Editing Chhayavad (section)

==Eytmology==
The literal meaning of ''chāyā'' carries various interpretations, including shade, such as from a tree or cloud; reflection, like that in a mirror; and shadow, as cast by an object.<ref>Rubin, David (1998), p. 11</ref><ref>Mayrhofer 1992, p.559-560</ref><ref>Turner 1969-1985, p.276</ref> The suffix ''[[:hi:वाद|vād]]'' is the Hindi equivalent of the English suffix ''[[-ism]].''

The term chāyā appears in the [[Upanishads]], where it refers to the universe as a phenomenal reflection of transcendental reality. This interpretation is supported by the broader intellectual environment of that time, when figures like [[Swami Vivekananda|Vivekananda]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] were revisiting the Upanishads and introducing modern interpretations of ancient texts.<ref>Ritter, Valerie (2011), p.220-221</ref>

Researchers have also proposed that the term may be associated with the reflection of the literary expression exemplified in [[Tagore|Tagore's]] [[Gitanjali]] which itself was influenced by [[Romanticism]] of [[English literature]].<ref>Gupta, Ankita (2018)</ref>

The first use of the term chāyāvād in the context of Hindi poetry is attributed to Mukutdhar Pandey, who introduced it through his collection of essays in 1920. [[Namvar Singh]] notes that the essays were presented with annotations, suggesting that commentaries on this poetic style already existed. Scholars agree that the essence of chāyāvād' began to take shape around the mid-1910s, predating its formal recognition in 1920.<ref>Singh, Namvar (2018), p.11</ref>