PEEPAL TREE AND DOGRI POET YASH SHARMA.

                                         

PEEPAL   TREE    AND  DOGRI  POET   YASH SHARMA......

Peepal, a deciduous tree with a  life span that may exceed  100 years. Unlike other trees, it gives 24 hour oxygen supply intaking  carbon dioxide during day and night . This is possible  due to a special photosynthesis process.  So Peepal  is like a life sustaining machine on this planet.

The plant has enormous medicinal value and finds repeated mention in Ayurveda.
It finds mention in sacred scriptures of Hindus. Skanda Purana links it with Vishnu while Bhagwat Geeta connects  it with Sri Krishna.It is also linked with Brahma and Shiva. Buddhists call it the sacred tree of enlightenment.  Peepal is the Bodhi tree . Peepal is the  Vriksh Raja  mentioned in Rigveda.

I found so many Peepal trees in Jammu sanctified, revered and considered auspicious by people. Similar is the reverence for this tree all over India.
In a way, this  tree is also  linked to cultural ethos of the country.

 Over here, want to  add  Dogri poem ' Peepal Tree' by  eminent Dogri poet Yash Sharma ji .  I read the poem once more today. So simple  , refreshing and conveying profound human pathos. The translation into English from Dogri  has been aptly done by Squadron leader Anil Sehgal. Seema Anil Sehgal ( Yash ji's daughter) is married to Squadron leader Anil Sehgal. The poem appears in Squadron leader Anil Sehgal's  book  'Tale of a Virgin River' published by  Monk Books, Mumbai.

Yash Sharma (1929-2011 ) has been an eminent   poet, actor, broadcaster, playwright and lyricist.  He would sing his poems in Kavi Goshthis  and  Samelans .  In 1950,  Harivansh Rai Bachan suggested to Yash ji to switch over  to his mother tongue  Dogri . He met  Harivansh Rai Bachan in Dharmshala .

Yash ji's poetic collection 'Jo Tere Man Chitt Laggi Ja' won him the coveted  Sahitya Akademi Award. Those amongst us who know DOGRI surely know the beauty and richness of Yash ji's poetry.

Here is the beautiful poem....

 (THE PEEPAL TREE)

As I approach my village
the Peepal tree
standing at the edge
of the slope
reminds me of my father.
Now that mother
and father are no more,
from whom can I expect
that warm embrace?
My heart flinches
as my sisters-in-law,
my closest relatives,
walk indifferently past me.
The apricot tree
standing firm in the middle
of the courtyard
reminds me of my mother.
As I rush towards it,
she appears, spinning the wheel.
My eyes grow wet.
Tied with maternal love
the headscarf is drenched with tears . . .
Who can defy destiny?
I embrace the pillars
and recall the abandon of childhood
those carefree games
those bird nests . . .
Oh mother,
why did you bear daughters?
And why, oh father,
did you marry them
to distant places?
They keep returning home
uninvited.

.

(Avtar Mota)


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