DAWN AT PURI, INDIAN ENGLISH POETRY, IMAGERY, ANALYSIS, SUMMARY, INDIAN ENGLISH WRITING

 

Dawn At Puri

By Jayanta Mahapatra

Endless crow noises

A skull in the holy sands

tilts its empty country towards hunger.

 

White-clad widowed Women

past the centers of their lives

are waiting to enter the Great Temple

 

Their austere eyes

stare like those caught in a net

hanging by the dawn's shining strands of faith.

 

The fail early light catches

ruined, leprous shells leaning against one another,

a mass of crouched faces without names,

 

and suddenly breaks out of my hide

into the smoky blaze of a sullen solitary pyre

that fills my aging mother:

 

her last wish to be cremated here

twisting uncertainly like light

on the shifting sands

The poem is very short, but it consists of a host of images, each of which reveals the rotten fabric of some of the social and religious realities prevalent in India.

The poem begins with the poet’s observation of the landscape of the morning that is quite common in and around the Holy Temple. In the morning, one can hear endless sounds of the crows. Normally, Hindu beliefs do not consider crow noises as auspicious and  welcomed. It is, in truth, thought to be ominous. The Crows may be considered a scavenger bird, and they usually prefer to live in a dirty spot. The appearance of countless crows suggests the pollution and social evils surrounding the Holy Temple. He finds a skull lying on the sands in the sprawling sea beach of Puri. The presence of a human skull lying in this way practically gives a picture of ill-fed, hungry people living in the midst of extreme poverty. It shows that there are a lot of underprivileged people whose condition is no better than a stray dog. Many such men throng the holy cities like Puri, seeking sustenance and salvation, but very often they die a neglected death. Next, we get an image of Hindu widows dressed in white standing in a row in order to enter the holy temple. Such women led an austere life and bear absolute dependence and faith in religion. They are the women caught in their religious net that is self-imposed. They are guided by the strand of faith that will offer salvation to them by Lord Jagannath. They are also the victims of the equally orthodox social system which squarely put all the blame for the death of their husbands. With the frail early light catches the holy place, a number of people suffering from leprosy are seen outside the temple. These are the people caught by the deadly disease and discarded by society. Their condition is very pathetic. They have neither social security nor individual identity and they have to depend on the patronage of the devotees for food and clothes. The poet also uses imagery of a pyre with flames covered with smoke.

 

Puri is a city not only famous for its sandy shores by the Bay of Bengal, but also for the “Great Temple” of Lord Jagannath. Jagannath is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, a part of the Holy Trinity. This is a symbolic and metaphorical poem. Here, the poet talks about the hollowness of the rites and rituals. The poem consists of six stanzas having 3 lines each. There is no rhyme scheme.

At dawn, it is invigorating to see the orange sun rising out of its hide spreading its frail rays all around the wet sand. It is an experience to cherish. It’s a feeling which remains silent in our hearts and gives a soothing feeling to the mind’s eyes. In this poem, one of the pioneers of modernism in Indian English poetry, Jayanta Mahapatra shares what he perceives at the juxtaposition of day and night. This poem is not a general spectacle of the sea beach. It’s much more than that. It’s about life and its ebbs and tides. Numerous crows gather on the beach. Apart from the crows, he observes a human skull lying. The skull reminds him of hunger and poverty prevalent around him.

 

 

 

Then the poet shifts his view to the “Great Temple” of Jagannath. God fearing old widows wearing white garments are waiting to enter the temple. There is an expression of solemnity in the eyes of these women. In fact, their eyes are full of despair like the eyes of creatures which have been caught in a net. The only thing that sustains these women is their religious faith and hope. ‘The impassive look in the widows’ eyes draws his attention. He can find a similarity between their eyes and the eyes of the fishes caught by the fishermen. In this noisy ambiance, the poet observes a skull resembling poor and hungry millions of our country

 

Then, the poet looks back at the seashore. This time he observes some shells in the “frail early light” of dawn. Again the similarity strikes him. He finds the image of the widows is reflected in those motionless shells. Suddenly the “smoky blaze” of cremation on the beach comes to his view. The smoky smell makes the poet aware of his aged mother’s mortality. In the last stanza, he refers to her mother’s wish. She wants to be cremated at her native place which is the town of Puri. Mahapatra shifts again to the seashore and now he sees empty shells lying there instead of crows. 

