Global poets in Delhi participate in World poetry festival

50 poets from 21 countries, including India, participated in a poetry festival focusing on world peace and unity organized by the Sahitya Akademi, a national language institute in New Delhi.

Sabad World Poetry Festival – Poets from 21 countries gathered to share verses in Delhi.

The Sabad World Poetry Festival aimed to present multiple voices from many languages to reveal the uplifting geography of the contemporary world’s poetic imagination. “Verses recited here celebrate the spirit of independence and stand against the imperialistic tendencies of certain countries who take over the land of others,” said Mr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, President of Sahitya Akademi. 

The festival, which ended March 24, coincided with the 100 year anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore being the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. “Through the medium of poetry we want to establish unity of human beings. Poets do not belong to a nation. According to Rabindranath Tagore, every country is my country,” Tiwari said.

Prominent participants at the festival included George Szirtes (UK), Les Wicks (Australia), Kunwar Narain (India), Nikola Madzirov (Macedonia), Najwan Darwish (Palestine), Oscar Cruz (Cuba), Ingrid Storholmen (Norway), Pia Tafdrup (Denmark), Philip Nikolayev (USA), and Tanure Ojaide (Nigeria). 

Poets read their verses on a wide range of topics like war and the nature of humanity.

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Word Heritage - Qutab Minar in Delhi

Qutab-Minar in red and buff sandstone is the highest tower in India. It has a diameter of 14.32 m at the base and about 2.75 m on the top with a height of 72.5 m.Qutbu'd-Din Aibak laid the foundation of Minar in AD 1199 for the use of the mu'azzin (crier) to give calls for prayer and raised the first storey, to which were added three more storey’s by his successor and son-in-law, Shamus’s-Din Iltutmish (AD 1211-36). All the storeys are surrounded by a projected balcony encircling the minar and supported by stone brackets, which are decorated with honey-comb design, more conspicuously in the first storey. 

Numerous inscriptions in Arabic and Nagari characters in different places of the minar reveal the history of Qutb. According to the inscriptions on its surface it was repaired by Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-88) and Sikandra Lodi (AD 1489-1517). Major R.Smith also repaired and restored the Minar in 1829.

Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, to the north-east of Qutab Minar was built by Qutbu'd-Din Aibak in AD 1198. It is the earliest extant mosque built by the Delhi Sultans. It consists of a rectangular courtyard enclosed by cloisters, erected with the carved columns and architectural members of 27 Hindu and Jaina temples which were demolished by Qutbu'd-Din Aibak as recorded in his inscription on the main eastern entrance. 

Later, a lofty arched screen was erected and the mosque was enlarged by Shamus’s-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-35) and Alau'd-Din Khalji. The Iron Pillar in the courtyard bears an inscription in Sanskrit in Brahmi script of fourth century AD, according to which the pillar was set up as a Vishnudhvaja (standard of god Vishnu) on the hill known as Vishnupada in memory of a mighty king named Chandra. A deep socket on the top of the ornate capital indicates that probably an image of Garuda was fixed into it.

The tomb of Iltutmish (AD 1211-36) was built in AD 1235. It is a plain square chamber of red sandstone, profusely carved with inscriptions, geometrical and arabesque patterns in Saracenic tradition on the entrances and the whole of interior. Some of the motifs viz., the wheel, tassel etc., are reminiscent of Hindu designs.

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