INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

(ENG1C04)

STUDY MATERIAL
I SEMESTER
CORE COURSE
MA ENGLISH
(2019 Admission onwards)

UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT
SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
CALICUT UNIVERSITY- P.O
MALAPPURAM- 673635, KERALA

190004

ENG1C04-INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT

STUDY MATERIAL
FIRST SEMESTER

MA ENGLISH (2019 ADMISSION ONWARDS)

CORE COURSE:

ENG1C04- INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

Prepared by:

SMT. NABEELA MUSTHAFA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ON CONTRACT
(ENGLISH)
SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT

Scrutinized By:

Dr.K.M.SHERRIF
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR & HEAD
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT

ENG1C04-INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

 CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. English in India & The Birth of Indian English
Literature
3. Section – A (​Poetry​)

1. Toru Dutt : “Our Casuarina Tree”

2. Rabindranath Tagore : “The Child”
3. Nizzim Ezekiel : “In the Country Cottage”
4. Jayanta Mahapatra : “Hunger”
5. A.K. Ramanujan : “Obituary”
6. R.Parthasarathy : “River, Once”
7. Kamala Das : “The Old Playhouse”
8. Gieve Patel : “The Ambiguous fate of Gieve
Patel, he being neither Muslim nor Hindu in
India”
9. Meena Alexander : “Blue Lotus”
10. Arundhathi Subramaniam : “Home”
11. Meena Kandaswamy : “Dead Woman Walking”
4. Section – B (​Fiction​)
1. Mulk Raj Anand : ​Coolie
2. R.K. Narayanan : ​The Guide
3. Salman Rushdie : ​Midnight’s Children
4. Amitav Ghosh : ​The Hungry Tide

5. Section – C (​Drama​)
1. Girish Karnad : ​Yayati
2. Mahesh Dattani : ​Tara

6. Section – D (​Prose​)
1. Jawaharlal Nehru : “What is Culture?”
2. Amartya Sen : “Reason and Identity” (From ​The
Argumentative Indian,​ Part IV)
 INTRODUCTION
This course provides a brief overview on Indian
English Literature in order to familiarize students
with the various trends and movements in Indian
English Literature from its inception to the present.
This Study Material has been divided into three
sections of which the first Section deals with poetry
ranging from traditional writers like Toru Dutt and
Tagore to contemporary writers like Meena
Kandaswamy . The next Section deals with four
major works of fiction in Indian English Literature.
The third section deals with three two plays that deal
with Indian social issues. The final section contains
prose works in Indian English Literature. Since this
Self- Learning material was prepared and compiled
during the Nation-wide lockdown period and
therefore compiled with very limited access to
libraries and reference materials. As post graduate
students of English literature, we recommend you to
use this study material as a mere outline which has
to be supplemented with extra reading and
self-research. We hope you will be able to learn and
imbibe as well as enjoy literature in the course of
your study using this SLM.
 ENGLISH IN INDIA & THE BIRTH OF INDIAN
ENGLISH LITERATURE (A Brief Introduction)

English came to India in the early 1600’s when the East

India Company started trading and English missionaries
also began their efforts for the first time. Sir William
Jones, one of the early officials of the East India
Company was impressed by the Indian culture and he
along with Sir Thomas Munro were in favour of using
classical languages of the Indian tradition, like Persian,
Sanskrit etc. On the other hand, there were the Anglicists
who supported the usage and propagation of the English
language as they looked down upon Indian tradition and
languages. There was a conflict between the Orientalists
and Anglicists.

Until the year 1813, the East India Company held the
commercial monopoly and The British people in India
had already taken charge of missions of educating as
well as civilizing the Indians. The basic idea was to
promote Oriental education among the masses. In the
beginning of the 18​th Century, printing presses began in
different parts of the country; printing books in both
English and the vernacular language. Thus, it was during
this time that the first ever newspaper, Hicky’s “Bengal
Gazette”, took birth. Private schools that imparted
English education was started and then The Hindu
College (which later came to be known as The
Presidency College) was started by Raja Ram Mohan
Roy and his friends.

The Orientalists soon started losing their ground as

Western education spread quite rapidly through the
country, over taking Oriental education. Macaulay’s
Minutes settled the issue once and for all. Around this
time there was a pressing need for Indian clerks,
translators and lower officials in administration and
knowledge about the English language was necessary for
these jobs. Christian Missionaries also poured in during
this time in order to propagate Christianity and this
resulted in a huge number of English imparting
missionary schools being set up. It was in the year 1835
that Lord Macaulay drafted a document which later came
to be known as “Macaulay’s Minutes on Education”.
Lord Macaulay’s aim was to form “a class of persons,
Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in
opinion, in morals and in intellect”. Although the
Orientalists expressed their strong disagreement with
Macaulay’s Minutes, they could not prevent it from
being passed and on the 7th of March, 1835, the ​Minute
received a Seal of Approval from Lord William Bentinck
and an official resolution on the Minute’s was passed
which went on to form the basis of India’s language
policy back then.

Very soon Indians started reading and speaking in

English, gradually they began writing as well. Indian
writing in English is often considered as the literary
Renaissance in India. Literary creations in local Indian
languages itself was stimulated by the study of English
literature and Indian English literature also shared the
same origin. But it was in Indian English Literature that
English features and elements were more evident. The
Renaissance in modern Indian literature may be traced
back to Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He was a person who
was against the rote learning method of teaching English
and he believed in the importance of introducing subjects
like Science, Mathematics etc. as subjects in schools. He
felt such ‘modern’ subjects would give Indians a better
understanding of the world. Although he was against
British rule in India, he did believe that India had much
to gain from them in terms of education and culture. Just
like Roy, poets like Henry Derozio and Michael
Madhusudhan Dutt believed in the benefits of English
education. Much of early Indian English writing were
imitations of works of popular English authors. The most
famous literary figure in India during this time period
was probably Rabindranath Tagore who won the Noble
Prize for Literature in 1913.Although he wrote more in
Bengali, he did translate some of his works into English,
especially after the success of his work “Gitanjali”.

By the early 20th Century, English became the official as

well as academic language of India. However, the
nationalist movement in the 1920s did bring in some
anti- English sentiments, leaders like Gandhi and Nehru
demonstrated how English could be used as a tool to
attain freedom. The impact of the Gandhian movement
on Indian English Literature was the rapid growth of
realistic novels in the 1930s. The realistic novels of
authors like R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao and Mulk Raj
Anand depicted the social and political issues faced by
the Indians. Gandhi’s movement also gave more subject
matters to the writers of that time like the struggle for
freedom, the East-West encounter, the miserable
condition of the untouchables and so on.
After gaining Independence, although the British left
India, their language remained. It was still widely used
in media, Higher education and government and also
remained as the common language for communication
and India was then considered as the largest
English-speaking community outside the USA and the
UK. But one major development in post-independence
Indian English was the distinct Indian voice that it had
acquired. Also, English in India began imbibing bits and
pieces of local Indian languages. Some of the popular
Indian English writers are Toru Dutt, Tagore, R. K.
Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kamala
Das.
 SECTION : A (POETRY)
TORU DUTT

Toru Dutt (1856-77) is a pioneer of Indo-Anglian poetry.

She is an Indian poet who wrote both in English as well
as French. Born to the RambaganDutt family, she was
the youngest child. Their family converted from
Hinduism to Christianity in 1862. Toru did her higher
education in England. She was proficient in Bengali,
English, French and even Sanskrit. She wrote two
novels, the unfinished “Bianca or the Young Spanish
Maiden” written in English and “Le Journal de
Mademoiselle d’Arvers” which was written in French.
Her poetry collection “A Sheaf Gleaned in French
Fields” consisted of translations of French poetry into
English and was published in 1876. At the time of her
death, she left behind an incomplete volume of original
poems in English titled “Ancient Ballads and Legends of
Hindustan”. Some of her popular poems include Lotus,
Sita, Buttoo and Lakshman.

“OUR CASUARINA TREE”

(Text of the Poem)

LIKE a huge Python, winding round and round

The rugged trunk, indented deep with scars,

Up to its very summit near the stars,

A creeper climbs, in whose embraces bound

No other tree could live. But gallantly

The giant wears the scarf, and flowers are hung

In crimson clusters all the boughs among,

Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee;

And oft at nights the garden overflows

With one sweet song that seems to have no close,

Sung darkling from our tree, while men repose.

When first my casement is wide open thrown

At dawn, my eyes delighted on it rest;

Sometimes, and most in winter, —on its crest

A gray baboon sits statue-like alone

Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs

His puny offspring leap about and play;

And far and near kokilas hail the day;

And to their pastures wend our sleepy cows;

And in the shadow, on the broad tank cast

By that hoar tree, so beautiful and vast,

The water-lilies spring, like snow enmassed.

But not because of its magnificence

Dear is the Casuarina to my soul:

Beneath it we have played; though years may roll,

O sweet companions, loved with love intense,

For your sakes, shall the tree be ever dear.

Blent with your images, it shall arise

In memory, till the hot tears blind mine eyes!

What is that dirge-like murmur that I hear

Like the sea breaking on a shingle-beach?

It is the tree’s lament, an eerie speech,

That haply to the unknown land may reach.

Unknown, yet well-known to the eye of faith!

Ah, I have heard that wail far, far away

In distant lands, by many a sheltered bay,

When slumbered in his cave the water-wraith

And the waves gently kissed the classic shore

Of France or Italy, beneath the moon,

When earth lay trancèd in a dreamless swoon:

And every time the music rose, —before

Mine inner vision rose a form sublime,

Thy form, O Tree, as in my happy prime

I saw thee, in my own loved native clime.

Therefore, I fain would consecrate a lay

Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of those

Who now in blessed sleep for aye repose, —

Dearer than life to me, alas, were they!

Mayst thou be numbered when my days are done

With deathless trees—like those in Borrowdale,

Under whose awful branches lingered pale

“Fear, trembling Hope, and Death, the skeleton,

And Time the shadow;” and though weak the verse

That would thy beauty fain, oh, fain rehearse,

May Love defend thee from Oblivion’s curse.

EXPLANATION

“Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt was published in

1881.The Casuarina tree here refers to an ever-green,
huge tree found in the courtyard of the poetess house.
The poem contains five stanzas. The first stanza is a
description of the beauty and strength of the tree. The
Casuarina tree has a creeper growing round it like a
python and the trunk of the tree is rough and stands tall.
The trunk is embraced, almost strangled, by the creeper,
but the tree defies it. The Casuarina tree is personified
here. The tree bears the creeper and wears it like a scarf
of bright red crimson flowers. The branches are laden
with them. On this tree, birds and bees gather. Darkling
means in the dark. The tree here symbolizes vitality.

In the second stanza, the poetess describes her view from

her window (referred to as “casement” in the poem).
Toru, being a nature poet, watched the reassuring sights
of nature. A grey baboon sat on the summit of the tree,
watching the sun rise. The small and weak offspring of
the baboon leaps about and plays. The Kokilas (a symbol
often used by Sarojini Naidu in her poetry) welcomed
the day. The old tree cast a shadow in the pond thus
lending a shelter for sleepy cows to lie around. Toru
blends the East and West in her description of white
lillies which appeared like bunches of snow on the top of
a lake.

It is in the next stanza that Toru moves from a

description of the physical beauty and strength of the
tree to its emotional value in her life. The poetess
childhood memories and her siblings are brought into the
picture. This tree is probably the only link she has left
with her past and her happy childhood days. This tree
had been dear to Toru not only because of its beauty but
also because of its association with memories of her
formative years. Beneath this Casuarina tree Toru had
played with her siblings during her childhood. The tree
in Toru’s mind was hence not objective, but subjective
(typical Romantic element). This memory of her
childhood days made her weep fresh tears. Toru then
moves on to the realization that her siblings are no more
and their death is described as a form of sleep. The tree
also laments along with the poetess. Now Toru feels that
the tree will take her message to the unknown land of the
dead and thus convey her sorrow to her siblings.

In the fourth stanza, Toru remembers the tree exactly as

it was in her childhood days. But though the tree lives
her playmates have passed away. The tree now remains a
constant reminder of her loss and the poetess describes
her anguish. Even while the poetess is abroad, the tree
would appear in her mind just as she had seen it in her
native land and would help her connect strongly with
memories of her siblings and motherland.

In the fifth and final stanza, the poetess says that the tree
is dearer to her than her own life. The Casuarina tree was
also loved by her siblings, who are unfortunately now in
a “blessed sleep” (death). She realizes that she would
also leave the world one day to rejoin her siblings but
hopes that the tree would remain immortal. The poetess
hopes that her poem and her love for the tree would stop
the tree from being forgotten.

ANALYSIS

“Our Casuarina Tree” is a poem that celebrates the

majesty of the Casuarina Tree along with reviving
memories of the poetess' childhood days spent under it
with her brother and sister, namely, Abju and Aru. The
poem is aptly titled using the word “Our” rather than
“My” implying that it is not associated only with Toru
but also with her beloved siblings. The tree connotes
nostalgic feelings and memories of past golden days.
The creeper described in the first stanza may be a
reference to the killer disease Tuberculosis which killed
her siblings. The trunk of the Casuarina Tree being
embraced by the creeper growing around it may also be
considered a typical example from the puranas of the
embrace of Dridharashtra. The image of the tree
surrounded by birds and bees highlights the vitality of
the tree. Gradually Toru moves from a description of the
physical charm of the tree to a philosophical reminder of
family ties. The Abju-Aru-Toru bond which also comes
up in another poem titled “Sita” by Toru Dutt she writes
of “Three happy children...” is one of the main themes of
this poem as well. The beauty of the tree thus is just an
added bonus, the real value of the tree in Toru’s life is
that it is the only link that remains for her to connect
with her dead siblings. The term ‘unknown’ in the third
stanza stands for both the native home of the poet as well
as the world of the dead.

The casement mentioned here refers to a window.

Probably borrowed from Keats “Ode to a Nightingale”
where we find the line “Charm’d magic casements
opening on the foam” and “Thou were not born for
death, immortal bird”. Such instances of imitation and
Romanticism may be found throughout the poem. The
words ‘sleepy cows’ and ‘hoar’ remind us of
resemblances with Thomas Gray’s “Elegy written in a
Country Churchyard”. The dirge (borrowed from
Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”) and shingle - beach
(borrowed from Arnold’s “Dover Beach”) are examples
of imitation of Romantic poetry which was typical of
poets of Toru’s time. Just as Arnold felt “the eternal note
of sadness” (“Dover Beach”), here Toru also feels sad
when she hears crashing on the shingle beach. It must be
noted that the very name Toru in Sanskrit means tree.
The word ‘unknown’ repeated in the ending of the third
stanza and the beginning of the fourth stanza shows an
influence of Romantic poetry (especially Keats “Ode to a
Nightingale”). Here we find echoes of both Shelley and
Keats. The image of a sheltered bay comes in Shelley’s
“The Cloud”, so does a bay come in Arnold’s “Dover
Beach”. As Toru studied and travelled abroad widely her
picture of the Indian landscape is often coloured with
memories of familiar English landscape as well hence
the reference to the trees of Borrowdale here. The trees
of Borrowdale could also be an allusion to the Yew trees
that Wordsworth wrote about. Though the poem bears
resemblances with Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”, the
Casuarina tree does not make Toru long for “easeful
death” as Keats does. She does not wish to fade far away
or dissolve like Keats but rather the tree stands as a pure
reminder of the joys she experienced with Abju and Aru
under the tree in the past. This is where Toru differs
from her influencers. There is hope that love can
transcend the pain and fear of death and loss. There is a
sort of wholeness felt in the entire compilation of the
poem, both in form and content.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Rabindranath Tagore is a Bengali poet, short-story

writer, song composer, essayist, painter as well as
playwright. He studied English Literature at the
University in London. He played a major role in
introducing Indian culture to the West and he went on to
become the first non- European to receive the Nobel
Prize for Literature in the year 1913. In 1901, he founded
an experimental school that clubbed both the Indian and
Western traditions. This school went on to become
Visva-Bharathi University in 1921.

He became a successful writer in his native language,

Bengali. Although he tried a lot of different literary
genres, he was at his best as a poet. Some of his popular
poems are “Gitanjali”,“The Golden Boat” (1894), “The
Child”, “The Gardener” etc. Tagore’s plays were also
quite popular and “Chitra” (1892) stood out among
them. Tagore was a versatile genius who initiated
cultural awakeningin India and raised India into a nation
through song and worship. His artistic genius
consciously and deliberately embraced the
long-submerged culture of Indian tradition, ancient,
medieval and folk. There seems to be no branch in
Indian literature that his genius left untouched and
enriched. Poet, novelist, playwright, critic, composer and
educationalist. Three major strands combine to make
Tagore’s poetry unique; they are Romanticism,
Humanism and Mysticism. It is this combination of
many diverse strands and themes that lend a certain
uniqueness and resilience to his poetry.
“THE CHILD”

(Text of the poem)

(I)

What of the night?' they ask

No answer comics.

For the blind Time gropes in a maze and knows not

its path or purpose.

The darkness in the valley stares like the dead

eye-sockets of a giant,

the clouds like a nightmare oppress the sky,

and the massive shadows lie scattered like the torn

limbs of the night.

A lurid glow waxes and wanes on the horizon,

is it an ultimate threat from an alien star,

or an elemental hunger licking the sky?

Things are deliriously wild,

they are a noise whose grammar is a groan,

and words smothered out of shape and sense.

They are the refuse, the rejections, the fruitless failures

of life,

abrupt ruins of prodigal pride, -

fragments of a bridge over the oblivion of a vanished

stream,

godless shrine that shelter reptiles,

marble steps that lead to blankness.

Sudden tumults rise in the sky and wrestle

and a startled shudder runs along the sleepless

hours

Are they from desperate floods

hammering against their cave walls,

or from some fanatic storms

whirling and howling incantations?

Are they the cry of an ancient forest

flinging up its hoarded fire in a last extravagant

suicide,

or screams of a paralytic crowd surged by lunatics

blind and deaf?

Underneath the noisy terror a stealthy hum creeps up

like bubbling volcanic mud,

a mixture of sinister whispers, rumours and

slanders, and hisses of derision.

The men gathered there are vague like torn pages of an

epic.

Groping in groups or single, their torchlight tattoos

their faces in chequered lines, in patterns of frightfulness

The maniacs suddenly strike their neighbours on

suspicion

and a hubbub of an indiscriminate fight bursts forth

echoing from hill to hill

The women weep and wail,

they cry that their children are lost in a wilderness

of contrary paths with confusion at the end.

Others defiantly ribald shake with raucous

laughter

their lascivious limbs unshrinkingly loud,

for they think that nothing matters.

(II)

There on the crest of the hill

stands the Man of faith amid the snow-white

silence,

He scans the sky for some signal of light,

and when the clouds thicken and the night birds

scream as they fly,

he cries, Brothers, despair not, for Man is great.

But they never heed him,

for they believe that the elemental brute is eternal

and goodness in its depth is darkly cunning in deception.

When beaten and wounded they cry, 'Brother, where

art thou?

The answer comes, I am by your side.'

But they cannot see in the dark

and they argue that the voice is of their own

desperate desire,

that men are ever condemned to fight for phantoms

in an interminable desert of mutual menace.

(III)

The clouds part, the morning star appears in the East,

breath of relief springs up from the heart of the earth,

the murmur of leaves ripples along the forest path,

and the early bird sings.

The time has come, proclaims the Man of faith.

The time for what?

For the pilgrimage.

They sit and think, they know not the meaning,

and yet they seem to understand according to their

desires

The touch of the dawn goes deep into the soil

and life shivers along through the roots of all

things

To the pilgrimage of fulfilment,' a small voice

whispers, nobody knows whence

Taken up by the crowd

it swells into a mighty meaning.

Men raise their heads and look up,

women lift their arms in reverence,

children clap their hands and laugh.

The early glow of the sun shines like a golden garland

on the forehead of the Man of faith,

and they all cry: Brother, we salute thee!

(IV)

Men begin to gather from all quarters,

from across the seas, the mountains and pathless wastes,

They come from the valley of the Nile and the banks

of the Ganges,

from the snow-sunk uplands of Thibet,

from high-walled cities of glittering towers,

from the dense dark tangle of savage wilderness

Some walk, some ride on camels, horses and elephants,

on chariots with banners vieing with the clouds

of dawn,

The priests of all creeds burn incense, chanting verses

as they go.

The monarchs march at the head of their armies,

lances flashing in the sun and drums beating loud.

Ragged beggars and courtiers pompously decorated,

agile young scholars and teachers burdened with

learned age jostle each other in the crowd.

Women come chatting and laughing,

mothers, maidens and brides,

with offerings of flowers and fruit,

sandal paste and scented water

Mingled with them is the harlot,

shrill of voice and loud in tint and tinsel.

The gossip is there who secretly poisons the well

of human sympathy and chuckles.

The maimed and the cripple join the throng with the

blind and the sick,

the dissolute, the thief and the man who makes a

trade of his God for profit and mimics the saint

The fulfilment!

They dare not talk aloud,

but in their minds, they magnify their own greed,

and dream of boundless power,

of unlimited impunity for pilfering and plunder,

and eternity of feast for their unclean gluttonous flesh

(V)

The Man of faith moves on along pitiless paths strewn

with flints over scorching sands and steep

mountainous tracks.

