Topic: Poems of Harivans Rai Bachchan, U.R.Ananthmurthi, A.

K Ramanajun,
Amrita Pritam
Q1. Discuss The Gipsy Girl as a poem representing the conflict between
eroticism and aestheticism.
Ans:
Q2. How does Bachchan overcome his existential crisis and move towards a
realization of the happier truth of life? Discuss with reference to A Poem
Sequence.
Ans:
Q3. Would you consider The Street Dog as an allegorical poem? Explain with
reference to the text.
Ans:
Q4. An Umbrella and a Watch describes the poets nostalgia for childhood and
family. Analyse the poem in the light of the remark made above.
Ans:
Q5. Examine Harivajans Rai Bachchan as poet of modern time sensibilities with
special reference to A Poem Sequence.
Ans:
Topic: Red Oleanders : Rabindranath Tagore
Q1. Comment on Red Oleanders as a thesis play.
Ans: There is no quarrel about the significance of the s

ymbol, but the context

in which the symbol operates arouses certain emotio
nal responses that tend to
confuse the issues involved. For instance, Nandini,
who loves Ranjan, likes the
Kings strength and power and gives him some joy ou
t of pity: Then he buried
his fingers in my unbound hair and sat long with cl
osed eyes... I liked it.....I
loved to give that bit of joy to that lonely soul
(71)
.

This kind of relationship,

which makes sense on the thesis-level, creates conf
usion on the surface, human

level. On the other hand, the Kings jealousy towar

ds Ranjan and his final
killing of Ranjan make sense on the realistic-human
level, but on the level of
inner significance they make no corresponding sense
. In Tagores art we often
find this clash between the symbolical and the real
istic, one trying to assert
itself over the other.
The assessment of Tagore as a translator of his own play
Rakta Karabi
is yet to
be completed. Very recently, M.
K.
Naik refers to Tagores
translation plays in a
book on the history of Indian English literature and comments:
In examining the plays of Rabindranath Tagore, a distinction has once again to
be made, as in the case of his verse, between translations done by the author
himself and t
hose produced by others
...
Since, while translating from his original
Bengali, Tagore made extensive changes in the text (as in the case of his verse
also) these plays are virtually redone in prose, rather than being simple
translations. Thematically, the pla
ys fall into two broad groups: thesis plays and
psychological dramas. In the first group may be included
Sanyasi
,
The Cycle of
Spring
,
Chitra
,
Malini
,
Sacrifice
,
Natir Puja
and

Red Oleanders
. To the second
belong
The King and the Queen
,
Kacha and Devayani
,
Karna and Kunti
and
The
Mothers Prayer
.
36

M.K. Naiks observation on Tagore may be the humble beginning of the

examination of Tagores self
translation. Self
translation is unique in a sense that
the translator is well aware of the linguistic as well as
the semantic aspects of the
source language text. Moreover, a self
translator has the moral freedom to bring
527
The Unrecognized Work of Tagore as Transla
tor: An Assessment of
Red Oleanders

about certain omission, alteration, rejection and addition to the usage of

symbols,
allusions and imagery from the source language text. Indeed, T
agore has made
some changes in
Red Oleanders
from
Rakta Karabi
, particularly in songs and
certain symbols to contextualize the theme of the source language text into
the
culturally different linguistic framework of
Red Oleanders
.

However, these
changes do
not affect the literary merits of
Red Oleanders
.
A new translation of the renowned Tagore drama Red Oleanders by Nupur Lahiri is welcome for
its simplicity of language and expression. This is a point worthy of note because this is one of
those plays in Tagores genre which is considered allegorical in character and therefore
somewhat mystifying. Nupur Lahiris translation breaks through this mystique appreciably and
hopes to reach out to a wide readership.

Tagores own English translation of the play did not achieve this even though that was intended.
Tagore wanted the play to be an expression of that truth to which we are so accustomed that we
have forgotten all about it. He did not construe it to be a sermon or a moral. Simply put, it is a
play about evil and good, working side by side, about greed and human sympathy, about that
which separates fellow beings and that which keeps us together. All this is surely not so different
from great works of art and literature, and touches upon the core of life itself. A similar literary
work is Michail Bulgakovs novel, The Master and Margarita.

