Amrita Pritam : Identity and Selfhood I English I Dr. Richa Bajaj

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:05][music] [music] >> Uh friends uh in the second part of the discussion uh Dr. Bajaj will take up further uh you know the the points that she has made earlier and uh she'll now uh be focusing more on the the poems.

[00:00:38]She already started the second poem with that kind of uh you know earnestness.

[00:00:42]And uh there are points, you know, where uh we can relate to her uh her writing and her persona, uh you know, much better today than we would be able to at the time when she wrote because she was at that time uh in the in the moment and now, you know, there is a kind of wider reference and uh she's she stands to be compared with, let's say, other languages in India, uh the English poets, the European poets, etc. And uh the and uh the the basic point that Dr. Bajaj has mentioned here is the pain and suffering of the woman at different points of time in history. So, I hand over the mic again to her and please begin continue with your discussion. Thank you, Professor Prakash. So, in this lecture we will be looking at Amrita Pritam from the point of view of uh you know, as a feminist voice and also as somebody who deals how she uh projects in her works, particularly poetry, uh the question of identity and selfhood. So, these are going to be the points that we are going to look at.

[00:01:42]Now, to begin my discussion, you know, I'd like to uh you know, quote this one very short quote from Khushwant Singh, who has also translated a lot of poems of Amrita Pritam. And uh you know, Khushwant Singh said the following about Amrita Pritam and I quote, "Amrita Pritam was was a liberated woman in every sense of the word as a person, poet, and novelist. She freed herself from the shackles of religion and conventions. Unquote. So, here we are meeting a liberated woman who's not daunted by religion or convention. In fact, Singh further notes that the forte, you know, Amrita Pritam's forte has been poetry, not so much prose but poetry, he says. Particularly when he she drops the traditional meter and rhyme in favor of free verse and to talk about issues of love, both erotic and physical. So, you know, there is this sense that Singh finds that she is most herself when she's talking about when she's writing in the free verse and writing about love and her own person in a very unapologetic way. And you could call it confessional poetry at one level, but still I I think, you know, she she very easily traverses the erotic and physical at the same time. And this is what makes her poetry also bold as much, you know, as it appears to be coming from a space of complete sense of, you know, and kind there's no inhibition in her poetry and she speaks her mind. So, just to give you a sense and, you know, there's a poem actually which is titled Amrita Pritam which Pritam wrote in 1968 and this is how, you know, the poem is titled Amrita Pritam. So, in a way she's defining herself and I thought it was very much like Kamala Das's introduction or, you know, that. But it's a short poem and a more in that sense it brings in a lot of a metaphor here of and she uses this metaphor of the cigarette a lot and in this poem she says, "There was a pain. I inhaled it silently like a cigarette.

[00:03:41]There are a few songs I flicked off like ashes from the cigarette." And this is how she, you know, projects her own self and this is what poem is titled Amrita Pritam to suggest that this is what the poet is.

[00:03:57]Um Again, there is a sense that there is a deep pain that she's that she has inhaled it and she's she's living with it. And finally, she says that the few ashes that are left, these are her songs. Her poetry is you know, they are the like they are ashes from the butt, you know, that are left behind. So, in a way, you can see a kind of a very personalized or very personal sort of relationship with the act of creativity as well. Where the poet constantly looks at herself as you know, as as living an emotion and then producing it in verse in the form of just leftovers. You know, so these are this is the way in which she looks at her own self. Now, another of her poem, in fact, where she mentions you know, her own about her own life and she refers to it as the address and she says my address. And she says, "Today, I face a number of my houses and the name of the street at the top of the street.

[00:05:00]I remove the signpost of all the roads.

[00:05:02]Even so, if you must find where I am, you must knock at the door of every house in every street, city, and country." So, in a way and then she says this is both a curse and a benediction. "Wherever you come across a liberated soul, you can take it to be my home." Unquote. So, you see this is her poem my address. So, she says my address is any home wherever you find a liberated soul, I live in it. So, as a poet, she believe she doesn't believe in any kind of inhibitions or restrictions and her you know, she finds home in any any other person who's as liberated. She feels that that all her work you know, stands for this kind of liberation. And but of course, she was there is a there is a very deep sort of feminist angle in her poetry as well.

[00:05:52]Um, but before I go to that, you know, look at the love poem which is which also has which is often quoted and often referred to as a poem that she wrote for Sahir Ludhianvi. In English, it is, you know, that the sometimes called cigarette, sometimes it is called a tale of fire or heart of fire. Now, this is she says, "This is the tale of fire, the tale you told me.