They follow him, the strong and the weak, the aged

and young

the rulers of realms, the tillers of the soil.

Some grow weary and footsore, some angry and

suspicious.

They ask at every dragging step,

"How much further is the end?

The Man of faith sings in answer

they scowl and shake their fists and yet they cannot

resist him;

the pressure of the moving mass and indefinite

hope push them forward.

They shorten their sleep and curtail their rest,

they out-vie each other in their speed,

they are ever afraid lest they may be too late for their

chance

while others be more fortunate

The days pass,

the ever-receding horizon tempts them with renewed

lure of the unseen till they are sick.

Their faces harden, their curses grow louder and louder.

(VI)

It is night.
The travellers spread their mats on the ground

under the banyan tree.

A gust of wind blows out the lamp

and the darkness deepens like a sleep into a swoon,

Someone from the crowd suddenly stands up

and pointing to the leader with merciless finger

breaks out:

False prophet, thou hast deceived us!

Others take up the cry one by one,

women hiss their hatred and men growl

At last one bolder than others suddenly deals him a blow

They cannot see his face, but fall upon him in a fury of
destruction

and hit him till he lies prone upon the ground his

life extinct
The night is still, the sound of the distant waterfall
comes muffied,

and a faint breath of jasmine floats in the air.

(VII)

The pilgrims are afraid.

The women begin to cry, the men in an agony of

wretchedness

shout at them to stop.

Dogs break out barking and are cruelly whipped into

silence broken by moans

The night seems endless and men and women begin to

wrangle as to who among them was to blame.

They shriek and shout and as they are ready

to unsheathe their knives

the darkness pales, the morning light overflows

the mountain tops

Suddenly they become still and gasp for breath as they

gaze at the figure lying dead.

The women sob out loud and men hide their faces in

their hands.

A few try to slink away unnoticed,

but their crime keeps them chained

to their victim.

They ask each other in bewilderment,

"Who will show us the path?

The old man from the East bends his head and says:

The Victim.

They sit still and silent

Again speaks the old man,

We refused him in doubt, we killed him in anger,

now we shall accept him in love,

for in his death he lives in the life of us all, the

great Victim.

And they all stand up and mingle their voices and sing,

Victory to the Victim.

(VIII)

To the pilgrimage calls the young,

to love, to power, to knowledge, to wealth

overflowing,

We shall conquer the world and the world beyond this,

they all cry exultant in a thundering catarat of

voices,

The meaning is not the same to them all, but only the

impulse,

the moving confluence of wills that recks not death

and disaster.
No longer they ask for their way,

no more doubts are there to burden their minds

or weariness to clog their feet.

The spirit of the Leader is within them and ever

beyond them.

the Leader who has crossed death and all limits.

They travel over the fields where the seeds are sown,

by the granary where the harvest is gathered,

and across the barren soil where famine dwells

and skeletons cry for the return of their flesh.

They pass through populous cities humming with

life,

through dumb desolation hugging its ruined past,

and hovels for the unclad and unclean,

a mockery of home for the homeless.

They travel through long hours of the summer day.

and as the light wanes in the evening they ask

the man who reads the sky:

Brother, is yonder the tower of our final hope

and peace?

The wise man shakes his head and says:

It is the last vanishing cloud of the sunset.

Friends, exhorts the young, do not stop

Through the night's blindness we must struggle

into the Kingdom of living light.

They go on in the dark

The road seems to know its own meaning

and dust underfoot dumbly speaks of direction.

The stars-celestial wayfarers-sing in silent chorus:

Move on, comrades!

In the air floats the voice of the Leader:

The goal is nigh.

(IX)

The first flush of dawn glistens on the dew-dripping

leaves of the forest.

The man who reads the sky cries:

"Friends, we have come!

They stop and look around,

On both sides of the road the corn is ripe to the

horizon,

the glad golden answer of the earth to the

morning light.

The current of daily life moves slowly

between the village near the hill and the one

by the river bank

The potter's wheel goes round, the woodcutter brings

fuel to the market,

the cow-herd takes his cattle to the pasture,

and the woman with the pitcher on her head

walks to the well

But where is the King's Castle, the mine of gold,

the secret book of magic,

the sage who knows love's utter wisdom?

The stars cannot be wrong,'assures the reader of the sky.

Their signal points to that spot.

And reverently he walks to a wayside spring

from which wells up a stream of water, a liquid light,

like the morning melting into a chorus of tears and

laughter

sings

'Mother, open the gate!

(X)

A ray of morning sun strikes aslant at the door

The assembled crowd feel in their blood the primeval

chant of creation:

Mother, open the gate!

The gate opens.

The mother is seated on a straw bed with the babe on

her lap,

Like the dawn with the morning star.

The sun's ray that was waiting at the door outside

falls on the head of the child.

The poet strikes his lute and sings out:

Victory to Man, the newborn, the ever-living.

They kneel down, -the king and the beggar, the Saint and
the sinner,

the wise and the fool,-and cry:

Victory to Man, the newborn, the ever-living."

The old man from the East murmurs to himself:

I have seen!'
EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS

Rabindranath Tagore’s “The Child” was originally

written in English and then later translated into Bengali
with the title “Sishutirtha”. This poem is Tagore’s only
poem written originally in English. “The Child” is a
poem which was inspired by both Mahatma Gandhi and
Jesus Christ. The poem is titled “The Child” as Tagore
believed that it is through children that the world could
be redeemed.

In the first section of the poem humanity is groping in

the darkness. People do not know what the purpose of
life is. The man who reads the sky is probably predicting
the climate or the future. In this section Tagore uses
imagery that suggests the utter confusion and trouble that
the people find themselves in. Tagore says that Gods
have left shrines because of the activities of the people.
The confusion soon gives way to violence and people
start attacking each other. As the poem was written
sometime after the First World War, Tagore might have
had it in mind when he wrote it.

In the second section of the poem, we see the entry of

the leader, the Man of Faith. This could be a reference to
Gandhi or Christ who both were men of faith and leaders
of people. The man of faith tries to reassure the people
that they have the power to overcome their difficulties
and confusions even when the circumstances are
difficult. The people however do not believe what the
leader is saying. Even though the leader suffers
alongside the people they cannot see him in the dark.

In the third section, the morning arrives and the man of

faith tells the people that the time has come to go on a
pilgrimage. Tagore uses beautiful imagery to describe
the morning. Slowly the people agree to join the Man of
Faith on the pilgrimage. People have different hopes
about the pilgrimage. They want to achieve different
things.

In the fourth section the people who take part in the

pilgrimage are described. Tagore makes this the journey
of mankind by describing people from different parts of
the world. They belong to different sections of the
society and are not ready to identify with the group.
They bring their social status, and class consciousness to
the pilgrimage. Their minds have not undergone any
change. There is a prostitute among the mothers,
maidens and brides and a thief along with a man who
acts like a saint to earn money. Most of the people are
motivated by their selfish interests. They dream and wish
for ‘boundless power’ which they can steal and raid.

In section five we see the people becoming impatient.

All the different age groups gathered begin growing tired
of the journey and ask how much more they have to drag
on to reach ‘the end’. The journey is very difficult and
they lose their hope. They are angry with the Man of
Faith as they haven't reached their destination yet and
they start cursing loudly.
Section six describes the murder of the Man of Faith.
The wind blows out the lights and darkness fills. The
appearance of ‘darkness’ might signify the coming death
of the ‘Man of Faith’. Now, at night, the people are not
able to control their anger. They attack the leader and
kill him. At the time of his death the scent of jasmine
fills the air. It is symbolic of the life that the Man of
Faith led and his influence over the people.

In the seventh section, we see that the people start

regretting what they have done. They do not know what
to do now. They have no leader now and they feel afraid
and insecure now. Nobody is there to lead them. When
the morning light appears and they see the dead body
women start wailing and men try hiding their faces. But
the crime they committed keeps them locked or
connected with the victim. The old man from the east
says that the victim (the man of faith) will lead them
even though he is no longer alive. The man of faith will
live through the people who are making the pilgrimage.
So, they all rise together and sing ‘Victory to the Victim’
in united voices.

In the eighth section, the pilgrimage starts once again.

This time the spirit of the man of faith is helping them to
move past all hurdles that they come across in their
journey. Even when they face hardships, they do not
accuse each other or fight. Still they have worldly riches
in mind when they travel. They pass through different
landscapes. Some places are blessed with a good harvest,
some places have been deserted due to drought.
However, the group travels on. When the night comes,
the pilgrims want to know whether the destination is
near. However, the wise man tells them to travel through
the night. They keep on travelling guided by some
unknown force.

In the nineth section, the pilgrims have reached their

destination. What they see is a normal village where
people are doing normal everyday things. On both sides
of the road one can find corn which is ripe and indicates
that it is time to harvest. The ripe corn is golden in
colour also because of the sunshine falling on it. The
word ‘current’ is used here as opposed to static, so there
is movement. The word ‘daily’ symbolizes the
mechanical nature of the work. There are no riches or
books of wisdom or anything like that.They expected a
‘mine of gold’ or a ‘secret book of magic’ or at least a
‘King’s castle’, but none of them are there. The reader of
the sky assures the group that the stars can’t go wrong
and points to a spot that the stars point to. He takes them
to a stream of water, a liquid light. Since the light is
described as ‘liquid’, it fills each person according to
what he is searching for. The morning now blurs into a
chorus of tears as well as laughter. All the different
people gathered there are now united by their emotions.
Nearby we find a leaf-thatched hut in a palm grove. It
must be noted here that the palm tree symbolizes
fertility, growth, sexual gratification and even feminine
beauty. The date palm was also a symbol of the Tree of
Life. At the gate they arrive at, the poet of the unknown
shore sings to the Mother in order to open the gate. The
poet belongs to an ‘unknown shore’ so as to emphasize
the universality of Motherhood here.
In the tenth section, the morning sun’s rays knocks at the
door of the hut. The gathered crowd feel themselves
slipping into primitive states or their roots. They have
come from the Mother and now they want to go back to
her which is why they ask her to open the entrance. The
gate ultimately does open up and the Mother seated there
is clearly reminiscent of Mother Mary sitting on the
‘straw bed’ with the miracle child, Jesus Christ, on her
lap. It must be remembered that Tagore was
considerably influenced by Christian ideology during his
lifetime. The pilgrimage comes to an end when the
pilgrims witness the new born baby. The baby is a
symbol of eternal creation and hope. All the pilgrims
worship the child. They understand that the immortality
of human beings is represented by every new born child.
The ‘morning star’ preludes the beginning of dawn and
also symbolizes a new beginning or freshness. The rays
of the sun fall upon the child’s head like a divine halo.
As if nature too was waiting for the birth of this child,
just as mankind was. The word ‘lute’ may be a reference
to the Pied Piper of Hamelin who is compared to the
poet here who is leading the people to their destination.
‘Lute’ also stands for a substance, such as a dried clay or
cement which is used to pack or seal pipes. This
meaning leads to the idea of man the ‘lute’ being used as
a tool to heal the trials and sufferings of mankind. The
newborn symbolizes that mankind is not dead yet and
also indirectly points to the Resurrection of Christ. Now,
despite all differences of race, creed or class, the entire
group sits and cries and is united in their act of crying.
All distinctions and differences that existed till now are
blurred now. The poem thus ends on a positive note. The
old man from the East could refer to Tagore himself. The
poem could also be read on a different level of trying to
attain freedom from colonial or imperial rule which is
maybe why all members take part together in the
struggle putting aside all their differences. When the
poem is read in this light, the Man of Faith (i.e., the old
man) could represent the Father of the Nation. And the
child symbolizes a new beginning and freedom achieved
successfully.
NISSIM EZEKIEL

Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian born poet coming from a

Jewish family. He is described as the “father of
post-independence Indian verse in English”. He worked
as an English teacher in both India and abroad. He also
worked as a broadcaster on Indian radio, a critic and a
playwright. A distinguished figure in the cultural, literal
and the intellectual circle of India, Ezekiel has
contributed a creative, straight forward point to point and
more direct approach to the Indo Anglian poetry. Just
like most of the new Indian poets in English, Ezekiel’s
poems are self-revelatory, self-confessional and at other
times plainly autobiographical. Ezekiel’s poetry is both
the instrument and the outcome of his attempt as a man
to come to terms with himself. The writing of Ezekiel is
one quick movement across the various psychological
stages of man, not necessarily autobiographical. It is the
biography of each and every thinking individual. His
later poems however are full of self- analysis and
introspection as they are still in search of a ‘finished
man’. Some of his popular poems are “Night of the
Scorpion”, “Background, Casually” and “The Visitor”.
“Night of the Scorpion” is a poem that contrasts
scientific temperament with superstitions. It is believed
that Ezekiel has composed the very best of his poetry out
of the ordinariness of human life as is evident in “In the
Country Cottage”. He shows the world that poetry
doesn’t necessarily have to deal with great philosophical
truths in order to be impressive and revealing, in fact,
ordinary situations are more than enough.
“IN THE COUNTRY COTTAGE”

(Text of the Poem)

The night the lizard came

our indolence was great;

we went to bed before

our eyes were heavy, limbs

prepared to stretch or love.

Immobile, tense and grey,

he taught us patience as

he waited for the dark.

From time to time we could

not help but glance at him

and learn again that he

was more alive than us

in silent energy,

though his aim was only

the death of cockroaches.

When we awoke the next

morning we found as we

expected that the job

was done, clean and complete,

and the stout lizard gone.

EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS

The speaker talks of a particular night when a lizard

came out at night. On seeing the lizard, the members of
the country cottage seem to become lazy (indolence
means idleness or laziness) and drop their guards. They
decide to go to bed early even though they weren’t really
sleepy, either to stretch their limbs and relax or to make
love. The lizard lay without any movement, stiff and
grey in colour as if to hide its presence. This lizard was
obviously waiting for its prey. To the speaker, the lizard
seemed to teach a lesson of patience through its act of
waiting motionlessly for hours in hope of catching its
prey. The lizard was more alive and full of concentration
in this act of waiting in silence than humans could be in
silent energy. All this energy from the lizard’s side was
merely for the act of killing a cockroach. The next
morning when all the members of the house awoke, they
found that the lizard had done its job well and left the
place. The lizard is described as a sturdy or stout lizard
who did a ‘clean and complete’ job without leaving
anything behind.
Through this poem, Nissim Ezekiel draws a comparison
between human beings and lowly creatures such as the
lizard. The lizard is used as a symbol to highlight the
importance of cleanliness, perseverance and dutifulness.
The lizard shows so much concentration and energy for
achieving such a small task as killing a cockroach unlike
human beings who don’t bother to show the same energy
or hard-working mentality for achieving bigger or more
important aims in their lives. Instead humans are
indolent and fail to complete tasks as completely and
neatly like the lizard does. The lizard, unlike man, also
had a strong sense of responsibility and dutifulness
which is why it cleans out all traces of the cockroach
after killing it as wanted by the members of the cottage,
hence described as a ‘clean’ job. The words ‘immobile’,
‘tense’ and ‘grey’ are used literally to describe the stout
lizard. But it could also connote the state of being
indolent human beings. Nissim Ezekiel uses the poem to
shed light on the fact that achievers are always both
patient and energetic and thus succeeds in completing
the task he sets for himself just like the lizard in the
poem. Instead of wasting precious time and energy on
futile activities, the poet urges them to save their energy
for better purposes or to achieve one’s goals in life just
like the lizard that remains silent, saving its energy for
the task it needs to complete that day. The lizard in the
poem teaches human beings important lessons on
patience, determination and will power. Thus, Ezekiel
proves an ordinary lizard to be far superior to man.
JAYANTA MAHAPATRA

Jayanta Mahapatra was born on 22nd of October, 1928.

He belonged to a lower middle-class family and held a
Master’s degree in Physics. He worked as a lecturer in
different colleges in Orissa. He was a physicist, a
bilingual poet and essayist and also the first Indian
English poet to have received the Sahitya Academy
Award (in 1981) for the poem “Relationship”. In 2009,
he was awarded the Padmasri Award” for his
outstanding contribution to the field of literature. He
began writing poetry when he was thirty-eight years old
and published his first book of poems in his early 40s.
This is considered quite late by normal standards. Yet he
turned into one of India’s most prominent poets who
wrote in English. His collection of poems includes “A
Rain of Rites”, “Life Signs” and “A Whiteness of Bone”.
He was also an editor as well as translator. Although, he
chose English as his medium of writing, he admitted that
English was just a medium through which he wants to
represent the voices of Indians. He denies any influence
from any poet. Being an extremely subjective poet, he
draws his images from the experiences in his own life.
He is also one of the first Indian English poets to be
honoured both at home and abroad. Having chosen
English as his medium of writing, Mahapatra admits
frankly that he feels at home only in his native country.
English is merely a medium through which he wants to
represent the voices of the Indians. He denies any
influence of any other poet. Being a very subjective poet,
he draws his images from his own experiences in life. In
most of his poems, he depicts sex as an uncertainty
which produces a void instead of contentment and
completeness. There seems to be an unbridgeable gap
between the two people who participate in it. The trilogy
comprising the poems - “Hunger”, “The Whorehouse in
Calcutta Street” and “Man of his nights” should ideally
be studied together. In these poems, the poet blends the
literal and the metaphysical together.

“HUNGER”

(Text of the Poem)

It was hard to believe the flesh was heavy on my back.

The fisherman said: Will you have her, carelessly,

trailing his nets and his nerves, as though his words

sanctified the purpose with which he faced himself.

I saw his white bone thrash his eyes.

I followed him across the sprawling sands,

my mind thumping in the flesh’s sling.

Hope lay perhaps in burning the house I lived in.

Silence gripped my sleeves; his body clawed at the froth

his old nets had only dragged up from the seas.

In the flickering dark his hut opened like a wound.

The wind was I, and the days and nights before.

Palm fronds scratched my skin. Inside the shack

an oil lamp splayed the hours bunched to those walls.

Over and over the sticky soot crossed the space of my

mind.

I heard him say: My daughter, she’s just turned fifteen…

Feel her. I’ll be back soon, your bus leaves at nine.

The sky fell on me, and a father’s exhausted wile.

Long and lean, her years were cold as rubber.

She opened her wormy legs wide. I felt the hunger there,

the other one, the fish slithering, turning inside.

EXPLANATION

“Hunger” belongs to the collection “The Rain of Rites”,

1976. This poem by Jayanta Mahapatra depicts the
miserable plight of a fisherman who is forced to sell his
daughter in order to earn money for feeding his family.
The first stanza introduces us to two people, the
poverty-stricken fisherman and his customer, who is also
the narrator of the poem. Here, the narrator himself finds
it hard to believe the intensity of his hunger for sex. The
fisherman tries to casually offer his daughter to satisfy
the sexual urge of his customer in return for money.
Although his eyes brim with guilt, he tries to brave it
(“his white bone thrash his eyes”) and tempt the narrator
asking him carelessly whether he would like to “have
her”. The phrase “Will you have her” makes his daughter
sound like a commodity or product to be sold. Both the
fisherman and the narrator are desperate here. The
former is desperate out of hunger for food and the latter
for sex.

In the second stanza, the narrator is being led to the

fisherman’s home to meet his daughter. The narrator
feels a strong sense of guilt for what he is about to do.
His body tries to hold up or support his throbbing mind
(filled with fear and guilt) just as a sling would hold up a
fractured arm. He even considers burning the house he
lived in as expiation for the sin he is going to commit.
While the first stanza depicts the desperateness of the
narrator, this stanza shows the strong sense of guilt that
accompanies the desperation for sex. Despite the guilt,
the narrator remains silent thus accepting the offer. Here,
although his mind wishes to refuse the offer, his body is
too weak (or desperate for sex) to refuse. The last line
shows us that the fisherman has not caught any fish and
has rather only caught froth in his fishing nets. This
could also metaphorically mean that the narrator too has
caught nothing but sin out of his sexual desire.

In the third stanza, the narrator describes the fisherman’s

house (if it may be called so). The “flickering dark”
could be a symbol of the sorrow and anguish of the
dwellers of the little hut where only darkness fell. The
hut opened for him and it was like a wound upon his soul
as well as the fisherman’s and his daughters. All three
were wounded in the process. The palm leaves scratched
his skin while he entered the hut leaving marks of guilt
upon his body. This scratching by the palm leaves again
emphasizes the narrator’s dilemma on whether he should
go in or turn down the offer. The smoke from the oil
lamp in the hut kept on coming into his mind, either
because the smoke was intoxicating him or it was
pushing him into a state of helplessness.