The play Red Oleanders is based upon the principle that each must legitimately fight the other,
the oppressor and the oppressed. The plays central character of a Raja or king cruelly exploits
nature as well as all possible human resources, of mind, of science, in order to develop a highly
centralised bureaucracy and add to his wealth. He sits fascinated as he watches how his entire
retinue continued mechanically to guard his fortress and his ever growing wealth.

Into this lifeless fortress enters the other central character of the play, Nandini, summoned from
her village by the ruthless king who operates always from behind a screen. Undaunted by the
king, Nandini walks in with her touch of life and joy and love symbolising the highest truth in
the human world. A truth for which men and women, in all times and countries, have been
willing and eager to make the supreme sacrifice from a conviction that behind this spirit in man
is God. To them God was love.

Even if we do not believe in this God, or in any God, our experience in the home or in the family
or in the community shows that love is truth. Until Nandini appeared on the scene, the kings
workers could not have imagined that there was an alternative to the way they lived. They lived
and worked like machines driven by the king and his hierarchy among whom were the governor,

the priest and the professor. The community mindlessly accepted the domination of the strong
and the oppression of the weak.

Likewise Nandini had been ordered from her village home, and taken away from her lover
Ranjan, only to be made useful in adding to the kings wealth. But she defeated all such
machinations by spreading an atmosphere of love wherever she went, ranging from the study of
the dry-as-dust professor, the office of the file-grinding governor, the temple of the sinister
priest, to the guards room where the attendance register was kept.

Q2. Examine the symbols employed by Tagore in Red Oleanders.

Ans: The Red Oleanders of Tagore at once stands out as a major milestone in the

career of the modern Bengali drama; impregnated with a deep sustained

symbolism, the drama abjures the more mundane dialect of conversational prose,
and speaks in a language charged with poetry and mysticism, a language that
invariably matches the deep ecstatic nature of the message of the drama. Ranjan
and Nandini have that great elusive duality which make them at once our comrades
and yet transcendental beings. The duo belongs not so much to the world of flesh
and blood as to the realm of symbolism allegorical illustrations of Tagores vision.
Nandini, the protagonist of the play is a remarkable innovation, who trudges across
the stage as freely as air. She has a most elemental vitality which she owes to
another self and stands as an idealized emblem of love and its reassuring virtues
youth, spring inspiration and revolution. Ranjan and Nandini do not have strict
separate identities, although Ranjan is the thematic abstract ideal of freedom
through bondage and Nandini is the grand priestess, who helps us achieve the goal
by
breathing
love
into
us.
The Red Oleanders contains a plethora of symbolism interpenetrating one another.
Though Tagore was not obviously intending the play to be a socialist manifesto,
industry, capitalization and the co=related exploitation of labor find footages in the
play. At the heart of the play, lies the class struggle. The arbiters of Yaksha town
ruthlessly set out to exploit nature and common man, have a most spiritual nexus
between them, but now their very life and soul are at stake under the deep mass of
mechanized civilization. The quiet rural existence in the bosom of nature now looks
like an embarrassing relic of an older life style in collision with the nature, which is
now threatened by the devouring menace of the king and his associates. The king
ransacks nature and rifles its bowels with an eccentric frenzy. He has the most
deadly touch which tortures everything to destruction and sucks out the life sap of
everybody so as to leave them in the state life in death and death in life.
Nandini, the fresh flow of life radicalizes a spiritual glow of freedom, which naturally
frightens the king whose cells of mind are closed. The king is both afraid and
attracted by Nandini and her Red Oleanders for they are the token of love, liberty
and
the
coming
change.
Nandini, the great emissary of nature, is the sweet heart of Ranjan, very
appropriately, even in terms of symbolism. If Ranjan stands for the message of
liberty, (because he is likened to the wind, Irresponsible in its approach) then
Nandini is the great spirit of love in nature and hence the votary of alter eyes of
Ranjan. She is an incarnation of nature with those garlands of red oleanders. The

