Portrayal of Indian Culture in the Poems of Shiv K. Kumar

International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 605 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 Portrayal of Indian Culture in the Poems of Shiv K. Kumar Abhishek Kumar Singh Research Scholar P. G. Department of English V. K. S. U, Ara, Bihar Dr. Rajesh Kumar Sinha Department of English S. P. Jain College, Sasaram Abstract: - Poetry is the life-breath of heartthe heart that creates a feeling of love for beauty, provokes an excitement for life and awakens an urge to struggle against the odds of life. Indian culture is constructed with the rich fabric of poetry. Indian poetry is rich in themes, thought, images and rhythms. Shiv K. Kumar appears to be more imaginative and fresher in his several poems. With the passage of time, he has emerged from the ocean of complexity to the ground of simplicity by virtue of his understanding of life and culture in its clarity. This article highlights Kumar’s dynamic approaches towards Indian culture from different directions altogether in his renowned works specially in poetry. The themes, thought, idea and his subject matter is quite enough to represent Indian culture. Keywords: - Indianness, Indian Culture, Tradition, Simplicity, Complexity, Shiv K. Kumar was born in Lahore in 1921 in a good and highly qualified academic family. He started his early education in D. A. V High School. Later on, he joined Cambridge University of Hyderabad for a considerable period. He is known as visiting professor in several universities due to his scholarly approach and considerations. Kumar has published many volumes of poetry during his long career. His first volume of poetry was published in 1970 under the title of ‘Articulate Silence’. His second volume of the poetry entitled ‘Cobwebs in the Sun’ published in 1974. It defines the complexities of modern people in this vast complicated mundane world. The ‘Cobwebs’ symbolises the zig-zag planning of the modern man in ‘Sick hurry’ and ‘Divided aims.’ And in the next year, his much-appreciated volume of poetry ‘Subterfuges’ published. His last volume of poetry was published in 1984 under the title of ‘Broken Columns.’ There are the different volumes of the poetry which published under International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 606 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 the different titles but it is not that after publication of his numerous volumes of poetries he remains silent although his many famous poems have been published in many national and international renowned journals, papers and articles and all have got good appreciation by the different scholars and readers time to time. In ‘Ariel’, ‘Meanjin Quarterly’, ‘The New York Times’, ‘Quest’, ‘Western Humanities Review’ and some other literary journals his poems have been published at different times. Kumar has also written a play ‘The Last Wedding Anniversary’ in 1975 and a novel too ‘The Bone’s Prayer’ in 1979. Although he has touched every aspect of literature. In the lives of modern people which he has showed in his different poems from different dimensions. Dr. K. K. Singh rightly observed him in his renowned book ‘Indian English poetry After Independence’ :- “Shiv K. Kumar perhaps the well-known artistically perfect poet of his time. He does not follow the set rules and decorum of Poetry as suggested by the critics. He deals with the boredom, anxieties, bewilderment and allusion of modern life”. (K. K. Singh, p.168) Shiv K. Kumar is the most qualified poet who possess a sharp sense of poetic perfection. He is a modern poet who touched the various aspects of modern man's life in the false notion of the modern world. Among his contemporaries, he is a versatile genius who occupies the profession of the poetic composition seriously. His poems are authentic and proved in depicting the Indian Culture in differently. Even Kumar has spent much time in abroad but he did not forget to show his deep faith in Indian culture and tradition. And he has dedicated his most of poems to Indians and India's reach culture and tradition. No doubt his poems can be seen from different lenses of modern man’s complexities. He has commented and complemented both at the same time regarding our tradition in his poems ‘Kali’, ‘Mango Vendor,’ ‘ An Indian Mother’s Advice to Her Daughter before Marriage,’ ‘The Indian Women,' ‘Pilgrimage’, ‘Paper Boats’, ‘Two Strangers on a Train’, ‘Ruins at Agra’, ‘Which of My Selves Do You Wish to Speak To?’, ‘Thus Spake the Buddha’. ‘Lord