[00:06:12]My life was like a cigarette and it was I you lit."

[00:06:17]Look at this account from Times Pen.

[00:06:20]It's been 14 minutes. It's been 14 years.

[00:06:24]In this my body, your breath moved. The soil bore witness to the rising coils of smoke.

[00:06:31]Life, like a cigarette, has burned down the fragrance of my love.

[00:06:36]One part mingled in your breath, the other drifts away into the air.

[00:06:40]See, this is the last butt.

[00:06:43]So, the fire of my love may not scorch them. Let it drop from your fingertips.

[00:06:48]Forget about my life. Just be wary of that fire. Save your hand. Light a new cigarette. And this is how she ends the poem. And she's translated this poem, you know, uh, in English. Now, the idea here is that what is the role So, this poem is about love, of course, and about >> This seems to have written originally in English.

[00:07:09]>> Yeah, very well translated translated very well. And, uh, again, she's you know, she when she's referring to it as some as a woman who's getting burnt in love. So, it's it's a complex sort of a feeling. It's not just something that sways you and sweeps you. But it is something that burns you and yet she reminds the lover to be wary of the fire. She says that you be wary of the fire and save your hand because the woman has also become fire in the process, you know, and and, of course, there is a kind of, um, a sense of, you know, she's probably beholden to the lover where she says that, well, uh, you breathe through me and I turned into fire. So, even that reference could be there that you know, you you uh, you know, like, but my life burned down like a cigarette. So, the fragrance of love, she says, is, you know, is both sort of enticing and yet something that, uh, burns the person.

[00:08:03]And in the process, it has crushed her, but at the same time she has turned into fire and reminding uh, the man to be wary of that fire. So, you know, there are a lot of mixed signals here. And yet, uh, you know, she's known to write these poems about love, about the body, about, um, uh, you know, without any sort of inhibition. So, I think when when I read a lot of her poems, there's a lot of mysticism there. You know, it just moves in a very, um, uh, lyrical fashion in that. But at the same time, there's a lot of, uh, you know, the body movements or, uh, you know, reference to the body that reminds you that it's a woman who's feeling, uh, you know, every part everything that she speaks about. So, I think that is a lot to do about Amrita Pritam's, uh, you know, love which is very deeply attached to pain and suffering. And at the same and and and this kind of burning that she mentions in this poem. So, you know, this is this is another kind of, uh, variety of poetry that she's written. Now, let me take you to another poem which is, uh, titled Virgin.

[00:09:08]Now, uh, look at this poem. She says, "When I entered your bridal chamber, I was not one, but two persons.

[00:09:17]One's marriage had ever consummated and complete, and the other had ever remained a chaste virgin.

[00:09:25]To fulfill our union, I had to kill the virgin. And kill her, I did.

[00:09:31]Such murders are sanctioned by the law.

[00:09:35]Only the humiliation accompanying them is illegal.

[00:09:39]So, I drank the poison of humiliation.

[00:09:43]Came the dawn and I saw the dawn and I saw the blood on my hands. I washed them just as I washed off the odors on my body.

[00:09:52]But when I saw myself in the mirror, there she was there she was before me, the same one I thought I had murdered during the night. Oh God, was the bridal chain chamber so dark dark I could not tell.

[00:10:06]Unquote. What do you think of this poem?

[00:10:09]Well, this poem works at both the levels, at the level of the body, at the level of the spirit equally well and it's a very intense poem and it's it's brutally honest in spite of the fact that sensuousness is missing because the the idea is violent and therefore she's going beyond the the sensuous part and then she's expanding it further in terms of human suffering. Yes, also maybe a reference to marital rape in that sense. So, you know that the how women enter marriage and how they they're supposed to leave the you know, when you enter that bridal chamber, then you are supposed to leave that virgin that you you you had to kill that virgin both literally and metaphorically, right? And she says that you know, that and such a murder she says is sanctioned by the law.

[00:10:56]You know? Immediately becomes social.

