Reification of Love: Select Poetry of Sahir Ludhianvi

 

Dharmendra Kumar ¹, Binod Mishra ¹

 

¹ Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, 247667 Roorkee, India

 

1. INTRODUCTION

Jose Gasset, in the course of talking about Stendal’s concept of love, asserted that “we fall in love when our imagination projects non-existent perfection upon another person. One day, the phantasmagoria vanishes, and with it love dies (p.22).” Here, “person” represents not only human beings but also objects, aspirations, ideas and what’s not. Being adherent to the ideals of Marxism, the imagination of Sahir Ludhianvi, an Indian poet, and a song lyricist, was fascinated with the pseudo-perfection of Communism. For him, with the progress of Capitalist developments and the development of scientific temperament, all the characteristics of life have become a thing measured in terms of Capital, which is called reification in Marxist philosophy. All the abstract entities like love, labour, individual talent etc. are measured through Capital. Love of the female body is auctioned in brothels, human labour is sold in the market, and individual talents are traded in corporate companies. Against Capitalism, Sahir advocated for Communism. He entangled his personal love affairs with the Communist elements. He analysed love from the perspective of Marxism.

Abdul Haye, whose pen name was Sahir Ludhianvi, was a leading songwriter of Indian cinema from the 1950s to 1980s, and one of the well-known authors of the Progressive Writers Movement in Urdu Literaturein the wide context of South Asian Literature. The difference between the conservative and the progressive kinds of literature has been presented by the Hindi manifesto of this movement:

All those things which take us towards confusion, dissension, and blind imitation are conservative; also, all that which engenders in us a critical capacity, which induces us to test our dear traditions on the touchstone of our reason and perceptions, which makes us healthy and produces among us the strength of unity and integration, that is what we call Progressive. Mir & Mir (2006), p.08

Progressive literature began in the 1930s during the colonial period of India and before the partition of India and Pakistan.Having been partly influenced by the new temperament in Urdu literature found in the works of writers ofutilitarian literature initiated by Altaf Hussain Hali, and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, and “more recent harbingers”, Muhammad Iqbal and Josh Malihabadi Coppola (2017), p.01, it made literature, art for life’s sake, as a tool for social and political change, and has been partly influenced by the Marxist philosophy, it judged the institution of all sorts through the “touchstone” of their reason and perceptions. Before it, the purpose of Urdu literature was generally either ‘art for art’s sake’ Manwani (2013), p.38 or ‘to find a refuge from reality in spiritualism and idealism’ Mir & Mir (2006), p.05.

In response to the earlier production of escapist writings, the Progressive Writers Movement was a movement of social realism in the light of Marxism. Its foundation had been established by Sajjad Zahir in 1932 through Angarey (Embers), attacking religious beliefs, social norms, and imperial laws  Coppola (2017), pp.34-61. Later, this book was proscribed because of its controversy. Then, A League of Progressive Authors was first announced by Ahmed Ali in 1933. It later became the All-Indian Progressive Writers Association (AIPWA). It was first set up in London in 1935 with a manifesto of 'scientific rationalism', then it was programmed at Rife-e-Aam club in Lucknow in 1936. It fought with ‘outdated ideas and beliefs about family, religion, sex, war and society’ Akhtar & Zaidi (2006). Later, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Kaifi Azmi, Sahir Ludhianvi, and others joined this movement and became its sepoys throughout their life. Its full-fletched development happened till the Partition of India. After independence, it declined and reduced into factions. Some of them left this movement and joined the film industry. Sahir Ludhianvi, after the attrition of AIPWA, joined the film industry and attempted to sustain progressive ideas through his songs. He composed most of the songs which were partially not in the relevant film context:

Guru Dutt could not understand why, so I had to explain. ‘The era we have placed the film in is the mid-fifties,’ I said, ‘and Sahir has written about the mahelon, the takhton, the tajonkiduniya…these symbols of the Raj, royalty and the zamindari are defunct; that era is passed in the period our movie is set in, we are a democratic nation. So, what dunia are we referring to? Manwani (2013), pp.103-104.

 

 

 

 

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Contextual and Literary Background

Despite his tremendous contribution to the field of the poetic world and Sahir's efforts to bring about class consciousness both through his poetry and his film songs, there are a few critical works on him. Ali Husain Mir and Raza Mirin their works Anthems of Resistance containing the chapter ‘An Exemplary Progressive: The Aesthetic Experiments of Sahir Ludhianvi,’ bespoke that Sahir’s love poetry is laden with the fruits of progressive elements.