oleanders are read, because they emit love and liberty and liberty must be hatched
through a most impersonal kind of love. Ranjan wisely gave the red oleanders to
Nandini, because love, as an passion has red for its natural color and red looks
forward
to
revolution.
The Yaksha town is a lucid illustration of the chain of bondage. The capitalist
industry makes an attack upon the innocent helpless people from the first retiring
villages and compelled them to a huddled existence in the industrial slums and
shanties. Divorced from the domestic pleasure and freedom, these ill-fated laborers
forfeit their humanity by dredging all day long in the dark prison houses symbolized
by the mines. Victims of the capitalist greed, these men are reduced to mere
numbers- 41v or 69ng. they thus wear badges of abject slavery. Their tears invite
Ranjan and Nandini into the scene. The drunken eyes and drooping heads of such
hapless creatures like Bishu, Chandra, Phagulal and others receives a thrust of
rejuvenation at the appearance of Nandini into the scene. She is a soul who
contains in her the life forces softness and indomitable willpower, love and
fearlessness, girlish enthusiasm and matronly wisdom. She touches everything back
to life. As her name warrants, she is the very quintessence of the aesthetic pleasure
in man, destined to enthrall everybody. Bishu can go mad for her. The most choric
professor shakes off his abstract impersonality and sings refrains of love. Even the
dehumanized Sardar cannot escape her attraction, although like Gossains, his
passion is of a different nature. She is often misunderstood in her vacation, because
of
her
poor
comprehension
of
the
other
characters.
Chandra mistakes her as a libertine, for messages of change are not always well
received. We are afraid of change sometimes, even when we need it, because it
tends to lead us into regions of uncertainty, to which we are not used to. Our
pettiness stands in the way of proper understanding, juts as Chandras jealousy
blinded
her
vision
temporarily.
The height of Nandinis conquest is when after the splendid encounter with the king,
she succeeds in transforming the self. But symbolically again it is not before his
blindness snatched a great price - the herald of youth love and spring is killed by his
own hands out of ignorance. Though it is a great regression, Nandini takes up the
unfinished work of Ranjan and carries on the torch of change with the belief that
Ranjan cant die. Of course Ranjan ceases to be a man anymore here in this sense,
just as Nandini, remains as a becoming star to guide us through the civilizational
ups and downs.

Q3. Critically evaluate Tagores Red Oleanders as a play of protest. Or, Red
Oleanders is a play of protest with a difference. Examine the validity of the
statement.
Ans: Rabindranath Tagores Political Imaginary in
Raktakarabi
(
Red Oleanders
)
is a uniquely insightful take on Tagores
Red Oleanders
, which arguably is
the playwrights chef doeuvre. Bhattacharyya reads the play in the light of

heterodox Marxism, drawing on the philosophy of the thinkers such as Antonio Negri and Walter Benjamin. The author links the netherworld depicted
in this Tagore play to the Negrian notion of creative, Dionysian powers
and then, borrowing a concept of Benjamins
Theses on the Concept of History
, proceeds to look upon this world as one in which the images from the
past can flash up. In Bhattacharyyas view, the netherworld of the play is
the inescapable, inexorable dark world of capital that interiorizes everything
and is everywhere and nowhere. But, he points out, even in this world
of irredeemable labor there can be sparks of creativity and human perfor
mativity, and in the context of the play, it is the character of Nandini who
embodies that element of contingency. Nandini, for Bhattacharyya, represents both constituent power la Negri (meaning power that constitutes
without being calicified) and constellative power la Benjamin (meaning
power that is at the conjunctural point of many possibilities). By way of
the stylistic analysis of a song sung by Nandini in the play, Bhattacharyya
shows that Nandini embodies what Deleuze and Guattari call substantive
multiplicity, which implies a nondialectical union of the many and the one.

