The Bovine and The Divine: Arun Kolatkar and the Pandu- Poetry and God in a Just-So Universe

Abstract

The paper examines the many facets of Arun Kolatkar’s spiritual philosophy. The ideas of worship, the world, the powers that run it- make for some of Kolatkar’s finest verses. The focus is also on the ways that Kolatkar visualized Time and Poetry as exemplified by his line drawings in The Policeman. Troubadour, ascetic, narrator of uncomfortable truths and histories- Kolatkar is this and much more as he slices through the webs of artifice and banality and brings narratives from the everydays in voices that are usually relegated to the margins.  In an increasingly xenophobic world, Kolatkar’s brand of sub-cultural bliss can lend some much-needed relief.