Not the best compendium on the ‘best’ of Punjabi thought

This book is part of Dakshinayan Indian Thought, a series curated by GN Devy and funded by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation to “showcase the plurality and diversity of Indian traditions”. The present volume, edited by Atamjit and Harbhajan Singh Bhatia, introduces to readers of English selected texts of Punjabi literature. It has translations of some folklore too.

One would expect a volume in the series to be more than an anthology of literature and to include, among other things, philosophy, social criticism and political thought. But it does not. Hopefully, the gap will be filled by subsequent volumes. Literature and thought are not identical even as they interpenetrate. The editors, though, try to make literature look all-inclusive: “Literature is a creation by human beings for fellow human beings in a human society.” Pottery, pullovers, or parachutes, like much else, are not literature.

In fact, the definition of Punjabi literature they advance does not allow the inclusion of folklore: “Any literary work written in the Punjabi language would be known as Punjabi literature.” Like most popular definitions, this one also functions to suppress definitional complexity. It doesn’t let you ask if the term ‘Punjabi literature’ denotes literature in Punjabi, literature of Punjab, or literature produced by Punjabis. As such, it furnishes an unexamined assumption on which to exclude the contribution to literature in other languages by Punjabis. Not including the contribution to thought in domains other than literary further reduces the reach of the book. The result is that several luminaries stand excluded: Lala Lajpat Rai, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Manto, Mohan Rakesh, Yashpal, Sahir, Gulzar, Randhir Singh, Ramesh Kuntal Megh, JPS Uberoi, BN Goswamy, JS Grewal, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Harjeet Singh Gill, SS Jodhka, Navtej Sarna, Nahar Singh, and others.

The rule to exclude a writer’s work in another genre shrinks the scope of the book. The prose writings of Puran Singh, Bhai Vir Singh, Kishan Singh, Sant Singh Sekhon, Swarajbir — to name a few — are no less significant than their writings in other genres.

What could have become a collector’s book is thus diminished by flaws of design and execution. The overlong introduction plods through platitudes, unanchored hypotheses and repetitions in 23 pages. A page or two by the series editor, placing the volume in perspective, would actually have made it richer. Some pages could have been spared for the translators for sharing their ideas. The scale of the disparity in allocation of space between the poets and the rest is staggering. The reason is understandable: the poetic output in Punjabi is too vast to fit a single volume. But the disparity is hard to swallow when the poets included are 107 and the prose writers a meagre 11. It is not that all notable poets have received a place either: Bhupinderpreet, Pardeep, Gurdev Chauhan, Dalvir Kaur, Wahid, for instance, have been left out. The disproportionate abundance of poetry piques curiosity. Why do so many Punjabi writers find their muse more easily in poetry?

Proclaiming the selected texts as “the best of Punjabi literature” on the basis of the “touchstone” of eight themes seen as the core of literary humanism implies a particular ideological slant. Yet the selection is claimed to be comprehensively representative: “Each work in this collection represents a particular shade of Punjabi literature.” This is a bizarre claim also because no literary work can be said to “represent” other works. Moreover, the extractive logic that governs the decision to carry only some portions of certain works is based on an utterly misleading notion: that in literature, a part can stand for the whole.

The ambition to force a lot more in than was possible has harmed the book as much as the failure to let in a lot that was necessary. Deficient editing is visible. The names of Bhai Vir Singh and Swarajbir have been misspelt. Both British and American spellings have been used. Comma, a line-editor’s demon, is stationed or “disappeared” on whim.

The intrepid translators move from text to text with perseverance, agility and often also grace, showing what is achievable against impossible odds in the leap between languages. If only for this reason, the efforts that have added up to make the book are commendable. After all, this is just the first edition.

— The writer is a former professor of English at Punjabi University, Patiala