 In this chapter, they have only identified ‘the progressive overtones of love,’ whose gaps were filled by Carlo Coppola. Coppola, while analysing ‘the nature and meaning of the term progressivism’ and finding both ‘the indigenous and foreign influences’ in the Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970: the Progressive Episode with the chapter ‘Sahir Ludhianvi: The Progressive as Lyric Poet’ described a general overview of Sahir's poetry - generally on ‘theme of romantic, sexual love’ with ‘progressive overtones’ of Talkhiyan (Bitterness), occasionally ‘passive due to profound uncertainties and contradictions in his thinking’  Coppola (2017), p.507. He has pointed out two major points of Sahir’s poetry. First, ‘A number of his (Sahir) best poems like Faiz treat love in the progressive context’ (p.507) meaning that romantic love in a state of escape from reality, and inhuman conditions in a state of false consciousness, objectification, alienation, and exploitation, are portrayed side by side.

Second, several of Sahir’s writings about love are purely romantic in nature, “uncomplicated by progressive overtones (p.507).” To Coppola, such writings, being personal, either resist beloved or long for beloved. Sahir was a bachelor throughout his life, although he in his life had many romantic relationships. His first love was Mahinder Chaudhery but unfortunately, she died of tuberculosis at an early age. He wrote an elegy, ‘The Cremation Ground’ on her death.

Sahir had an intense emotion for those whom he loved but it did not last for a long period. After Mahinder’s demise, he fell in love with Ishar Kaur, who is the ‘anagram of Sahir’ Manwani (2013), p.28. Ishar’s reputation and the social pressure led their relationship to the end, which can be inferred from his poem, Yak Sai (Stalemate).

He had also a romantic relationship with two famous personalities- Amrita Pritam, a prominent figure in Punjabi literature, and Sudha Malhotra, a playback singer of Bollywood in the 1960s. He composed ‘Mataa-e-Ghair (Somebody else’s property)’ Sandhu (2021), p.97, when he had a strong romantic affair with a married lady, Amrita Pritam, and he re-wrote ‘Khubsurat Mor (A Beautiful Turn)’ (p.109) for Sudha Malhotra.

Like Coppola, Akshay Manwani has also either traced the personal love affairs being the cause of his poetic endeavour (p.111) or stated, ‘having traversed the spectrum of romance, Sahir ultimately transformed into the people’s poet (p.44).’ Adding another point of nature in Coppola’s findings, Surinder Deol, in his book, Sahir: A Literary Portrait, has pointed out ‘three things that stand out in Sahir poetry-

“First, there is romance, a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with young love, often intermingled with tension that seeks an urgent resolution. Second, there is a deep connection with nature- physical beauty extending from celestial objects to hills and mountains, rivers, and lakes, to evergreen fields and gardens filled with flowers. Third, there is a call for social justice and an end to all forms of oppression- for total revolution, either loud and clear, or in hushed tones, something that slithers under the surface.”  Deol (2019), p. 03

In short, Mir has pointed out only the progressive overtones of Sahir’s poetry; Coppola, both the progressive motifs and the personal romantic love; and Deol, gives a new direction, by adding the physical beauty of nature in Coppola’s findings.

 

2.2. Theoretical Framework: Reification and Social Ontology

Social ontology investigates how social entities are constituted, how they interact with each other, and how they give rise to social structures and institutions. It seeks to understand the nature of collective entities, such as societies, organizations, institutions, and communities, and the ways in which they shape and influence individual behaviour and experiences.

Reification is somehow or the other connected with social ontology. It is a process that produces false consciousness through which we consider the existence of what does not exist. Institutions of all sorts are nothing but the phenomena of reification that are socially constructed but conceived as natural and inevitable. Extending the ideas of Marx’s concept of ‘commodity fetishism’, Lukacs introduced the idea of reification in his works “History and Class Consciousness.” He explained “the two-fold dimensions of commodity fetishism” or the objective and the subjective sides of commodity fetishism. Objectively, commodities and “relations between things spring into being (p.87)”, which are considered to be natural and inevitable and subjectively, “a man's activity becomes estranged from himself (p.87)”, turning into a commodity. According to Lukacs, reification is-

