EKPHRASTIC POETRY AND INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTINGS: ARTISTRY AND AESTHETICS OF DEBASISH LAHIRI’S TETHER THAT LIGHT

For an internationally acclaimed Indian English poet, Debasish Lahiri, time is a recording of the lingering light, in nature, mind. His recent collection poems, Tether that Light (2022) attempt to follow trail light left selected miniature paintings, particularly Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari, and Deccani paintings. The intricate artworks enchanting visuals these incredible canvases have enthralled poet who uses treasure trove miniatures work as intertexts for his ekphrastic poems. Given pictorial effect words appearing flawless transformation from one medium other, Lahiri’s symbiosis between literary texts performing arts, poetry, painting, foregrounds how concepts, attitudes, ideologies operate across broader cultural spectrum not exclusively literary. Transcending borders space, only makes way larger interdisciplinarity sister arts but opens up new avenues interrogating notions historicity, textuality appropriations.