REIFICATION OF LOVE: SELECT POETRY OF SAHIR LUDHIANVI

The article examines the select poetry and songs of Sahir Ludhianvi on the motifs of love, through the Marxist concept of 'reification'. It highlights, that institutions, especially Capitalism and the marriage system, strengthen the reified consciousness in which human beings consider love as an alienated entity. The feelings of love were polluted by Capitalist thought and imprisoned by the social norms; Sahir Ludhianvi aspired for a utopia, a Communist society, revolted against social norms and practices like 'marriage' etc. and deconstructed the capitalist conception of love. His artistic characteristics lie in the representation of 'beloved' in the sense of 'Communism', which can restore, in his eyes, the lost feelings of love. The study involves a textual analysis.