In the final stanza, the narrator describes how the

fisherman tries to tempt him by saying that his daughter
has just turned fifteen. The age is relevant as it would be
the year that a girl blossomed into womanhood, a
perfectly eligible age for satisfying male lust. “Feel her”
says the fisherman as he indirectly asks his customer to
have sexual intercourse with his daughter. The fisherman
also ensures that he will leave them alone for some time
so that the narrator gets time alone with his daughter to
satisfy his sexual hunger. A fisherman's desperate luring
of a customer to have sex with his daughter in order to
satisfy the hunger of his stomach hits upon the narrator’s
conscience (hence, “The sky fell on me…”). The
narrator than describes the fisherman’s daughter as tall
and thin. Although just fifteen years old, she felt “cold as
rubber” probably due to undernourishment or it would be
a depiction of her coldness towards him. Her
disinterestedness and mechanical act of sex is shown
here. Her legs are described as “wormy” maybe because
they're thin out of poverty and hunger. The word
“wormy” also shows that the sexual act he was indulging
in was feeling disgusting now rather than satisfying.
Instead of feeling contentment at the end of the sexual
act, he feels or understands the other kind of hunger, the
hunger of the stomach. The phrase, “fish slithering,
turning inside” is a reference to the feeling felt inside the
stomach when one is starved. He realizes the intensity of
the physical hunger for food which drove the father and
daughter into such a business.

ANALYSIS

“In “Hunger”, I was writing from experience” says

Mahapatra. Whether this experience was his own or
somebody else’s is not clear. The poem is commonly
considered as depicting the poverty experienced in a
country like India. The kind of poverty that forces people
to practice social evils like child prostitution. A similar
theme can be found in Jayanta Mahapatra’s “The
Whorehouse in a Calcutta Street'' where he deals with
brothels, brothel-mongers, and the pains and agonies felt
by prostitutes who are forced into this profession. The
poem “Hunger” is often rated as an unapologetic
commentary on the Indian society. On a close reading of
the poem, we can make out that it portrays three types of
hunger, one, the basic, physical hunger for food, two,
hunger for sex and three, hunger for emotional support.
The sexual hunger and physical hunger (for food) are
mutually satisfied in the poem. Surprisingly, both the
narrator and the fisherman’s acts are justified in the
poem. The fisherman is justified in his act of pawning
his daughter’s flesh for the sexual gratification of a
lustful customer because it is his only means of
livelihood and poverty and hunger forced him into it.
The narrator is also justified in the poem through the
depiction of both the intensity of his sexual urge/hunger
as well as his strong sense of guilt. Both the fisherman
and the narrator are desperate, both are also equally
fighting their guilty conscience. The narrator's mind is
burdened both by guilt and passion and there is also a
yearning for spiritual intimacy or emotional support
which he does not gain here. Instead, the poem paints a
picture of a revolting sexual experience that is too
burdened with guilt and too mechanical in nature.
Silence is an important symbol in the poem. The
narrator's silence shows his acceptance of the offer even
though he had a choice of turning it down. The
daughter’s silence is even more painful as it depicts her
helplessness. The narrator who only knew hunger for sex
evolves into a man who also understands the
desperateness that arises out of the hunger for food by
the end of the poem.
AK RAMANUJAN

Attipat Krishnaswami Ramanujan was a poet, linguist

and translator. Born to a Brahmin Iyengar family in
Mysore, Karnataka he did both his graduation and
post-graduation in English Literature from the University
of Mysore. He did his Ph.D. in Linguistics at Indiana
University through the Fulbright scholarship he earned
himself. He then went on to teach at several prestigious
colleges across the U.S. such as Harvard University,
University of California- Berkeley etc. Being fluent in
various languages, he is considered to be one of the most
prominent poets of Indo-American poetry. He received
the Padma Shri Award in the year 1976 and in 1983 he
was also awarded the MacArthur Prize Fellowship. He
passed away in 1993 in Chicago.

Some of the common features of Ramanujan’s poetry are

his integration of the individual with the family, his
focus on Indian traditions and culture and the changes
taking place within Indian society. Almost all these
features are reflected in the poem “The Obituary” which
we are about to discuss. Another prominent
characteristic of his poetry is an encounter between the
East and West as well as between the past and present.
Some of the common themes recurring in his poetry are
his childhood memories with his father, or his mother, or
grandparents and his role in the family. A.K. Ramanujan
believes that one needs to have a link with his past in
order to grasp present realities. He often finds comfort in
traditions and beliefs of the ancient world.
“THE OBITUARY”

(Text of the Poem)

Father, when he passed on,

left dust

on a table of papers,

left debts and daughters,

a bedwetting grandson

named by the toss

of a coin after him,

a house that leaned

slowly through our growing

years on a bent coconut

tree in the yard.

Being the burning type,

he burned properly

at the cremation
as before, easily

and at both ends,

left his eye coins

in the ashes that didn't

look one bit different,

several spinal discs, rough,

some burned to coal, for sons

to pick gingerly

and throw as the priest

said, facing east

where three rivers met

near the railway station;

no longstanding headstone

with his full name and two dates

to holdin their parentheses

everything he didn't quite

manage to do himself,

like his caesarian birth

in a brahmin ghetto

and his death by heart-

failure in the fruit market.

But someone told me

he got two lines

in an inside column

of a Madras newspaper

sold by the kilo

exactly four weeks later

to streethawkers

who sell it in turn

to the small groceries

where I buy salt,

coriander,

and jaggery

in newspaper cones

that I usually read

for fun, and lately

in the hope of finding

these obituary lines.

And he left us

a changed mother

and more than

one annual ritual.

EXPLANATION

“Obituary” by A.K. Ramanujan is a poem that looks

back on the life and times of a beloved family member
after his death. The poem comprises of eight stanzas of
seven lines each. In the first stanza, the speaker says that
when his father died all that he left behind for the family
were burdens like debts and an unmarried daughter. The
speaker’s father also left behind insignificant things like
a table of papers and a bedwetting grandson who shares
his father’s name. Here the poet is more concerned about
all the responsibilities left behind by his father like
paying off debts and getting his sisters married off along
with a young nephew to be taken care of rather than
being grieved by his father’s death.

In the second stanza, the poet tells us that their house is

in a poor state as it is leaning on a coconut tree which
itself is a bent one. He calls his father the ‘burning type’.
This particular phrase (burning type) may either refer to
the fact that his father was a hot tempered or impatient
man or may also mean that their father was someone
who tolerated all difficulties of life silently burning
inside. And hence he burned properly and quickly at his
cremation.

In the third stanza, the speaker describes his father's eyes

as ‘eye coins’. The term ‘eye coins’ could either refer to
greed for money or eyes that showed no emotion or
sentiment. These eyes and his spinal disc remain the
same (or has failed to burn properly) even after the body
is burned.
In the next stanza, the poet ridicules the Hindu tradition
of picking up burned pieces of the dead ones remains
and throwing it to a certain direction or place as
instructed by the priest. They throw it in the direction of
east where three rivers meet right next to a railway
station. The speaker also lets us know that his father has
no proper gravestone inscribed with his name or date of
birth and death. Probably because they, as a family,
cannot afford to put one up.

The fifth stanza begins as a continuation of the previous

stanza where the speaker tells us that there is no
gravestone to hold in parenthesis all the things his father
left unaccomplished. The poet also lets the readers know
that the cause of his father’s death was a sudden cardiac
arrest in the market and that his father was delivered into
this world through a caesarian delivery in a slum area or
minority area of Brahmins. This stanza highlights the
fact that there was nothing great or different about his
father as both his birth and death seem ordinary and
almost insignificant.

In the sixth stanza, the speaker says that he heard from

someone about an obituary of his father written in an
unpopular Madras newspaper. The insignificance of the
newspaper also is shown in the poet’s lines where he
says that this newspaper would be sold by the kilo to
street vendors exactly a month later of publication.

In the seventh stanza, we find that the street vendor in

turn sells the newspapers to small groceries from where
the poet buys his groceries like salt, coriander and
jaggery from. These groceries that the poet buys are sold
to him wrapped in such newspapers which sometimes he
reads just for fun.

In the final stanza, he has now begun to buy more

groceries in the hope that he would someday come
across his father’s obituary lines in one of these
newspaper wraps. He further tells us that the final things
his father left them with his death were a changed or
bereaved mother and an annual tradition or ritual to
celebrate the memory of his father for his peace. In the
end, the readers are left with the knowledge that except
for the few lines of obituary printed in the newspapers,
the poet’s father failed to leave anything else of value.
On the other hand, all he did leave were unbearable
burdens on the poet’s shoulders.

ANALYSIS

The poem “Obituary” dwells on the death of the poet’s

father. The title ‘obituary’ is literally a published piece
of news article that is written in tribute to a dead person
informing others of his death and focuses on the
achievements of his life. This poem is right the opposite
of the literal or usual meaning and purpose of an
obituary. Instead of a serious tone, the poem employs a
comic, ironic and non-romantic tone. The poem contains
two obituaries, one the poem itself and the other the
published obituary (in a Madras newspaper) mentioned
by the speaker of the poem. Ramanujan’s “Obituary”
points out all the things left incomplete or undone by the
dead person instead of highlighting his achievements.
This is what makes Ramanujan’s “Obituary” ironic in
nature. This poem hints at the essential absurdity of life
and its memory. Memory is portrayed as an extremely
limited means of constructing a semblance of coherent
meaning. The poem sheds light on the transience of life.
The physical remains of his father’s cremation seem to
be the only tangible evidence of their dead father. The
poem also portrays a typical male-dominated Indian
society where the mother and sisters are dependent on
the men in their family for their livelihood and
well-being. The metaphor of the leaning house depicts
the deterioration in the quality of their life as a family. It
could also be a symbol of their dependency on others
throughout their life for their livelihood. An
amalgamation of the old and new is apparent in the
description of the rituals at the junction where the three
rivers meet next to the ‘railway station’. Here, he tries to
mix Hindu traditional values with cosmopolitan values.
Throughout the poem, the speaker makes it quite clear
that he does not intend to speak heavily on loss or
depression on the death of his father. The poem also
shows the poet’s disregard for traditional Hindu rituals
and customs on posthumous ceremonies.
R. PARTHASARATHY

Rajagopal Parthasarathy was born in the year 1934 and

educated partly in Mumbai and partly in the UK. He
worked as an English Lecturer in Bombay for around ten
years. In 1971, he began working as Regional Editor of
the Oxford University Press in Chennai. His works
include “Poetry from Leeds” (1968), “Ten Twentieth
Century Indian Poets” (1976) and “Rough Passage”
(1977). In “Modern Indian Poetry”, Brice Kings says
that “Parthasarathy gives more emphasis to the loss of
root, through this English language education and poetry
which places a wall between himself and the traditions
of Tamil culture. Thus, the poet feels that he has become
a stranger to the traditions of Tamil culture and thus has
lost his roots.”

His works depict this constant awareness of being an

exile both abroad and in one’s own country. In his
works, one can detect a need to overcome this sense of
alienation from his own native culture and to rediscover
his roots. He attempts to forge or invent an English
language that is naturalized to express the Indian
sensibility. This predicament is that of an IndoAnglian
poet who is stuck in between the dilemma of a bilingual
and bicultural situation. Parthasarathy is perhaps the only
contemporary Indo-Anglian poet to explore and
dramatize the poetical predicament. In his poetry’s
confessional, personal and authentic tone, he may be
compared to poets like Kamala Das and A.K.Ramanujan.
In his seminal essay titled “Whoring After English
Gods”, Parthasarathy points out two problems of the
Indian poet in English – the quality of experience and the
choice of medium. To sum up, Parthasarathy’s poetry is
an intense search for identity, a search for roots in his
native cultural environment and language.

“RIVER, ONCE”

(Text of the Poem)

With paper-boats

boys tickle my ribs

And buffaloes have turned me

To a pond.

There’s eaglewood in my hair

and stale flowers.

Every evening

as bells roll

in the forehead

of temples

I see a man

on the steps

clean his arse.

Kingfishers and egrets

whom I fled

have flown

my paps.

Also, emperors and poets

who slept

in my arms.

I am become a sewer

now, no one

has any use for Vaikai

river, once

of this sweet city.

EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS

This poem highlights the exploitation of nature by

human beings. The river in Parthasarathy’s “River,
Once” refers to Vaigai River in the city of Madurai. The
river is personified as a mother in this poem. The old
glory of the river is now lost as it has turned into a mere
sewer due to human exploitation or misuse of the river.
The poem begins by describing the present, pitiable
condition of the river Vaikai. It is now frequented by
children who come to float paper boats in it and by
buffaloes who wallow in it, degrading the river into
feeling like a pond. There’s wood barks and stale flowers
all over the river. It’s as if the mother’s (rivers) hair is
decorated with eaglewood and dead flowers. And men
come to defecate or bath in the river even while the
temple bell tolls. The river’s divinity is lost forever now.
The word ‘ribs’ used here is a metaphor for the banks of
the river. The river itself is conscious of its ugliness and
dirt (which is concrete evidence of man’s abuse). The
once glorious river is now reduced to merely a
storehouse of junk, a place for unhygienic and unholy
activities.

The poet then describes the past glory enjoyed by the

river. How it was once a source of inspiration for poets
and a place of refuge for Emperors and Kings. As a
mother, she proudly fed birds like the Kingfisher and
Egrets (egrets are white herons). It must be noted that
‘egrets’ in Chinese symbolism are considered as a
symbol of purity, patience and long life. Herons were
also thought to have the ability to communicate with
Gods. And Kingfishers are generally considered as a
promise of prosperity. Hence both the kingfisher and
egret refer to the once prosperous, pure and divine state
enjoyed by the river Vaikai. Now, they have all flown
away from her breasts (paps) as she is unable to feed
them as she has turned or degraded into a mere sewer.
She is no more a river and this takes us to the
significance of the title of the poem, “River, Once”. It
was a river once indeed but not a river anymore and has
instead become a sewer due to man’s exploitation and
indifference towards nature. The poem ends by the
river’s self-realization that no one has any use for the
river Vaikai now. Contrastive pictures are presented
throughout the poem which helps to highlight the
difference between the old glory of the river as
compared to the present degraded state. River, which is
considered as a symbol of life, is now contaminated just
like human life.

“River, Once” by Parthasarathy is a poem that was

inspired by A.K.Ramanujan’s poem “A River”, as
Parthasarathy himself admits. Both Parthasarathy and
Ramanujan use literature as a means to shed light on
ecological imbalances in the world. Parthasarathy seeks
changes in human attitude towards nature, he wants them
to realize the inter-dependable relation humans have
with nature.
KAMALA DAS

Born into a Royal Hindu family in the year 1934, Das

converted to Islam in the year 1999. Her mother,
Balamani Amma was a popular writer who published
over 20 anthologies of poetry. Kamala Das was
described in “The Times” as the “mother of modern
Indian English Poetry”. Her style of writing is often
compared with that of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
She went on to win the Kendra Sahitya AcademyAward
in 1985. She passed away in the year 2009 after a severe
bout of pneumonia.

One of the characteristic features of Kamala Das, as seen

in many of her poems, is the casual, cynical view of
male-female relationship. The female characters in Das’
poems have to face a male dominated world of sex, lust
and lechery. There are strong notes of subjectivism in
her poetry. Her poems are mainly concerned with herself
as a victim of the circumstances of her life and sexual
humiliations. Being subjective and confessional, her
poems lets us peep into her sufferings and tortured
psyche on one hand and the complexity of female
sensibility.The speaking voice in the genre of poetry of
Kamala Das is unmistakably the poet herself. Das’
poetry conjures up a world of unfulfilled love: a world in
which the woman is frustrated at her partner’s
stagnation.

E.V. Ramakrishnan states that confessional poetry is a

struggle to relate the personal, private experience with
the outer world as it is. Such a struggle is evident in the
poetry of Kamala Das. In several of her poems, she
makes a candid and bold revelation of her sexual urge,
unfulfilled longings and inner yearnings. By her bold
confessions, iconoclastic attitudes and tongue in cheek
attacks on social conventions and taboos, Das emerges
as the emancipated Indian woman who comes to terms
with her modern existence in the background of her
Hindu ethos. Kamala Das is also called ‘poet of the
body’ for she is the first Indian woman to speak frankly
about sex.

“THE OLD PLAYHOUSE”

(Text of the Poem)

You planned to tame a swallow, to hold her

In the long summer of your love so that she would forget

Not the raw seasons alone, and the homes left behind,
but

Also her nature, the urge to fly, and the endless

Pathways of the sky. It was not to gather knowledge

Of yet another man that I came to you but to learn

What I was, and by learning, to learn to grow, but every

Lesson you gave was about yourself. You were pleased

With my body's response, its weather, its usual shallow

Convulsions. You dribbled spittle into my mouth, you
poured

Yourself into every nook and cranny, you embalmed

My poor lust with your bitter-sweet juices. You called

me wife,

I was taught to break saccharine into your tea and

To offer at the right moment the vitamins. Cowering

Beneath your monstrous ego I ate the magic loaf and

Became a dwarf. I lost my will and reason, to all your

Questions I mumbled incoherent replies. The summer

Begins to pall. I remember the rudder breezes

Of the fall and the smoke from the burning leaves. Your
room is

Always lit by artificial lights, your windows always

Shut. Even the air-conditioner helps so little,

All pervasive is the male scent of your breath. The cut

flowers

In the vases have begun to smell of human sweat. There

is

No more singing, no more dance, my mind is an old

Playhouse with all its lights put out. The strong man's
technique is

Always the same, he serves his love in lethal doses,

For, love is Narcissus at the water's edge, haunted

By its own lonely face, and yet it must seek at last

An end, a pure, total freedom, it must will the mirrors

To shatter and the kind night to erase the water.

EXPLANATION

This poem belongs to the collection “The Old Playhouse

and Other Poems”, 1973. The poem begins by the
poetess comparing herself to a domesticated swallow,
who is captured by her husband. He attempts to tame her
just as one would tame a pet. The poetess feels like a
caged bird whose dreams and freedom are curtailed by
her husband. He also tries to make her forget how her
life was before her marriage. The freedom, the comforts
and the distinct identity she once enjoyed is no more
now. She is made to forget all other seasons or in other
words, she is made to forget all joys in her life. The
speaker says that she married to discover herself and to
undertake a journey of self-discovery. But then all her
hopes, dreams and romantic notions of marriage are
shattered as all that her husband teachers her is about
himself. She feels degraded as she is treated as a mere
object for sexual gratification. Her husband is so
self-centered that he fails to realize that her soul is not
present in the process of love-making. He was pleased
merely by the physical sight and response from his
wife’s body and cared not for her emotional
contentment. The speaker describes their love making
act with disgust as a merely mechanical act without soul.
Her husband only explored her body out of lust and
never even attempted to explore her soul or mind. While
making love, the speaker says that every part of the body
is penetrated except the soul. Hence, she hardly ever
experiences feelings of oneness with him. She is left
emotionally unsatisfied and disappointed.

Being a wife, she was expected to serve him food and

vitamins (or medicines) at the right time. She lived
forever under his monstrous ego. She felt totally
subjugated and this in turn made her feel like she has
turned or degraded into a dwarf. She lost all her dreams,
desires, even her identity and with this, all her former
stature as well. This stifling life leaves her mentally
perturbed, hence, her responses and reactions often
sound illogical and incoherent. She is completely
dehumanized in this caged experience. The “summer”,
the “rudder breezes” and the “burning leaves” highlights
the suffocation felt by the speaker.

Her husband turns into a source of pervasive oppression.

A lot of urban imagery (artificial lights, cut flowers,
air-conditioner, shut windows etc.) is used to describe
the unnatural state of her lifeless married life and the
fake love in it. The cut flowers losing their natural scent
may be a symbol of all the joys of the speaker's life that
have now faded. Her husband has reduced love to mere
lust and his fake love is almost deadly in nature. His love
in fatal doses almost kills her. According to Greek
legend, Narcissus is a Greek youth who is obsessively in
love with his own image which is reflected in the water
of a fountain. He doesn't realize it is himself and he
thinks it's the nymph of the place. Thus, he tries to
approach it and kills himself in the process. Narcissism
also refers to sexual gratification found in one’s own
body or a vain admiration of one’s idealized self-image.
Basically, what the poet is trying to convey here is that
excessive and obsessive self-love is self-destructive in
nature. Hence, her husband’s self-centered, fake love
would surely lead to a destructive end. It would not only
kill her husband but also herself. She yearns for a release
from the tyranny of her husband, even if this meant
suicide.

SHORT ANALYSIS

“The Old Playhouse” by Kamala Das is in short, a

description of an unsatisfactory and disappointing
married life. It is more like a public protest against the
poetess’ husband. Let us consider the title of the poem.
A ‘playhouse’ is literally a miniature version of a house
for children to play in, usually girls. Girls use playhouses
for pretend play as they are trained by society to believe
they are all naturally home makers who tend to homes
and care for children while boys play around with toy
cars, guns or balls. The playhouse is thus responsible for
reinforcing stereotypical notions on gender and
propagating male dominance. Thus, the playhouse could
be taken as a symbol for a traditional patriarchal society.
The persona in the poem is a woman who is caged like a
swallow even though she has an inborn “urge to fly”.
The monotony of domestic life is hinted at in words like
“tea”, “vitamins” and “flowers in the vases”.

Love, which is usually considered as the spirit of life is

represented in this poem as the killer of life. The poem
sheds light on the fact that physical gratification alone
fails to provide contentment or fulfillment in married
life. In fact, self-identity is lost through this act of
spiritless love making.
GIEVE PATEL

Gieve Patel (born 18 August 1940) is an Indian writer,

painter and a practicing doctor based in Mumbai. Patel
belongs to a group of writers who have subscribed
themselves to the 'Green Movement' which is concerned
in an effort to protect the environment. His poems speak
of his deep concerns for nature and exposes man's
cruelty towards it. Patel's works include “Poems”(1966),
“How Do You Withstand” (1976) and “Mirrored
Mirroring “(1991).

