Discussion on the poetic structure of "MADHUSHALA"

 "Madhushala" is a masterpiece in Hindi Literature.It was written by the great poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan(1907-2003) who was very famous for his romantic surge in the Hindi literary of early 20th century.He is best known for his work "Madhushala". The poem was published in 1935,when the seeds of a dispute shown by the British Crown were now budding because of the carefully integrated differences between the solidarity of Hindu and Muslim communities.This poem was translated into many languages for it's popularity and inner meaning. 

In Hindi every verse of "Madhushala" Bachchan used Madhu/Madira/Haala(Wine), Saaki(Server), Pyaala(Cup of glass) , and of course Madhushala (The Tavern or The House of Wine) .The poet tries to explain the complexity of life with his four instruments which appear in almost every verse. 

The house of wine is a a book of 135 quatrains: verses of four lines(Rubai) .It is a metaphysical poetry,is celebrated for its vedantic and Sufi incantations and philosophical undertones is an important work of chhayavaad,movement of 20th century. 

In Madhushala many Sufi references too in this work;something which is an exception to the trademark style of HRB of writing in under-rated Hindi this can be attributed to the fact that this poem itself is inspired by Rubaiyat a Sufi work by Persian poem Omar Khayyam.

All writing has specific structure.A text message, email everywhere follows a structure. Poetry is no different, poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought describes a scene or tells a story in a concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words. Poems can be structured with rhyming lines and meter, stanzas. Each line of a poems content syllables. When ever emphasizes is placed on a specific syllable, it is referred to as a stressed syllable. This is called form. Lines on whole strangers can be rearranged in a specific way that creates a specific emotion on the paper. 

The original version of "Madhushala" is in Hindi, in this Hindi version we get great tone of rhyming but in English translation, loses its flavour. Because while translating a poem Hindi to English the poet follow different tones of rhyming, few writers translated the poem Madhushala Hindi to English but Manjorie Boulton and Ram Swaroop Vays's translation is quite popular. 

In Manjorie Boulton and Ram Swaroop vays's English translation of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's 'Madhushala'(The House of Wine) , We can see- in the original version of Madhushala we see four lines stanza but in translation it becomes eight lines stanza. For example-

HINDI VERSION-

Mridu Bhaavon ke angooron ki 

Aaj banaa laayaa haalaa(1) 

Priyatam, apne hi haathon se

Aaj pilaaoongaa pyaalaa(2) 

Pehle bhog lagaakar lu tera

Phir prasad jag payegaa(3) 

Sabse pehle tera swaagat

Karti meri Madhushala (4) . 

ENGLISH TRANSLATION-

Distilled from all my hopes and dreams; (1) 

This wine is yours, my dearest dear, (2) 

To you I proffer now the cup(3) 

Unsullied, and the liquor clear, (4) 

Before it goes to every nation, (5) 

You, Goddess, taste my first libation;(6) 

My  House of Wine shall honour you(7) 

Before the thirsty crowd draws near. (8)

 From strangers we can clearly see the difference between Hindi and English version of poem. 

In all the Hindi stanza ended with the word "Madhushala"(The Tavern) where as in English stanza ended with this word, Madhushala, some lines in Exception. Rhyme scheme is one such method using a pattern of repeated of final sounds in the last word of each lines. Here in the translated version,the rhyming lines repeated like 'ab cb dd eb' throughout the poem in order emphasizes the author's message. First four and last two lines followed eight syllables but others five and six line follows nine syllables and followed stressed and unstressed syllable. In every stanza average words are sixty six(66). In Hindi poem there are five hundred fifty lines(557) but in translated version there are two hundred lines(200) -according to Boulton's translation. In some Stanza's we see few long lines, some sentence are divided with full stop(.) And some where we found only single large line separated by comma(,) and semicolon (;) . More or less same patterns followed throughout the poem. Here the poem used Iambic tetrameter. In English translation we found only 25 stanzas. Each and every lines contains symbols. Speaker's mood is variously influenced. The author used lexical representation to emphasize a significant image;is repeated. The poet used anaphora at the beginning of some neighbouring lines. The same words;are repeated. The author used the same words, at the beginnings of some neighbouring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora. There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighbouring lines, they are repeated. In the third stanza the poet used metaphor. The literary device anadiplosis is device is detected in two or more neighbouring lines. The phrases connect some lines. Overall theme of the poem is based on life experiences and struggles. The poem based on pathetic scarcity, the pain of disappointment, the certainty of death and a patient reception defeatism as the only shield for the soul and adoring of the soul for beauty ending only in defeat. 

                    Indeed, "Madhushala " is a wonderful creation by Harivansh Rai Bacchan. In English version of the poetic structure is different than the original version. After translation the poem doesn't lose its beauty although there are some changes in the structure of the poem. Madhushala (The Tavern), Saaki(The Server), Haalanki(The Wine) and Pyaala(The Cup of Wine) by using these words, the poet has tried to focus different aspects of life like unconditional love which won't be activated if we don't strive for it. The poem is compared to a goal of life which The Reader is trying to achieve. There are difficulties on the way but the desire to drink wine (symbolic of accomplishing success and happiness) keep him going. Once he reaches there he is over welcomed and treated well such that he forgets his sorrow and realises that true meaning of life. "Madhushala" itself is treated as a utopia by the poet, where there are no differences and the life is celebrated together. 

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