What prompted most of the Western critics to make such undesirable

comments on Tagores
Red Oleanders
was neither their sincere approach to the
play as a masterpie
ce of a particular literary genre nor their recognition of Tagore
who had revealed a superb mastery over English. Some of the
contemporary
critics did not even know the language of
Rakta Karabi
and the cultural
significance of the Bengali language. What ma
de them impatient was Tagores
vehement protest against the Jalianwallah Bagh massacre and his
subsequent
renunciation of the Knighthood conferred by the British Empire in 1919.
Suvadip Sinhas Critique of the Disciplinary Sovereign in Rabindranath
Tagores
Raktakarabi
(
Red Oleanders
) starts with a discussion of critical

debates and uncertainties of evaluation surrounding Tagores play

Red Oleanders
during the playwrights lifetime. Sinha proceeds to show Tagores
unique sense of realism that permeates the play (which the critics confused
with mysticism) and persuasively argues that the play can be read as Tagores subversive notion of sovereign authoritarianism beyond the immediate
context of the British imperialism. Sinha specifically focuses on two char
acters of the play, namely Nandini and the King, to bring home his point.
Taking his cue from postmodernist theoreticians of power and governance,
Sinha looks upon Nandini as an unproductive excess in the claustrophobic atmosphere of Yakshapuri, whereas he finds the invisible King of Yakshapuri as an emblem of the Foucauldian notion of the panopticon.
In the preface to the play, Tagore calls our attention by presenting Ravanas
resemblance with the King. He says, Ravana in The Ramayana with enormous
powers and ambition and greed captured many Gods and Goddess and make them
work for his pleasure. But in midst, suddenly appeared a woman and the epic ended
with the triumph of virtue. Like Ravana, the King in Red Oleanders is an epitome of
lateral power and prosperity and evinces the evils of materialism. Nandhini, like Sita
represents the benevolent of nature. She shows a remarkable spirit of defiance
against the King. For Tagore, it implies the triumph of agricultural society over the
industrial system through a lone womans integrity and moral protest.

In the play, Chandra, the environmental activist protesting against the destruction and
degeneration caused by coalmines in Mumbai (India), is torn between the land of her father
(Mumbai) and the land that has been her home (London).
Kent believes it to be a personal exploration of her own identity and mixed heritage: It is
important to me that we care for each other whatever country we live in and that the environment
should be a concern of everyone on the planet.
She [Chandra] is driven by her work and allows that to dictate her life, but things are going
wrong and she has to confront who she really is and what is really important to her.
Once she stops resisting she can move on emotionally. Belonging is fundamental to who we are
but it can also limit us.

Reading Tagores
Red Oleanders

through Ecofeminist Lenses draws attention to the fact

that Tagores consistent focus on the twin topics of nature and the woman
throughout his opus lends itself with ease to an ecofeminist reading of the
play
Red Oleanders
. Drawing on leading ecologists such as Vandana Shiva
and
others, Chaudhuri merges critical notions on ecology and feminism
that link
Tagorean symbols, metaphors, and images to the ecological per
spectives that bring home the truth about the degradation of human life as
well as nature vis--vis the patriarchic exploitation of women in industrial
civilization.
Nandini in
Rabindranath Tagores
Red Oleanders
, argues that Tagores traces the
human progress from a state of passivity, subjugation, and fragmentation
to a condition of integration, power, and activity (124, this volume). The
play is rather about the unending struggle for independence for the mar
ginalized and their dream of a new world of emancipation and freedom
than about triumph achieved and strength attained (124, this volume).
Chaudhuri also brings out the female protagonist, Nandini, as the epitome
of the New Woman, powerfully dramatized by Tagore, staging a conflict
for power between two contrasting attitudes and ways of lifemale and
femaleand resulting in the final victory of the female worldview.