[00:10:58]>> It becomes social. So, it becomes a social critique on marriage itself and how women have are forced into this kind of an arrangement and where they must then you know, they must devote or they must surrender their bodies as possession to the man. I was also reminded of Shashi Deshpande's Intrusion in that sense which talks about the same thing about a woman's space that is suddenly not her space anymore and a woman's body that is suddenly not her body anymore because it is sanctioned by the law and she has no control over her own body and she says that you know, I had I thought I had killed that woman, but then that mirror that woman still still continued to live the resilience also. You know, she says that when I saw myself in the mirror, there she was before me, the same one I thought I had killed. Right? So, in a way when she says that there are two women constantly, one who is you know, who's consummating the marriage and the other that is complete chased virgin, she thinks she's killed it and yet that that girl continues to live resiliently through her in her. So, I think there is a sense of very strong sense of resilience in her poetry. Even when she there is pain, suffering and you feel she's talking about being burned down and that love is oppressive and is is crushing her. Even then that she finds a way of uh coming back, you know, and reclaiming her space as a woman. So, I found that resilience in her poetry as very important, which is why >> There are so many hidden references here to other poems, to to other short stories, to even the epic scene. Right.

[00:12:30]>> know, people are alive and they are dead at the same time.

[00:12:33]>> Right. Right. And And you know, killing one you know, it's it's a very dramatic poem this one where she's killing one one one one self of hers. She says, "I thought I killed her in the dark." And then she says, "Oh God, the bridal chamber was so dark that I thought that I killed her." And And then the question arises, "Who did she kill then? If she did not kill that girl that she thought she had killed and she felt she had killed, then who had she killed?" So, in a way it it becomes it is a mis- you know, it it creates that mystery and yet a sense of drama attached to it. It's very dramatic and very visual if you see that you know, there are two women in the bed chamber and you know, one woman trying to kill the girl strangulating her and finally finding that she's not killed and she continues to haunt and remind the woman that she still lives despite the odds that are around her.

[00:13:24]There's There's the pain that spread is spread over the centuries in Yes, absolutely. And so I think it's a very deep it's a very sharp comment on marriage itself and what it does to girls and how it changes them and how it forces its own logic and it is legalized and sanctioned by this kind of an exploitation is sanctioned by a There's a word humiliation here. Humiliation she said and I lived with that humiliation because there is no way that humiliation can be accounted for, right? So and and that's the truth that she probably mentions here. In fact in her you know in her collection Kala Gulab which is black rose she's written a lot of these her you know autobiographical sort of essays and she's written here that you know and I'd like to quote here. She says that society attacks anyone who dares to say that it's going to counter it. And when it is a woman who dares to say this society begins to foam at the mouth. It puts aside all its theories and arguments and picks up the weapon of filth to fling at her.

[00:14:28]A woman who has suffered an attack can understand it. This attack is not against a particular woman. It is an attack on the whole of the womanhood.

[00:14:38]So my story is the story of women in every country and many more in number are those stories which are not on paper but are written in the bodies and minds of women.

[00:14:48]Unquote.

[00:14:50]You know such a fierce sort of statement from you know from a creative writer who's otherwise tender writing about love but she's very clear. She says that when when you call the bluff when you call society's bluff and if it's a woman who calls society's bluff then society really takes it in a very foul fashion and it and it puts aside all its theories and arguments and she says brick comes up with the weapon of filth to fling at her. So you are called you know a filthy woman or you're called a liberal you know in some way you would be called a liberated woman, but then you would also be called a loose woman within quotes.

[00:15:28]So, you know, she says that it then uses the weapon when you have understood the game of society, then it you know, bring comes up with the weapon of you know, morality or the ethical code of conduct that is expected of women in marriage. And she says that this is their weapon of filth that they fling at women. And she says and a woman all women around have suffered it and this is the this has been an attack on womanhood. So, I do see this as a kind of an Indian sort of feminism and this as a kind of a statement about women in marriage in India, but also at the same time about women's right to their own selves, their own bodies. I think >> I'm also struck by the point, you know, that it's a very intellectual poet. It's a poet, you know, who always argues in one's, you know, poetry and the argument is so very wide and so very objective that it appears to be a classical poem. It has that kind of classical discipline.

[00:16:22]>> It has a kind of a dialectic, I think, the poetry because it is an intelligent woman, I would say, who's writing it, who understands what's happening to her and yet cannot, you know, manage her own emotions. So, there is an understanding and yet the inability to manage that. So, I think she even when she understands she is the victim, she knows that she has been wrongly treated, you know, and if it's love that she's dealing with, then there is a dialectic operating. Would you agree with me if if if I say that she is a poet of anger than of love emotion?

