POETRY: THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZATION (Editorial)

This blog is an archive of Indian poetry in English translations. It is an ambitious project: our aim is to make available English translations of all good Indian language poems in one site.

These are some of the problems we face:

1. Most of the Indian language poems are published in journals or books. These are published by the little groups. Most of them stop publishing after some time. Their addresses are also changed as the persons who own these organizations change their residences. Therefore it is very difficult to obtain copies of these translations.

2. We find it difficult to trace the copyright holders.  Even when we do, and write for permission to publish their works in this site, most of  the Indian writers, proverbially, do not reply to letters.

In this situation we require readers and writers to help us in the following way:

1. Please let us know about the good translations of good Indian poems.
2. If you come across any good poem--unpublished or published in print-form--please send them to us along with the author`s/copyright holder`s address or permission.
3. We request poets to send English translations of their poems to us. Or, if English translations are not available, addresses of the persons who can translate their poems.
4. We make every effort to obtain permission from the copyright holders before publishing the works they own. If we fail in spite of our best efforts, we will act in the best interest of poetry and the poets. For example, we have failed in tracing the copyright holder of Muktibodh`s poetry in English translation. We sincerely feel we will be serving the interests of this great poet and his poetry by publishing  them and thus making them available to the  poetry-lovers of the world.

Poetry makes subtle use of language. Bodhi Trust believes that language is the very foundation of civilization. It is not the machines, not our houses, not our cars or the aeroplanes or such things--but our languages which preserve and pass on the memories and experiences--on which the civilizations are built--from one generation to another, from one language to another, from one culture to another. Therefore, poetry, which makes subtle use of  language,  is very essential for any civilization to grow--to grow intellectually and emotionally.

This site is also intended to help Indian poets to come together; to help them talk to each other through their poetry; and also help them to have a dialogue with other poets of the world through English translations of their poems.

Readers and critics can comment on the individual poems and poetry in general. We believe in dialogue; lively discussions; and interaction of ideas.