Q4. Nandini is not a person of flesh and blood. She is a symbol of life and
freedom. Examine the validity of the statement.
Ans: The first three scenes develop Nandini as a tangibl

e human figure with

symbolic overtones. She is the principle of love, e
voking tremendous devotion
in Kishore, who says, I dream of dying one day for
your sake, Nandini (3).
While accepting his homage, the offering of red ole
anders, she shows great

concern for him and his safety. In the company of t

he professor, who, thanks to
her influence, gives an honest analysis of Yaksha T
own. She shows an
intellectual quality much superior to the professor
s. She makes him realize that
all he says is a kind of made-up talk and he borrow
s day and night in a mass of
yellow pages, like the diggers in the bowels of the
earth. It is to him, who
obviously understands her but cannot follow her, th
at she speaks about her
Ranjan, who, endowed with Gods own thoughts and sp
ontaneous strength,
will, she says, put a beating heart behind these d
ead ribs ( 9); and about his
love for her, as a symbol of which she wears the ga
rland of red oleanders. The
professor begs her to fly away from the city under
an eclipse, and asks for a
flower so that he can try and understands its colou
r. In the third scene that
follows, Gokul, a digger, hurls abuses at her, call
s her a witch, snaring
everybody with her beauty, bringing some unknown do
om upon them. To him
the tassel of red oleanders appears menacing like
an ominous torch with a red
flame. The first three scenes present Nandini from
three different point of
viewthose of devotion, understanding and antagonis
m, and adumbrate the
impending conflict between Nandini and the King and
also the impending
arrival of Ranjan, the Deliverer. They also dramati
cally keep the action poised
between hope and despair, the possibility of salvat
ion and that of destruction.

A romantic nostalgia and a never-ending quest after the fleeting objects of nature
are easily
perceptible in the play of Tagore. He sees in nature what he himself has put there.
Tagore does
not deal with ordinary men and women, his individuals are extraordinary men and
women such
as can best serve his self-expression. The drama or the theatre is at best just as
device and an
excuse for self-expression. The below mentioned plays are not dramas of
circumstances. The
characters in these plays are not persons of flesh and blood but the personifications
of the poets
own subjective experiences. They function not in the Global world of master but in
the realm of
spirit. Inner transformation of man is rarely suggested by Tagore to solve the
problems of the
modern world. Tagore believes in the spiritual evolution of mind, in his
enhancement of
sympathy across all the abstracts of creed and colour.
Red Oleanders has a plot consisting of exposing development and denouncement.
The
central theme relates to the killing of Ranjan and the change that this incident and
Nandinis
influence bring about in the life of the king who begins to fight against himself
with Nandinis
help. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore the significance of the action is explain
thus: She
(Nandini) is not an abstraction, but is pursued by an abstraction, like one tormented
by a ghost.
And this is the drama. Although Nandini is portrayed as a real woman, not much
is said of the
positive side of her life as a human being. She is more a critic of king than a
woman is with a
personality of her own. Her love for Ranjan is laid an emphasis upon, but he is too
shadowy a
personality indistinctly drawn, to be taken as a definite symbol or as a living
human being. The
hidden significance seems to have clouded the human drama of love and death,
and there is a

good deal of confusion even about many other characters as well. Some of the
satires such as that
of Kenaram Gosam are too broad and the exposition of the play is so long that the
other pasts are
simply gone through hurriedly. In spite, these shortcomings, Red Oleander is a
remarkable drama
principally because of the portrait of the king, who fittingly symbolizes power,
greed, and
deartness of modern industrialism.

Red Oleanders modern Bengali drama in one of Tagore's career stands out as a
major milestone, impregnated with a deep constant symbols, play more mundane
conversational prose and poetry and mysticism with quote abjures charges imposed
speaks in a language that always play the frenetic nature of the message matches
the deep. Ranjan and that great elusive duality Nandini, and yet once our comrades
who made divine beings. Tagore's vision of the allegorical painting - as the scope of
the symbols to the world of flesh and blood belongs not so much. Nandini, the hero
of the play is a remarkable innovation, across the stage as freely as the air is
trudges. Young, Spring inspiration and revolution - that is the fundamental life force
that he owes a self and an idealized symbol of love and stands as confident
property.