 

 

 

Structure of The Poem

 

The structure closely connects to the theme of the poem. The six stanza poem has an evenness in its overall representation. It has three visually descriptive lines comparing the waves of seawater on the sandy shore. The falling waves in the structure of the poem becomes the focal point  from stanza four. The metrical structure of the poem imitates the rhythm of the sea. A mixture of trochaic, iambic meters makes the sound effect more attractive. There is not any specific rhyme scheme in the poem. The poem is metrical and rhythmic for the equal distribution of foot in each stanza. The majority of the foot contains anapestic (metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable) meter. An anapest is a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.

Imagery:

‘Dawn at Puri’ is a poem full of images. Dawn has been used both in the physical and metaphorical sense.  It’s a poem consisting of a number of vivid, sharply etched, interrelated images. The Panorama of Puri in a land of ‘forbidding myth' has been artistically portrayed with vivid images and symbols. It becomes evocative. Puri is the name of a famous town in Orissa, which is considered a sacred place because of the temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath, the presiding deity of Orissa. This temple is said to date to 318 A.D. It is particularly famous for the chariot festival of Jagannath; an annual ritual conducted to glorify the deity and is attended by a large number of pilgrims. 

‘Endless crow noises' refers to the reference to the endless cawing of the crows, a visual as well as an auditory image. ‘Skull on the holy sands’: This is a startling imagery created with the juxtaposition of the abstract with the concrete, where the abstract ‘holy’ and the concrete ‘skull’ are used together. 

 

‘It’s empty country towards hunger’ is a reference to the poverty of the people of the state including the sight of the skull lying on the sea-beach symbolising the utter destitution of the people. ‘White-clad widowed women’ bears reference to widows wearing white saris and the phrase that points to their predicament as well as the rigidity of Hindu customs and rituals. ‘Past the centers of their lives’ carries the reference of having spent the middle years of their lives and passing their prime. ‘Their austere eyes stare like those caught in a net’ refers to the misery resulting in utter hopelessness is clearly visible on their faces for there is an expression of solemnity in the eyes of the widows in which no mundane desire is seen. They are full of desire like the eyes of creatures trapped in a net. ‘Dawn’s shining strands of faith’ refers to the person having a firm belief in religion  and who never loses hope. Therefore, despite their adverse circumstances, the only thing that sustains the widows is their religious faith. The reference to dawn is to be seen with depth. It refers to a new beginning in nature and thereby, to a new start annulling destitution prevalent among mankind and civilization. The tone is of quiet acceptance, with a latent awareness of suffering, perhaps indicates a very Indian sensibility. ‘The frail early light’ talks about the dim light of the dawn is a reference to the title of the poem. ‘Leprous’ refers to leprosy, an infectious disease affecting the skin and nerves.

Cawing crows are noisy, sandy beach is emptiness, skull signifies destitution, white elderly women stand for hope beyond hope and a sign of resignation. It has become evident to us by now that we are reading a melancholy, despondent poem; and the climax comes when the speaker in the poem refers to his aging mother’s last wish that she wants to be cremated here on the long and sandy sea-beach. It is the popular belief that dying at this Swargadwar will definitely take the dead to heaven.

Imageries used in this poem saddens us and fills us with gloomy thoughts and feelings. Jayanta Mahapatra brings the image of the fishes caught by a net into the light. It is one of the familiar images. The poet compares the eyes of those fishes with the eyes of the widows. Their condition is similar to those fishes; both caught by the net of life and struggling. In the next section, the poet uses the image of the “shells” to compare the lonely and hopeless state of the widows. Like the shells leaning against each other on the shore, the widows also gather at the temple and sit there in the manner of the shells. According to the poet they have “crouched faces without names”. There is no need to differentiate them by their names. Their condition makes them an entity of loneliness and hopelessness. In this way, the poet tries to depict their short but simple annals of life.

