
budhey Bharat mein aayee phir se nayi jawani thi,
gumee huee azadi ki keemat sabney pehchani thi,
door phirangi ko karney ki sab ney man mein thani thi.
Chamak uthi san sattavan mein, yeh talwar purani thi,
Bundeley Harbolon key munh hamney suni kahani thi,
Khoob ladi mardani woh to Jhansi wali Rani thi.” – Subhadra Kumari Chauhan.
8. Sarojini Naidu
“The new hath come and now the old retires:
And so the past becomes a mountain-cell,Where lone, apart, old hermit-memories dwellIn consecrated calm, forgotten yetOf the keen heart that hastens to forgetOld longings in fulfilling new desires”- from Past and Future, Sarojini Naidu.
9. Eunice de Souza
Her poem 'Advice to Women' by Eunice D'Souza compares a cat's loftily condescending attitude towards life, the universe, and everything to what a woman's reaction should be when rejected by her lover. She says by keeping a cat, you will be accustomed to the tantrums or royal indifference which is a part of the animal's life. Therefore, dealing with your indifferent lover won't be so difficult. She asks them not to confuse their otherness with neglect. If your lover is not paying attention to you at a particular moment, it may be because he is busy and not because he doesn't love you. If you fight over these things, your relationship will surely suffer.
“Learn from the almond leaf
which flames as it falls.
The ground is burning.
The earth is burning.
Flamboyance
is all.”
— 'Learn from the Almond Leaf' from 'Learn from the Almond Leaf' (2016)/
10. Meena Kandasamy
Ilavenil Meena Kandasamy is Born 1984) is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator and activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Meena published two collections of poetry, Touch (2006) and Ms. Militancy (2010). From 2001-2002, she edited The Dalit, a bi-monthly alternative English magazine of the Dalit Media Network.
Source: Wikipedia
“I write because I want this voice, I want to be heard. I would not write if I did not have this burning rage to change the horrifyingly unequal society into which I was born.”
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