Chinar is an exotic tree that is said to have been brought to Kashmir from Persia. It is said to have originated in Greece. Kashmiris call it Boune.
Its present popular name Chinar is a Persian word. It is said that when the Mughal emperor Jahangir first set foot in Kashmir on an autumn day he saw from a distance a number of chinar trees covered with crimson leaves and in the sheer joy he cried out’chi naar”, which in Persian means “What ablaze!
Legend has it that the chinar tree was first brought into India at the time of Ashoka the Great. It is a very majestic tree growing to the height of 30 meters or more.
The tree has fan-shaped leaves that are green in spring, become yellow in summer and then turn crimson in autumn. The fall of chinar leaves in autumn spreads a crisp.
the crimson carpet around its base. It is a very long living tree and a chinar tree may be many centuries old.
The poem describes a chinar tree. It celebrates the case of nature in Kashmir. The poem opens with the image of a sunset.
As the sun sets, the sky takes on shades of crimson and orange. The chinar leaves too are of the same colour and match the sunset in majesty and beauty.
The poem then focuses on the falling leaves. The soft sound of the filling crinkled leaves can be heard.
You find that this falling of the relatives has been compared to the falling rain but this is ‘dry rain as there is no water.
The tree sheds its leaves as its branches lose their sap. The falling leaves look like dead moths descending slowly to the ground
The poet’s glance then travels away from the chinar. He can see the lake and the running Jhelum.
In the clear water of the lake and the river, the trees are reflected. You are transfixed by its breathtaking beauty.
The use of phrases like the eye of the lake’ and ‘the running eye of Jhelum personifies the lake and river.
It seems as if these water bodies had eyes in which the russet colour of the chinar leaves is reflected.
Why do you think the poet has used the adjective running here? Obviously, it suggests the flowing water of the Jhelum.
But one also feels that the running water represent the flowing tears of joy that the river experiences when it sees such a beautiful sight.
The poem reminds you of the colour of flames. The trees are full of crimson leaves and look as if they were on fire.
You are also reminded of the death of the leaves when you come across the phrase this bonfire death. Then there is another comparison.
The poet feels that these red leaves are like the brown-red rust falling off from the chain mail of a warrior. This can happen when in a battle someone strikes the mail with a sword.
But here there is no such sound and that is why the poet says that here it happens without the clank of metal. The image of a warrior wearing mail continues.
The wind makes the leaves fall and it is happening so fast that the eye cannot follow each leaf it falls to the ground. The tree then becomes a dying giant.
Each scale of his mail seems to be cut off from his armour as it drops to the ground. The small leaf looks like the clenched fist of a child.
The word ‘clenched’ also suggests that the fists of the dying giant are clenched in pain.
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