Patel has also exhibited his paintings for Contemporary

Indian Art, Grey Art Gallery, New York City etc. His
poem titled "Licence" from the collection “How do you
Withstand” is included in the anthology “Confronting
Love” which was edited by Arundhati Subramanyam
and Jerry Pinto.

“THE AMBIGUOUS FATE OF GIEVE PATEL, HE

BEING NEITHER MUSLIM NOR HINDU IN
INDIA”

(Text of the Poem)

"To be no part of this hate is deprivation.

Never could I claim a circumcised butcher

Mangled a child out of my arms, never rave

At the milk-bibing, grass-guzzling hypocrite

Who pulled off my mother's voluminous

Robes and sliced away at her dugs.

Planets focus their fires

Into a worm of destruction

Edging along the continent. Bodies

Turn ashen and shrivel. I

Only burn my tail”

EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS​

Gieve Patel’s “The Ambiguous Fate of Gieve Patel, He

Being Neither Muslim Nor Hindu in India” is a satirical
poem on religious hatred and violence that ensues from
it in India. To understand the poem, one must understand
that Patel was a Parsi and the Parsi community suffered
negligence during the post-independence stage of India
when Hindu’s and Muslims were raging communal wars
against each other. Patel is, therefore, neither a Hindu
nor a Muslim and this is why he finds himself stuck in an
ambiguous (undecided or unclear) fate. This poem
conveys two messages basically. One, it is an ironic
reference to the communal rioting in India and two, it
sheds light on the estrangement or isolation felt by the
Parsi community in the midst of these riots. The poem
begins by the speaker saying that not belonging to either
the community of Muslims nor of Hindus itself a state of
deprivation. He could never claim to have a child forced
out of his hands by a Muslim (hence circumcised)
butcher nor could he claim to be part of the vegetarian
(milk-bibing and grass-guzzling) Hindus who could be
potential rapists of women. These lines may also indicate
that the real victims of any riot or violent act are
probably the innocent women and children who play no
role in these riots. When all the planets (probably a
reference to Hindus and Muslims) were focused on
destroying each other and the Parsi were reduced to mere
bystanders or onlookers. As a Parsi observer, the speaker
finds it difficult to choose to be on the part of either side.
“Edging along the continent” may be hinting at how the
Parsi community were marginalized and forced to
migrate. Their suffering also arose from the fact that they
witnessed this war between the other two communities
and this itself felt like neglect and an estrangement from
the society to which he belongs. While the entire country
is on fire, the Parsis only ‘burn’ their ‘tails’. This shows
that they are never directly involved or physically
affected by the communal hatred between the Hindus
and the Muslims. This poem also sheds light on the
animal desire latent in human society and the rise of a
cult of violence and urge to wound, to torture and to kill.
In short, the poem grieves on the isolation faced by the
Parsis.
MEENA ALEXANDER

Born in Allahabad, Meena Alexander was brought up in

Kerala and Sudan. She received her PhD from
Nottingham University. During the initial five years in
India, she published her first three volumes of poetry:
“The Bird’s Bright Ring”(1976), “I Root My
Name”(1977) and “Without Place”(1978). She taught at
various universities in India and then moved to New
York in the year 1979. She then went on to publish two
novels, six volumes of poetry, a play and an
autobiography as well. One of the most distinguished
themes that appears in her poetry are the difficulty in
being a woman, of being in a woman’s body and also
handling the societal and physiological pressures on the
female body. Her perspective is complicated and often
mixed up due to her alienation from the language and
culture of her childhood.

“Raw Silk” is one of her best-known poetry collections

to which the poem (“Blue Lotus”) which we are about to
study belongs to. It was in 1993 that she published her
autobiographical memoir titled “Fault Lines”.

BLUE LOTUS

(Text of the Poem)

"It is not enough to cover the rock with leaves"

Wallace Stevens
I

Twilight, I stroll through stubble fields

clouds lift, the hope of a mountain.

What was distinct turns to mist,

what was fitful burns the heart.

When I dream of my tribe gathering

by the red soil of the Pamba River

I feel my writing hand split at the wrist.

Dark tribute or punishment, who can tell?

You kiss the stump and where the wrist

Bone was, you set the stalk of a lotus.

There is a blue lotus in my grandmother’s garden,

its petals whirl in moonlight like this mountain.

II​
An altar, a stone cracked down the spine,

a shelter, a hovel of straw and sperm

out of which rise a man and a woman

and one is a ghost though I cannot tell which

for the sharpness between them scents

even the orchids, a sharing of things

invisible till the mountain fetches

itself out of water out of ice out of sand

and they each take tiny morsels

of the mountain and set it on banana leaves

and as if it were a feast of saints

they cry out to their dead and are satisfied.

III​

I have climbed the mountain and cleared

away the sand and ice using first my bare hands

then a small knife. Underneath I found

the sign of the four-cornered world, gammadion,

which stands for migration, for the scattering

of the people. The desolation of the mothers

singing in their rock houses becomes us,

so too the child at the cliff’s edge

catching a cloud in her palm

as stocks of blood are gathered on the plain,

spread into sheaves, a circlet for bones

and flint burns and the mountain resurrects itself.

IV

Tribe, tribute, tribulation:

to purify the tongue and its broken skin

I am learning the language again,

a new speech for a new tribe.

How did I reach this nervous empire,

sharp store of sense?

Donner un sens plus pur etc. etc.

does not work so well anymore,

nor calme bloc ici-bas.

Blunt metals blossom.

Children barter small arms.

Ground rules are abolished.

The earth has no capitals.

In my distinct notebooks

I write things of this sort.

Monsoon clouds from the shore

near my grandmother’s house

float through my lines.

I take comfort in sentences.

“Who cares what you write?”

someone cries.

A hoarse voice, I cannot see the face.

He smells like a household ghost.

There can be no concord between us.

I search out a bald rock between two trees,

ash trees on the riverbank

on an island where towers blazed.

This is my short

incantation,

my long way home.

William, Rabindranath, Czeslaw,

Mirabai, Anna, Adrienne

reach out your hands to me.

Now stones have tongues.

Sibilant scattering,

stormy grace!

EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS

The “Blue Lotus” by Meena Alexander belongs to the

collection “Raw Silk” (2004). The female persona in this
poem undertakes a journey into the past and this journey
unravels pictures of ancestors and homelands.

In the first section of the poem, the speaker

communicates feelings of un-belongingness. She then
arrives at a spiritual residence where the red soil of the
Pamba river in Kerala meets the ash trees on a New
York riverbank. This is the place where a broken identity
can be restored back to wholeness through the use of the
ancient magic of language.This stanza is a mixture of
different emotions. Dream has been inserted inside as if
it’s another layer of the speaker’s memory. Here, the
phrase “stubble fields” represents how the poet has
cleared out unwanted memories from her mind and
heart. The clouds represent the cover or veil that hid the
truth of abuse from the poet. The abuse itself is
represented by mountains. When the poet tries to
uncover these memories from her mind, the clouds stand
in her way. In the third line, she explains how clear her
life once used to be until these memories started
resurfacing. This is when she loses clarity in her life. The
memories come back and hurt her.

In the second part, the poet explores the space of

memory in the poem. She attempts to identify herself
and she meets herself as the woman in writing in a
foreign land. The poet attempts to answer questions of
identity and belonging and searches for a stone, a shelter,
a hovel of straw or even a sperm out of which the life of
a man and woman begins.

There seems to be an anguishing sense of nostalgia and a

wish to belong to an imaginary homeland. The female
speaker’s ethnic identity is brought out through the
‘Monsoon’ rains and sparkling ‘shores’. The poet uses
stones as a metaphor for repressed memories of abuse
that the poet hid from herself for most of her life. This
brings us to the quote by Wallace Steven that Meena
Alexander gives at the beginning of “Blue Lotus”. The
quote (“It is not enough to cover the rocks with leaves”)
suggests that memories or repressed memories of abuse
within one’s subconscious mind can’t be kept hidden for
long, it’s bound to resurface at some point of time in
one’s life. By the end of the poem, the leaves have
cleared from the rocks. Years after the abuse, the
‘stones’ or ‘rocks’ finally have tongues and she is able to
reflect on those painful memories now.

It is a place that is open enough to allow trans-cultural

and trans-historical literary authors like Wordsworth,
Mirabai, Rich etc.
The speaker reaches out to her poetic ancestors to relieve
and comfort herself. (“I search out...stormy grace”).
Here, contemporary sorrows and sufferings invalidate
distinctions of nations and countries.
ARUNDHATI SUBRAMANIAM

Arundhati Subramaniam is a poet and writer based in

Mumbai. She has published three books of poetry: “On
Cleaning Bookshelves “(2001) and “Where I Live”
(2005) and “Where I Live”(2009). She is also the author
of a prose study, “The Book of Buddha” (2005), and was
co-editor of “Confronting Love” (2005), an anthology of
contemporary Indian love poetry in English. Her poetry
has been translated into Italian, Tamil, Spanish and
Hindi. Subramaniam is India’s country editor for the
Poetry International Web. She received the Raza Award
for Poetry in 2009, the Visiting Arts Fellowship by the
Poetry Society and the Homi Bhabha Fellowship in
2012. She has also written on literature, theatre, culture
and even classical dance for various leading newspapers
in India.

“HOME”

(Text of the Poem)

Give me a home

that isn’t mine,

where I can slip in and out of rooms

without a trace,
never worrying

about the plumbing,

the colour of the curtains,

the cacophony of books by the bedside.

A home that I can wear lightly,

where the rooms aren’t clogged

with yesterday’s conversations,

where the self doesn’t bloat

to fill in the crevices.

A home, like this body,

so alien when I try to belong,

so hospitable

when I decide I’m just visiting.

EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS

The poem begins by the speaker asking to be given a

home that doesn't belong to her. Home is a place which
is usually believed to be a safe, secure and peaceful
place, away from all the threats of the world. However,
for women, home may turn into a place of suppression
and subjugation almost to a point where it becomes more
like prison for them. The speaker is probably trying to
break free from this prison of domestic life, yearning for
freedom. The lines “where I can slip in ... bedside” may
refer to escaping from burdens of household chores that
are dumped upon women for their entire lives. She
yearns for a home which feels light on her mind and is
not blocked with conversations (unwanted conversations
maybe). A home which isn't filled in every nook and
corner with self-ego. The speaker expresses a desire
never to have belonged to any home at all so she could
have explored all her dreams and desires freely. She
never feels like she belongs to the place where she lives
and is in constant search for a place to call her own. On
another level, the poem could be a woman’s quest for
regaining self-identity. A woman’s self-identity remains
ignored and thus it gradually fades away into the dark
corners and crevices of human existence. The poem may
refer to the different identities donned by a woman.
MEENA KANDASAMY

Meena Kandasamy was born in 1984 and is based in

Chennai. She is an Indian poet, fiction writer, translator
as well as activist. Her debut collection of poems was
titled “Touch” (2006) and the poems in this collection
revolved around caste and untouchability. Her second
collection titled “Ms. Militancy” (2010) contained
feminist reclaimings and reworkings of Hindu and Tamil
myths. The poem “Dead Woman Walking” is a part of
this collection. “The Gypsy Goddess” (2014), “When I
Hit You: Or, The Portrait of the Writer asa Young Wife”
(2017) and “Exquisite Cadavers” (2019) are the novels
penned by Meena Kandasamy. Her works have appeared
in around eighteen languages.

“DEAD WOMAN WALKING”

(Text of the Poem)

I am a dead woman walking asylum corridors,

with faltering step, with felted, flying hair,

with hollowed cheeks that offset bulging eyes,

with welts on my wrists, with creasing skin,

with seizures of speech and song, with a single story

between my sobbing, pendulous breasts.

once i was a wife: beautiful,

married to a merchant: shifty-eyed.

living the life, until he was lost in listless doubt—

of how, what i gave him was more delicious

than whatever, whatever had been given to me.

his mathematics could never explain

the magic of my multiplying love—this miracle—

like materializing mangoes out of thin air,

like dishing out what was never there.

this discrepancy drove him away:

a new job in another city.

he hitched himself to a fresh and formless wife.

of course, as all women do, i found out.

i wept in vain, i wailed, i walked on my head, i went to

god.
i sang in praise of dancing dervishes, i made music

for this world to devour on some dejected day.

i shed my beauty, i sacrificed my six senses.

some called me mad, some called me mother

but all of them led me here,

to this land of the living-dead.

EXPLANATION AND ANALYSIS

This poem by Meena Kandasamy is woven around the

legendary story of KaraikkalAmmaiyar.
KaraikkalAmmaiyar is a mythological character who
was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and is believed to
have strong faith in Shiva right from childhood onwards.
She was later married to Paramadhaththan, the son of a
wealthy merchant. She continued to take care of Shiva
devotees as she did in her childhood days feeding them
and giving them clothes. Once her husband gave her two
mangoes to be kept for him and as she had an
unexpected Shiva devotee as guest for lunch and lunch
wasn't ready yet, she gave the guest one of these
mangoes. Later, when her husband came home she
served him a mango and he asked for the second. She
didn't know what to do as it had already been served to
the guest at lunch so she prays hard to Shiva and
suddenly a mango appears in her hand as if by magic.
This second mango tasted extremely delicious as
compared to the first and her husband started questioning
her. As he wasn't a believer of Shiva, she refrained from
telling the actual truth and her husband began suspecting
her. He asked her to get another fruit and she prays again
and gives him a mango but it disappears as soon as he
touches it. This makes her husband realize that she is no
ordinary woman but a divine person and thus calls her
“ammaiyar” (meaning mother). He could no longer take
her as a wife so he leaves her and moves to another place
where he marries another woman named Chellam
through whom he had a child as well. Dejected, Karaikal
Ammaiyar prays to Lord Shiva to give her a different
form and is granted her wish by becoming a fiery form
of Kali. It is this story upon which Meena Kandasamy’s
poem “Dead Woman Walking” is based upon. The poem
narrates how this once beautiful and loyal wife is turned
into a ‘dead woman walking’ by her husband’s dejection
and desertion.

The poem begins with a description of the woman

(Karaikal Ammaiyar) who now resembles a dead,
spiritless woman who has lost her sanity as well. Her
untidy hair, sunken cheeks, protruding eyes, wrinkled
skin, her epileptic fits of speech,songs and bruises on her
wrist further emphasizes the mental anguish she may
have gone through due to her husband's desertion. The
phrase ‘pendulous breasts’ implies the loss of former
beauty as well as youth. She couldn’t comprehend her
husband’s logic for rejecting her for her ‘multiplying
love’. The miracle of the mango in
KaraikkalAmmaiyar’s story is referred to her and she is
shocked that by performing a miracle and serving her
husband a delicious fruit he abandons her instead of
holding on to her and loving her more. Her sincerity and
love for him is completely disregarded. And this
miraculous act drives her husband away from her into
another city where he finds a new job and a new wife.
Just as all women find out about their husbands’ affairs
or secret marriages, she too finds out about this act of
deception. This makes her weep at first, but her sorrow
could not be contained and so the sobbing turns to
wailing. She then turns all her attention to Lord Shiva,
and she loses herself so much in this devotion that she
soon loses all her six senses as well as her beauty and
youth. Soon people start calling her mad while some
others revere her as ‘mother’. But one thing that the
speaker is sure of is that everyone is equally responsible
for driving her into the ‘living-dead’ state she is in. Not
just her husband, but even the patriarchal society had its
role in leading her to insanity and spiritless body.

This poem sheds light on the difficulties and anguish of

dejected, exploited and abandoned women. The poem
also uses KaraikalAmmayar as a representative of Dalit
women who are sexually exploited and later abandoned
by men. “Dead Woman Walking” thus sarcastically
highlights how such women die inside while they are
physically still alive.
 SECTION B: FICTION
MULK RAJ ANAND

Born in Peshawar in 1906 as the child of a coppersmith,

Mulk Raj Anand graduated in India and received his
Ph.D from abroad. And while in Europe, he became
politically active in India’s struggle for autonomy. Along
with Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand is
considered as one of the pioneers of Indian English
literature. Mulk Raj Anand is Western educated and he
wanted to live with Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram. While
RK Narayan and Raja Rao celebrated Gandhi as a
national leader, Anand actually followed him, practicing
a Gandhian life. Anand was thus awakened to a new side
of India, a social reality to which he was blind until
then.

Social realism in literature tends to turn didactic, but

rarely did Anand’s works slip into didacticism. While in
Europe, Anand wrote with Marxist principles, back in
India he added Gandhism to it and hence his characters
are always from the working class. He focuses on the
injustices that are experienced by the downtrodden
(which is very evident in novels like “The
Untouchable”(1935),“Coolie” (1936)etc.). He always
sided with the lower class people. He also wrote other
novels and short story collections along with taking up
editing work of various magazines and journals. He also
worked now and then on a proposed seven volume
autobiographical novel titled S​even Ages of Man​, but
was able to complete only four volumes. ​

COOLIE

​Coolie, by Mulk Raj Anand, was first published in

1936. This novel is concerned with the consequences of
British Rule in India and the effects of the rigid caste
system that structured Indian society. “Coolie” is a term
used for an unskilled labourer in India. This novel tells
the story of Munoo, a young boy from the Kangra Hills
in Bilaspur. He is an orphan who lives under the care of
his aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, early on in the story
itself they reveal they can no longer support Munoo and
insist on him finding a job for himself. This is the
beginning of a journey that will take Munoo to Bombay
and beyond and sadly,it simultaneously marks the end of
his childhood.

SUMMARY

Munoo, accompanied by his uncle, travels to a nearby

town where he finds a job as a servant to a bank clerk,
Babu Nathoo Ram. He pays a meagre Rs.3 for Munoo’s
service and this is taken by Munoo’s uncle. Munoo is
mistreated by his master’s wife but he admires his
master’s younger brother, Prem Chand, who is a doctor.
Babu Nathoo Ram himself is a typical example of a
Middle-Class Anglophile who has internalized the values
of the colonizer and firmly believes in the supremacy of
white people. A great fuss is made when the aptly named
British native, Mr. English visits the bank where Babu
Nathoo Ram works. However, this episode disillusions
readers about the apparent supremacy of White people or
the colonizers. When Prem Chand asks about the best
place in Britain to further his medical training to Mr.
English, we find out that he has no clue about it as he
himself is an uneducated man.

After accidentally injuring Sheila, Babu Nathoo Ram’s

daughter, Munoo is beaten up and so he decides to run
away. He makes it as far as Daultapur, where he is taken
in by a person called Prabha who runs a pickle factory.
Prabha and his wife are kind to Munoo, but the work he
has to perform is quite hard. Prabha is set on appeasing
his neighbor, Sir Todar Mal,who is the Public
Prosecutor, by offering him free pickles and jam to
prevent him having the factory shut down because the
smoke irritates him. Ultimately, however, it is Prabha’s
own business partner, Ganpat, who cheats him and
leaves him bankrupt.

When Prabha loses the factory, Munoo is again left

jobless and has to manage by himself once again. He
chances upon an elephant driver who is travelling to
Bombay with a circus and decides to join them. Bombay
was a promising aspect for Munoo as factory work there
paid around fifteen to thirty rupees. While Munoo is
mesmerized with Bombay initially, he soon realizes that,
even here, “coolies” must sleep on the streets. He
manages to find work at Sir George White’s cotton mill
where he meets Ratan. Ratan is a wrestler and a member
of the worker’s union, a man who has chosen to fight his
masters and reject the exploitative conditions in which
he works in and Munoo idolizes him. The possibility of a
positive outcome which is symbolized by Ratan doesn't
live long for Munoo, however, as a riot breaks out during
a workers’ strike and he becomes lost.

While wandering the streets, he is run over by Mrs.

Mainwaring’s car. In order to compensate for this
accident, she hires him as a servant and takes him to
Simla. Mrs. Mainwaring offers insight into another
dimension of Indian society. She has English, as well as
Indian, ancestry, and longs to be accepted by English
society. As a result, she travelled to England and married
a young English soldier. Even Though Mrs. Mainwaring
treats Munoo kindly, Munoo contracts tuberculosis and
dies at the age of fifteen in a quarantine shed.

SHORT ANALYSIS

“Coolie” is a proletarian novel which highlights the way

in which lower classes are exploited by those above
them. Munoo, the central character of the story is the
best example of this sort of exploitation. It is also a satire
against the injustices that prevail in the Indian society.
Some of the recurrent themes in “Coolie” are poverty,
exploitation, brutal suppression, class hierarchies and the
power of money. The lower class seems helpless and
portrays absolutely no control over their lives. Munoo is
merely a representative of the thousands of lower class
people like him who suffer abuse and exploitation due to
poverty. Munoo has zero control over his life, over the
jobs he has to do or the places he ends up in or how
people treat him. As he struggles to survive it seems
almost as if he is just moving from one tragedy to
another.

