Author(s): Jayantakumar Panda
Abstract:
Agha Shahid Ali’s Postcard from Kashmir is a poetic meditation on memory, loss, and the fractured relationship between identity and homeland. In just a few lines, the poem encapsulates the emotional landscape of exile, where the familiar becomes miniature, distant, and distorted. Through a deft use of metaphor, imagery, and symbolism, the poet mourns not only the physical separation from Kashmir but also the gradual fading of emotional and sensory memory. When read in light of Vedantic and Upanishadic wisdom, the poem takes on a deeper spiritual significance: it mirrors the soul's journey away from its true abode and its yearning to return to a state of unity and completeness. This paper seeks to explore the poem through literary, philosophical, and cultural lenses, illuminating how a modern work of diasporic poetry can echo the eternal truths of Indian spiritual thought.
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