When the Bharatiya Jnanpith announced on March 14, 2026, that poet Vairamuthu Ramasamy would receive India's highest literary distinction, it recognized not merely a prolific writer but a visionary who has consistently used poetry as an instrument of social transformation. His celebrated poem "Twilight" (Andhi) exemplifies this artistic philosophy, transforming a daily natural occurrence into a profound meditation on beauty, mortality, social justice, and the spiritual impoverishment of modern life.
What makes "Twilight" remarkable is its refusal to present sunset as an abstract or aristocratic spectacle. Instead, Vairamuthu interprets the evening sky through the lived textures of Tamil culture—turmeric grinding, kolam patterns, saris, betel chewing, agricultural labour, and Kanchipuram weaving.
The poem's most memorable moment occurs when a poor village woman compares the patched colours of the sky to her own worn clothing. Beauty here is not an escape from material existence but an extension of it. The poem demonstrates that aesthetic experience belongs equally to labourers, villagers, and the economically marginalised, thereby democratising wonder and challenging the assumption that refined appreciation is the privilege of cultural elites.
A Universe of Metaphors
The poem opens in wonder rather than certainty. The protagonist does not seek to explain the sunset scientifically but approaches it with the curiosity of a child and the imagination of a poet. The western horizon becomes a place where someone appears to be grinding turmeric for a princess arriving at dusk—an image that immediately elevates a familiar phenomenon into a royal spectacle while grounding it in South Indian ritual traditions.
As the poem progresses, the imagery becomes increasingly vivid and paradoxical. The poet asks whether the glowing colours are "honey dripping from a fire," uniting opposites—fire's destruction with honey's sweetness. The subsequent image of blood flowing from "a day sacrificed for this sky" intensifies the sense of loss, transforming the setting sun into a ritual offering that is simultaneously tragic and beautiful.
One of the poem's most imaginative passages presents the sky as a vast blue canvas upon which someone intends to paint. Before the work can begin, however, the artist trips and spills colours into the sun. The resulting sunset becomes an accidental masterpiece that surpasses any deliberate human art. Nature emerges as the supreme artist, capable of creating effects beyond the reach of even the greatest painters and weavers.
The poem reaches its emotional and philosophical climax when the speaker realises that the sunset resembles "the Day smiling at us from his death bed." This metaphor transforms twilight into a meditation upon mortality, yet death appears not as terror but as dignity and grace. The dying day smiles peacefully, and the departing sun waves farewell with shimmering golden rings. The image transforms death into generosity, suggesting that endings can possess their own splendour.
A Critique of Modern Life
Having celebrated twilight's beauty, the poem shifts towards direct social and moral reflection. The speaker addresses humanity in a tone both admonitory and compassionate:
"Oh sinners of humanity! Oh money chasing people! How many full moons have you missed watching? How many sunsets have you not taken in your hand and embraced?"
The repeated questions about missed full moons and ignored sunsets expose a profound spiritual impoverishment. Modern individuals possess unprecedented opportunities for comfort and consumption, yet remain hungry in a deeper sense. The declaration that people have the privilege of "swallowing this sky in a plate" yet are "still dying of hunger" expresses this paradox with remarkable force. The hunger is not physical but existential. Material wealth cannot satisfy the human need for beauty, meaning, and transcendence.
The poem's philosophical dimension becomes especially clear in its reflection upon time. The question, "In your haste for the Tomorrow, aren't you losing your Today?" serves as a critique of modern existence. Human beings are frequently preoccupied with future ambitions, economic advancement, and practical concerns, neglecting the richness of the present moment. Twilight, which exists only briefly before disappearing, becomes a symbol of the necessity of attentive living.
The poet's vision also possesses a distinctly humanistic quality. When he asks why people fight over borders despite sharing the same sky, he exposes the absurdity of political divisions in the face of cosmic vastness. The sky belongs equally to all. Twilight becomes a reminder of humanity's common inheritance and shared destiny, suggesting that sustained contemplation of nature can dissolve narrow identities and cultivate a broader sense of belonging.
The Sky as Library, Twilight as Feast
Towards its conclusion, the poem offers two particularly memorable metaphors. The sky is described as a library needing more subscribers, and twilight as a feast needing more guests. Both images emphasise abundance and accessibility. A library contains limitless knowledge, while a feast offers nourishment and fellowship. Yet both require participants. The tragedy, according to the poet, is not the absence of beauty but the absence of attention. The world continually offers wonders, but too few people are willing to receive them.
The references to Ravi Varman and the weavers of Kanchipuram reinforce the idea that even the greatest human artists cannot rival nature's creativity. The colours of twilight surpass the painter's palette, and the intricate patterns of the sky exceed the finest textile craftsmanship. Such comparisons situate human art within a larger aesthetic order where nature remains the ultimate creator.
The poem concludes by describing every sunset as life's medicine. This metaphor summarises the poem's central vision. Twilight possesses a healing power capable of addressing emotional exhaustion, spiritual emptiness, and the alienation of modern life. Unlike material possessions, this medicine is freely available to everyone. All that is required is the willingness to look up.
A Dialogue with Tradition
Vairamuthu's "Twilight" belongs to a long tradition of sunset poetry, yet it transforms that tradition in a manner both culturally specific and philosophically expansive. Where the Sanskrit poet Magha transformed the sky into a cosmic elephant with sun and moon as bells, Vairamuthu humanises the sunset, creating intimacy rather than awe. Where Kalidasa saw celestial movements as moral instruction, Vairamuthu extends this pedagogic function to address specifically modern forms of alienation.
The comparison with Wordsworth is particularly revealing. Both poets reject utilitarian perceptions of nature and insist that genuine vision requires receptivity and wonder. Yet Wordsworth's vision emerges from Romantic pantheism, while Vairamuthu's spirituality is less theological and more humanistic. The sky is sacred not because it explicitly reveals God but because it reveals beauty, interconnectedness, generosity, and transcendence.
The poem shares with Hindi poet Alok Dhanwa's "Sunset" a critique of modernity and resistance to alienation, yet Vairamuthu's emotional tonality is considerably more exuberant. Even when mortality appears, it appears through celebration. The dying day smiles from its deathbed. Where Dhanwa emphasises historical responsibility, Vairamuthu emphasises gratitude and aesthetic awakening.
The Democratic Vision
Perhaps the poem's most radical achievement is its democratisation of wonder. The village woman who compares the sky to her patched clothing is not an object of sympathy but a perceiving subject, a creator of metaphor. Her insight challenges hierarchies that associate cultural authority with educated elites. Wonder, creativity, and interpretative intelligence are distributed across humanity rather than concentrated within privileged social groups.
The poem suggests that the capacity for wonder may be one of humanity's most democratic qualities. The sky does not discriminate between rich and poor, educated and uneducated, powerful and powerless. What matters is not social position but openness of perception. By granting a poor rural woman the authority to interpret the sunset, Vairamuthu affirms one of the poem's deepest convictions: that the capacity to find meaning, beauty, and connection in the world is a universal human inheritance.
Through its exuberant imagery, cultural richness, philosophical depth, and emotional generosity, "Twilight" transforms the sunset into a symbol of life itself. It teaches that beauty can emerge from endings, that mortality need not exclude grace, and that the deepest forms of wealth are often those most easily overlooked. Vairamuthu ultimately presents twilight as the greatest artwork displayed upon the largest possible canvas—a daily revelation inviting humanity to recover its sense of wonder and to rediscover the world that has always existed above its head.
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*Professor and former Head (Retd.), Department of Hindi, University of Hyderabad. This is the abridged version of the author's original paper
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