A postcolonial analysis of the novel reveals the presence

of a lot of Homi K. Bhabha’s kind of ‘mimic men’ like
Nathoo Ram Babu, Ganpat, Mrs. Mainwaring etc. These
characters aspire to be accepted as English people, they
ill-treat the poor and are proud of their association with
the British. Mrs. Mainwaring suffers from inferiority
complex about her origins and yearns to go to England to
be recognized as a “pukka”. Characters like Ratan, the
trade Union Personnel and Mohan show elements of
colonial resistance.

Munoo on the other hand shows subservience to colonial

power, it seems wired into him and in turn he is
ill-treated by everyone, family, employees and everyone.
His death raises questions on whether the down trodden
“coolies” like him will ever have a promising future or
chances of being uplifted.

Another thing to be noted in the novel is the language

used in it, especially the extensive use of abuses. The
author seems to have deliberately chosen offensive and
abusive language to highlight his theme of class
discrimination. Some of the other major themes coming
up in this novel are exploitation (at different levels),
social injustices, communal violence, greed, selfishness,
poverty etc. “Coolie” also exposes the issues faced by
ordinary men due to an unjust economic and social
structure.
FOR FURTHER READING:

1. Visit the following link for a brief Study on

Coolie​ : ​http://ignited.in/I/a/55332

2. For learning about the various themes in

Coolie,visit
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-lite
rature/the-themes-of-mulk-raj-anands-coolie-
english-literature-essay.php

3. Critical Study :
https://ashvamegh.net/coolie-a-story-of-suffer
ers-in-indian-society/
R.K. NARAYAN

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanswami was born in

1906 in Madras. He completed his education in 1930 and
worked briefly as a teacher before dedicating himself
entirely to literature and writing. During his literary
career, he published around fourteen novels, out of
which “Swami and Friends” (1935). Most of Narayan’s
novels were set in a fictitious Indian town called
‘Malgudi’.

R.K.Narayan is known as the Indian Jane Austen as both

of them portray the middle class people in their fictions.
In his introduction to “The Financial Expert”, he states
that Graham Greene is his mentor. Almost all of his
novels focus on a specific character and tell the story
through his perspective. Autobiographical elements can
be found in his novel “The Bachelor of Arts”. He
focuses on the mundane life and anxieties of the middle
class society. His novels have been translated into
various languages. Although he writes in English, he
never really loses his Indian-ness. It is interesting to note
that his characters are both individuals as well as
universals. Once we finish reading one of his novels, we
are left feeling like there is a Margayya, a Swami or a
Raju inside each of us. His last published work was “The
Grandmother’s Tale” (1993). Some of the common
themes he dealt with in his novels were the ironies of
daily life in India, modernity and tradition, exile and
return, education, myths and the ancient Indian past,
appearance and reality etc. He also published abridged
prose versions of the two great Indian epics, namely,
“The Ramayana” (1972) and “The Mahabharata” (1978).
“Lawley Road”, “A Horse and Two Goats and other
Stories” are examples of his short story collections.

THE GUIDE ​(1958)

SUMMARY

“The Guide” narrates the life story of a person called

Raju. Raju is the son of a modest shopkeeper in the
fictional town of Malgudi. Raju grows up to be a person
who easily changes and adapts according to what other
people want him to be. The construction of the railways
in Malgudi changes Raju’s family’s fortune forever.
Raju’s father begins a second shop next to the Railway
station and the family prospers. But after his father’s
sudden death, Raju is forced to take over the shop to
continue his father’s business. While engaged as
shopkeeper at his father’s shop, Raju begins to show
visitors arriving at the Railway Station around the sites
at Malgudi. In order to impress his customers and act as
a tourist guide, Raju would fabricate tales and
exaggerate facts. Fortunately for him his reputation as a
guide grows and he comes to be known as “Railway
Raju”. Tourists and visitors from afar start asking for
him and it is while being engaged as a tourist guide that
he meets with Marco Polo. Marco Polo is a studious
student of ancient civilizations and he came to Malgudi
in order to research cave paintings and temples
surrounded in Malgudi town. He employs Raju as his
tourist guide to navigate the sites he needs for his
studies. Raju impulsively dislikes the dominating Marco
and this hatred is further aggravated when he meets
Marco’s young wife Rosie. Rosie arrives at Malgudi two
weeks after Marco’s arrival. Despite having a foreign
name, Rosie is actually an Indian woman trained in
Indian Classical dance. Raju realizes that she is the best
dancer he has ever seen when he takes her to visit a
snake charmer. In order to get closer with Rosie, he
devotes all his time to take care of Marco and Rosie’s
needs. He soon realizes that Marco’s and Rosie’s
marriage is not a happy one. Learning of Rosie’s
unsatisfied married life which arose primarily out of
Marco’s disinterestedness in her passion for dancing,
Raju utilizes this opportunity to seduce Rosie. He
compliments and flatters her, always praising her
dancing skills and Rosie ends up having an affair with
Raju.

In an argument on Rosie taking up classical dancing as a

career, she blurts out that she was having an affair with
Raju. She describes Raju as a man who understands and
appreciates her talent unlike her husband. This leads to
the formation of a crisis between the husband and wife.
When Raju comes by Rosie asks him to leave them alone
and so Raju returns to Malgudi. He tries to adjust
himself to his old jobs of shopkeeper and tourist guide.
Few weeks later, Rosie appears at his house along with
her luggage and declares that Marco has left her. Raju’s
mother is a traditional Indian woman who seems
shocked at the idea of a single young woman living in
the house with her son and herself. However, she accepts
Rosie’s presence for the time being. Thrilled by Rosie’s
presence, Raju encourages her to dance again and she
begins practicing daily.

However, his mother soon learns that Rosie is a married

woman and is also a dance belonging to the lower caste.
In between Raju is caught in financial troubles and his
negligence of the railway shop further aggravates the
losses incurred. Raju’s uncle comes to his house and
insults Raju and Rosie and also demands Rosie to leave.
When Raju sides with Rosie, his mother is infuriated and
she leaves with her brother. Finally, Rosie becomes
ready for her public debut performance and chooses the
name ‘Nalini’ for her stage performance. She becomes a
huge success right from the beginning of her debut and
Raju takes up the role of her ‘manager’. Everyone starts
asking for ‘Nalini’ and the role of managing Rosie’s
career makes Raju wealthier. In order to meet his
financial debts, they move into a larger and more
luxurious house to host all the important personalities
who seek ‘Nalini’ like bankers, politicians and rich
merchants. While everything was prospering, Raju began
growing jealous of the artist friends whom Rosie enjoyed
spending time with. Rosie starts feeling uneasy due to
this jealousy and Raju senses this. Marco’s book
published based on his research in Malgudi arrives at
Raju’s house, however Raju hides the book from Rosie
out of his jealousy. Now the news that Marco’s book has
been published reaches Rosie and she shows excitement
on reading about the book in a magazine. When she
finds out that Raju had hidden the copy Marco had sent
to them, she picks up a quarrel with Raju. Due to Raju’s
increasing jealousy and possessiveness, he also hides a
letter which was sent to Rosie from Marco’s lawyers.
The letter talks of a box of valuable jewelry which
Marco wishes to release to Rosie. Raju greedily tries to
forge Rosie’s signature but ends up being caught and he
is put in jail for this act of forgery. Rosie is shattered on
discovering that due to Raju’s reckless spending they
have very little money left despite her dancing
continuously and tirelessly. They don’t even have money
to meet the legal expenses of Raju to defend him in
court. Rosie takes to dancing again to hire an expensive
lawyer but the lawyer fails to get the charges off Raju
and Raju is sentenced to two years of imprisonment.
Raju spends the rest of his time in jail reading news of
Rosie’s stardom and ever blooming career but he
musters the courage to meet her again. After being
released from prison on completion of his two year term,
Raju decides not to go back to Malgudi due to the social
alienation and gossip that he is bound to face. He sits by
the banks of a river near a small village not knowing
where to go. A stranger named Velan from the nearby
village passes by and stares up at him reverently
mistaking Raju for a holy person. Velan confesses his
troubles to Raju about one of his half-sisters refusing to
accept a marriage proposal that was arranged for her.
Even though Raju feels a bit unsettled at this
unwarranted respect and reverence towards him he
agrees to help. This sister accepts the marriage proposal
after being brought to visit Raju and Velan’s family
gives all credit for this to Raju. This leads the villagers to
believe that Raju is indeed a holy man with powers. Raju
decides to act the role as he had nowhere else to go and
the villagers provided him with free food as offerings
which took care of his basic needs. He grows his beard
long and starts living in the temple next to the river in
order to play the role out more convincingly. He began
delivering lectures on a daily basis to a congregation of
villagers. All the while Raju is aware of being a fraud
but still continues the drama. Things start changing when
a severe drought affects the village and the villagers
draw Raju into a two week long fast in order to bring in
the rains. Afraid of the expectations the villagers had on
him and due to the huge sacrifice he was expected to
undertake he finally reveals his true life story to Velan.
However, instead of realizing that Raju is a fraud,
Velan’s views remain unchanged and he looks up to
Raju with the same reverence and respect he had before.
Raju is taken aback and at the same time moved by the
continued respect. In order to pay back for the respect
and faith the villagers had in him, he decides to begin the
fast. News of Raju’s fast spread far and wide and people
and journalists from all over started arriving to meet this
heroic holy man. On the last day of his fast, Raju feels so
weak that he cannot even descend the river by himself. It
is only with Velan’s help that he reaches the depleted
river. Verging on the brink of falling unconscious, Raju
looks ahead into the horizon and tells Velan that he can
sense that it is raining in the hills. With this Raju droops
down and the novel ends.

ANALYSIS

“The Guide” narrates the journey of a tour guide in the

fictional place of Malgudi to a spiritual guide. This novel
focuses on spiritual transformation and self-realization.
It is the story of the transition of a conman to a holy man
and this transition is portrayed in a comic way which is
simultaneously didactic in nature. R.K.Narayan also
satirizes certain aspects of Hinduism in “The Guide”. A
postcolonial reading of the novel reveals that the
construction of the railway in Malgudi may be
considered as a symbol of intrusion of colonial values
and Western ideology into the traditional and
undistinguished Malgudi. Raju’s lack of self-confidence
could be seen as an outcome of the dependency that the
colonial power had forced upon its subjects.

Let us now take Raju, the central character into

consideration. Raju’s entire life seems to be built upon
deception, self-deception and hypocrisy. He is a
self-made man who takes up multiple careers according
to situations in his life. He is a classic example of a
counterfeit guru who seems to have absolutely no
uneasiness in cooking up tales. He has a sort of inborn
tendency towards deceit and disguise, a master actor
who even takes care to change his physical appearances
and costumes according to the role he assumes. Raju
keeps on reinventing himself according to the needs of
others and for his own selfish gains as well. “The Guide”
reveals how Raju, the corrupt man, is turned into a saint
by the end of the story. But despite putting on masks of
pretence every now and then, Raju portrays a sincere
concern for the welfare of others. As a tour guide and
lover, he exhibits impulsiveness and self-indulgence. On
the other hand, as a spiritual guide, he is more careful,
thoughtful and self- disciplined. He turns from sinner to
saint, but he is never truly either of them. At the same
time, in his interactions with Rosie, one can understand
that he is also an open, broad minded person with
modern thoughts and attitudes towards many issues
including women, caste, career etc. His lust for money is
the tragic flaw that brings him down. But even then, he
picks himself up swiftly after each fall. Marco, on the
other hand, is described as “impractical” and “helpless”.
He is way too nerdy to comprehend Rosie’s passionate
and dreamy nature. Rosie is portrayed as an instinctive,
educated, romantic dreamer who belongs to a lower
caste. She is a born dancer who grew up dancing in
temples right from her childhood onwards. Her
irresistible urge to dance is suppressed by her husband
Marco. The vacuum he creates in her life by not
appreciating or understanding her passion for dance is
filled up by Raju’s appreciation of it. Even her
description of her marriage with Marco shows that it was
not a marriage born out of love, rather a totally
uninvolved or disinterested set-up. Her relationship with
Raju is not an ordinary extra marital affair born out of
love or lust, both Rosie and Raju have their own reasons
for it. While Raju has monetary benefits in mind, Rosie
yearns for appreciation and validation and all that is
missing in Marco. She is a woman struggling to find
fulfillment. Initially she seems to be living in a bubble
but she is gradually disillusioned in the end as Raju is
exposed. But despite Raju’s imprisonment her fame and
career continue rising and seems not to have been
impacted by Raju’s imprisonment and his dwindling of
their wealth. This shows that like Raju, she also rises and
stays strong despite the harsh realities she had to face
due to Raju’s deception.
Towards the end of the novel however Narayan conveys
the fact that there is still hope and one’s past need not
define one’s life. The novel highlights the fact that
people are capable of change and although destiny or
fate can play a huge role in determining one’s life, our
individual character and our attitude towards life can
make a difference. In short, there is hope for mankind
and Raju’s journey is proof of this hope.

FOR FURTHER READING :

1. For themes, characters and symbols of ​The

Guide,​ visit
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-guide/characters

Or ​https://www.gradesaver.com/the-guide

2. Major Symbols in the novel :

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/paripex/rece
nt_issues_pdf/2014/July/July_2014_1405513163
__75.pdf
SALMAN RUSHDIE

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie was born on the 19 of June,

1947 in Bombay as the son of a wealthy Muslim
businessman. He did his schooling both in India as well
as in England. He graduated from the University of
Cambridge. After graduation, he lived with his family
who had moved to Pakistan in 1964 before returning to
England again. His first novel, “Grimus”, was published
in 1975. “Midnight’s Children” was his second novel
and it was published in 1981. It was this novel that won
him international recognition.

With the publication of his novel “Satanic Verses” in

1988, he had to face accusations of blasphemy against
Islam. As a result of this, a fatwa (sentence of death) was
issued against him by the Iranian government in 1989
and he had to go into hiding under the protection of the
British government and police. Although his movement
was restricted after this, he continued to write and
publish novels, short stories and essays. In 1998 the
fatwa against Rushdie was withdrawn and he recalls his
experience of his life under the fatwa in a memoir titled
“Joseph Anton” (2012). “Midnight’s Children” was
adapted into a movie in 2012, for which Rushdie himself
drafted the screenplay.
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN​ (1981)

SUMMARY

The protagonist, Saleem Sinai, is born on the 15​th of

August,1947. He was born at midnight, at the exact
moment when India gained freedom from the British.
The novel begins by Saleem narrating his life story as he
feels he is about to die. He is thirty years old while he
narrates his story and Padma, his faithful lover is the
listener and audience while Saleem narrates the story of
the ‘midnight’s children’. Saleem is in fact writing his
story and all the while reading it out as Padma is
illiterate and can’t read. In Saleem’s story, a doctor
named Aadam falls in love with his patient while
treating her. For reasons of modesty and propriety his
patient Naseem stays behind a sheet with a small hole
and only the place where she is ailing can be seen by the
doctor through the hole. Aadam finally gets to see her
face when she has a headache and instantly falls in love
with her just as Naseem’s father had hoped and
expected. They both marry and move to Amritsar where
they witness protests being suppressed violently and end
with the protestors being mass murdered. Meanwhile,
Aadam and Naseem are blessed with three daughters and
two sons. Aaadam becomes a follower of an activist
named Mian Abdullah, the ‘Hummingbird’ who is
murdered for his beliefs. Mian Abdullah’s assistant,
Nadir Khan takes refuge in Aadam’s house despite
Naseem’s disapproval of this. Nadir lives under the floor
of the house all the while. Aadam’s daughter Mumtaz
and Nadir fall in love with each other and get married.

They fail to consummate their marriage even after

around two years. Nadir is found out at Aadam’s and he
is forced to flee leaving his wife behind. Mumtaz
therefore remarries Ahmed Sinai, a merchant who had
courted her sister earlier. Mumtaz changes her name to
Amina and she moves to Delhi with her husband.
Amina(Mumtaz) gets pregnant from there and meets a
fortune teller in order to learn about her future child. The
fortune teller predicted that her child would never be
older or younger than his country. In the midst of this
Ahmed’s factory is burned down by terrorists and they
decide to move to Bombay.

Mumtaz and Ahmed buy a house from an English man

named William Methwold in Bombay. They have a
neighbour there named Wee Willie Winkie who lives
with his pregnant wife, Vanita. Willie is ignorant of the
fact that Vanita had an affair with Methwold and is
pregnant with Methwold’s child. Both Mumtaz and
Vanita go into labour on the eve of India’s independence
and give birth at the stroke of midnight. Vanita dies
shortly after delivering her baby. The midwife, Mary
Pereira, being alone with the two infants switches the
nametags of the two babies as a “private act of
revolution” so that the poor baby could have a life of
privilege and vice versa. However, Mary begins feeling
guilty about this act and her guilt becomes so severe that
she offers her services as an ayah to care for the newborn
(named Saleem) to Amina. Amina accepts and Mary
returns to the Methwold’s Estate with the Sinai’s. She
continues to keep her secret for many more years until
she finally blurts it out, out of her own guilt.

Saleem’s birth gained wide press coverage because it

coincided with Indian Independence. He is described in
the novel as strange looking, with a cucumber shaped
nose and blue eyes. Saleem had a habit of hiding himself
in his mother’s washing chest when he was a child. One
day while hiding out he accidentally witnesses his
mother using the toilet. As a punishment, his mother
forces him to be silent for a day and this is when Saleem
discovers his magical power to hear the thoughts of
others. He finally realizes that he can also hear the
thoughts of those children who were born in the same
hour as he was born (“the metaphorical mirror of the
nation”). He also finds out that all of these children were
also endowed with their own magical powers of which
the strongest ones were those born closest to midnight.
Shiva, the real son of Amina, who was switched with
Saleem, is described as being physically strong and
gifted with powers of fighting.

Mary Pereira is forced to admit that she had switched

babies when Saleem is taken to the hospital and doctors
reveal his blood type which proves he cannot be the
biological son of Ahmed and Amina. The now alcoholic
Ahmed is infuriated and becomes violent on hearing this
news. This in turn makes Amina decide to live with her
sister in the recently created nation, Pakistan. However,
they return to Bombay after Ahmed’s death. This is the
time when India was caught up in a war with China.
Saleem has an operation done to fix his nose and after
the surgery, he loses his magical power of telepathy.
Instead he is now left with an enhanced sense of smell
which helps him sense other people’s emotions. The
family again moves back to Pakistan after India loses to
China. Soon Indo-Pakistan wars begin and Saleem
Sinai’s entire family is killed except for his sister,
Jamila. Saleem is hit on the head by an airborne spittoon
in the midst of this. This incident causes Saleem to lose
his memory temporarily. He loses all sense of identity,
forgetting even his own name. He is taken into the
Pakistani army and he is not quite sure of how he ended
up in the army but manages to escape into the
Bangladeshi jungles after witnessing many war crimes.
When he emerges from the jungles, the war is ending
and India emerges victorious. Although Saleem recovers
his memory partially he still cannot remember his name
until he meets Parvati-the-witch, who is another one of
the ‘midnight’s children’. The two fall in love and they
retreat to a magician’s ghetto. Although Parvati wants to
get married to Saleem he refuses to do so. She then goes
on to have an affair with Shiva by casting a spell on him.
Shiva impregnates her but he soon loses his interest in
her and finally Saleem agrees to marry her and father her
unborn child. The then Prime Minister of India, Indira
Gandhi declared a state of emergency and began mass
sterilization camps to control India’s population. Parvati
is killed right after childbirth and at the same time, Shiva
kidnaps Saleem and takes him along with the other
children at midnight to a sterilization camp. Finally,
Indira Gandhi’s emergency ends as she does not win her
first election and all the midnight’s children are set free.
Saleem goes in search of Parvati’s son, Aadam. He
finally finds Aadam (who is endowed with enormous
ears) with a snake charmer they were acquainted with in
the magician’s ghetto and the three of them together
travel to Bombay. In Bombay, Saleem happens to eat
some chutney which reminds him of his nanny, Mary
Pereira. He tracks her down and discovers that she is the
owner of a chutney factory. It is from here that he meets
Padma whom he decides to marry. But as he finishes off
his life story, he decides to narrate his future too which
starts with a description of his wedding to Padma in
Kashmir. But then just as he had himself predicted, he
finally succumbs to the cracks in his skin and crumbles
into six hundred million pieces of dust. ​

ANALYSIS

Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” is a 1981 magical

realism novel that revolves around India’s independence,
the partition and its aftermath. It is also considered as a
national allegory. It is a semi- autobiographical novel
that won Rushdie the esteemed Booker Prize as well as
the special ‘Booker of Bookers’ Prize. Magical realism
arose as a reaction against 19​th Century realism. Magical
realism novels are usually set in an unreal world that has
nothing to do with the real world we live in. It questions
the belief or demand that fiction must always imitate
reality. It may be described as an attempt to challenge
commonly held notions of the real and unreal.
“Midnight’s Children” may also be included under
postcolonial and postmodern literature. Personal history
is intertwined with the history of a nation in this novel.
This particular novel of Rushdie’s is often compared to
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of
Solitude” and Gunter Grass’ “Tin Drum”.

