Arrival in
Nishikanto arrived in Pondicherry
in February 1934 (though there seems to be a confusion regarding the exact
month of his arrival since some letters written by Sri Aurobindo to Dilip Kumar
Roy indicate that he was in Pondicherry in 1933). He knew no one in the Ashram
but had heard that Dilip Kumar had facilitated the admission of many an
aspirant in the Ashram.
Dilip Kumar was then residing at
Trèsor House, a mansion situated near the beach which is now known as Trèsor
Nursing Home, spending his days in creative pursuits which included poetic and
musical creations (which were his medium of doing the Integral Yoga) and
epistolary exchanges with Sri Aurobindo. He had blended art and yoga and was
marching on the path and throughout the Ashram he was known as the
‘spoilt-child’ of Sri Aurobindo who would pack-up his luggage and get ready to
leave the Ashram whenever he suffered from the attacks of depression.
One day a guest arrived at Trèsor
House; he had uncombed hair, unimpressive appearance and was dressed shabbily;
but Dilip Kumar didn’t fail to notice the fire that was burning in his eyes.
The guest was none other than Nishikanto. He introduced himself as a former
student of Kalabhavan who learnt poetry under Rabindranath and painting under
Abanindranath Tagore. He told Dilip Kumar about his interest in Sri Aurobindo’s
Integral Yoga and added that he had come to the
Thus started a friendship that was
to last forever. Dilip Kumar was a jeweller who always looked for fresh talent;
just as a jeweller recognizes the actual worth of a jewel so did Dilip Kumar
spot the poetic genius of Nishikanto. Both of them began to spend the greater
part of the day in Trèsor House where Nishikanto cooked his meals on his stove
and the rest of the day was spent in creative activities in Dilip Kumar’s
company.
About Nishikanto’s arrival in
Pondicherry Nirodbaran notes: “Meanwhile word went round that a ‘big’ poet had
come to the Ashram.” [12]
Suresh Chakravorty alias Moni went
to meet Nishikanto. The Mother on her part sent Nolini Kanta Gupta to
Nishikanto; what follows is a gist of their conversation:
Nolini: So you want to stay in this
Ashram?
Nishikanto: Yes, Sir.
Nolini: But do you know this Ashram
is not like other Ashrams you have been to. Here great and equal freedom is
given to all—boys and girls, men and women alike. You have not seen the like
before. It may go against your sensibilities and moral standards. That will not
do.
Nishikanto: Yet I would like to
stay here. [13]
Dilip Kumar wrote to Sri Aurobindo
requesting him to accept Nishikanto as his disciple and an inmate of the
Ashram. Sri Aurobindo told Dilip Kumar to send a photograph of Nishikanto to
him. After looking at Nishikanto’s photograph Sri Aurobindo informed Dilip
Kumar that Nishikanto wouldn’t be able to practise the Integral Yoga and added
that he would have to undergo severe physical suffering. Dilip Kumar was
disappointed and so was Nishikanto but there was a strong determination in him
that made him appeal to Sri Aurobindo once again. The fact that his body would
be subjected to immense suffering was known to him since his boyhood years (it
was predicted by the Vaishanava sage) but at the same time he was determined to
have only Sri Aurobindo as his Guru and the pole-star of his life. Till then he
hadn’t had the darshan of the Mother. One day in the evening while standing on
the road he saw the Mother walking on the terrace of the Ashram main building.
At once he recognized her as the one whom he had seen in one of his visions. He
also saw around her head an aura of blue snakes. And from his pen took birth
the unforgettable song:
The paths of Earth today are
sanctified
With the touch of the Mother’s footfalls rapture-rife:
Lo! the grey dust awakes rich,
rainbow-dyed,
And bloom the gardened carnivals of life!
Under the aegis of thy feet
We like flower-clusters fragrance sweet
Aroused from age-long sleep, O
Mother Divine,
Wake to Thy love and blossom in Thy
sunshine.
Long have we lived, lost, playing
with the sod:
Oblivious—we were nurslings of Thy Light…
Mating with earth, absorbed into
the clod:
But now we quiver into flames gold-bright.
From Thy own galaxy hast Thou
Writ large Thy star-lore on our brow;
In a world, festival of lights now
shine!