... a relation between people takes on the character of a thing and thus acquires a 'phantom objectivity' an autonomy that seems so strictly rational and all-embracing as to conceal every trace of its fundamental nature: the relation between people. Lukacs (1967), p.83

First of all, what is the meaning of “relation between people”? Relation between men is the abstract relation “between one individual and another”. This abstract relation is mediated through things leading to the production of concrete relations, i.e., “between worker and capitalist, tenant and landlord, etc (p.50)”, acquiring “the character of a thing.” Like a thing, these concrete relations are considered to be natural and inevitable. Marx asserts that the abolition of these concrete relations leads us to the abolition of the whole society. Through the experimental and observational methods, these concrete relations acquire logical and objective support, leading to the false consciousness of not only the inevitability of these relations but also the estrangement of human attributes through the mystification of the role of human beings in these relations or the separation of subject and object. Honneth explains Lukacs’ concept of reification:

‘Lukács consequently understands “reification” to be a habit of mere contemplation and observation, in which one’s natural surroundings, social environment, and personal characteristics come to be apprehended in a detached and emotionless manner—in short, as things.’ Honneth (2008), p. 25

Each social relation is homo faber or socially constructed. False consciousness, produced after the subjective apprehension of objective social relations, hinders us from apprehending the essence of such relations. To understand, it is essential to focus on subject-object dualism. Subject with a unique experience brings in a relation, called Object. This relation is experienced when a thing and a group of things are associated with it and performed in society.

Unlike commodity fetishism, which is limited only to the category of economics, reification enters into the domains of other institutions. The other institutions, i.e., state, religion, and education, justify the capitalist structure and harmonise with its system. Although these institutions stand in their autonomy, they are structured with the reified consciousness. The phenomena of reification can be understood in a true sense by analysing the whole society in its totality or by investigating the other institutions and their relations with one another.

The preliminary condition for the constitution of any institutions or social relations is, in Lukacs' view, 'empathetic engagement', and in the words of Honneth, is 'inter-subjective interaction'. This interaction has been obliviated by human beings because of the separation of the subject from the object. The identification of this interaction is what the latter calls 'recognition'. To Jameson, mass culture or 'culture industry' is "the extension and application of Marxist theories of commodity reification" in which the "sexualisation of our objects and activities" Jameson (1979), p.132 is set against high culture.

Reification, being multi-dimensional, obscures subject-object opposition. Such obscurity leads to the construction of false consciousness through which we consider not only the naturality of socially created relations or institutions but also the estrangement of human attributes. The two major institutions, Capitalism, and marriage, affect love. On the one hand, Capitalism reduces the feelings of love, and on the other, marriage limits love within the domain of religions and castes.

 

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1. Research Objectives

This study aims to analyze love through the Marxist and philosophical concept of reification and social ontology. To understand the synthesis, it is essential to understand the following questions. How has the reification impacted the feelings of love? In what possible ways the motif of ‘beloved’ has been used in his poetry and songs?

 

3.2. Methodology

The study involves the textual analysis. This article examines the select poetry and songs of Sahir Ludhianvi, generally on the theme of love and marriage, through the Marxist concept of reification propounded by Georg Lukacs, and social ontology. Reified institutions have affected the feelings of love. Capitalism reduces the feelings of love and the institution of marriage limits within the domain of religions and castes. Against Capitalism, Sahir advocates for Communism, which is treated as a beloved.

 

3.3. Material

Sahir Ludhianvi wrote in Urdu. English translation of Sahir Ludhianvi’s works has been taken into consideration. The primary texts are – Surinder Deol’s Sahir: A Literary Portrait, Kuldip Salil’s Best of Sahir, and Khwaja Tariq Mahmood’s Selected Poems of Sahir Ludhianvi. Other ancillary texts are- Akshay Manwani’s Sahir Ludhianvi: The People’s Poet, Raza Mir and Mir Husain Mir’s Anthems of Resistance, Aasha Prabhat’s Sahir Samagra, and Carlo Coppola’s Urdu Poetry, 1935-1970.

 

 

 

4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

1)    Reification Impacting the Feelings of Love

Our first enquiry is how reification has impacted the feelings of love. Love is an abstract phenomenon, which cannot be measured in terms of any standard, but reification has made love a concrete thing, ‘taking the characteristics of things’ Lukacs (1967), p.84, which is measured in terms of money and wealth or tokens of love. Sahir has deconstructed the reification of love through his poem Taj Mahal:

“The Taj may be a symbol of love for you,

  You may be fascinated by its view,

  But meet me somewhere else my beloved, my dear,

  …

  Numberless people have in this world loved,

  Who says their feelings were not true,

  But they could not advertise their love,

  Because like us, they were poor too.

