Spiritual Love in the Prose Poems of Rajkumari through The Pedlar and Baul Beggar

Abstract

Rajkumari de Silva is a poet from Colombo who has been at the Prashanti Nilayam Ashram in Andhra Pradesh since 1981. Only just few poets in India have composed spiritual prose poems in post-independence Indian English poetry. Rajkumari's works are mostly published by Writers' Workshop under the names 'Ananya: One Alone,' 'Ferryman! The Paddler,' 'The Bowl Baggar,' 'Lord I Forgot,' 'Template Bagger,' and 'Ravindra and O My Fakir!' She also has three books of writing named 'Rama Jaya Jaya,' 'The Supreme Sound,' and 'Gan Diva and Anu.' Rajkumari De silva's poetry is love poetry in which she expresses her heavenly love for her god, for whom her heart lingers and her soul longs. The poet in Rajkumari has received spiritual ambrosia from Sri Sathya Sai Baba's ghats. Rajkumari is a poet who knows the language of love via quiet rather than words. She goes through more than she communicates. She has experienced the Lord's everlasting love in unfathomable ways. This paper aims at highlighting the spiritual note of the poet’s love and devotion to the common man as well as God. The paper will also throw light on the mystic self of the secluded poet.