What Paradise-garlands of Thy fires
divine! [14]
On Dilip Kumar’s insistence and
being informed that Nishikanto had left his home at the age of fifteen and
spent a considerable period under the aegis of an ascetic, Sri Aurobindo and
the Mother consented to accept him as a disciple since he had ‘undergone so
much tapasya and might be given a chance’ but Sri Aurobindo warned him once
again that “he would come to know and see many things, as he had the eyes of a
visionary but he must be on his guard.” [15]
The news of Nishikanto’s acceptance
not only elated Dilip Kumar but all those Ashramites who had in the meantime
fallen in love with the simple genius. He was given a room in the ground-floor
of the house on whose first floor resided Harindranath Chattopadhyaya; later he
was shifted to ‘Santal House’ where he spent the longest period of his life.
“The house was named by the Mother ‘Santal’ as it had a small sandalwood tree
in the adjoining garden. There was a big Bakula tree (Mimosops elengi)
showering numerous cream-coloured and deeply fragrant flowers which the Mother
has named ‘Patience’.” [16]
Flowering of the Poetic Genius
His life’s aspiration was fulfilled
and the following words describe his inner feeling in the most appropriate way:
O Mother, in Thy lap of the sky
Smiling like the baby Moon I shall stay,
Swinging in the waves of Thy Light
Like the stars of the Milky Way;
I shall blossom beside the parijat
flowers
At the source from where the gentle wind
blows
With Thy eternal spring to play…
[17]
And he craved:
Set the sail today, O Mother
Hold in Thy hands the rudder.
Let my boat move on and sway
Guided by Thy Pole Star.
Let me pass the whole of this day
On Thy shore, in its every quay,
With Thy playful Mandakini river…
Let my voice be in tune
With the birds singing in Thy nest:
Let me be the honey-bee
Among the flowers in Thy garden
secret.
Hold me today, O Mother
In the string of gems You wear,
My consciousness shining at its
best…
Let my days and nights pass
Dipped in the splendour of Thy
body’s glow
And remain prostrate at Thy
Lotus-feet
Adoring Thy form aglow;
Ravished by the touch of those feet
Let the morns and eves be ecstatic,
From each hour’s veena a sweetness
flow…
A lot have I heard about the divine
truth,
Drew in the net of arguments a lot;
Suffered a lot of hesitant hours,
Scattered many a seed of doubt;
Now the lamp of my realisation
Burns in a flame without motion
Today have I been to Thy
delight-spot. [18]
Meanwhile Tagore was quite tensed
about Nishikanto’s well-being as he didn’t know where and how he was. When
Dilip Kumar informed Tagore about Nishikanto’s joining the Sri Aurobindo
Ashram, he wrote to the former: “I am pleased to learn that Nishikanto has gone
to your Ashram. There is a latent talent in him. If he can stay in your Ashram
then his strength would be enhanced. I am aware of his uniqueness since long.
He has a spontaneous creativity and he is not deficient in self-dependence. His
thought-power would automatically gain perfection if he gets the right kind of
ambience at
The doors of unknown vistas were
opened to Nishikanto as soon as he started practising the Integral Yoga. His
poetry took a new turn and what came out from his pen mesmerized the reader.
Nirodbaran writes: ‘Nishikanto’s genius made me cap him with the title of “kavi, kaviraj” [poet, king of poets] and
the name caught the popular imagination…His poems had taken a mystic spiritual
turn…” [20]
And Dhiraj Banerjee notes: “Even in
this new environment Nishikanto’s writing went apace with undiminished
interest. If anybody pain him a visit in the afternoon, he could see
[Nishikanto] absorbed in his creative work, sitting at a table for hours. And
he would happily read out his creations to those who went to visit him…He was
drawing inspiration from some deeper planes of consciousness than the ordinary
poetic intelligence. Streams of poetry came flowing through his mind either in
one language or the other.” [21]
And he adds: “Nishikanto’s poesy also started being infused with spirituality—in its mood or feeling, in its rhythm and tone. In relation to his earlier products there appeared to be a great difference, an earth and heaven difference.” [22]
Effulgent Mother, aureate as the
sun,
Who com’st to reave our ignorance
shadow-spun,—
Thou art incarnate on our dismal
earth
To unfold secrets of an Immortal
birth:
O luminous lore from the heart of
paradise,
At thy flower-like feet the Soul,
in homage, lies.
Thy advent, a deep precipitate of
Light,
Annihilates our glooms on aeoned
Night.
Thy sentinel Gleam on life’s peaks
knows no sleep
And scintillates in jewels of the
deep
Revealing in a flash eternities:
At thy flower-like feet the Soul,
in homage, lies.