  …

  An emperor on the strength of his wealth and riches,

  Has made fun of the poor lovers like us.”                                    (Salil, 2016, p.25)

Reification of love produces a false consciousness in us through which the intensity of love has been measured in terms of tokens of love instead of the actual feelings of love. In historical context, it was the Mughal ruler Shah-Jahan who got the Taj Mahal constructed for his most loving wife, Mumtaaj. As this monument was constructed by Shah Jahan for his wife, we consider the love of Shah-Jahan and Mumtaaj great without knowing about his actual love relationship with Mumtaaj in real life:

‘… the Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chatterji was expressing similar doubts about the popular explanation of the Taj. In his novel, The Unanswered Question, Chatterji's heroine, after pointing out some of the flaws in the myth of Shah Jahan's marital devotion, concludes that the Emperor would probably have built a monument like the Taj even if Mumtaz Mahal had not died, that he would have found some other excuse to build it, perhaps "in the name of religion," or perhaps as a "memorial to conquest, after killing hundreds and thousands of people."  Begley (1979), p.10

In the above poem, there are two characters- the poet and his beloved. His beloved, being affected by the false consciousness of reified love, praises the TajMahal and insists the poet meet there. The poet, arousing the true consciousness, resists going there by saying that they should “meet” him “somewhere else” because this monument is nothing but the advertisement of the love of the rich emperor Shah Jahan to make “fun of the poor lovers” like them. Through this poem, the poet has not only deconstructed the reified notion of love in which the abstract entity like love is measured in terms of tokens of love but also presented a great deal on the true feelings of love by saying that a great number of people loved in this world whose feelings were true but could not “advertise their love.”

Reification has impacted the feelings of love to such an extent that true feelings have been totally ‘obliviated’ Honneth (2008). Such oblivion has been artistically presented through his poem, “Masterpiece”-

 

  “Painter, I have come to return your masterpiece,

  Put some paleness in these rosy cheeks,

  Instead of being shy make these eyes look straight.

  …

  But instead of this bench, let her a sofa grace,

 And show her a standing car here instead of me.”                      (Salil, 2016, p.49)

Through this poem, the poet attempts to show that over time, the behaviour of his beloved has changed very much. She was affected by the reification of love to such an extent that she not only lost her grace but also valued wealth more than the lover (“a standing car here instead of me”). In the eyes of the beloved, the lover has become an object.

To Sahir, because of reification, love has been reduced to one level of the body. Love at the level of emotion and intellect has been overlooked. This leads to the objectification of the female body. The female body is sold as an object in the market. Sahir has written a great number of poems and songs on the objectification of the female body i.e., ‘Chakle (Whorehouses)’, ‘Woman gave birth to men, they gave her a place to sell herself’, etc. The daughter of a poor farmer is sold as a commodity as an interest to the loan given to the farmer by the lands, which has been presented by Sahir through his poem, ‘Yesterday and Today’:

‘…

And Landlords will come and gobble up the entire proceeds,

The houses of the old farmers will be confiscated,

And youthful maidens will be given away by way of interest payments.’

                                                                                                                   (Salil, 2016, p.135)

On the one hand, the institution of the money market has entered the domain of love and corrupted the true feelings of love. On the other hand, in Sahir’s view, another institution like marriage has limited the feelings of love within their boundary, overlooking the positive side of marriage:

‘The inherent characteristics of marriage are intimacy, companionship, procreation, and parenting. Marriage is not simply a celebration or expression of love. It is the world’s most basic and universal institution – the foundation on which families are created and society reproduces itself. Society suffers when procreation and parenting are separated from the definition of marriage. Marriage is the most diverse relationship known to humanity because it unites the two halves of humanity – male and female. It is not a civil right; it is an institution given specific cultural and legal recognition because of the unique benefits it confers on adults, children, and society at large. Jain (2019), p.18

Marriage, being itself a reified structure, has shifted the love from a lover and the beloved to the consent of family and communities, which are themselves, the reified structure of society. True feelings of love are suppressed in the name of status, caste, religion etc, and marriage separates a true lover from his beloved. This sort of separation has been presented by Sahir through the poem, ‘Khana-Aabaadi’ (Setting up Home) –

‘Wedding songs are echoing in the air

And the atmosphere is filled with fragrant smiles,

At some distance, however, a sad heart in a sad house

Startles at every sound…

Love weeps and culture smiles

Over this quitting of old love for the new.

