Exploration of Kashi in Charu Sheel Singh’s “Kashi: A Mandala Poem”

Kashi is known as ancient living city of the world and famous as abode of Lord Shiva. Rishi Maharshi of all sects and religion do Yog and sadhana here since beginning weather Sage Agastya in Satyug or Vyas in Dwapar. There are many scriptural descriptions related to the genesis of the worship of Shiva in Kashi and also about creation of Kashi. Poet Charu Sheel Singh records in his poem Kashi as spiritual and cultural centre and also as the ‘city of death'. The rare combination of mystical, mythical, historical and philosophical imagination of Prof. Singh creates a Kashi which is not entirely new but the way he has approached Kashi with the concept of ‘Mandala' is unique and it remains not a place rather a phenomenon. The characters, legends, Vedic or Puranic stories related to Kashi are part of his consciousness that he melts into figuration. In the beginning of the poem, he has acknowledged his indebtedness for the materials he has drawn from various sources but especially he has mentioned Puranas. Poet Charu Sheel Singh is widely reviewed in the English-speaking world. Prof. P. S. Shastri in a personal letter to poet said that C. S Singh has shown the whole Romantic Scholarship a new pathway to explore.