Kavi sammelan

Kavi Sammelan (Hindi: कवि सम्मेलन) is a gathering ofकपचतकससचतलल in Hindi-speaking belts of northern India. The participants recite their poetry to each other and have a general discussion of literary issues. This may take place among the poets but is mostly done before an audience. Kavi sammelan specifically dedicated to comedy (Hāsya) and hindi satire("Vyangya") are known Hasya Kavi Sammelan.

History

Sunil Pal at Thahake, Hasya Kavi sammelan at Thomso, IIT Roorkee

Although small kavi-sammelan gatherings have been in existence since time immemorial, the first grand kavi sammelan was organized in the year 1920, which included many poets and large audiences. After that, kavi sammelan has become a large part of Indian culture. The Mushaira of Urdu poetry and the Hindi Kavi Sammelan are now often combined, and 'Mushaira cum Kavi Sammelan' is organised throughout the Hindustani speaking world.^[1]

In India, the period from Indian independence in 1947 to the early 1980s was a golden phase for kavi sammelan. From the mid-1980s up to the late 1990s, the Indian population, and especially its youth, was suffering from issues such as unemployment. This took its toll on kavi sammelan, as did newer modes of entertainment such as television and the internet, as well as the quantity of Indian cinema releases. Kavi sammelans had started losing their standing in Indian culture, both in terms of quantity and quality.

In the era before economic liberalization(1991), kavi sammelans were a popular part of everyday life. They were often broadcast on the state-owned Doordarshan TV network. Post-liberalization, with increasing westernization and proliferation of electronic media, the frequency of such gatherings has reduced. One good trend that has been observed in Kavi-Sammelan is that, it has taken its roots in other countries too. With its increasing frequency across the globe. Moreover, now many Indian television channels giving airtime to programmes based on Hindi poetry recitations like Wah! Wah! Kya Baat Hai!, Kavi-Sammelan have got a fresh breath of life with increased audience base and liking.

Format

Kavi Sammelan literally means a gathering of poets. The traditional format of a kavi sammelan has a Sanchalak (anchor) and a few poets. The number of total poets vary from three to twenties and even thirty. In the traditional format, all the poets sit on a mattress on the stage. The mattress is decorated by flowers, and traditional cylindrical pillows are kept for each poet. There is one standing mike, and one sitting mike. The sitting mike is kept in front of the Sanchalak. He introduces the whole team to the audiences, and then calls the poets one by one. These poets come to the standing mike and recite their poems to the audiences. The order of recitation is generally from most junior to the most senior poet. Most of the traditional kavi sammelan have 7–12 poets.Solo poetry recitations are also sometimes referred to as kavi sammelans (although the term 'kavi sammelan' literally means a 'gathering of poets'). The positioning of Kavi-Sammelans have come out of the traditional set-up. Although it is a matter of discussion among the experts that whether the change in format of Kavi-Sammelan is an up-gradation or a down-gradation, most poets have adopted the changes in the format.^[2][3][4]

Kavi sammelans have undergone many changes in the last few decades. There are some challenges to these traditional literary gathering as kavi sammelans have now been marred with tasteless crass humor and canned jokes. The influence of TV laughter shows can not be denied. Many contemporary hasya kavis are critical of TV laughter shows and their so-called humour poetry for being short on taste and finesse. These days at kavi sammelans poets make jokes and perform antics, which were never considered good form in a hasya kavi sammelan. But some oldtimers are optimistic. “Everything in life goes through a cycle of ups and downs, the same applies to Hindi poetry,” says Chakradhar.^[5]

Indian and International Organizers

Hindi kavi sammelans are organized across the globe by Hindi lovers. The US,^[6][7][8][9] Dubai,^[10] Muscat, Singapore,^[11] UK are the places that organize highest number of kavi sammelans after India. In most of the kavi sammelans organized in these countries, the poets are generally invited from India.

Earlier, Kavi-Sammelans were organized by social and cultural groups, but these days, kavi-sammelans are very much popular in universities, colleges and other educational institutions^[12] and even corporates. Most of the Kavi-Sammelans organized in colleges and corporates do consist of a small team of 3-4 poets, and this is the most prevalent tradition now-a-days.

The later part of 2000s also saw a change in the way kavi sammelan are being organized. Even online booking of kavi sammelan was started in this time.