“Midnight’s Children” mixes both fact and fantasy

where there seems to be an evolving movement from the
world of facts towards a more intuitive world of fantasy,
dreams and memories. Some of the themes dealt with in
the novel include national history, political reality,
religious orthodoxy, social hypocrisy, brutal mentality of
Pakistani Muslims etc. The novel is structured like the
“Panchathanthra” and “Arabian Nights” where there is a
frame tale in which lots of other stories are embedded in.
Saleem Sinai, the narrator’s narration is a maze of
strange stories which are told in a familiar or traditional
way. Saleem creates an “Arabian Nights” like ambience
when he insists that he has many “stories” to “tell”. The
novel doesn't immediately begin on Saleem Sinai’s life
history; even before his birth is narrated readers are
taken through a range of digressions which takes up
around 100 pages. And Padma complains of this when
she says “you better get a move on or you’ll die before
you get yourself born” (38). Saleem doesn't follow a
proper sequence when narrating events also, in fact
endings sometimes precede beginnings. Saleem is never
an entirely reliable narrator, he makes mistakes here and
there and this is probably Rushdie’s way of pointing out
that written history is never completely true to facts.
When histories are being written, very often facts which
are favorable to a particular group of people are selected
and these facts are made to be believed as the history of
an entire community. In the novel, Padma symbolizes
the view of the ordinary, illiterate people of India who
accept and never question the marvelous or
extraordinary like the anglicized Indians do.

It is interesting that the fortune teller whom Amina

approached predicts Saleem’s life even though it is Shiva
who is in Amina’s tummy. His prediction of ‘two heads’
may refer to both Saleem and Shiva. Likewise, the
phrase ‘nose and knees’ used by him refers to the
magical powers of both Shiva and Saleem. Both of them
were born closest to the midnight hour and are hence
bestowed with the most powerful magical powers when
compared to the other ‘midnight’s children’.
Unfortunately, the novel lacks prominent female
characters of any real value. Most of the female
characters in the novel are mere stereotypes. Almost all
of them are by nature cheats, or superstitious, or
nagging, or gossiping, or irrational, or immoral, petty
and stubborn.

Throughout the novel, Saleem tries to put himself at the

center of his nation’s history and tries to prove himself
important. But in the end, it is Shiva who actually
emerges successful as he becomes ‘India’s most
decorated war hero’ while Saleem ends up narrating his
life story in a pickle factory. But the novel ends with
hope as Shiva and Parvati’s son, Aadam is compared to
the elephant-headed Ganesh in Hindu mythology.
According to Hindu mythology and beliefs, Ganesh is
the ‘remover of obstacles’ and it is he who brings the
prophesied family line into place. Hence, Aadam
symbolizes a prosperous new beginning and a better
promise for India’s future.

Some of the major themes dealt with in this novel are the
effects of colonialism and the issues of a postcolonial
world, gender related power struggles, identity crisis and
religious pluralism.

FOR FURTHER READING :

1. For themes, character analysis and symbols visit

either of the following sites :

a. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/midnight-s-c
hildren

b. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Midnight
s-Children/

2. A detailed introduction to the novel:

https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles
/an-introduction-to-midnights-children

3. Post modern traits in the novel :

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journ
al-for-research-analysis-GJRA/recent_issues_pdf
/2015/August/August_2015_1438858313__21.pd
f
AMITAV GHOSH

Amitav Ghosh was born in 1956 in Calcutta. He

graduated from the University of Delhi and received a
Ph.D in social anthropology from the University of
Oxford. He worked as a newspaper reporter and editor
initially and then went on to teach in various universities
in both India and the US. His first novel, “The Circle of
Reason” was published in 1986 and uses magical realism
to depict the life of a boy called Alu who lived in India
but had to flee to the Middle East due to certain
circumstances. Some of his other noted novels are “The
Shadow Lines” (1988) where Ghosh focuses on the
encounter between an Indian family and an English
family. “The Glass Palace” (2001) is a story about three
generations of a family and depicts themes of
displacement and quest for identity. His works therefore,
mainly revolve around the diasporic influence in his own
life. “Diaspora” here basically refers to two different
cultures and two different countries embedded side by
side in a migrant’s mind. For Indian diasporic writers, it
is usually memories of India that become material for
most of their literary works. Some of the other writers
who focus on diasporic subjects are Jhumpa Lahiri,
Rohinton Mistry, Kiran Desai, Salman Rushdie and
Arundhati Roy. Ghosh is one of the trinities along with
Salman Rushdie and V.S.Naipaul to popularize Diaspora
in Indian writing in English.
In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian
Government for his contribution to literature. The very
next year, Ghosh’s novel, “The Sea of Poppies” was
shortlisted and received the Man Booker Prize(2008).

THE HUNGRY TIDE​ (2004)

“​ The Hungry Tide” (2004) is a novel about people and

animals’ struggle for survival in the world. Nature and
man seem to be in constant conflict throughout the
novel. It is set in the world’s largest mangrove
ecosystems, the Sundarbans. The ‘tide’, which is always
hungry, comes in twice daily and thus uproots. As the
story progresses, Piya comes to the realization that not
all efforts of conservation are necessarily good for the
world. Environmental and political histories are
intertwined in the novel.

SUMMARY

Kanai, a wealthy translator from New Delhi meets Piyali

Roy (Piya), a young cetologist (a cetologist is a scientist
who studies whales and dolphins) on a train to Canning.
Both of them are travelling to the Sundarban Islands for
different reasons. Piya is going there to study a rare
species of river dolphin while Kanai is going there as his
aunt (Nilima) requested him to read through and
examine a long lost packet that was left by his late uncle
(Nirmal). Nirmal had passed away around twenty years
ago during a rebellion. Before Kanai and Piya separate at
Canning, Kanai politely invites her to visit his aunt’s
place at Lusibari (a remote island in Sundarbans).
Kanai is in Lusibari for the first time in thirty years and
so he sets out to explore the landmarks he remembers.
He is shocked when he hears about Kusum’s death.
Kusum was his friend when Kanai was on the island
back in the 1970s. He learns that Kusum has a son
named Fokir who has married a trainee nurse named
Moyna and that they both live on the island. When he
reaches his aunt’s home, he is surprised at how much the
place has changed since his last visit. He goes upstairs
and opens the packet left by his uncle only to find out a
notebook that was written during the course of a few
days in May 1979 on the island of Morichjhapi. In a
letter which is addressed to Kanai, Nirmal (his uncle)
explains that he is with Kusum on the island and why he
needs to record everything that is happening there.
Nilima Bose (Kanai’s aunt and Nirmal’s wife) is not
quite happy about the fact that Nirmal left the notebook
to Kanai instead of her.

Kanai met Kusum in 1970 and they had been good

friends. Kusum was under Nilima’s care at that time as
her father had passed away and her mother was sold into
sexual slavery. Kanai and Kusum had gone to watch
performances of the local legend ‘The Glory of Bon
Bibi’ and Kanai had found the story in it quite touching.
After watching the performance one night, a fisherman
named Horen took Kusum away claiming that it’s for her
safety and nobody saw her again for years.

Piya, on the other hand, obtains permits from the Forest

Department and begins her study along with a forest
guard and is forced to hire an expensive launch whose
loud engines are sure to scare off dolphins easily. Piya
intuitively feels things going wrong the moment she
heads out in it and she struggles to adjust to the situation.
When Piya spots a fishing boat in the river, she asks the
guard to take her to it so she could enquire about the
dolphins in the area. The guard and the boat pilot exploit
this opportunity to fine the fisherman. When Piya
realizes this and tries to offer money to the fisherman
and falls into the river. However, she is rescued by the
fisherman and she decides to stay with him on his small
boat instead of returning to the forest guides.
Fortunately, this decision proves to be a wise one. The
fisherman introduces himself as Fokir (Kusum’s son)
and he is accompanied in the boat by his young son
Tutul. Although Fokir is illiterate and does not speak
English he communicates quite effectively with her. All
Piya had to do was show pictures of the dolphins and her
equipments to Fokir to make him understand that she
needed to hire him and his boat. Fokir treats Piya with
kindness and respect unlike the guards. The very next
day Fokir takes to a place called Garjontola where they
spot seven Irrawaddy dolphins and Piya is shocked as
she thinks that they do not behave as they are actually
believed to. The next day Piya spends her time observing
dolphins while Fokir fishes for crabs. Both of them are
on their way to Lusibari when Piya nearly loses her hand
to a crocodile. Once in Lusibari, Nilima invites Piya to
reside at their guest house with Kanai and she accepts.
Kanai agrees to help Piya talk with Fokir the next day.
Over the next few days Kanai is busy reading his uncle’s
notebook from which he finds out the story of how
Nirmal gets involved with the settlement on Morichjhapi
after his retirement (he used to be a teacher). He used to
be a famous Marxist member in Calcutta but then later
on had to leave the city after he was arrested and
suffered from a mental breakdown. Although Nilima
disapproved of his Marxist beliefs, he continued to
believe in Marxism while he spent thirty years of his life
teaching in Lusibari. Nilima on the other hand,
developed a Women’s Union in order to help widows in
Lusibari as it was common for men to die while they
were out fishing.

After retiring, Nirmal begins visiting schools along with

the help of Horen. Horen and Nirmal were caught in a
storm one day and they ended up meeting Kusum in
Morichjhapi. She takes them in and narrates her story of
her finding her mother after years and of getting married,
of having her son who was named Fokir. Nirmal is
delighted to find out that Morichjhapi was being
developed in a Marxist way and so he offers to teach the
children there. Nilima on finding this out is infuriated
and refuses to provide medical services to the island of
Morichjhapi. Nirmal then keeps his involvement secret
and continues to visit the island now and then with
Horen as his companion. The police begin a siege on the
island which is survived by Kusum and Fokir. When
Nirmal hears the police are going to assault the island, he
went with Horen to warn Kusum about it and he filled in
the notebook for Kanai overnight while he stayed on the
island. Many weeks later, Nilima finds Nirmal
disoriented in Canning and months later he dies.
Meanwhile, Piya and Kanai try to convince Fokir and his
wife Moyna to go out for a week in order to survey
dolphins at Garjontola. Piya seems irritated when Moyna
belittles her husband Fokir. While Piya makes
preparations to leave, Kanai offers to be her translator
but Nilima is not happy with it as she feels Kanai is
unaware of the risks. Nilima tries to explain how many
people are killed every week by tigers. When Moyna
confesses her fear of Piya and Fokir being romantically
involved, Kanai exploits the opportunity and tries to
convince her that he himself would be a better partner
for Moyna than Fokir. This irritates Moyna further,
however, the survey party leaves Lusibari the next day.
Kanai too becomes jealous when Piya admits that she
finds it very easy to work with Fokir despite language
barriers. When they hear excited voices of the nearby
island and investigate it, they find out that a tiger that
had killed two people previously had got into a building
along with the water buffalo. Villagers try to burn the
tiger alive and Piya is horrified, but Kanai says that it is
required in order to share habitats. The next day when
Piya and Kanai go to observe the dolphins along with
Fokir, Piya explains how she got interested in dolphins
and Kanai translates how Fokir comes to the dolphin
pool to visit Kusum’s spirit. When they reach
Garjontola, Kanai barely escapes a tiger attack and he
returns to Lusibari. Horen takes him back the next day
and before leaving Kanai leaves a packet for Piya. Piya
and Fokir spend their day tracking dolphins and they
anchor at night near Garjontola while Piya reads Kanai’s
letter. The letter contains a translation of ‘The Glory of
Bon Bibi’.
 The next morning, Horen admits to KAnai that both he
and Nirmal were in love with Kusum but Kusum chose
Horen in the end. A storm is gathering and they leave
hopes of Piya and Fokir returning with them and so head
to Lusibari. While Kanai wades to the shore, Nirmal’s
notebook falls into the gushing water. He gets back to
the guesthouse and asks Nilima if he could transcribe
Nirmal’s story from his memory and Nilima agrees but
asks him to record her side of the story too. Piya and
Fokir brave the storm tied on to a tree on Garjontola.
When the storm passes away, they spot a tiger. Fokir is
hit by something large and he dies while Piya manages
to take his boat in the direction of Lusibari the next day.
When she returns to the village, she explains to Moyna
and the others of Fokir’s heroism. Piya then returns to
Kolkata to spend time with her relatives and meanwhile
she raises fund money to help Moyna to buy a house and
send their son to school. She also develops a
conservation program to work with local fishermen and
names the program after Fokir.

MAJOR CHARACTERS

The major characters in the novel and some of their basic

characteristics have been given below for a better
understanding of the novel:

● Piyali Roy : Piya is a cetologist. A cetologist

refers to a biologist who specializes in marine
animals like whales, dolphins etc. Piya was born
in India to Bengali parents but grew up in Seattle
and never really learned her mother tongue. But
this does not appear to be a barrier when she tries
 communicating with locals like Fokir.
Interestingly enough, even though she can
actually communicate better with Kanai, she does
not share the kind of understanding or bond with
him that she has with Fokir. Piya develops into a
more practical person by the end of the novel as
she realizes that conservation isn’t always helpful
or necessarily a good act always.
● Kanai Dutt : Kanai is a middle-aged business
man and translator from Delhi. Despite being a
self -centered person, he is also quite observant
and intelligent. He tries in vain to woo Piya. His
self centeredness and self-importance gradually
reduces as the story progresses. And so his
experiences transform him to a better person by
the end of the story.
● Fokir : Fokir is a poor fisherman who rescues
Piya after she falls into the water. He is also well
informed about river dolphins and is more than
happy to share his knowledge with Piya. Though
they both dont have a common language to
communicate, they both strike up a bond using
non-verbal communication. He has a really good
presence of mind and acts practically when faced
with a crisis. However, he dies during the heavy
wind and storm. Later on Piya names her project
after him and this shows us how much she valued
him.
● Some of the other major characters in the novel
are Nirmal Bose, Nilima Bose, Kusum, Horen
and Moyna.
A HINT AT THE THEMES DEALT WITH IN THIS
NOVEL

Some of the major themes dealt with in the novel is the

conflict between man and nature, their mutual
dependency as well as the deep connection between man
and his environment. Ghosh also sheds light on the
danger, violence and indifference that nature displays
towards humankind. Another theme that the author
brings out in “The Hungry Tide” is the failure of
language as an effective means of communication and
the importance of emotional bonding and
communication through non verbal means. This novel
also highlights how violence against people is made
possible under the pretence of environmental
preservation. Ghosh also takes a blow at idealism that is
not combined with practical actions. The rigid caste
system in India, political corruption etc. are also subjects
that are dealt with in “The Hungry Tide”.
 SECTION C: DRAMA
GIRISH KARNAD

Girish Karnad is an actor, playwright, author, film

director and producer born in 1938. “Yayati” (1961) was
his first play. His next play was “Tughlaq” (1964) which
narrates the story of the fourteenth century Muhammed
Ibn Tughlaq. It was “Samskara” that sketched his entry
into filmmaking. He not only wrote the screenplay but
also acted in the lead role in the film which is actually an
adaptation of an anti-caste novel named “Samsakra”
itself by U. R. Ananthamurthy. His play “Hayavadana”
(1971) was widely recognized. For his contributions to
the theatre in India, he was awarded the Padma Shri in
1974. His play “Nagamandala” describes the story of an
unhappy contemporary marriage drawn from Kannada
folk tales. In 1992, he also received the Padma Bhushan
from the Indian government in recognition of his
contributions to art.

Karnad’s plays deal with the moral problems that are left
unresolved in myths, legends and folk-tales. In his
opinion, myths and legends have an enduring
significance and their logical conclusions are often open
ended in reality. This open-endedness leaves enough
scope for reworking the entire story and arguing out a
philosophical, moral or psychological point. Karnad has
probed India’s rich heritage for his source materials. He
finds plots in Indian folklore and mythology that are in
themselves very dramatic and easily adaptable on stage.
So what Karnad does through his plays is to examine
ancient myths in the light of contemporary realities so
that today’s concerns are made more meaningful and
relevant. However, in the Indian context, most myths
are related to religions. But Karnad re-interprets these
myths from a non-religious dimension and exploits their
inherent potential to arouse and sustain human emotions.
Karnad does not take myths in its entirety; he takes them
only in parts that are useful to him and the rest he
supplements with his imagination. Although myths have
traditional and religious sanction, they have within
themselves the means of questioning these values.
Karnad believes that the various folk inventions like the
chorus, the music, the mixing of human and nonhuman
worlds permit a synchronous presentation of alternate
points of view. Thus, an ancient myth acquires new
elements in the creative hands of Karnad, and the play
gains diverse meanings. Some of his popular plays are
“Hayavadana”, “Tughlaq”, “Samskara” and “The
Dreams of Tipu Sultan”.

YAYATI

SUMMARY

The play begins with a Prologue where the Sutradhara

introduces the play and creates a background to make it
easier for the audience to understand and interpret the
play that was going to be staged. The Sutradhara
explains his role and then goes on to say that the play is
based on an ancient myth, yet it was not “mythological”
in nature. He also declares that “Our play has no Gods”
thus taking out any religious element that may be
ascribed to the adaptation of the myth. He then goes on
to give us a picture of the situation and setting in which
the play is about to open in. The action of the play
begins to unravel in a room located on the first floor or
King Yayati’s palace. King Yayati and his wife Devyani
await the arrival of Yayati’s son Pooru along with his
new bride. He is returning after many years after
completing his education and crowds throng outside the
palace awaiting his return. Sutradhara makes it clear that
Pooru is expected to lead a blissful marital life here in
the Palace hereafter possibly being blessed with off
springs as well. But the play reveals changes in the
expected fate. Sutradhara thus takes leave of the
audience and asks the audience to relive the ancient
mythical story.

ACT I

In Act I, we see King Yayati’s wife, Devyani having a

conversation with her maid, Swarnalata, in an inner
chamber of Yayati’s palace. Swarnalata accuses one of
Devyani’s other maids in the palace for creating an
unpleasant environment in the palace with her nastiness
and asks Devyani to be wary of her. Thus, we are
introduced to the character of Sharmishtha, Devyani’s
other maid who Swarnalata is talking about. It is quite
clear that even though Devyani knows about
Sharmistha’s behaviour in the palace she is not ready to
send her away. Devyani puts an end to this conversation
by sending Swarnalata off to attend to the florists who
have come to deck up the chamber for Pooru’s arrival
with his new bride.

Swarnalata exits and Sharmistha enters noiselessly. She

has a conversation with Devyani which reveals herself as
a jealous and revengeful woman who knows that she is
creating an unpleasant situation in the palace and yet
refuses to correct her behaviour. Their conversation
reveals many important aspects in the story like the fact
that Sharmistha is a Rakshasi by birth and that Devyani
had a failed affair with another man named Kacha before
her marriage with King Yayati. Devyani’s father,
Sukracharya was a famous Guru who knew the secret to
bringing back the dead and Sharmishtha hints that it was
this knowledge that Yayati was after. Sharmishtha also
dares to tell Devyani that Yayati did not marry Devyani
for her beauty or love for her but instead married her
only due to his lust for immortality. The story of how
Devyani was rescued from a well by King Yayati is also
revealed in this Act.

The initial calmness that Devyani portrayed gradually

fades away with each passing remark by Sharmishtha.
Infuriated by Sharmishtha’s allegations and nasty talk,
Devyani is about to hit her when the King himself enters.
Sharmishtha rudely excuses herself and leaves the room.

Devyani immediately asks King Yayati why he married

her. Though Yayati tries to convince her that he married
her for her beauty, she is not convinced and further asks
him why he never asked her her name after pulling her
out of the well. Now both Yayati and Devyani remain
perturbed due to Sharmishtha’s nasty remarks. Yayati
declares that he is tired of Sharmishtha “sucking blood”
from their married life and asks Swarnalata to send
Sharmishtha in. He asks Devyani to continue
preparations to make arrangements for Pooru’s arrival
while he has a talk with Sharmishtha. Sharmishtha enters
and an awkward silence ensues, Yayati waits for
Devyani to leave to speak to her. After Devyani leaves,
Yayati questions Sharmishtha on her behaviour and
threatens to send her home in a month’s time if she
continues so. Sharmishtha replies in the same
unflinching manner in which she spoke with Devyani.
Sharmishtha utilizes this opportunity to narrate her side
of the story simultaneously justifying her current attitude
and acts at the palace. She says that being a slave has
turned her into an animal. The famous mythical fight
between Devyani and Sharmishtha over the accidental
mixing up of garments after a bath in the river is also
revealed through her talk. Yayati almost feels sorry for
her while listening to her story. Sharmishtha takes out
poison from her blouse and threatens to drink it and
commit suicide. Yayati in an attempt to stop her from
drinking it springs forward and holds her right hand. The
poison falls onto the bed out of her hand and
Sharmishtha declares that Yayati’s act of holding her
right hand has made her a Princess and she sits down on
the bed. (Holding of the right hand is a symbol of
marriage according to Hindu beliefs). Swarnalata enters
to announce the arrival of the florists who are waiting to
decorate the chamber. Yayati asks her to send them away
for the time being and asks her not to admit anyone
inside the chamber he is in until he says so.
ACT II

Act II begins with Yayati lying on the bed while

Sharmishtha adjusts her dress. The scene makes it clear
that they have just finished making love. A conversation
on death and vitality ensues between them both and
Sharmishtha also hints that this half an hour with her is
going to cost Yayati as it will infuriate his wife. She
declares she is going to leave and Yayati vows to marry
and make Shamrishtha also his Queen in order to stop
her from leaving the Palace. He then asks Swarnalata to
send the florists in but Swarnalata makes it clear that
Devyani has sent the florists away. The King is surprised
that Devyani is there outside and he asks Sharmishtha to
leave so that he can handle Devyani alone.

