4. Explanation of Stanza 2

Explanation:

  

The wandering singers do not sing about random entities. They have a purpose of reaching every far corner of the nation and spread the news of different stories to them. Every incident that happens in our life is a story. Each of our lives are intertwined with such stories. The aim of these singers is to give a tune to this and spread them. In the olden days, people did not have any mass media. These singers were their source of information and entertainment. The wandering singers adopt themes for their songs about cities whose glorious past have been forgotten; about the past lives of noble, happy and beautiful women; about mighty battles and the kings who fought with bravery; finally they also sang about happy, simple and sorrowful day-to-day matters that touched everyone's hearts.

 

They talked about cities whose lustre is shed, as many cities were affected by wars and famines and they make them live through their songs, although they have been destroyed. They also sing about the women who have been long dead. Women's stories are rarely heard as people only focus on topics like war or sports. Women are trivialised for their experiences. Unless someone talks about their struggles and laughter, people might not be aware of them. They also talk about the swords of old battles and crowns of old kings. In today's world, we are aware of battles like kurushethra, emperors like Akbar or Shivaji. This is because their stories have been sung around as fables. They do not limit their songs to only happy or sad topics. They sing about all kinds of things in life, which are simplistic and real. The poet conveys that their songs covered many subjects like beauty, history, glory, bravery, happiness and sorrow.

Meanings of difficult words: