The year 1956 marked the publication of the first annual anthology of Indian poetry — Bharatiya Kavita '1953'. All the poems in this pioneering rare book were written in 1953. However, it took a few years to publish this large compendium owing to the creative difficulties involved in executing such a complex project.
This anthology of Indian poetry was the very first of its kind containing 10 poems each in the following 14 languages: Assamese, Oriya, Urdu, Kannada, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bangla, Marathi, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Hindi. The poems of all these languages were printed in Devanagari script along with the Hindi translation on the facing page. A special panel was formed for the selection of poems in these 14 languages. For instance, the Sanskrit poems in this book were selected by Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and KA Subranamia Iyer. Renowned writers & translators from all over India were involved in translating these poems into Hindi.
Being the very first multilingual anthology of Indian poetry that brought together the work of 140 great poets in 14 Indian languages with the Hindi translation of each poem as a unifying factor, this original First Edition is extremely rare and hard to find. In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: "This book is the first volume of the Annual Anthology of Indian Poetry. It is largely in art and literature that a nation gives expression to its inner feelings. This Anthology brings out the inner bond that connects the various languages of India.".
Images of the individual table of contents of all the 14 languages and excerpts of the poems in each language are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.
BHARATIYA KAVITA — 1953
Introduction by: Jawaharlal Nehru
Publisher: Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1956 — Extremely Rare & Out-of-Print First Edition
Script: Devanagari
Language: Poems in 14 Indian languages printed in Devanagari script alongside the Hindi translation of each poem on the facing page.
Format: Hardcover.
Size: 23.2 cm x 15.5 cm
Pages: viii + 608 pages.
Condition of the pages: Pre-Owned. Very Good – Excellent. Pages clean & unmarked. Natural yellowing & foxing of some pages owing to age. Original tight binding.
Condition of the covers: Pre-Owned. Good – Very Good. The covers are completely intact. Minor shelf-wear along the corners/edges owing to age & use. Natural foxing & spotting on the back cover owing to age (image attached). The covers are neatly wrapped in an acetate film for future protection.
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