[00:16:56]I think it is to do with the as you said unrequited love or unfulfilled love that turns into anger then and and and and maybe a kind of feminist rage, if you like. Is is anger an emotion? Of course anger is an emotion and anger as much as pain, they are all deeply tied to you know, unfulfillment or lack of agency. So, both of these are one is I think a more um I maybe pessimistic you know, when you are when pain when you when you when we when you wallow in pain perhaps it turns more pessimistic but anger I think is a more optimistic take on So, all the all the nine classical rasa's the main main rasa is shringara but but there is also krodha. krodha which is anger Yeah, but it is closely related to uh love. Yes.

[00:17:49]>> but not shringara Yeah, because shringara brings in aesthetics also, right? And I mean I would think that krodha also has its own aesthetic, right? So, but you know not aesthetic >> of the aesthetic of krodha you could say Yeah, it is it has its own aesthetic. It has its own momentum. It has its own beauty. aesthetic rooted in society Yeah, I mean if you think of yeah and also anger as something which is in itself enabling and as something which is which then might also lead to courage or Yes, anger is >> or or if you could talk about I don't know why we're discussing rasa here >> [laughter] >> but that is just a aside. But yeah, talking about Amrita and so think of this now that we're talking about creativity and aesthetics, you know, in her take on creativity I'd also like again from Kala Gulab she it's this is what she says about her own poetry and her own act of creativity and how it becomes it's you know, how when it meets reality there is a kind of a jarring sense there and she says I quote in the sea of imagination my dream swims like fish.

[00:19:01]When this fish touches the ground it will be tormented to death.

[00:19:06]When my dream meets reality it will go into throes of death.

[00:19:11]But if you have the hunger, the sea of imagination is immense.

[00:19:15]I will cast a net of my life and catch the golden fish of my dreams.

[00:19:21]Unquote.

[00:19:23]Very Shakespearean, I must say. Yeah.

[00:19:25]Yeah. Yeah. How How do you respond to this? You see, this is how she as a poet um in a way responds to reality. She says reality you know, there is a life that she has a kind of a duality here. Life that she's been living uh in the dream and her uh the poetry that she's been creating. It is It is that uh scope of imagination that you know, that kind of breath of imagination which allows her uh you know, her dreams to survive to swim like fish, she says. And she says, "But the moment you bring this fish out of water, it is going It will be tormented to death." Which means the moment this dream, this beautiful life that she's built out of imagination or all her tender emotions, the moment they uh meet reality or the stern truths of life or the norms that society or the conventions of society, it is then that it will find It will meet its death, right? And she says, "When my dream meets reality, it will go into throes of death, right?" And she says, "But you don't need to bring your dream to reality." Because she says because if you have enough hunger, she says, "If you have the hunger, the sea of imagination is immense. And I will cast a net of my life and catch the golden fish of my dreams." So, there is a kind of an assertion here that if reality or if society doesn't have space for me, then I am going to use the space of imagination to create a kind of a parallel life or a life where my my golden fish can survive and can also live its life uh as it wishes to live.

[00:20:57]Um I would agree with you that she is essentially a poet of uh you know, suffering and uh she she doesn't go into any other direction and she remains there and she's tied down to a poetry in all her writing. For instance, I read a few prose pieces by her and all also by her, which was translated which was you know serialized in a Hindi weekly. And there also one one felt you know that she one was not reading prose. One was reading poetry.

[00:21:25]The same kind of you know images, the same kind of symbols and their interaction. And when she talked in the interviews and when she talked directly also face to face, then she was talking in the same language. So it means that that she's a poet at different levels, but nothing but a poet all the time.

[00:21:40]Yeah, in fact in one of her interviews she says that you know I feel comfortable both in in prose and poetry.

[00:21:46]But she says in poetry my my words become intense. And in prose I'm able to deal with subjects that poetry probably cannot hold. So in a way she's more conscious and I think all writers in that sense are more conscious when they're dealing with prose and with novels because there is an agenda in mind. But with poetry, since it is so personal, it is very intense and emotional particularly in the case of Amrita Pritam. Her poems are very intense and emotional in that sense. But I think I would not say that she's a poem poet of suffering. I I think she's a poet who's pretty much out of joint in my in many ways or out of she's she's maybe avant-garde for her own times because in a society that does not that disallows women to have their own freedom and their choice.