This marriage will destroy a house, my brother dear

So, I cannot congratulate you, my heart sinks, I fear.’              (Salil, 2016, p.85)

This poem Sahir composed when he was said to congratulate his friends on the eve of his friend’s marriage. Ironically, he, being a critic of all sorts of institutions, pointed out that marriage separates a true pair of lovers inferred from the line “Love weeps and culture smiles”, and did not congratulate his friends.

To Sahir, marriage is nothing but a type of socially constructed relation, the existence of which depends on its thingification and performance in society. The existence of marriage depends on a set of things associated with it. The poet says that the thingification and performance of marriage hinders a lady from letting her true feelings out as it was presented through his song, ‘Ik Thi Ladki Meri Saheli’, in the movie, Gumraah (Deviation-963)-

‘The necklace like two arms stopped her

The promises like wall stopped her,

The wounded heart called her,

Every thread of ‘Aanchal’ called her,

But a lady spoke nothing,

And like a stone, accepted the stranger.’                          (translated by me; p.303)

Here, ‘Aanchal’ has a special literary signification. It generally means- ‘corner of a scarf’ but it also means ‘to keep in control’. The above lines signify that before the wedding, she was in control of love (‘Aanchal’ of love). But after getting married, she came out of that control and preferred marriage more than love.

In short, to Sahir, the performance of marriage produces a false consciousness in the victims which hinders them from preferring love. The primary driving force of love and care has been forgotten for the reified structures.

 

2)    Beloved as a Symbol of Communist Utopia

Our second inquiry is to understand the possible ways in which the symbol ‘beloved’ has been used in Sahir’s Poetry. According to Pritchett, in Urdu literary tradition, a poet, not a lover himself writes as if he loves. Like the metaphysical poet George Herbert, who used God as a beloved, ‘Mehboob’/beloved has been used as a god in the Urdu tradition.

Unlike Sufism, the progressive poets used ‘beloved’/’Mehboob’ in the sense of Utopia, a communist society. They used beloved side by side the conditions and existence of human beings, especially of proletariats. Sahir Ludhianvi has used beloved as a symbol of Communism, an egalitarian and humanitarian system, which he dreams of and longs for. On the surface, these songs and poetry appear to be purely love entities influenced by his love relationship with his beloveds. But deep below, the symbols of Capitalism and Communism are hidden in his compositions.

Against Capitalism, which has lessened the feelings of love, the poet longs for a beloved, Communist society, which will, in his eyes restore the lost feeling of love. To Sahir, his true beloved is a communist system, the main aim of which is to create an environment of collective human development, deprived of any form of hierarchies, irrespective of differences based on religion, language, caste, region, race, and gender. To Sahir, this system is down the flow of natural human feelings.  Sahir regrets being here in this Capitalist world where human beings have created a system against their natural feelings as presented through the poem, “Nahien Hoti” (Doesn’t Work the Way I Wish)-

‘I am crying

While being swept away

 By my self-awareness.

The world that I create

Is not the world

That represents my thoughts.’                                                         Deol (2019), p.218

To Sahir, Communism is a system somehow based on natural feelings, which he used as a true lover in his poetry, longing for it. Wherever there is generally a sense of longing and dreams in love poems, the beloved may symbolise a utopia or a communist society. Deol once said, “Besides the ideology, what Neruda and Sahir share is their revolutionary zeal coupled with a big dose of passionate romance.” (p.48). It means that Sahir, like Pablo Neruda, has weaved romantic themes with the revolutionary zeal of communism in the finest manner. It sounds like a love song on the surface, but it also signifies a longing for a communist society. He dreams of a communist society. What the themes of dreams are, is presented through his poem, “Aao Ki Koi Kwaab Bune” (Let us weave a dream)-

‘Dreaming of my beloved’s tresses, her lips, and her body.

Dreaming of achieving the heights of artistry and mastery of the craft of versification,

Dreaming of the art of civilised living and the country’s well-being.

Dreaming of the prisons and paths that lead to places where bodies are hung.’

