'Lakshman' by Toru Datt

 Hello everyone, in this blog i will discuss about  critical analysis of Toru Datt's poem "Lakshman".

About Author 

Toru Dutt, born on March 4, 1856, in Kolkata, India, was a translator, poet, and essayist. She is the author of Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1882) and Le Journal de Mademoiselle d’Arvers (Didier, 1879), the first novel written by an Indian writer in French. A prolific translator, she published A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields (C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1877), a book of over three hundred French poems translated into English. She died on August 30, 1877, at the age of twenty-one.

About Poem

The poem "Lakshman" is from Dutt's Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan (1882). It tells a story from the Hindu epic Ramayana, in which the hero Rama is told to procure a golden deer for his wife, Sita. After Rama leaves Sita with his brother, Lakshman, for safekeeping, he finds out that the deer is actually a demon and kills it. However, when the demon dies, it calls out for help using Rama's own voice. Though Lakshman knows Rama is invincible and does not worry, Sita panics at the sound of the cry for help and asks Lakshman to go and investigate. So that he can both please Sita and also ensure that she stays put, as ordered by Rama, Lakshman draws a line in the ground that Sita is not to cross while he leaves to search for Rama. While he is absent, however, Sita crosses the line and is abducted by the demon king Ravana.

The poem takes this story from the Ramayana and opens up the discussion between Sita and Laskhman, expanding it beyond what is present in the epic. Still, much of the core elements of their dialogue are preserved from the epic. First, Sita warns Lakshman to take heed of what are allegedly Rama's cries. When Lakshman tries to counsel Sita otherwise, she accuses him of conspiring to bring Rama down and take her for his own wife. Lakshman is harmed by her words and finally bows to her wishes, drawing a circle with an arrow that she is not to cross while he goes out to assist Rama. Despite the fact that Sita is enraged and has hurt Lakshman's feelings, however, he is calm, only speaking to bless Sita and pray that the deities of the forest will keep her safe when he leaves. The poem ends with a "sorrow dark" on Lakshman's face and a "vulture scream[ing]" as he departs.

Toru Dutt Lakshman -A Critical Analysis

‘Lakshman’ by Toru Dutt is a poem on a Hindu mythological theme. The subject matter of the poem is taken from the ‘Ramayana’, a Sanskrit epic by Valmiki. Lakshman was a younger brother of Sri Ramchandra. Once Ramchandra with his beloved wife, Sita, had to go to exile after his father’s will. With Ram and Sita, Lakshman also went to exile. Sita was chaste, pious and very beautiful. Ravana, the king of Lanka, had heard of Sita’s qualities and hence he desired to carry her off.

While Ram, Sita and Lakshman were in exile, Ravana took the avail of it and by his magic power, he created a golden deer. To please Sita, her husband Ram pursued the deer leaving Sita and Lakshman in the bower. Then at distance, Sita heard a voice as same as that of Ram seeking help. Really the voice was not of Ram but of Ravana. Ravana made a plan to drive Lakshman away of the bower so that he can carry Sita off. Sita, hearing the calling of Ravana to be Ram’s, asked Lakshman to go to help Ram. First Lakshman did not want to leave the bower leaving Sita alone. But Sita persistently persuaded Lakshman to leave the bower in order to rescue Ram.

The poet Toru Dutt has given a very poetic as well as a dramatic description of Sita’s persuasion to Lakshman. The poem bears the stamp of how much devotion and love Sita had for her husband.

Hearing the voice like that of Ram, Sita says to Lakshman and calls him to go to succour Ram without making any delay. She thinks that perhaps her husband is surrounded by foes, so Lakshman should go there quickly with his sword and bow. But Lakshman seemed not to heed Sita’s order. Then Sita, being angry, wanted to go alone. Seeing Sita’s agitation and anxiety, Lakshman says to Sita that there is no cause to fear because Ram is strong and brave enough to fight an enemy.

He then gives a poetic account of Ram’s prowess and says that the lion and bear shrink back in fear when they see his royal look. The anger of Ram none can endure, Even sun-staring eagles drop-down at Ram’s look. Pythons and cobras, at Ram’s tread, glide to their secret holes. The serpent bows down to his feet. The poet says:

”The lion and the grisly bear

Cower when they see his royal look,

Sun-staring eagles of the air

His glance of anger can not brook,

Python and cobras at his tread

To their most secret coverts glide,

Bowed to the dust each serpent head

Erect before in hooded pride.”

Lakshman anticipated the wailing cry for help is not of Ram but of an enemy uttered to delude them. So Sita should not beseech Lakshman to go out in search of Ram leaving Sita alone. Instead, he made Sita remind her that he had been commanded by Ram to remain with Sita as a guard as there might have some giant foes in the forest to harm her. But Lakhman’s persuasion could not calm Sita of her anxiety. Instead, she argued and says:

”Search well and sea! One brother takes

His kingdom— one would take his wife

A fair partitional— but it makes

Me shudder and abhor my life.”

At last, being ashamed of Sita’s argument, Lakshman came out of the bower and tracing a magic circle in front of the door, and ordering her not to cross the circle, goes to help Ram. While he left Sita alone, Lakshman heard the scream of a vulture which was a symbol of an ill omen. After his departure, Ravana came to the bower and carried off Sita to Lanka.

The poem shows Sita’s devotion and love to her husband; but Sita herself is responsible for being carried away by Ravana, the king of Lanka. Besides this Lakshamn’s wisdom and rationality are also expressed in the poem.

Literary device

The poem is written in a rhythmic tone. The imagery of Ram’s valour narrated by Lakshman is highly poetic. The language of the poem is easy and simple.

Conclusion 

The poem is thus characteristic of many of Dutt's interests—the relationship of humanity, divinity, and nature; the complexity of family relationships; the experience of loss or bereavement; and the merging of English verse forms and poetic traditions with her own innovations and Indian inspirations. At the same time, its more formal tone and register—as distinct from those of other, more personal poems in the collection such as "The Tree of Life" and "Our Casuarina Tree"—also shows that, in writing this poem, Dutt was intentionally calling back to something other than her own experience, something deeply rooted in tradition and timeless in its telling and retelling over time.Dutt Lakshman