Krishna to Arjuna’, ‘Adolescence’, ‘ O Delhi!’, ‘Cleansing Ganga’, ‘Broken Columns’, ‘A Letter From New York’, ‘ My Co-respondent’. ‘Walking Down the Avenue of the Americas’, ‘ Returning Home’, ‘An Indian Mango Vendor’, ‘Border Guards’, ‘A Dark Mood’, ‘At The Ghat’s of Varanasi’, ‘Parting’, ‘Married Too Long ', ‘At a Psychedelic Art Exhibition, ‘Insomnia’,, ‘Writing on Sand’, ‘Rag Picker’, ‘ Pain’, ‘A Letter from Cambridge’, ‘Suicide’, ‘Genesis’, ‘Sounds of Hunger’, ‘Walking on Ice’, ‘Duty Free’, ‘ I shall not gaze at International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 607 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 the moon again’, and ‘ An Encounter with Death’ are the most suitable and appropriate examples of Indian culture and tradition through different colours and shades of his time. It is the beauty of Indian writing in English that almost each and every writer including poets, novelists, dramatist etc. are engrossed with Indian sensibility in their creative compositions. Their creativity is well coloured with Indian colour and shades in each and every respect. Indian philosophic and spiritual reflections, Indian intellectual flavour, Indian religions and festivals, Indian ethos and ethics, Indian moral sensibilities, Indian conventions and traditions, Indian temples, Gurudwara and mosques, Indian mountains, hills, caves and gardens, Indian flowers and fields and above all Indian way of life thinking and feeling same to colour Indian writers in English with all its charm, fascination and imagination. Right from the beginning to the present age almost all the writersDerozio, Toru Dutt, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Harindra Nath Chattopadhyay, etc. before independence and Nissim Ezekiel, A.K. Ramanujam, A.S. Kolatkar, Jayanta Mahapatra, Shiv K. Kumar, Keki N Daruwala, Pritish Nandy, Kamala Das, Gieves Patel, P. Lal etc. after independence in the field of Indian English poetry same to carry the tradition of delineating Indian cultural life with all its features in their poetry. Not only Indian poets but Indian novelists like Mulk Raj Anand, RK Narayan, Raja Rao, Bhawani Bhattacharya, Shashi Dash Pande, Amitabh Desai ,Bharati Mukherjee, Chitra Banerjee ,Manju Kapoor ,Geeta Harrison etc. have shown great attraction and inclination towards Indian sensibility in spite of the fact that some of them living abroad. Their milieu, setting, background, sense of storytelling, use of imageries, etc. show their appreciation for Indianness everywhere in their writing. The great Indian tradition and convention same to be present everywhere in their creative composition. They do not hesitate to present even the negative part of Indian culture and tradition. The detailed study of Kumar’s poems show that his poems throw light on modern man’s existence and modern man's complexities for that he has dive deep in the authentic and realistic domain of the modern man's suffering and pain. Dr. K. K. Singh rightly remarked his poetry in these words:- “Shiv K. Kumar is neither romantic nor classical nor lyrical in his themes and style both. The poet handles the modern themes of agony and anxiety in his short and long International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 608 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 poems both. Like Nissim Ezekiel and A. K. Ramanujam his poetry is also the result of the ‘Conflict Between Two Selves.” (K. K. Singh, p.168) Kumar is a poet who is known for his portrayal of India and Indian culture and its different aspects in a very beautiful way. He is essentially concerned with the Indianness of his experience in order to recreate new themes, techniques and idioms, distinct from writers all over the world who write in English. His poems on Indian subject depict the natural scene and environment, Indian life and Indian myth and philosophy. His treatment of Indian themes is so genuine and obvious that it remains on affected from the Western attitude of the poet. His poetry epitomizes the multidimensional experience of being Indianthe inheritance of a glorious culture and civilization, the sufferings of the present and glimpses of aspiration and hopes for the future. In his specifically Indian poem, ‘Indian Woman’ we can see the Indian culture and tradition when he describes the patience of Indian women waiting for their men's return: “Patiently they sit like empty pitchers on the mouth of the village well pleating hope in each braid of their Mississippi-long hair looking deep into the water’s mirror for the moisture in