                                                                                                                  Deol (2019), p.143

Capitalism produces alienation in human beings. Marx has talked about four types of alienation- from the product, from production, from workers, and self (Marx). Self-alienation produces loneliness and anxiety in human beings. This alienation has been especially talked about by Sahir through his poems. Through his poem “Teri Awaaj” (Your Voice), Sahir has endeavoured to mitigate this alienation by imagining a communist society in the dream and its survival in the songs/poetry. He stated-

‘A desolate night and the sighs of the surroundings were heavily burdened.

There were nameless silhouettes of grief hovering over my soul.

…

You far away sitting in some voguish assembly.

Even then I feel that you have come

Hiding my lost dreams, in the bundle of melodies,

Bringing back my lost sleep.’                                                               Deol (2019), p.50

Here, the pronoun “You” symbolises communism, which was present “far away” in Russia during the life of Sahir. That Communism was alive in his poetic composition. Communism was practically present in Russia, and it came in his dreams and from dreams it came into his poetic creation. He thinks that someday or the other, Communism will prevail everywhere. To him, Russia would bring Communism to the whole world. If Russia became the supreme power, it would bring about Communism everywhere. That’s the reason, he praised the scientific development of Russia in the field of Spacecraft when they launched their first satellite, named Sputnik1, launched in 1963, through his poem, “Mere Ahad keHasino” (Beautiful People of My Age)-

‘O beautiful people of my age,

Our age possessed of all-embracing love,

Conqueror of fire and air,

Now commands homage from the Universe.

O people of my age and you yet to come!

Enjoy the wonderful gift of this age.

Soon you may go to another star to meet a loved one.

Soon someone there, thinking of you, may even come here.’

                                                                                                            Coppola (2017), p.530

Here, “Beautiful people” are members of a communist society, “which is born of universal love and brotherhood” (p. 530).  Sahir talks about universal love, which is not limited to this earth, but he speculates that someday or the other, human beings would go to another planet or another galaxy to develop a loving relationship with aliens or aliens would come to this earth.

Initially, Sahir was adamant towards communism. As soon as he found some faults in communism, he started doubting whether communism in its true sense could be brought. Why he doubts communism has been presented through his poem- “Lenin 1970”-

‘Confused, I don’t know where the followers are going.

But the number of your preachers is getting bigger and bigger.

…

We came from different classes but are now divided into factions.

The slaves might run out of their luck before it is time.’

                                                                                                            Deol (2019), pp.155-6

Different interpretations of Marxism and Communism gave birth to various “factions” of Communism. And Sahir was afraid that the world might now be converted into factions from classes. Through these factions, the conditions of workers might not be improved. He has seen the problems of Communism as presented by Deol –

The Soviet Union and China had parted ways. Mao’s cultural revolution was aimed at consolidating his power base. The Soviet regime had admitted to gross human rights violations and the killings of millions under Stalin’s rule. Independent reporting showed that Lenin was no different from Stalin in terms of the brutalities he committed against his people. These revelations were disturbing for progressives because they had always looked upon the Soviet Union as a workers’ Paradise where their rights were protected. Those who believed in the infallibility of the unified communist doctrine were puzzled and disappointed. They were trying to adjust to the new situation.  Deol (2019), p.155

What Deol has stated above is somewhat right. The factions in Communism were a great shock to the progressive writers, and so was Sahir. Earlier he had a great belief in Communism because he had read the true philosophy of Marx as he stated to his friend Krishan Adeeb, “I have read Marx’s philosophy” Manwani (2013). In the views of Sahir, Lenin’s views of Communism were very near to the Marxist philosophy of Communism because he never criticised Lenin, however, he put doubt on the later stage of Communism in Russia during the reign of Stalin and the Communism of China.

 

5. Conclusions

There are two major systems which have impacted the effectiveness of love. First, marriage has limited love within the boundaries of castes, religions, and races. Sahir deconstructed the structure of marriage (especially of Hindu marriage systems through his songs and poetry) by questioning the very thingified entities like ‘Maang’ and ‘Mangalsutra’ representing weddings. Second, the Capitalist system, producing false consciousness, has corrupted the true feelings of love and reduced love to one level of body overlooking that of emotion and intellect and consequently, it produces the objectification of the human body and alienation in human beings. To reduce the effectiveness of Capitalism, Sahir advocates for and dreams of a utopia, a Communist society, which is very near to natural human feelings, in his eyes. But after seeing the factions of Communism, he also became critical of Communism.

 

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

None. 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

None.

 

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