[00:22:34]I think she's not able to come to terms with that kind of reality and therefore just you know brushes aside this kind of reality. But at the same time suffers because she cannot be a part of that life. She doesn't accept the society's code of conduct. And I think this is what this is where this suffering stems from. And yet she's a poet of love I think because there's so much love that she keeps talking about or and she's she's very aware as a poet and you know maybe in some cases she becomes pessimistic etc. But I think it is to do with how the society how the poet remains, you know, refuses to compromise with the ideals of society. And once you do that, then there is very little scope for you to live a happy life so to speak. And and therefore she finds that kind of happiness in her creative works and creative endeavors. In your opinion, if she's called poet, you know, who will remain for a long time, how long will she will this daughter of Punjab remain in the literature? No, I think we we have I don't think we have but in Punjab people love her and I I think that as students and literature students, we should, you know, bring her back because she's a very strong feminist voice. When we are looking at Indian English literatures, she's she doesn't crack in that sense as or doesn't, you know, there's very little distortion that I found in her work even though I mean she's been quite open even when she talked about individualism and about not adhering to any ideologies etc. She she said that, you know, I I believe in my individual self and that's what keeps her as a poet, I think or as a creative writer. So I think when we are speaking of the canon of Indian English literatures, we don't we seem to you know, overlook such writers particularly Amrita Pritam who could form a very important who would who would be a very important part of the canon of feminist voices in of the 20th century. And a very And you know, look at the kind of sharp prose she's writing and you know, the very very straightforward when she simply says that society attacks anyone who dares to question it. So in a way I think we need to build a tradition and a kind of literary tradition where such writers can find space and also find representation. Which is a better acceptable word for for our writing? Is it she is a writer of freedom? She is a writer of anti-patriarchy? Which one?

[00:25:03]I think she is she's a woman of assertion and she is a woman who is she's a writer who is who's a feminist I would call her a very very much a feminist voice of the 20th century.

[00:25:14]>> basically.

[00:25:15]>> Yes, absolutely or you could say someone who prioritizes the individual will and choice which is available. I mean it's not just about a woman but also about an individual's choice and will which is taken for granted in the case of men but is questioned when exercised when this right is exercised by women. So selfhood is important for >> Selfhood yes, it is very important for her to live a life on her own terms and selfhood is an important I would say identity and selfhood. Finding of woman identity and also a sense of selfhood is very important.

[00:25:49]>> applies both for to women and to men.

[00:25:52]Yes, absolutely and because women men have freedom of choice and they can exercise it very you know without being targeted or without being called names but women somehow seem to fall in the trap of being labeled as one or another as you know as a vamp or as whatever. So I think she's redefining women's roles in society and therefore I would call her a feminist an Indian feminist who we should be reading more than we actually do.

[00:26:25]What would the young viewers for instance the students in the class the students who are started writing writers who are young also how will they take her today?

[00:26:37]I think they'll take her very well because she writes so much about love like there is so much of love poetry in her and and she's not she is unapologetic about that love experience that she has and she's ready to you know she's she's also not self-conscious in using you know whatever words come to her and you can see this kind of unrequited love but you can also see the crushing nature of love that she experiences in the process and the movement and the dialectics that is operating all the time and how love itself becomes patriarchal in this venture and how the lover there is a power dynamic between the lover and the beloved and the beloved is even when she's questioning the logic of love which is which is imposed on her by patriarchy she's also bearing the brunt of it and she's you know she's facing you know the problems of questioning that kind of patriarchal love that society wants her to follow.

[00:27:37]In two sentences please sum up.

[00:27:40]I think Amrita Pritam is a feminist voice and also a poet who speaks as much about who's who's very grounded somebody who's devoted to Punjab somebody who has a very strong sense of Punjabi identity but at the same time is a woman who wants to claim her right and space in society and would not fall into the trap of patriarchal moral code of conduct and she builds her alternate life in fact if you go and you know just look up her life you will find enough you know blasphemous references you'll find enough of controversy around her lovers and you know how she lived her life I would encourage you to go and see that a woman in the 20th century actually lived that kind of life that a lot of us today also find difficult to emulate.

[00:28:30]So friends with this presentation of food for thought for all of us regarding patriarchy regarding womanhood regarding selfhood we come to the end of this discussion and let me also remind you that it's a series of Indian writing in English and in English translation therefore the scope is yet wider and we'll be considering more authors who are available either in in English directly or through English translation.

[00:28:55]So, and finally, I propose a vote of thanks to the speaker today who has made the entire discussion so very provocative, so very exciting at the level of thought. And thanks to you for that. Thank you.

[00:29:09]>> And viewers, I'm I'm sure you'll be able to mull over these points more and more in your life.

[00:29:15]Thank you.

[00:29:19]>> [music] [music] [music]