Key Expressions:

Holy Sands: the sun bathed beach of Puri.

Empty Hunger: it is the back of the skull which is empty. Also, it represents the bowl of a beggar. Here it talks about the material hunger of people who throng the temple premises.

Widowed Women: widows who live a life of austerity in temple premises.

Strands of Faith: here the poet talks about cruelty in customs. Widows live a self imprisoning, austere life which reflects in- humanity in customs.

Twisting Uncertainty : it means that rational explanation of customs and traditions cannot justify the faith of custom – ridden devotees.

Shifting Sands: It refers to time.

 

Let us look at the literary devices used in each stanza of ‘Dawn at Puri’ by Jayanta Mahapatra.

• Stanza 1 – In the first line of the poem, “Endless crow noises” is a hyperbole. In the second line “skull” is a metaphor of poverty and hunger. These problems still haunt the lower section of Indian society. In the third line, “empty country” is a metonym for the people living in India. Here the poor people of India are hungry or their belly is empty for the need for food.

• Stanza 2 – In the first line of this stanza, “White-clad” is a metaphor of the white saree worn by Hindu widowed women. In this stanza “past the centers of their lives” is another metaphor. It means that the widows have passed the age of 50. In the last line, “Great Temple” is a symbol of the famous Jagannath Temple of Odisha.

• In Puri, we find a stretch of beach called Swargadwara or ‘Gateway to heaven’ where the dead are cremated. Many pious Hindus and widows consider dying here to attain salvation. Mahapatra states: “Her last wish to be cremated here/ twisting uncertainly like light/ on the shifting sands.” Puri is not only famous as a place for four ‘ dhams’ or ‘sacred cities’ but also for the ‘math’ or the monastery set up by Shankaracharya.

• Stanza 3 – In this stanza the “austere eyes” is an example of synecdoche ( figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa). Here the poet associates the widows with only their eyes. Readers can treat the word “austere” as a transferred epithet or hypallage. This quality actually belongs to the “widowed Women” in the poem. In the next section, readers can find a simile. Here the poet compares the widows’ eyes to the eyes of the fish caught in a net. In the last line “dawn’s shining strands of faith” is a metaphor. Here the sunlight at dawn is like a ray of faith to the poet.

• Stanza 4 – In the fourth stanza of ‘Dawn at Puri’, Mahapatra personifies the early light of the dawn and compares it to a woman. The “leprous shells” in the poem is an example of a personal metaphor. By this phrase, the poet tries to compare the old widows to the shells lying on the shore.

• Stanza 5 – In this stanza, the “sullen solitary pyre” is the use of personification or readers can say it is an example of a personal metaphor.

• Stanza 6 – In the last stanza of the poem Mahapatra compares the twisting of her to the “light on the shifting sands”. Here the poet uses the literary device called a simile.

 

 

Jayanta Mahapatra is regarded as a keen observer of the social and religious realities. Through the poem ‘Dawn at Puri’ he has unveiled before us a very sad picture of the realities around the Great Jagannath Temple in the Holy City of Puri, with a tone of underlying criticism against Indian society. Lord Jagannath is the main deity in Puri who is in the form of Lord Vishnu. The way Mahapatra delineates the events and incidents in the poem shows us that he disapproves of what is going on under the cover of tradition and practices. You will notice how life “lies like a mass of crouched faces without names and you can also see how people are trapped by faith underlined in the expression “caught in a net”. The shells on the sand are “ruined”, “leprous” is suggestive of decadence and infirmity. The poem evokes the loss of identity, anonymity,death, disease and decadence. As I have mentioned above, most of the Hindus wished to be cremated in the land of Lord Vishnu. The speaker’s mother also had such a last wish, the wish to be cremated in Puri. This is fulfilled by the effort of her son in the blazing funeral pyre which is seen as “sullen” and “solitary”. The poem winds upon an uncertain note like the corpse of his dead mother.