their eyes. With zodiac doodling on the sand they guard their tattooed thighs waiting for their men’s return till even the shadows roll up their contours and are gone beyond the hills.” (The Indian Women) International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 609 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 In his another very Indian poem “Banaras: Winter Morning”, very present the religious picture of India through Banaras the city which is the symbol of religion and holiness with the beautiful image of one winter morning the city, he says: Eat tree by the road side Smeared with saffron and white ashIts roots seeking succour From the holy waters……. At the same time the poet mesmerized by the city and admits : If I were to die This is the moment And this is the place. (Woolgathering,p.23) In this poem, the poet’s philosophical region of the world with the reflection of Indian landscape recharges a great height. These lines show the strong feelings and emotions or wish of the Indians that at the last time of their life they want to crumbled in their land and their motherland. It also highlights the deep attention and attraction of the poet to his motherland. In many of his poems we can see Kumar’s seeking for the national and cultural identity. While living in alien land he became very closer to his motherland India. He discusses the foreign land and refuses to fall among the traps of foreign culture. In his famous poem, ‘A Letter from New York ‘, brings out the difference in cultural Outlook between in a native and a foreign, he mocks and says: “The white of the black /Negro maid’s eyeballs Is the only clean thing here besides, of course, the quarter gallon carton of milk Squatting at my door.” (Subterfuges,p.18) He affirms his indigenous belief and identity which develops in his on soul and asserts his identity by refusing the foreign flavour by saying very true and beautiful lines about the real soul of India by saying, in his famous poem, ‘A Letter from New York ‘, and these lines show Kumar's determination to be rooted in his soil also. “They wouldn’t believe it here that the Ganges water can work International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 610 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 miracles like Lourdes’ , In spite of the cartloads of dead men’s ashes, bones and the pundits’ shitdaily offerings to the Mother River!” (Subterfuges, p.18) In his poem “An Indian Mother’s Advice to Her Daughter before Marriage” Kumar has beautifully described about the primary teachings of an Indian mother to her daughter which is personal to professional , personal to universal, personal to social and self to self. Through this poem he wants to show the rich culture and tradition of Indians though they are educated or not but their teaching and discipline, action and reaction, knowledge and experience, thought and manner and many more are of rich consciousness. Daughters learn complete dedication to her husband and his family for the harmony of both family and to make social bonding. This poem entitled with “An Indian Mother’s Advice to Her Daughter before Marriage” is a typical example of how Indian mothers tender advice to their daughters to get in on in married life. Through this poem , Shiv K. Kumar has tried to highlight the high and prestigious culture of India. Because it is possible only in india only where daughters are taught by their mother and relatives that she has to make harmonious atmosphere in her husband house by her sweet behaviour. And she has to treat with her husband’s parents as her own parents. Therefore, Kumas has chosen it as subject matter or theme of his poetry. Don’t ever argue at the moment of surrender for the end is ineluctable. So move in with moonshine on your face and the quick of the sun between your thighs. further he writes thatBut take time unfolding yourself. Let him first burn awhile on the hot sand for this is also the moment of claiming, not giving in only. And in next stanza he comments on the man’s ingratitude and said like that…. International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 611 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 A man’s memory is myopic, like a sparrow’s; once filled up, he hardens into a bedrock. And often, at night you may find yourself alone, pulling feathers out of your pillow. But be patient. If he’s gone out fishing down the dark river he’ll be back for in spite of his appetite, a man cannot swallow both ends of the rainbow. Shiv K. Kumar’s poem “The Sun Temple at