Lone-poised beyond the pauseless
swirl of Time,
Beyond the atoms and the Vast
sublime,
Things sentient thou hast with thy
love ensouled:
Equal and warm, unique and
manifold.
Hues’ thrills are thy refracted
ecstasies:
At thy flower-like feet the Soul,
in homage, lies.
A mystic Healer of our stricken
life,
Leavening with love our squalor,
pain and strife,
Thou slayest still the demon-hordes
with thine
Infinite strength and quellest
undivine
And dark rebellions with thy swift
sunrise:
At thy flower-like feet the Soul,
in homage, lies…
With the King of mystic seers in
union,
Stationed in bliss, thou farest
free and lone:
Thy footfalls usher magic floods in
sands
Life and extinction rock in thy
twin hands.
O thou revered of the last
infinities!
At thy flower-like feet, the Soul,
in homage lies. [23]
A New Genre of Poetry
Soon after Nishikanto joined the Ashram he
became Dilip Kumar’s collaborator in poetic creations and experiments; they
experimented with rhyme and rhythm and went on to create a new genre of poetry.
Nishikanto composed new songs based on the tunes of existing songs which were
later published in the book Geetashri co-written with Dilip Kumar. Sometimes
Sri Aurobindo participated in their experiments; for instance, in response to
one of their experiments, Sri Aurobindo wrote (keeping the rhythm intact):
In a flaming as of spaces
Curved like spires
An epiphany of faces,
Long curled fires,
The illumined and tremendous
Masque drew near,
A god-pageant of the aeons
Vast, deep-hued,
And the thunder of its paeans,
Wide-winged, nude
In their harmony stupendous,
Smote earth’s ear.
And
To the hill-tops of silence from
over the infinite sea,
Golden he came,
Armed with the flame,
Looked on the world that his greatness
and passion must free.
Or
Oh, but fair was her face as she
lolled in her green-tinted robe,
Emerald trees,
Sapphire seas,
Sun-ring and moon-ring that glittered
and hung in each lobe.
(Same rhythm as above)
And
In the ending of time, in the
sinking of space
What shall survive?
Hearts once alive,
Beauty and charm of a face?
Nay, these shall be safe in the
breast of the One,
Man deified,
World-spirits wide,
Noting ends, all but began. [24]
It was while experimenting with
rhythm that Dilip Kumar discovered that Nishikanto was a lyricist of the
highest rank. Every evening Nishikanto used to come to Trèsor House with his
latest compositions which Dilip Kumar sang in his musical soirees after setting
tune to them. In fact the lyrics of most of Dilip Kumar’s famous songs were
penned by Nishikanto and the song through which Dilip Kumar discovered the lyricist
in him was:
He’s caught, the Elusive, in our
earth of clay:
On stands of Life His footfalls
ring in play.
Who sets the sun and
stars afloat
On swirls of Time—He
steers the boat,
I know, of my frail body, night and
day.
I play no flute, I play no lyre—not
I:
My tunes are cradled in His melody.
I walk because He
also walks,
I talk because He
also talks:
On Death’s stem blows His
Immortality. [25]
Dilip Kumar’s music and
Nishikanto’s lyrics led to the creation of a number of memorable songs which
resulted in the emergence of a storm in the world of Bengali music; among them
the most notable ones were Ei prithibir
pather pore, Jwalbar mantra dile more, Andharer ei dharani, Eje kon karmanasha,
Ogo diyo na, Puja amar sango holo, Tomar andhar nishai andhar pohabe, Hey
konokojjwalo sabita barani to name a few. At the same time Nishikanto went
on creating verses which could be strictly termed as “Nishikantonion.” His
first book of poems Alakananda was published in 1940 and was followed by Diganta and Pachishe Pradip in 1945, Diner
Suryo, Bhorer Pakhi and Dream Cadences in 1946, Vaijayanti in 1947, Vande Mataram in 1949 and Nabadipan
in 1951.
“Whether it is in Bengali or in
English, Nishikanto’s poems are both emphatic and beautiful. The poet and the
artist seem to have combined well in his creations…The keynote of his poetry
consists mainly of spiritual feelings or experiences. He was poet, mystic and
aspirant in one… Nishikanto had an innate capacity to accord the correct type
of stanza to a poem. Numberless are the patterns of stanzas which he composed.
