Poetry about the season of renewal

From here & there

Ugadi, the celebration of spring season, when nature comes alive fresh green leaves and colourful flowers, has inspired many poets. Kannada literature is replete with volumes of poetry written by well-known poets like Da Ra Bendre, Kuvempu, K S Narasimhaswamy, K S Nisar Ahmed, Pu Ti Na and G S Shivarudrappa. Kannada poets have also perceived spring season as a reflection of the philosophy of life.

During this season, the bees start collecting honey from the flowers. We can hear the cuckoo making melodious sound from the mango tree bedecked with raw mangoes and flowers. The famous poem by Da Ra Bendre, ‘Yuga yugaadi kaledaroo yugaadi marali baruthide’ sums up the mood of rejuvenation brought by the seasonal change. In the poem, he says that Ugadi festival recurs every year and brings joy and happiness to every one, and nature gets a rebirth with plants and trees embellished with fresh green leaves and flowers. Over the years, this poem has become synonymous with Ugadi.

Some other poems that reverberate the significance of Ugadi are Kuvempu’s ‘Suralokada suranadiyali mindu, suralokada sampadavanu tandu, nava samvatsara bhoomige bandu’, K S Narasimhaswamy’s ‘Mavu navu, bevu navu; novu nalivu nammavu’, K S Nisar Ahmed’s ‘Varshaadiya tilinageya mogave, shubha yugaadi kareva sogave’, and G S Shivarudrappa’s ‘Banda chaitrada haadi teredide’. There are also many folk songs that narrate the season and festival.

It has also become a tradition over the years to organise literary sessions, particularly on poetry, and theatre programmes on the day of Ugadi.