Timeless Verses: A Modern-Day Reading of Vidyapati

<p>This paper discusses Vidyapati as a poet through his Maithili song ‘Piya Mor Balak’ and its scope in the present day. The study aims to raise awareness regarding the society about which he wrote and to help contemplate his relevance in today’s world, evaluating how much change has occurred in relation to women’s issues.  <br>India has been home to many intellectuals, thinkers, artists, and revolutionaries. Literature today, recognizes some of the greatest writers and poets who wrote in their native language. The writings, mainly composed of songs and poetry, were understood in the cultural context within which they existed. Many different cultures gave birth to such dignified artists. Their profound understanding of society and its inhabitants was so acute that their applicability persists in many aspects of life. Vidyapati, being one among them, belongs to the Maithil culture and can be read through a modern lens, and it would be surprising to notice how relevant he is in the current scenario.<br>His most renowned work, which is also his most extensively studied composition, is his 'Love Songs'. The devotional compositions continue to captivate audiences and his compositions have been passed on as folk songs or regional melodies. His significant works are composed in Sanskrit but he employs the Maithili language for his songs. Vidyapati took up the language spoken in Mithila as the medium of his popular song and gave it a literary expressiveness as sweet and entrancing as could be found only in Sanskrit (Jha, 2017:20).  Most of these are performed at Maithil weddings. They provide insight into his unique perspective on life in Mithila during that period, maintaining considerable relevance for contemporary women, and paying due attention to its pleasure aspect. Vidyapati made that pleasure easy for everyone to enjoy and chose topics for treatment in his songs that could appeal to the common men and women, including the lowest in society but not excluding the highest and the noblest. (Jha, 2017:20)</p>