Yeh Kadamb Ka Ped (यह कदंब का पेड़, "this kadamb tree") is a short Hindi poem by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. Generations of children in North India have learned it at school, and many adults can still recite its opening lines. It is a small poem, but it is one of the best-loved pieces of Hindi children's verse.
What the poem says
A child speaks to their mother. If only there were a kadamb tree on the bank of the Yamuna, the child says, I would climb into it and play the flute, the way Kanhaiya (the child Krishna) did. The poem follows the game through: the child imagines hiding in the branches, the mother coming out to look for her missing son and calling for him, and the child watching from above before giving the game away.
That is all, and that is the charm. The poem takes the old Braj stories of Krishna, who played his flute in a kadamb tree and teased everyone around him, and puts them inside an ordinary child's daydream. It is about make-believe, about a mother's worry, and about the closeness between the two, and it says this in simple words with a bouncing rhythm that children enjoy saying aloud.
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was born in 1904 near Allahabad (now Prayagraj) and began writing poetry as a schoolgirl. After her marriage she lived in Jabalpur, took part in the freedom movement and was jailed more than once for it. Her poem Jhansi ki Rani, about the queen of Jhansi in the revolt of 1857, is one of the most recited poems in Hindi.
Besides patriotic verse, she wrote poems about family life and childhood, as well as short stories. Her language is plain Khari Boli Hindi, close to everyday speech and quite unlike the Sanskrit-heavy diction of her Chhayavad contemporaries. She died in 1948, in a road accident, at the age of 43. Our beginner's guide to Hindi literature covers the period she wrote in.
Why it lasts
The poem lasts because it is easy to remember and easy to love. Its words are simple, so a young child can learn it, and its picture of Krishna in the kadamb tree connects it to stories that most Hindi-speaking children already know. Parents who learned it at school teach it to their own children, and it still appears in school readers.
For adults learning Hindi, it is a good first poem: short, regular in rhythm, and built from everyday words. Read it aloud a few times and the meter will show you where the stress falls.
Where to find it
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan's poems are in the public domain in India. Look for Yeh Kadamb Ka Ped in collections of her poetry, in Hindi school readers, and on Hindi Wikisource and Kavita Kosh. Our guide to where to read Indian-language books for free explains how to search these sources, and public domain in India explains why an old poem can be free while a new illustrated edition of it is not.
Sahitya Chintan does not host or sell copies of this book. This note describes the work and points to the kinds of places where it can be read legally.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Yeh Kadamb Ka Ped?
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (1904 to 1948), the Hindi poet best known for Jhansi ki Rani. The title is also written Yah Kadamb ka Ped, which is closer to the Hindi spelling.
What is a kadamb tree?
The kadamb is a large tree of North India with round, fragrant orange-yellow flowers that bloom in the rains. In the stories of Krishna's childhood in Braj it grows on the banks of the Yamuna, and Krishna climbs it and plays his flute in its branches.
Is the poem free to read?
In India, yes. Subhadra Kumari Chauhan died in 1948, so her poems have been in the public domain there since January 1, 2009. An illustrated modern edition or a translation can have its own copyright.