Translated from the Dehwali to the English by Gopika Jadeja
When I read my poetry
In our language
In the raga of my ancestors
They look beneath my mouth
Clap enthusiastically
for a few moments
But in order to understand
They ask me to speak
In their language
I cannot dissolve my life
In their language
And explain it to them.
So they teach me their language
To write in, sing in
And explain:
If you want to progress
You will have to
Or else—
Jitendra Vasava Born in Mahupada on the banks of the Tapi in the Narmada district of Gujarat, Jitendra Vasava is a poet who writes in Dehwali Bhili. He is one of the few poets in Gujarat writing in a tribal language. Vasava established up the Adivasi Sahitya Academy in 2014 and is the president of the Academy. He has to his credit four books on adivasi (tribal) oral literature. He has also edited
Lakhara, a poetry magazine dedicated to tribal voices published by Bhasha, Vadodara. He has also been associated with the magazine
Adilok and is currently associate editor. Vasava is pursing a PhD at the Sardar Patel University in Gujarat. His research is on the cultural and mythological aspects of some oral folk tales of the Bhils from the Narmada district. His latest work is an anthology of contemporary poetry in tribal languages of Gujarat published by the Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad titled
Gujarat ni adivasi kavita.
Gopika Jadeja is a bilingual poet and translator from India, writing in English and Gujarati. She publishes and edits a print journal and a series of pamphlets for a performance-publishing project called Five Issues. Her work has been published in
MPT, Wasafiri, Asymptote, The Wolf, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Indian Literature, Vahi, Etad and others. She is working on a project of English translations of poetry from Gujarat. She currently lives and works in Singapore.
