Spiritual Quest through Nature: A study of Kuntala Kumari Sabat’s poem ‘Ode to the Jasmine’ (Published)
Kuntala Kumari Sabat (1901–1938), popularly known as Utkal Bharati, is one of key poets from Odisha, india.In her poems we find a spiritual quest via nature. Her vision and viewpoint of life get reflected in the lines of her poetry. As a true lover of nature, she finds beauty everywhere, may it be a faded flower, a twisted tree or zigzag river. She considers nature as a wonderful design by God which reserves vigor to endure as long as life survives. Omnipresence of divinity and connectivity with God vide communion with nature boosts her spiritual quest in many of her poems. In the present paper beautiful lines on nature with spirituality having deep inner implication have been explored. Through the poem, an attempt has also been made to reveal her devotion towards humanity as a whole. The poem, originally written in Odia, has been translated into English by the researcher herself.
Citation: Anjali Sahoo (2022) Spiritual Quest through Nature: A study of Kuntala Kumari Sabat’s poem ‘Ode to the Jasmine’, European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Vol.10, No.2, pp.72-80
Keywords: Kuntala Kumari Sabat, Nature, Spirituality, humanity
Thou Shalt Love!: The Contemporary Relevance of Rumi in Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love- a Character Based Study Establishing Love as the Central Theme of the Novel and Humanity (Published)
This paper aims to analyse Love and its dearth in today’s world that forms the crux of Elif Shafak’s novel The Forty Rules of Love. The novel connects human predicament of the thirteenth century of Rumi- a poet, and his Sufi friend Shams, with the twenty-first century of Ella and her mystic friend cum lover Aziz. The novel presents several Sufi tenets, but it is Elif’s conviction of love that firmly holds the Sufi theme in the novel, according it with magnitude and potency. Achieving oneness with the creator is the goal of mankind, and it is only possible through spirituality which, in turn, is indispensable to love. Therefore, Love forms the substratum of the novel in question. This paper scrutinizes Elif’s portrayal of characters and their predicaments illustrating how the Oneness can be achieved despite differences through the path of love and love alone.
Keywords: Faith, Love, Sufism, human-predicament, humanity, oneness