Visual poetry of Harshdev Madhav : the analysis of selcted poems and the matter of their translation

Harshdev Madhav (b. 1954) is a Sanskrit writer from Gujarat. His poetry is innovative and modernized, often exploiting new themes and genres, unknown for classical Sanskrit literary production. Among the poems of Madhav one can find compositions in the form that brings to mind both Indian visual poetry called citrakāvya and western concrete poems. The article presents selected examples of Madhav’s visual compositions and analyses them from the point of their form and meaning. Moreover, the author investigates the matter of translation of visual poetry and difficulties of such an endeavor.