Lakshman – Toru Dutt
Toru Dutt:
Dutt’s
poems have extreme essence of nature, Indian heritage, folklore, especially of
mythological narration; at the same time, it explores more about the web of
family relationship. Speaking of her
poem, we come across two of her collection of poetry – A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (1876) and Ancient Ballads and
Legends of Hindustan (1882, published posthumously). Some of her works either adopt the original
work or translation of French. When we
consider her second collection of poetry, which includes poems like “Sita”, “Lakshman”, “Buttoo” “The Tree of
Life”, “Our Casuarina Tree”,“Baugmaree”; these works
are composed by the mixture of Indian theme, especially mythological themes (Ramayana
and Mahabaratha) and looks in the outset of European poetic style and
structure.
Lakshman – Background of the
poem:
Lakshman, a narrative poem, has the traces of Hindu mythology Ramayana
by Valmiki. Lakshmana, son of Dasharath
is the hero of this poem; when Ram his elder brother goes for an exile with his
beloved wife Sita as per the will of Ayodhya’s king; Lakshman accompany with
them as their guard, this shows his loyalty and affection towards his elder
brother.
This poem Lakshman carries the one line story
of Sita’s argument with Lakshman in the absence of Ram. The poem consists of twenty-two stanzas and
eight lines for each with alternative rhymes.
It is in ballad form with eight lines, yet standard ballad consists of
four lines. Direct applications of terms
from the original Sanskrit text are- “Succour”, “Videhan Queen”.
Believing the delusive cry of Maricha (a golden deer,
magical form of Maricha); Sita urges Lakshman to move from the bower for the
rescue of their hero, Ram. Lakshman is
spell bound, because of the order of Ram to be the guard of Sita as they are in
the mid of evil surrounded woods.
Understanding the seriousness of the situation, he refuses to obey her
words. At the peak of wrath, Sita utters
some allegations against Lakshman and his loyalty towards her and her
husband. Lakshman becomes helpless. He is stuck between the words of his brother
as well as the bitter allegations of Sita.
Maricha’s cry:
As
per the plan of Ravana to take captive of Sita, Maricha takes the form of deer
and grabs the attention of Sita. Without
knowing the evil plan of the Rakshas, Sita demands Ram to bring her that deer
and he leaves the bower for hunting that deer.
Using this situation Ravana tries to execute his plan, but it fails
because of Lakshman’s presence. To move
Lakshman out of their bower Maricha starts to cry for the help of his wife and
brother in Ram’s voice. Ravan believes
that if Lakshman goes for the aid of Ram, it will be easy for him to take Sita
with him.
Sita’s Allegations on helpless
Lakshman:
On hearing
the delusive cries of Maricha, Sita asks Lakshman to go for the aid of Ram; her
order turns to request and finally it ends as a wrathful scolding against
Lakshman. Both Lakshman and Sita appears
on the poem; and other characters like Ram, Ravan and Maricha (a golden deer)
are in behind scenes. In some stanzas,
we can listen to the valour of Ram through Lakshman’s argument.
When
Sita repeatedly asks Lakshman to help and assist Ram as she believes her
beloved husband is surrounded by the evil creatures, Lakshman tries to wipe out
the causeless fear which exists there in her mind. Sita herself is not willing to listen his
words as love blinded her thoughts; so she threatens him that if he is not
going for rescue her dear, she will go alone for her Ram.
“Oh
no, and I must run alone,
For further here I cannot stay;”
Meanwhile, Lakshman tries to convince Sita by saying
even divine and evil creatures have equal fear for Ram and his mightiness. It
is generally seen in the venomous creatures from Serpents to Pythons. So, Lakshman is in the position to make Sita
believe that all these are magical web of plot created by their foes in the
woods.
“The lion and the grisly bear
Cower when they see his royal look,…
Erect before in hooded pride.”
On seeing his
delay to rescue his brother, Sita started finding fault with loyalty and
affection of Lakshman towards his brother. She mentions Lakshman shines only after the
fame of Ram, like a star shines with the radiance of sun, and says he is
worthless in the absence of his brother.
“But then thy leader stood beside!
Dazzle
the cloud when shines the sun,
Reft of his radiance, see it glide
A
shapeless mass of vapours dun;”
She taunts him by saying one of the brothers of Ram
has taken his kingdom and another tries to take his wife as an equal
partition. These allegations have a
reverse effect on Lakshman, instead of making him angry, Sita’s words hurts him
a lot. Helpless Lakshman, who is not
able to breaks the words of his brother at the same time braved to do so for
the sake of Sita.
“…one brother takes
His kingdom,-one would take his wife!
A fair
partition!”
Lakshman decides to leave the bower, at same time he
has to guard Sita from the clutches of evil.
Before leaving the bower Lakshman draws a line around their place and
pleases Sita not to get out of that circle, Lakshman
Rekha. Ignoring the blames of Sita
against him he seeks her blessings before leaving their bower, with the hope of
speedy returning with Ram. While getting
blessings from Sita, he does not see her face.
From this point, we can understand he respects his brother’s wife.
This poem ends with the hope of Lakshman that when he
fails to guard Sita from harm, nature will do.
While leaving their bower he heard the scream of vulture, which is the
symbol of ill-omen. This signs
fore-shades Sita’s upcoming struggles with the Lankan King, Ravan.
“…Hoarse the vulture screamed,
As out
he strode with dauntless air.”
Sita is responsible for all the struggles in her life. In this work, though Toru adopts the concept from the original text of Ramayana by giving high reference to nature, good and bad spirit but she penned Sita’s character as of an ordinary woman. But the character of Lakshman replicates the original text, like his high qualities and helplessness. This work by Toru is a conversion of mythical tale to poem, which is in simple narrative diction.
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