Q5. Comment on the significance of the title of Red Oleanders.

Ans: The play centers on Nature as signified by the very title

of the play Red Oleanders

.
Nandhini wears red oleande
rs her hair
and white kunda flowers, which insists
faith in
the power
of virtue. The autumn song gives unseen picture
of field
. The perfumed wind, the sky, shivering

corn, sunlight and joy of the people outside the town

are clearly shown through the distant song,
which refers to the cosmic harmony of nature. This nature
song is a song of selfless love.
Tagores playRed Oleanders (Raktakaravi) was written towards the end of
1923. The title, then, was not Raktakaravi but Yakshapuri or The City of Yaksha (the
demon king). Tagore further revived the manuscript and retitled it as Nandhini
after the name of the female protagonist of the story. In the final version published
in Pravasi in 1924 the title was further revised to Rakatakaravi, the Red Oleander.
The shift in emphasis, it can be noticed, is from the city (Yakshapuri) through a
character (Nandhini) to a flower (Raktakaravi) and makes Raktakaravi essentially a
symbolic drama.

Red Oleanders is a power and poignant play where commercial exploitation,

oppression, power, love and obsession operate on different levels and manifest
themselves in different shapes.

The play is built around the theme of unscrupulous capitalism, environmental

exploitation and the importance of human relationships. The play Red Oleanders,
according to Tagore, is an expression of that truth to which we are accustomed that
we have forgotten all about it. It is a play about evil and good working side by side,
about greed and human sympathy, about that which separate fellow beings and
that which keeps us together.

The play is based upon the principle that each must legitimately fight against
the other, the oppressor and the oppressed. It is the story of Nandhini, a beautiful
woman who appears at a time of the oppression of humanity by greed and power.

The antagonist in the story is the king, who represents enormous authority but
barricades himself behind an iron curtain. He transforms a town into a fort and the
human into digging machines who grope in the dark searching for gold.
The people of the country of Kuvera are engaged in digging out with all their
might precious gold, tearing out from the underground world. Driven by the
covetous urge for cruel hoarding, the people have banished all the sweetness of life
from the place. There man, enslaving himself within his own complexities, has
severed himself from the rest of the universe. They have forgotten that the value of
joy is greater than the value of gold; that there is no fulfillment in might but only in
love. Into this soulless town where people were unaware of the beauty of nature,
the green meadows, the dazzling sunshine, the tenderness and love between
humans, Nandhini arrives to salvage humanity trapped behind mechanized tyranny.
She eventually frees the oppressed souls who are toiling underground, but at a
great sacrifice. The story ends in an unexpected climax after Tagore knits an
intricate network of sequences that ultimately becomes a parable.

Red Oleanders is rather confused in its action and obscure in its dialogue, but
there is no ambiguity either about the role of Nandhini or about the indictment
delivered by the play or about the significance of the title.

From the delightful warm exchanges between Nandhini and the Professor and
later from the transporting soliloquy of Bishu in the opening sequence of the play, it
is evident that the import behind the symbol of the blossoming Red Oleander in its
association with freedom and death, the bracelet of which is finally to roll in dust
as with freedom itself. The Professor tells Nandhini, Perhaps your destiny knows.
In this blood-red luster (Red Oleander) lays a fearful mystery, not merely beauty,
and the moment to the tragic suffering in the play, evoking all the poignancy of
King Lears famous prison speech.

Speaking of the play

Red Oleanders
Tagore himself told that it is a

vision that has come to me in the darkest hour of d

ismay.
1

The English
version of the play
Red Oleanders
as available to us is the translation of the
Bengali text entitled
Raktakarabi.
This play is the most mobilizing instrument
for counter attack on postcolonial society, the byproduct of the modern
materialistic system.
Red Oleanders
is one of the sixty plays, by Asias first Noble L
aureate
Rabindranath Tagore. The play written in 1923-24, w
as begun during a visit to
Shillong, Assam and was inspired by the image of a
red oleander plant crushed
to pieces of discarded iron that Tagore had come ac
ross while walking. A short
time later, an oleander branch with a single red fl
ower protruded through the
debris, as if, he noted, created from the blood of
its cruelly pierced breast. It
has been suggested that the plays title might appr
opriately be translated as
Blood-Red Oleanders to indicate the beautiful and t
oxic nature of the flower
and its association with beauty and death in the pl
ay.