Konark”, captures Indian cultural identity, history, and spiritual vision from the Indian perspectives or lenses. Kumar uses the Sun Temple of Konark, a 13th-century marvel in Odisha, as both symbol and subject — reflecting the essence of Indian aesthetics, mythology, architecture, and spirituality. “These stones have wings and darkness here flaps into phosphorescence. Washed by the semen of primeval gods playing under candid moonlight, they froze into sculpture as the sun broke in.” In Indian tradition, time is not linear but cyclical — symbolized in the wheel motifs carved into the Sun Temple. Kumar casually taps into this idea in the poem. The cab of Surya, drawn by seven horses and riding on twelve pairs of wheels, becomes a metaphor for never-ending motion, life’s cycles, and the turning of yugas (cosmic ages). This view reflects a key aspect of Indianness — that everything is part of a greater rhythm, not accidental, but cosmic. In the Indian worldview, temples are not just religious buildings — they are: Energy centers (mandalas) aligned with cosmic forces. Places of transformation — both spiritual and psychological. Embodied philosophy — every curve, every symbol has meaning. Kumar’s poetic tone treats the Konark temple as a meditative space, inviting introspection, awe, and communion with the eternal. International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 612 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 “From every cornice an owl hoots: ‘Do, do, do!’ But my lady-bird is counting calories before she slumps beside me as a tombstone while I wait for the breakers to at least cleanse my feet.” The Konark temple itself is a deeply Indian symbol — dedicated to Surya, the Sun God, it reflects the fusion of faith, science, and art. The chariot structure (with 24 stone-carved wheels and 7 horses) represents the journey of time — a deeply Vedic and cyclical worldview. In the poem, Kumar doesn't just describe a monument — he evokes its spiritual power and cosmic energy, which are rooted in Hindu cosmology. Kumar views the temple as a metaphor for India's ancient wisdom and artistic heights: The poem reveres sculpture, architecture, and sensual carvings not as vulgar, but sacred. This reflects the Indian idea that eroticism and spirituality are not opposites but deeply interconnected. Kumar frequently draws upon images of the Indian landscape—its rivers, mountains, fields, and cities—to evoke a sense of place and identity. Nature, in his poems, is not only a physical reality but also a symbolic representation of the Indian soul. The landscape reflects both the spiritual and the physical aspects of Indian life, often functioning as a backdrop for the tensions between tradition and modernity. For example, in poems like “The Soldier”, the imagery of nature conveys the soldier’s connection to the land and its enduring significance in shaping national identity. The soldier’s relationship to the earth, with its vast and eternal qualities, underscore’s themes of sacrifice, belonging, and the permanence of the nation. “On the other side of the impregnable fence, enmeshed with warlord’s gory threats and counterthreats whimpers my counterpart over a letter from home (his wife’s illness? His son’s death?), International Journal of Research (IJR) e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 11 November 2025 Received: 2 November 2025 613 Revised: 17 November 2025 Accepted: 29 November 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17763772 his recoilless gun sitting negligently between his knees.” (The Soldier or Border Guards) Modern Indian poets such as Nissim Ezekiel, Kamla Das, Shiv K. Kumar and A. K. Ramanujan use their poetry to reflect and shape Indian culture, moving away from colonial styles to explore new themes and forms that capture the complexities of modern life in modern context. Therefore, modern Indian poetry is a vibrant and dynamic reflection of the Indian culture and its cultural diversity and social evolution. Poets like Shiv K. Kumar draw upon their rich cultural heritage to explore different themes of identity, tradition, modernity, social justice, and spirituality. Works Cited: - 01. Singh, K. K. Indian English Poetry After Independence, Book Enclave, Jaipur India, 2012, p.168. 02. Kumar, Shiv K., “Indian Women” 03. Kumar, Shiv K., “Banaras: Winter Morning” 04. Kumar, Shiv K., “A Letter from New York” 05. Kumar, Shiv K., “An Indian Mother’s Advice to Her Daughter Before Marriage” 06. Kumar, Shiv K., “The Sun Temple at Konark” 07. Kumar, Shiv K., “The Soldier”