Famous poets of Kavi Sammelan

There have been thousands of poets who performed in kavi sammelan at one place or other. But there are some names, who would always be remembered for their contribution to kavi sammelan. There have been many great poets who never performed on stage. The most prominent names of kavi sammelan stage performers right from the post independence (and a few last years on British rule) days are Aash Karan Atal, Abdul Gaffar, Alhad Bikaneri, Anjum Rehbar, Arun Gemini, Ashish Anal, Ashok Bhati, Ashok Chakradhar, Ashok Nagar, Ashok Sundarani, Banket Bihari Pagal, Balbeer Singh Khichdi, Balkavi Bairagi, Banaj Kumar Banaj, Bhagwan Makrand, Bharat Bhushan, Bhawani Prasad Mishra, Buddhi Prakash Dadhichi, Charan Jeet Charan, Chirag Jain, Deepak Gupta, Dinesh Bawra, Dinesh raghuvanshi, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Dr. Anamika Ambar, Dr. Anuj Tyagi, Dr. Arjun Sisodiya, Dr. Govind Vyas, Dr. Jagbiir Rathee, Dr. Kirti Kale, Dr. Kumar Vishwas, Dr. Praveen Shukla, Dr. Pupular Meeruthi, Sarvesh Asthana, Dr. Saurabh Jain Suman, Dr. Shiv Om Ambar, Dr. Suresh Avasthi, Dr. Vinay Vishwas, Dr. Vineet Pandey, Gajendra Priyanshu, Gajendra solanki, Gaurav Sharma, Gemini Haryanvi, Gopaldas Neeraj, Gunveer Rana, Gyan Prakash Aakul, Hariom Panwar, Harish Hindustani, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Hashim Firozabadi, Hullad Moradabadi, Jainendra Kardam, Kaka Hathrasi, Kamlesh Dwivedi, Kavita Tiwari, Kesar dev marwadi, Kishan Saroj, Kumar Manoj, Kumar Vishwas, Kunwar Bechain, Latoori Latth, Madan Mohan Samar, Madhu Mohini Upadhyaya, Madhup Pandey, ahadevi Verma, Mahendra Ajanabi, Manik Verma, Manisha Shukla, Manvir Madhur, Mohinder Sharma, Mukul Mahan, Mumtaz Naseem, Munawwar Rana, Namrata Namita, Navneet Hullad, Nityanand Tushar, Omprakash Aditya, Padmini Sharma, Pankaj Prasun, Poonam Verma, Pradeep Chobey, Pragya Vikas, Pramod Tiwari, Raas Bihari Gaur, Rahul Neil, Rahul Vyas, Rajendra Rajan, Ramendra Mohan Tripathi, Ramesh Muskan, Ramesh Sharma, Rao Ajat Shatru, Ritu Goel, Ruchi Chaturvedi, Sachin Agrawal, Sampat Saral, Sandeep Sharma, Sanjay Jhala, Santosh Anand, Sarita Sharma, Shabeena Adeeb, Shail Chaturvedi, Shailesh Lodha, Shambhu Shikhar, Sharad Joshi, Shashank Prabhakar, Shashikant Yadav, Sonarupa Vishal, Subhash Kabra, Sudeep Bhola, Suman Dubey, Sunil Jogi, Surendra Dubey, Surendra Sharma, Suresh Albela, Suryakumar Pandey, Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Uday Pratap Singh, Urmilesh Shankhdhar, Vedprakash Ved, Veenu Mahendra, Vimlesh Rajasthani, Vineet Chauhan, Vishnu Saxena, Yashpal Yash, Yusuf Bharadwaj and many more are well known names these days.

References

14- Kavi Ramendra Mohan Tripathi at Kolkata https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l0nKgIU28lk

15- Kavi Ramendra Mohan Tripathi with West Bengal Governor Mahamahim shri Kesri Nath Tripathi ji at Kolkata https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuo_t3zxes8

External links

• http://www.kavisammelanorganizers.org/
• http://www.newstrackindia.com/information/photos/Pancham-Kavi-Sammelan.html
• http://www.hasyavyangya.com
• http://www.hasyakavi.com
• http://kavisammelanhasya.com/hasya-kavi/