Toru Dutt was (4 March 1856 )a poet, novelist, essayist, translator and polyglot. She was an outstanding pioneer in the history of Indian literature.

Poems : Lakshman And Deeno Daan by Toru Datt and Rabindranath Tagore 

This blog is a part of thinking activity assigned by Megha Trivedi Mam in I will discuss about the poem Lakshman and Deeno Daan.

Toru Dutt was (4 March 1856 )a poet, novelist, essayist, translator and polyglot. She was an outstanding pioneer in the history of Indian literature. 

In the sphere of Indo-English poetry the era of Renaissance may be termed as the ‘Age of Dutts’ because the age was dominated by the two sisters Toru and Aru and renowned poetical man Romesh Chandra Dutt.

Toru Dutt's work connects Indo-Anglian literature to that of France, highlighting the importance of considering cultural contexts when exploring 19th-century women's poetry.

“When the history of the literature of our country comes to be written, there is sure to be a page in it dedicated to this fragile exotic blossom of song” (Dutt xxvii).

 This sentence is Edmund Gosse's famous final flourish to his memoir of Toru Dutt, which introduced her posthumous volume Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, published in 1882.

Died: August 30, 1877, Kolkata, india

Q-1: Write a critical note on ‘Lakshman’ by Toru Dutt.

Ans. Lakshman is a poem based on the epic poem Ramayana, in which the episode of abduction of Seeta and golden deer episode is retold by Toru Dutt. The characters are well portrayed in which the dialogue between Seeta and Lakshman is the main focus of the poem. Ram goes to bring the golden deer, when it was being killed by Ram it makes the sound like Rama that Sita and Lakshaman hear and Sita thinks that Ram is in danger. Lakshaman knows the strength of Ram so he knows he can not be defeated but Sita got nervous that he might be dying. 

The depiction of the character is quite different in this episode and in Toru Dutt’s poem it is quite a different portrayal of the characters. Laksham is known for his anger and Sita is known for her docility but in the poem Sita becomes more ferocious and speaks language that is unbearable for Lakshman. On the other hand, Lakshman patiently listens to all the harsh words of Sita and does not say anything in anger; he just bears everything. Toru Dutt has wonderfully portrayed the character. Lakshman’s character is there in the epic Ramayana but he is not considered as a hero or the central figure but in the poem the patient and the respect that he has for Sita is admirable. In the poem Lakshman is a hero who is in a way in a dilemma about what to do. On one side there is a Sita who is continuously telling him to go and save Ram. On the other side Ram has told to do  protection of Sita until he returns. 

The poem shows Sita is not a godly figure or even a person with the faith, she rather becomes the emotional fool and falls in the trap of Raavan. If Sita is that knowledgeable and faithful in his husband she would know that Ram is undefeated. The harsh words that she uses for Lakshman that he wants to marry her after the death of ram shows the mentality of Sita's character. A brother who has given up everything and goes to the forest to live only to help Ram, she doubts that person. And in Lakshman's case we find how calmly he handles the situation. In this stanza as we see,

 

"And now farewell! What thou hast said,

Though it has broken quite my heart,

So that I wish I were dead —

I would before, O Queen, we part,

Freely forgive, for well I know

That grief and fear have made thee wild,

We part as friends, — is it not so?"

And speaking thus he sadly smiled.”

He leaves her with a smile on his face and says that we are departing as a friend not as a rival. He then and there forgives her and accepts that now the situation is not in his hand. He understands her situation and what she is going through he says “That grief and fear have made thee wild”. The real person who understands the situation and still he is not able to do anything. That is the tragedy of Lakshaman. 

Q-2: Why does the poet say that God does not live in the Temple? Give reasons.

Ans. 

The poem ‘Deeno Dan’ is a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore is a well known Indian poet. In this particular poem he talks about the wealth that is spent unnecessarily in building the temple. In the poem there is a conversation between a king and a hermit, who goes against the idea that the king has wasted the money in temples instead of helping the poor farmers who are suffering due to a drought. 

“At this,

The fretful king dismounted from his throne to go

Where the hermit sat beneath the tree. Bowing, he said,

“My lord, why have you forsaken god’s mighty abode,

The royal construction of gold that pierces the sky,

To sing paeans to the divine here on the streets?’

“There is no god in that temple,” said the hermit.”

Here in the second stanza the reference come when the king asks to hermit why are you not going to the temple for  worshipping and staying under the tree. The hermit replies that there is no god in that temple. He says that the temple is full of your royal arrogance, the god has left that place long ago. The hermit also argues that when people come to you for help because they were dying of hunger and you refused to help them and now you have spent a lot of money in the temple that is why there is no  god  in the temple.

There are very good ideas that Tagore tries to give in  that the god does not live in the temple but he lives where the people worship him. The god does't need the temple for himself; he lives everywhere you can worship him anywhere no need to build a huge temple for him. People rather helps  money to help other people that can be helpful for people in many ways. King represents the large number of people who think that the temples are necessary for god Tagore tries to break that myth and says that you can worship god under a tree also. 

Tagore himself comes with a very revolutionary idea that the majority of the people might not like that but still he says the truth. In the contemporary time also there are people who might be following the ideology of building the temple built resent Ram Mandir in Ayodhya one so in that context Tagore gives the insight of true worshipping. 

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