Devyani enters and asks where Sharmishtha is. Yayati

tries to divert her in vain as she goes and pulls back the
curtain to reveal Sharmishtha hiding behind it. Devyani
calls the King a “treacherous hyena” for having been in
bed with her maid. She orders Sharmishtha to go home
and leave the palace but Yayati stops her and declares
that he is going to marry Sharmishtha. Devyani pleads
with the King and asks him to take anyone but her as his
wife. But Yayati is adamant on his decision. Swarnalata
announces the arrival of Pooru. When left alone in the
chamber, Devyani removes and throws off all her
jewellery including her marriage thread. Her maid
Swarnalata tries to convince her to stay but in vain. She
leaves the palace to meet her father whom she heard was
in town (in Shambu Shrine). Sharmishtha runs after
Devyani as she leaves while Yayati, Pooru and his new
bride, Chithralekha enter the chamber. Yayati asks for
Devyani only to find out that she has left to see her
father. Then a conversation between Yayati and his son
begins, which reveals the rebellious nature of Pooru and
his questions about his mother. This Act reveals the fact
that Pooru’s mother was a Rakshasa woman and that
Pooru was a half caste. Pooru also describes his marriage
ceremony. All of a sudden, Sharmishtha runs in and falls
at Pooru’s feet. It seems that Devyani’s father,
Sukracharya had cursed Yayati to lose his youth and
become a decrepit by night. She begs Pooru to go and
appease Sukracharya. Yayati is infuriated and blames
Sharmishtha for bringing this fate upon him.

ACT III

Pooru returns with the news that the curse would not
have an effect on Yayati if Yayati finds a young man
who is ready to take up the curse upon himself instead.
Yayati rejoices and is quite confident that he can easily
find someone to take the curse for him as he would
provide all the riches necessary for that person. But
unfortunately, Pooru failed to find anyone ready to take
up a curse of old age and weakness upon themselves.
Pooru suggests Yayati to accept the curse as Sharmishtha
had suggested. But Yayati is in no way ready to lose his
youth and vitality. Finally, Pooru selflessly takes the
curse upon himself.

ACT IV
Chithralekha is in her chamber, it is night time and she is
bored. Swarnalata enters and they strike up a
conversation. Swarnalata first tries to divert her and keep
the truth about Pooru having taken up the curse away
from Chithralekha. She feels extremely sorry for
Chitralekha who awaits her first night while her husband
is losing his youth, vitality and gradually turning into an
old, weak and senile person. She finally tells Chitralekha
the truth about what happened with Yayati and the curse
and how Pooru took it upon himself to save Yayati.
However, Chitralekha’s initial reaction shows she only
feels lucky and blessed to have Pooru as her husband.
She does not cry as Swarnalata expects her to. But once
Pooru comes in, Chitralekha loses all sense of calmness
and is shocked. She screams out and asks Swarnalata to
take him out. Without a word, Pooru allows to be taken
away. He is too exhausted mentally and physically now.
It is here that Swarnalata narrates her own story. She
narrates the story of how her husband doubted if
Swarnalata ever had an affair with her teacher who came
to educate her only in the nights. Her teacher did so
because he was a poor Brahmin who taught in return for
a free meal a day and he did not want others to know
about it. However, her husband’s possessiveness and
doubtful nature got the better of him and he began
revenging upon Swarnalata by indulging in drinks,
women and such bad habits. Finally, she lies that the
teacher had seduced her and her husband then disappears
forever. Even now she waits for me with all his things
intact in her home. If he doesn’t return she hopes he is
dead and has found peace in death at least. After
narrating her story she picks up the bottle of poison left
by Sharmishtha and says that she doesn’t have the
courage to take it. Chitralekha asks if she could see it
and Swarnalata hands it over. Meanwhile, Yayati and
Sharmishtha come to meet Chitralekha.Yayati orders her
to call Pooru back but Chitralekha refuses to admit
Pooru in her room until he becomes a young man again.
He reminds Chitralekha of her duties and responsibilities
as a wife. Chitralekha takes a strong stand and explains
her viewpoint and the tragedy she is going through. She
points out that the gifts that waited for her in her
chamber were Devyani’s marriage thread and
Sharmishtha’s vial of poison. Yayati now pleads with
her to give Pooru more time to accept things and find
strength in his sacrifice. Chitralekha accuses Yayati of
cowardice and says that she married Pooru so that he
would be able to impregnate her. Now the only person
capable of doing that is Yayati so she invites him to do
so, so that she can have the seed of Barathas planted in
her. Yayati is shocked at this suggestion and calls her a
Whore. She decides to drink the poison and die as Yayati
refuses to either give her youthful Pooru back or share
her bed. Yayati, terrified, is about to stop her but refrains
from holding her right hand and she smilingly drinks the
poison. But as death approaches she calls out for
Swarnalata and asks her to help her because she does not
want to die. But it is too late, Chitralekha dies. This in
turn leads Swarnalata to lose her sanity. It is now that
Yayati realizes the mistake he made. He regrets the
choices he made. He calls for Pooru and asks him to take
his youth back. Finally, Yayati is ready to accept the
curse which was meant for him by himself. He is ready
to face his fate in the forest and Sharmishtha
accompanies him. The play ends with Pooru asking God
“what does all this mean...” Pooru leaves the stage
picking up Chithralekha’s body followed by Swarnalata.
Sutradhara makes an appearance once again and tries to
interpret Pooru’s question to God. He ends by stating
that the ancient epics hold that Pooru ruled wisely for a
long time and so we may assume that he did find an
answer to his question after all.

ANALYSIS

“Yayati” was written originally in Kannada in 1960,

when Karnad was just 22 years old. In the preface to the
English version of “Yayati”, Karnad admits that he had
no experience of theater when he wrote it. In the
Afterword, he narrates that he was going through “an
intense emotional dilemma” when he wrote “Yayati” on
whether to go abroad for his studies following a
scholarship he had earned himself or to stay home as his
parents and family suggested and give up the opportunity
of developing his career abroad. He says that he wrote
the play merely to escape from the stressful situation he
was in at that time. Years later, when he looked back
upon the play, he realized how perfectly and aptly the
myth explained his situation at that time and his
“resentment with all those who seemed to demand that I
sacrifice my future”.

Girish Karnad, like Shakespeare, adapts recognized plots

and then re-works on them. But, every time he uses the
familiar, old story to produce a completely new and fresh
perspective apt for contemporary times. It is almost as if
these old myths and ancient stories offer Karnad a safe
place to present his views on topics that are considered
taboo or forbidden. Girish Karnad thus uses adaptations
of ancient stories and myths to shed light on his
commentary on contemporary social and political
conditions.

“Yayati” is an adaptation of an ancient myth from the

Mahabharata. The original myth narrates the story of
Yayati who is the second son of Nahusha. In this story,
Sharmishtha is the daughter of the King of Danavas,
Vrshparvan and Devyani, the daughter of Sukracharya.
Both of them are companions and a quarrel ensues
between them when their garments accidently mix up
after a bath and they exchange harsh words. Infuriated,
Sharmishtha pushes Devyani down a well. King Yayati
happens to pass by the well and goes to the well for
water. Devyani cries out for help and King Yayati
instantly helps her out. Devyani refuses to return to the
court of Vrshparvan where she and her father had been
staying. Instead she sends over a maid to inform her
father about her plight. Vrshparvan also comes to learn
of these incidents and he does not want to lose a guru
like Sukracharya. Hence, he decides to pacify Devyani
and Devyani in turn requests Sharmishtha to be made her
maid. Sharmishtha agrees to this as a sacrifice for her
father and her clan. Later, Yayati marries Devyani and
Sukracharya warns Yayati against displeasing Devyani
in any way. Devyani and Yayati go on to have two
children, namely, Yadu and Turvasu. Now, on request by
Sharmishtha, Yayati marries her secretly and they have
three sons, Drahya, Anu and Puru. Upon finding out
about this secret marriage, Devyani leaves the palace and
returns to her father who in turn inflicts a curse upon
King Yayati for going against his warnings. He curses
Yayati to lose his youth and be gripped by decrepitude
instead. When Yayati pleads with him, he offers one
respite that he could exchange his decrepitude for the
youth of any of his sons and that this son would become
King in his place after a thousand years. Puru is the only
son ready to accept the curse upon himself. Here, Yayati
enjoys his youth and lives happily for a thousand years
after which he takes the curse upon himself again and
gives Puru his youth back. Yayati then leaves for the
forest with both Devyani and Sharmishtha.

It is clear from the story of the original myth that Karnad

invented characters like Chitralekha and Swarnalata. The
deviations he made from the original myth are also
clear. Unlike in the myth, Devyani is portrayed as more
superior and it is Sharmishtha who seems inferior by
caste in the play. A subplot is also created in
Swarnalata’s story. Cast, class and gender differentiation
play an important role in “Yayati”. Social hierarchy is
drawn out in the play using caste. There is also a lot of
jealousy and possessiveness underlying in the play. One
of the messages conveyed by the play is the maturity of
youth over old age and the consequences of denying
undertaking one’s responsibilities.
MAHESH DATTANI

Born in Bangalore in 1958, Mahesh Dattani graduated

from St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore. He then worked
briefly as a copywriter for an advertising firm. In 1984,
he founded his own theatre group in Bangalore called
“Playpen”. It was in 1986 that he wrote his first play
titled “Where There is a Will”. Soon he penned more
plays like “Final Solutions”, “Dance Like a Man”,
“Tara” etc. His plays usually deal with the
not-so-obvious prejudices and problems in society which
everybody usually ignores or hardly pays any attention
to like social treatment of handicaps, child abuse, gender
discrimination, effects of partition etc. For Dattani,
theatre was a means of addressing the cause of the
downtrodden and unprivileged segment of the society.
He is also the only playwright to win the Sahitya
Academy Award (won in 1998). He is also one of the
twenty-one playwrights chosen by the BBC to write
plays to celebrate Chaucer’s 600​th anniversary in the year
2000. Besides being a playwright, he is also an actor,
director, scriptwriter and dance teacher.

TARA

SUMMARY

ACT I

Tara is a two- act play by Mahesh Dattani. The play

opens in London where we find Chandan (or Dan), a
playwright, attempting to write a play titled “Twinkle
Tara”. But he keeps getting distracted as he is unable to
stop the flow of childhood memories and recollections of
the past with his sister Tara in his mind. He thus comes
to the realization that no matter how much he tries to
forget her she will always remain deep within him
because they both are ‘inseparable’ as Tara once
declared. Tara and Chandan were born as Siamese (or
conjoined) twins who were later separated through a
surgery.

The scene then shifts back to their childhood where we

find Bharati, Chandan’s and Tara’s mother trying to
force Tara to finish off her cup of milk as the doctor had
advised that Tara must gain more weight. Bharathi runs
around fussing after Tara while Patel, her husband tries
not to fuss and takes things more lightly. But then after
trying in vain to calm Bharathi down he gives up. He
would like to take Chandan to office but Chandan does
not want to go. Chandan says that Tara should be taken
instead as she would make “a great business woman”.
Patel, on the other hand, doesn’t think it is such a good
idea to take Tara to office but he gives in to their
demands and agrees to take both of them. Roopa, their
neighbourhood friend enters and then a conversation
between her, Tara and Chandan follows. When Tara
explains Chandan is trying to write a story about herself,
she describes herself as ‘Strong. Healthy. Beautiful.’
Immediately Roopa retorts saying, “That’s not you!
That’s me!”. Meanwhile, we also see Patel miming a
conversation with a neighbour from which doubts of
Bharathi’s present mental condition and instability is
confirmed. All of a sudden we are brought back to Dan
again who wakes up with a jerk and starts to try to type
again but in vain. He thinks that he could never do
justice to her through his writing and believes that she
never got justice of any sort while she was alive. His
mind wanders off to thoughts of their separation and he
feels that God probably never wanted them to be
separate at all. He feels their separation was like a duel
between their surgeon, Dr. Thakkur and God. What
follows is a short interview like conversation between
Dan and Dr. Thakkur, from whom he got details about
the surgery that resulted in his and Tara’s separation. Dr.
Thakkur explains how rare Siamese twins are, especially
those of the opposite sex. The scene shifts again to their
childhood and we find Tara and Chandan talking to each
other about how hospitals or medical science has now
become an inevitable part of their existence due to their
handicap. They argue over the music they're listening to
and finally decide it is Brahms music and not
Beethoven’s. (Note that this music is repeated at crucial
points throughout the rest of the play). They also talk
about how their neighborhood friends treat them and the
way they stare at Tara’s leg which she shows off to them
as ‘the very best from Jaipur’. Chandan and Tara laugh
together and share their mutual emotions about all such
incidents were they, as handicaps, feel humiliated by the
society. The scene shifts again and we see Roopa coming
to Patel's house. Tara, Chandan and Roopa introduce
themselves and try to make friends with each other
despite the fact that Roopa does not understand English
as well as the twins and therefore fails to get their jokes
as well. But before Roopa leaves, Bharathi bribes her
when Roopa is alone to ensure Roopa visits them often
and becomes Tara’s best friend. Immediately on leaving
the Patel’s house Roopa goes and spills this story about
how the twins are real freaks and how their mother is a
‘wandhtarah’ (which means ‘odd types’ in Kannada).
The scene shifts and we find Bharathi and Patel having a
conversation about Bharathi’s decision to donate her
kidneys to Tara which Patel objects to. He states there is
no need to do so as he has already found another donor.
Bharathi insists on donating hers though and gets
hysterical about it. Now Patel insists that Bharathi
should see a psychiatrist and Bharathi hints at revealing
the secret behind the twins’ separation surgery. Hearing
this Patel slaps her and declares that the twins would
hear it from him if at all they should know about it and
never from her.

The scene switches again to Dan, we find him busily

typing away and reading out the last line. The scene
moves again to their childhood where Roopa reveals to
Tara that in olden times, the Patels were not happy with
having baby girls thinking about dowry and such things.
Roopa says that they used to drown their girl babies in
milk so that it would appear as if the baby choked while
drinking milk and died. Tara is shocked to hear this.
Meanwhile Patel enters and finds Chandan and Bharathi
busy unravelling Bharathi’s knitting at which Patel gets
infuriated. He tells Bharathi that he does not want
Chandan to be turned into a sissy. Chandan keeps on
insisting that it was his idea and not hers to help with the
knitting but Patel ignores him. Patel insists Chandan
goes to college which Chandan refuses to do without
Tara being enrolled with him. Bharathi and Patel keep on
arguing about Chandan’s future and on who loves Tara
more. Here, Patel is on the verge of spilling the secret,
but he holds himself back and lets Tara know that both
of them love her. Tara suddenly slumps into her father’s
arm and the scene shifts back to Dan who is reading his
play aloud from which we learn that Tara is revived and
Patel calls the hospital. This act comes to an end with the
explosive opening of Brahms’ music.

ACT II

This Act begins with Bharati trying to demonstrate and

convince Tara of her love. The scene fades off to show
Dan going through an old scrap book which contains
news cuttings of interviews with his mother and father
based on the successful separation surgery of their
conjoined twins. While going through this Dan points
out that Dr. Thakkur got so much publicity using them.
Scene fades off to show Dr. Thakkur explaining that the
complications that arose out of the surgery were
expected ones and that medical science completed what
nature had left a bit incomplete.

In the next scene, we find Tara returning home after a

surgery and Roopa and Chandan welcome her home with
flowers. Tara notices that her mother is not in sight and
is disappointed. Patel sits down with Tara and gently
breaks the news that her mother has had a nervous
breakdown and is now admitted in a hospital for
treatment. Lights appear on Dr. Thakkar again who
explains the great efforts he took to engage in this
separation surgery. And then the play returns back to
Tara and Chandan talking of how Tara wants to visit her
mother in the hospital and stay with her but Patel just
would not allow it. They also have an argument over
Tara not wanting to join college as she does not want to
go to college for Chandan’s sake. Patel asks them both to
sort it out between themselves and meanwhile also
reveals the hard truth that their grandfather (Bharathi’s
father) has left all his money to Chandan without leaving
even a penny to Tara. Patel leaves to his bedroom and
Tara accuses Chandan of being afraid to join college
because he’s afraid of meeting up with new people.
Eventually they make jokes and go out for some fresh air
holding each other’s hands. They don’t spot any
shooting stars but Chandan asks Tara to make a wish
anyway and Tara wishes for two legs, not the fake
Jaipuri ones, but real legs. The scene shifts while they
hug each other and we come back to Dan again and then
again to Dr. Thakkur and back to the Patel’s home again
where Chandan is listening to music while Roopa sneaks
in with a video cassette in her hand. Although Chandan
tries to get rid of her, Roopa stays on. Chandan is
engrossed in listening to the music while Roopa tries to
seduce him and Chandan gives in when he just can’t
ignore her presence and closeness. But when he attempts
to touch her, she rises up and insults him calling him a
‘horrible thing’. Chandan tells her he did it only because
she led him into it and tries to fight his tears back. They
both call each other names and Tara comes at the door.
Roopa leaves asking Chandan to try meeting up with
Freni Narangiwalla as she is a mentally retarded girl who
would suit him better than herself. Tara retorts back at
Roopa calling her an ‘imbecile with uneven tits’. This
infuriates Roopa and she blurts out that she visits them
only because Bharathi bribed her to and now that she has
gone crazy. Roopa decides she won’t be getting much in
return and vows never to come back. Tara and Chandan
are left comforting each other of the pain of being
one-legged creatures. Scene fades to Dan who is having
a telephonic conversation with his dad who tells him that
his mother is no more. Patel tries to persuade him to
return but Dan refuses. Scene shifts back to Chandan’s
childhood memory again and we find Tara telling
Chandan that Patel hates her because he had instructed
the hospital staff never to let Tara in to see her mother
alone. Chandan tries convincing her that there must be a
reason for it and Tara accuses him of not caring about
their mother enough. Patel returns and when confronted
about this issue by Tara Patel reveals the dark secret
behind their surgical separation which took place while
the twins were just three months old. He narrates the
story of how Dr. Thakkur went against his personal and
medical ethics as he was bribed by Bharathi’s father.
Patel reveals that the twins were born with three legs.
Bharathi’s father was a very wealthy and influential
person during that time and so he and Bharathi together
convinced Dr. Thakkur to give the second leg to the
male child even though it was clear that the second leg
received a major part of the blood supply from the girl
and therefore rightly belonged to the girl baby. Patel
narrates how he tried convincing their mother in vain
about the risks of giving both legs to the boy. He regrets
not having protested more strongly. The second leg
however doesn't last more than two days on Chandan’s
body and is thus amputated. Patel states that he meant to
reveal this only when they were older, but had to do so
now. The scene shifts to Dr. Thakkur and then again to
Dan who mockingly applauds Dr. Thakkur and then asks
him to get lost from his memories. He picks up the typed
sheets and tears it up as he speaks. He says there won’t
be any masterpiece left when he dies, only his recorded
voice will remain. A voice, which once belonged to a
mere object (himself) which moves without any
meaning, forgetting Tara, forgetting the sister with
whom he shared his body once. And he says that
sometimes he looks up at shooting stars and wishes that
Tara would forgive him, forgive him for making it his
tragedy. The play ends with Tara and Dan both
appearing without limping, embracing each other as
Brahms’ music plays.​

ANALYSIS

“Tara”, a play by Mahesh Dattani is satire on the

patriarchal values and beliefs of the Indian society and
on the self- sufficient Indian male. The play moves back
and forth with no linear development. The title “Tara” is
symbolic of a shooting star which is a temporary guest
which appears only for a small fraction of time just like
the protagonist of the play. The title may also refer to the
binary star system which is a star system consisting of
two stars moving around each other in stable orbits. Just
like these stars, the twins, Chandan and Tara are
spiritually and emotionally inseparable and that is why
Chandan faces an identity crisis with Tara’s death.
Chandan and Tara also reminds us of Esther and Rahel
in Arundhathi Roy’s “God of Small Things”. The twins
are ‘inseparably fused’ and this shows their emotional
coherence. They are like two sides of the same coin, the
same self and not two separate entities. In “Tara”, the
deformity of the woman is caused by ‘man’, in order to
complete the ‘man’. Tara is murdered by gender
stereotypes and she is repeatedly referred to as “freak”.
Now the term ‘freak’ literally means “a person with an
unusual physical abnormality” which is often caused by
a genetic disorder however in “Tara”, Tara is not a
natural freak, that is to say she was surgically made
abnormal. Tara is treated as the subaltern; she, however,
has higher aspirations and dreams but is restricted due to
her physical condition. She is also discouraged despite
being more intelligent, sharp and witty. The play is about
the gendered self trying to accept one’s feminine self in a
world that favours the “male”. Tara also symbolizes
modern society which claims to be liberal and advanced
and yet has a crippled mentality where gender is
concerned. All statements of equality between male and
female (in all areas of life) prove to be false. There is a
reference in the play to the Lady of Shallots who is
imprisoned in a building built with four gray walls and
four gray towers. Just as the lady of Shallots predicts her
impending doom in the mirror, Tara too senses her end
in the mirror represented by the expressions of her
closest relatives. Tara in fact faces double
marginalization as she is marginalized even in the story
in Dan’s play as he turns it into his own tragedy. In the
play, we find Tara discriminated against both openly and
directly on one hand and indirectly (or undercover) on
the other hand which sort of legitimizes the discourse of
gender discrimination. She is a victim of a collective
social system. Tara suffers physically and socially before
she dies.