It is not uncommon to find refrains in his poetry; and in general these
repetitive lines give some good effects… Nishikanto became known as a lyric
poet, his lines overflow with music. But the writer channelises this passionate
effusion with various patterns of rhyme and rhythm. He even composed poems in
the difficult Sanskrit measures, and yet they seem to be but deft and
effortless creations. One gets an impression of smooth movement… Even though
Nishikanto’s language and diction aren’t quite the same as in modern books of
poetry, and are ornate like the Sanskrit rhetorics, even then his verses have
what modern readers like: poetic imagery and metaphors. In his poetry the
preponderance of the feelings of devotion is visible…” [26] And he rightly
observes:
Among the poets of the post-Tagore
period the signs of talent that Nishikanto manifested through his various
creative writings in a style which was free from the trends of his time is not
unknown to the adherents of poetry. His specialty in the handling of symbolism,
in the effortless use of words and expressions, and in his joyous inspiration
of a mainly spiritual kind, has impressed his readers.
The waves of various feelings, a
stream of expressions and rhythm, abundance of metaphors and imageries are the
characteristics of Nishikanto’s writings.
In his verses all the emotions of
the poet seek to attain an inner illumination. He belongs to that category of
poets for whom poetry is a reflection of truth. Therefore it is not just a
figment of imagination, it is also a practical seeking for spiritual values.
With his mastery of language the formations that Nishikanto builds with words
are actually a means to understand what is formless and fundamental; in the descriptions
of nature is mirrored that which is super-nature. He has fashioned all of the
poetic imagery with the grace of the spirit and placed it over the emotions and
passions; in the process the technique of language and rhythm which he created
is perhaps something new in our modern literature.
In his creations we find not only
an expression of the intuitive faculty, but also a clarity of vision, a harmony
of thoughts, feelings of strength, and an inherent gracefulness. [27]
On reading the works of Nishikanto,
one is compelled to ponder the source of the inspiration which made him write
such exquisite poems. Nishikanto himself has answered this question:
Inspirations come
From a God-white
source—
And my heart-beats drum
To their wide-open
force. [28]
And about himself and his poetry he
says:
I am a pilgrim-poet on the ways of
the world,
My poems are surging
upon Time’s ocean,
Around my life’s stone-torpor ages
have swirled,
Far-calling fountain
voices of deep emotion. [29]
Dhiraj Banerjee observes: “It may
be noted that Nishikanto’s poetry doesn’t owe its status to the spiritual
alone. His output was of a diverse character, and had many technical qualities.
There are ornamentation, aestheticism and symbolism. He is known for his
penchant for symbolist poetry. We find that thought, image and dream elements
are reflected through symbols in the light of his vision. His poetry achieved
quality not only because of these experiences as a spiritual seeker, but also
because they are combined with his subtle sensibility proper to an artist and
his literary technique. This imagist has seen the world and life through the
eyes of a mystic, a visionary.” [30]
[10] Dhiraj Banerjee, Nishikanto:
The Mystic Poet and Artist, Mother India, February 1994, p. 126
[11] For a detailed record of this
conversation refer to Dilip Kumar Roy’s Sadhu Gurudayal and Kavi Nishikanto
(in Bengali)
[12] Selected
Essays and Talks of Nirodbaran, p. 170
[13] R. Prabhakar, Among the Not
So Great, p. 29
[14] Nishikanto, Dream Cadences,
p. 54 (translated from the original by Dilip Kumar Roy)
[15] Selected
Essays and Talks of Nirodbaran, p. 171
[16] Abani Sinha, My Last Two
Darshans of Sri Aurobindo, Mother India, September 1994, p. 641
[17] Bonne
Fête, p. 6
[18]Bonne Fête, pp. 8-11
[19] Dalia Sarkar, Kobi
Nishikanto, p. 84
[20] Selected
Essays and Talks by Nirodbaran, pp. 171-172
[21] Nishikanto:
The Mystic Poet and Artist, p. 127
[22] Ibid., p. 128
[23] Dream
Cadences, pp. 3-5
(Translated by Dilip Kumar Roy)
[24] Sri
Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, Volume 5, pp. 614-615
[25] Dream
Cadences, p. 46
(Translated by Dilip Kumar Roy)
[26] Dhiraj Banerjee, Nishikanto:
The Mystic Poet and Artist, Mother India, April 1994, pp. 274-276
[27] Ibid., pp. 277-278
[28] Dream
Cadences, p. 12
[29] Ibid., p. 7
[30] Nishikanto:
The Mystic Poet and Artist, p. 182