Between the Sacred and the Profane: A Semiotic Exploration of Myth and Modernity in Dilip Chitre's Poetry

Dilip Chitre (1938–2009), a towering figure in Indian literature, crafts a poetic universe where myth and modernity collide, coalesce, and converse. This article examines four of his seminal collections—As is Where Is (1960), The Mountain (1964), Post Climactic Poems (1975), and Traveling in a Cage (1980)—to unravel how Chitre employs semiotics to interrogate the sacred-profane dialectic in postcolonial India. Through close readings of 20 key poems, including The Felling of the Banyan Tree, Father Returning Home, and Ode to Bombay, the study argues that Chitre reconfigures mythic symbols as sites of resistance, critique, and renewal. Drawing on Roland Barthes’ semiotics and Mircea Eliade’s sacred-profane dichotomy, the article reveals how Chitre’s poetry bridges cultural memory with the fragmented self of urban modernity, offering a transformative vision of resilience.