6. Dukhushyam Chitrakar,"Durbhikkha" [Famine]

Our final song is by our contemporary poet, painter, and singer Dukhyshyam Chitrakar. In this short lyric, Dukhushyam speaks in the blended voice of the pīr, drawing on multiple religious traditions to the point that these are indistinguishable. His poem simply titled Durbhikkha [Famine] reflects on famines past and present, based on the perspective and experience of the most needy sufferers of such events. 

The choukopata (square scroll) accompanying the poem is also painted by Dukhushyam in his inimitable style, perhaps one of few contemporary scroll painters who still insist on the tradition of working directly on paper with colours, without any need for pencilled outlines. The graphic story by Sarbajit Sen tells the tale of Dukhushyam's self-fashioning in the act of writing famine from below.