Dan (or Chandan) is probably writing the play to

rediscover himself or the neglected part of himself.
Chandan and Tara share a unique affection and bond
with each other which is expressed in the play when
Chandan says he would wish for the ‘stars’ if he spotted
a shooting star and on his refusal to join college without
her. It is most evident in the scene where Roopa tries
seducing Chandan and then plays a trick on him. Here,
Tara doesn't even question Chandan about what
happened or whether he actually raped her. She
instinctively understands that he is innocent and sides
with him. Her rude treatment of Roopa after that is proof
of the love and care Tara and Chandan have for each
other. The trick that Roopa plays takes an even darker
colour when she suggests that a mentally retarded person
would suit him better as if he had no right to love or
make love with a normal, ordinary girl who was not
handicapped like him. Such rude, insensitive, insulting
behaviour from the part of the society is depicted
throughout the play.

Dr. Thakkar is a character who enjoys a God like stance

in the play. Throughout the play he is present offering
his comments here and there but never taking part in the
main action of the play. Falling for the bribe offered by
Bharathi’s father, he forgoes his medical ethics and
values. Dr. Thakkar is a symbol of how medical science
may also be abused for monetary gains instead of
actually being a tool that improves human welfare.
Dattani thus uses literature as a weapon against illogical,
superstitious and unequal activities of the Indian society.
“Tara” also highlights the sufferings of the disabled; the
way people make fun of them and emotionally hurt them
and also the indispensability of medical science in the
lives of the physically challenged.
AMARTYA SEN

Amartya Sen is the 1998 Nobel Prize winner in

Economic Sciences. Born in 1933, he is a well-known
economic theorist. He received his Ph.D from
Cambridge and went on to teach economics at various
universities both in India and abroad. He devoted
himself to welfare economics, inequality, poverty,
famine etc. He is the one who invented methods of
measuring poverty which yielded useful information that
helped in improving economic conditions of the poor. As
a young boy in Bengal in 1934, he witnessed the Bengal
famine that year in which around three million people
died. His book “Poverty and Famine: An Essay on
Entitlement and Deprivation” (1981) is born out of this
personal experience during his childhood. In this book,
he reveals that in many famine cases, food supplies were
not depleted but rather it was the unequal distribution
and other social and economic factors that led to it. He
believed that for economic growth to be possible, social
reforms must be made first. Some of his major works are
“Development as Freedom” (1999), “Rationality and
Freedom” (2002), AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories from India
(2008) and “The Idea of Justice” (2009).

THE ARGUMENTATIVE INDIAN: WRITINGS ON

INDIAN HISTORY, CULTURE & IDENTITY

“The Argumentative Indian : Writings on Indian History,

Culture & Identity” by Amartya Sen is a collection of
essays on Indian Culture and identity. He tries to
establish two main points through this work, first, that
Indian culture is actually richer than Hindu culture and
secondly, that Indian culture has a long and rich
argumentative tradition. He believes in the importance of
argument, as it gives rise to skepticism, reason and thus
overturns fundamentalism. In order to make his
arguments valid, he uses quotes from the Ramayana, Rig
Veda etc.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Amartya Sen’s “The Argumentative Indian” is divided

into four parts and ‘Reason and Identity’ is the fourth
and final part of the book. The section ‘Reason and
Identity’ has been further subdivided into four:

1. The Reach of Reason

2. Secularism and its Discontents

3. Indian through its Calendars

4. The Indian Identity

Let us now take a look at the main ideas conveyed in

each section.

The Reach of Reason:

The author begins this section wondering if Nietzsche’s

skeptical view of the world is right after all. This section
is again subdivided into six:

1. Instinct and Humanity:

 Here, the author talks of an Oxford philosopher,
Jonathan Glover’s ‘moral history of the twentieth
century’ and of the challenging questions he asks in
it. Amartya Sen points out the devastating events he
describes and how it did not receive as much
appreciation as it should have. Glover believes many
of the horrors of the 20​th Century may be attributed
to the influence of the Enlightenment. Sen finds it
weird that Glover has joined the bandwagon of
attacking the Enlightenment. The argument Sen
finds useful in Glover’s discussion is his stress on
the need to depend on our instincts when we are not
able to think logically and clearly.

2. Reason and Enlightenment:

The author believes that the very possibility of

reasoning is good as it instills hope in an otherwise
dark world. In fact, we must reason about things
around us, for example, about other people, other
cultures, about respect and tolerance etc. One must
also engage in intellectual reasoning that discusses
things like how famines could be avoided or about
environmental deterioration. He further emphasizes
the need for instinctive reactions against atrocities.
Sen then goes on to talk of Adam Smith’s
contribution to human psychology. Sen points out
that Glover may have been influenced by
Enlightenment literature after all, especially that of
Adam Smiths.
3. Cultural Contentions:

The author points out the difference between

Western and non- Western ways of approaching
social issues. In this section, he states that it is often
assumed that the non-Western way is less tolerant
when compared with the Western. He explains terms
like ‘cultural boundary’ and ‘cultural disharmony’
here.

4. Walls in Theory:

In this section, Sen talks of communication

between cultures, the reasoning of members within
each culture etc. He further points out that Glover’s
remedy for ill-treatment of groups towards each
other is moral imagination. He says that elements of
tolerance and freedom may be found in non-
Western authors too, like how we can find it in the
works of the emperor Ashoke in India. He mocks
the stupidity of comparing “Asian values” and
“Western values”. Basically, Sen tries to point out
that many ideas that have been commonly believed
to belong to the West have been residing in other
civilizations as well.

5. Tolerance and Reason:

Sen states that many secular beliefs or Indian

secularism which was championed by great people
like Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore etc actually took root
from early Indian writings and from the ideas of the
great Muslim emperor, Akbar. Sen points out that
Akbar is the one who vouched for religious
neutrality four hundred years ago. Akbar believed in
a tolerant multiculturalism. He also believed firmly
in the power of reasoning as opposed to
traditionalism and even arranged discussions with
people belonging to different religions. Orthodox
Muslims revolted against this as people thought
religious belief was based on faith and not on
reasoning as Akbar believed it to be. Akbar is
believed to have even unsuccessfully attempted to
start a new religion called Din-ilahi which meant
God’s religion. He was against most religious rituals
and child marriages. He strongly believed that virtue
must be practiced simply because it’s good and not
out of expectation of a reward from God or a better
life after death. Sen points out that all these ideas
that Akbar had are not significant in current debates
even in the West. Sen believed a moderate approach
should be taken while approaching the issue of
learning the great Western books, they shouldn’t be
shunned completely neither should they be the only
books that are learnt and read. People need to be
given the freedom to reason and choose. Sen argues
against the concept of one’s identity being
discovered (or detected) rather than built on choice
and reason. The author finds this idea of detecting
one’s identity as limiting and instead believed that
we must take responsibility for the choices we make.
Sen ends this section by pointing out that sometimes
instinct works better than reason, but that does not
negate the power of reasoning in any way.
 6. Millennial Insights:

Akbar insisted that the occasion of a

millennial was to be taken as an opportunity to
seriously think and reflect on the joys and
horrors of the world we live in. When an
intellectual tourist (named Alberuni) visited
Indian once he argued that it was important for
people in a nation to know and enquire about
people living in other places in order to
understand how they or what they think. A lack
of familiarity with other people could cause evil
and inconsiderate behaviours. Sen ends this
section by stating that reason plays a significant
role in cultivating one’s moral imagination and
it is needed to face everything in the world
today.

Secularism and Its Discontents:

Sen talks of Indian secularism in this section. Many of

the criticisms against Indian secularism came from
activists of this Hindutva movement and political parties
like the BJP. But Sen says that the actual criticisms are
not only from Hindu nationalism or the BJP and it is not
simply the politics of Hindu sectarianism.
 Incompleteness and the Need for
Supplementation

The author states that secularism is against any

religion being given special priority in the activities of a
state or nation. A neutral and indiscriminatory position is
needed here. Religious communities and religions should
consider things beyond conventional notions of
‘secularism’. In trying to study or understand the role of
secularism in India, one must take into account the
‘incompleteness’ within it and the problems that arise
out of it as well as the opportunities that it gives us.

Critical Arguments

Sen points out six different lines of arguments

against Indian Secularism: -

1. The ‘Non - existence’ Critique

2. The ‘Favouritism’ Critique

3. The ‘Prior Identity’ Critique

4. The ‘Muslim Sectarianism’ Critique

5. The ‘Anti-modernist’ Critique

6. The ‘Cultural’ Critique

India through Its Calendars:

Sen states that the calendar has been an

indispensable need of civilized life since quite a long
time. Within a country or a particular culture itself there
may be many different calendars and these calendars
relate to the different preoccupations that different
people have and how they exist together in a nation.

● Calendars as Clues to Society and Culture:

The author believes that by studying the calendars,

their history, how they’re used and the social
associations can shed light on the significant aspects of a
particular country as well as its cultures. The
associations, the nature, form and usage of calendars by
a specific society could teach us many things about its
politics, culture, science, mathematics and religion. This
is why Sen is attempting to understand India through its
calendars.

● Millennial Occasions and Akbar’s Concerns:

The division of time in any calendar is always

arbitrary in nature. Therefore, the great Emperor Akbar
not only studied different religions but also attempted to
understand the different calendars being used in India.
Just as he proposed an amalgamated religion
(‘Din-ilahi’), he also put forward the idea of a synthetic
calendar for the entire country as whole known as the
‘Tarikh-ilahi’. Although neither of these inventions by
Akbar survived, it is the motivation behind it that draws
appreciation and is relevant even today.
 ● The Indian Calendars:

The official Calendar Reform Committee (appointed in

1952) identified more than thirty well- developed
calendars in systematic use in India. These calendars are
proof of the diverse, yet connected histories of the
communities, traditions and religions in India. The
“Whitaker’s Almanack” has reduced the list of calendars
to seven principle ‘Indian eras’:

1. Year 6001 in the Kaliyuga calendar

2. Year 2544 in the Buddha Nirvana calendar

3. Year 2057 in the Vikram Samvat calendar

4. Year 1922 in the Saka calendar

5. Year 1921 of the Vedanga Jyotisa calendar

6. Year 1407 in the Bengali San calendar

7. Year 1176 in the Kollam calendar

● Ancient India and Its Calendars:

Here Sen questions the authenticity and reliability of

the dating of Kaliyuga in “Whitaker’s Almanak” like for
example the numbering convention used in it and
whether the zero point of the Kaliyuga is clear enough.
There is no reference to the use of Kaliyuga in either the
Vedas, or the Ramayana or Mahabharata. Sen points out
that even the Buddha Nirvana calendar could actually
have been older than the Kaliyuga calendar. The
establishment of Kaliyuga as an old Indian calendar
could also be to perpetuate the notions of India as
a’Hindu country’. Sen also brings in issues of Hindu
chauvinism and national chauvinism here.

● Variations and Solidarity:

The huge variety of calendars in India also shed

light on the fact that there are immense variations in
culture and region as well. But this fact is against the
notion of Indian unity. But the author here argues that
there are strong resemblances between these calendars
like the months and the beginning of the year. However,
South Indian calendars and lunar calendars do follow
different rules.

● Interaction and Integration:

One of the main differences between the Indian

calendars is due to their respective religious associations.
Sen points out that even before Islam arrived in India,
India was already a multi-religious country where
religions like Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism
etc. were present. Akbar had a ‘House of Worship’
(Ibadat Khana) where he encouraged people from
different religions to attend including even the atheistic
Carvaka school. The Bengali San calendar was clearly
influenced by Akbar’s ‘Tarikh-ilahi’ calendar and
therefore carries evidence of an integrating tendency.
Sen feels that it is good to recollect traditions of
multiculturalism in India now when India’s secularism is
being challenged by others. Thus, the author proves that
the calendars reveal a lot more than mere months and
years.

The Indian Identity:

● Colonialism and Identity:

This section is based on Amartya Sen’s Dorab Tata

Memorial Lectures given in India in February, 2001. Sen
mentions that this occasion has provided a chance to
examine the relationship between India and the world.

He praises the achievements and developments of the

Tata group of enterprises. He wonders why British
invested so readily in tea, coffee, railways etc while
ignoring much more established fields of British
industrial enlightenment like cotton textile, iron and
steel. Sen suggests that probably a general sense of
social identity and priorities exerted its influence on the
pattern of British investments in India and he quotes Sir
John Strachey, the English administrator here as an
example.

● Identity, Nationalism and Investment:

The author argues that Jamsetji Tata understood ‘the

full significance of the industrial revolution in the West
& its potentialities for his own country’. Sen finds a
nationalistic connection in Jamsetji Tata’s economic
decisions. The Tatas were determined to establish a
major iron and steel industry in India despite adversities
and barriers in the way. One major part of the Tata
motivation can be connected with the Indian identity and
nationalism.
 ● Nationalism and Global Connections:

The author sheds light on the importance role played

by identities and values in economic behaviour and that
this fact needs to gain more attention in mainstream
economic analysis than it does now. He further explains
how Tata industries dream of building a modern iron and
steel industry would have failed without technical
know-how from abroad. In short, Western science and
technology was important in India’s industrial and
economic development. He puts forward the idea that the
shift from the import substitution phase to one of active
export promotion was a perfect strategy which went in
line with the promotion of a powerful national identity.

● Sharing of Global Opportunities:

The author discusses the advantages and

disadvantages of globalization here. He points out that
despite the big contributions a global economy could
bring to the world; there are a lot of issues of global
inequality and injustice which crop up. Sen suggests
global initiatives for a more just and transparent system
that protects basic human rights and human security
across the globe.

● Domestic Policies for Global Strength:

Amartya Sen believes that appropriate domestic

policies are essential for healthy global economic
relations. He points out that infrastructural handicap is
still a central issue even in today’s Indian economy just
as it was during the time of Jamsetji. Jamsetji identified
that one of the factors behind this was the lack of
education and this was one of the reasons behind
starting the Tata Institute of Science. The Tatas and
Nehru recognized the importance of developing
technical and higher education. But Sen points out that
while higher education grew and blossomed, schooling
was neglected. And this resulted in a lot of
underdeveloped Indian school systems. If a worthy
student doesn’t receive the basic education or facilities
he requires to ensure quality education, it is a big waste
of talent and this neglect of basic education plays a
huge role in our being unable to seize economic
opportunities like countries like Korea, Japan and
China.

● Global Relations and History:

Sen states that Globalization is a complex

phenomenon, but rather than shun it one must attempt to
learn it. He declares that globalization is neither a folly
nor new in form. It is globalization that enabled the
spread of all forms of high technology in the world like
paper and printing. He says Europe would have poorer if
not for the globalization of Mathematics, Science and
technology. Sen further states that India has taken an
interactive role in the process of globalization which has
benefited both India and the world.

● Pluralism and Receptivity:

The author talks of Indian identity in this section and

argues against the concept of a homogenous Indian
identity which emerged during the Independence
movement. Sen advocates a sort of pluralist India where
members of different communities are involved and their
diversity is celebrated. He sheds light on the need to
discuss the idea of Indian identity now.

● Identities and Decisions:

Sen begins the session by quoting Tagore’s claim

that the ‘idea of India’ itself mitigates ‘against the
intense consciousness of the separateness of one’s own
people from others.’ He says that this statement argues
against the idea that India is a mix of separated and
different cultures as well as communities. And it also
rejects the idea of viewing Indian culture as weak and
fragile. So, Tagore’s claim advocates an inclusive form
for the concept of Indian identity. Sen argues that it is
false to assume that one’s identity is a result of discovery
rather than choice. He puts forward the idea that one
may have various identities at the same time and one
must have the freedom to choose over these identities
and give priority or importance accordingly. He
concludes this section by stating the importance of
reason over recognition.

● Religions, Heterodoxy and Reason:

The author points out that Tagore’s idea of Indian

identity was a less conventional view of his Hindu
identity than Gandhi’s. Gandhi, on the other hand, was
more assertive of his Hindu identity. Sen argues that
Indian identity need not bloom out of a Hindu identity
neither should the Hindu identity be more privileged
over others. In short, the points Sen makes clear is that 1.
Identity is not a matter of discovery, 2. Religions like
Buddhism and Jainism too have an equal claim just like
Hinduism and 3. Indian identity is not dependent on
Hindu identity.

● A Concluding Remark:

The author talks of the role of religion in moulding

the Indian identity. Amartya Sen believes that people are
free to decide if their cultural or religious identity is
important to them or not. He defends the inclusionary
view of Indian identity where he states Jamsetji Tata’s
comment as an example. Jamsetji Tata (who is a Parsee)
once commented that Indian students ‘can not only hold
their own against the best rivals in Europe on the latter’s
ground, but can beat them hollow’. This comment, Sen
states, comes out of a certain pride and maybe even
arrogance in being Indian and is not born out of the fact
that he is a Parsee.
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime minister of

independent India was born to a family of Kashmiri
Brahmans. He graduated from Trinity College,
Cambridge and went on to become a barrister. After
seven years in England, he returns back to India. He
meets Gandhi for the first time in 1916 at the annual
meeting of the Indian National Congress. It was late in
1921 that Nehru was taken into prison for the first time.
He went on to spend nearly nine years in jail altogether.

His literary works are a combination of literature, history

and science. The communicative style of his writing also
reveals his scholarship. He could be described as an
imaginative writer with a deep intellect. He stands out
among the Indian English writers as someone who
excelled in writing prose.

“WHAT IS CULTURE?”

SUMMARY

This essay was written on the 9 April, 1950. Nehru

begins the essay on an optimistic note hoping that the
formation of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations
would lead to a better understanding between people of
India and the people of other countries. He then goes on
to frankly express the confusions that are there in his
mind. Although everybody talks of understanding one
another and to learn from one another, Nehru says that
his reading of history and current events has revealed
that it is the people who know one another who fight the
most especially neighboring countries. So, he argues that
knowledge about one another alone cannot give birth to
friendship or cooperation.

Then he asks readers what exactly is this ‘culture’ that

we talk so much about. He states that he isn't competent
enough to define it yet. He goes on to say that each
nation and each civilization develops its own culture and
all cultures are affected or influenced by other cultures
resulting in mixtures and changes. In fact, culture is
bound to get a bit mixed up. It is when a culture feels
their own culture is being dominated by another culture
that they start developing a sense of fear. This leads
them to close up into a shell which prevents their
thoughts and ideas from being shared and Nehru states
such a state as an unhealthy situation. He believes that
cultures should be dynamic. Each culture is determined
by the geography, climate, literature, architecture etc.
Therefore, Nehru considers the purposeful shutting up
and isolation of the mind to influences as opposed to all
ideas of culture. He states that we can easily judge
India’s growth periods and decline periods when it is
compared along with those periods when India had either
opened up to the world or closed up. Life becomes static
when a nation closes up its culture and therefore
dynamic growth is needed.

Nehru finds religion as promoting this static state of

society. He emphasizes the need for having one’s roots
in the past yet not live in roots alone. After all, roots also
need the sun and sir in order to provide sustenance. He
emphasizes on the need to sustain the roots first before
focusing on the leaves or flowers as it is the roots which
provide sustenance. He further lays stress on the fact that
a cultured mind should be open and receptive.

The author then goes on to explain what a scientific

approach is and how it may be used to solve others
problems. In short, that one must try to understand
through trial and error or experiment if something is so
rather than merely stating it is so before accepting it. It
also includes having an open mind that is not resistant to
change. Jawaharlal Nehru says that the nations of the
East firmly believe in their own ideas and therefore
harbor a sense of superiority. However, they have also
been debased and exploited by other nations and hence
brought a sense of reality to them.

Nehru states that when nationalism does succeed, it

spreads rapidly and becomes an international danger.
While culture is essentially good, it becomes aggressive
and also instills feelings of hatred and conflict when it
becomes static. The author points out that it is futile to
talk of culture before considering economics. And just
because people who understand each other quarrel more,
does not mean you should not try to understand each
other. He emphasizes the importance of understanding
one another in the right way or in a friendly manner.
Nehru firmly believes that if our approach is good, then
the response will also be good and vice versa. He further
states that often we are so overwhelmed with our
experiences and knowledge that it becomes almost
impossible to identify where you stand. He also says that
all this knowledge is not necessarily beneficial and rather
it is the people who do not have access to all the
advantages of modern life and science who are actually
wiser. Nehru wonders if we shall ever be able to
combine all this knowledge with true wisdom. He
concludes the speech by quoting a famous and wise
Greek poet.