Q6. Comment on the significance of the character of Gossain in Tagores Red

Oleanders.

Ans: Gosain is a minor character, but the concept of he stands for his important in
the thematic context of Red Oleanders. Gosain is the priest in Yaksha Town. He is in
charge of taking care of moral and religious state of those miners who are disobedient
to the diabolical design of the king at Yaksha Town. The conversation between
Nandini and Gosain revels what role he plays for perfectuating the kings system of
repression and exploitation in Yaksha Town. Gossains aim is to bring about a change
in the mind of Nandini. He wants Nandini to dissociate herself from her mission. He
advices her to be in search of her mental peace by turning her face from the reality of
kings exploitation of the miners of Yaksha Town, to the chanting of the Holy Name.
He who wants the kings system be continuing, tries to tempt her for the peace in his
sanctuary. This is what he precisely does at Yaksha Town.
Bishu explains to Chandra,
-hard work driven by hu
nger brings exhaustion,
which can be soothed by getting drunk on Natures beauty. But the dearth of
Nature in the midst of Yakshapuris demanding work leads them to find
comfort in getting drunk by alternate means. They lament about their present

12
life, being known not by names, but numbers
allotted to them. As Sardar
enters, Chandra requests his permissi
on to go back home during the harvest
festival
.
Sardar makes an obvious false promise to consider the request, and
introduces Gosain, the holy man who is
supposed to look after the so-called
spiritual well
being of the miners. Phagulal does not like the idea.

The scenes that follow depict the life patterns of

the Yaksha Town. It is
a holiday in Yaksha Town on account of the Worship
of the Flag, and here
holidays are more of a nuisance than work-days. Pha
gulal and his wife Chandra
recall the life of freedom of their village where t

hey could taste the essence of

life in the green of the woods and the gold of the
sunshine (40) which is
never to be experienced in this world of the King a
nd the mighty Governor.
This has parallels in Blakes chimney-sweepers reca
lling the echoing green and
other experiences. Bishu,the poet, who is possessed
by Nandini, sings of the
joys of freedom and the boundless tavern underneat
h the blue canopy (41),
and criticizes the dehumanizing tendencies of Yaksh
a Town. He also hints that
the tyrannical rule of the King and his Governor ex
ists not only because of their
designs and methods but also because of the mean-mi
ndedness and greediness
of the inhabitants of the town, the Yakshas. The Go
vernor handles his people
with utter sophistication and hypocritical concern,
and arranges for Gosians
soothing religious and moral sermons. To Bishu, Nan
dini has revealed the
reason of the eternal sorrow of man in terms of so
rrow of aspiration and to
forget the same is the greatest of sorrows.
Gosians mission is to divert the minds of miners from the kings machinery for
exploitation to the glorification of the Holy Name. He wants Nandini to accept
everything as fait accompli and to help the system run without any interruption. In the
name of Providence he preaches people to maintain the status quo. The delineation of
the character of Gosain in Red Oleanders may be influenced by Tagores familiarity
with the Communist Manifesto published in 1848. In the play, he exposes not only the
kings greed for wealth and power but also the consequent dehumanizing effect of the
exploitation of the miners. Tagores aims at showing that religion are an instrument
which the ruling class always uses for exploiting the common people. The king, the
Government, the Deputy Governor, the Guard all in Red Oleanders belong to the

ruling class. Tagores visit to the Soviet Union materializes sometime in 1930, but his
interest in visiting the new society of Soviet Union after the Great Revolution in 1917
dates back even before the publication of Red Oleanders. In 1926, he received an
imitation from the Soviet Government for a visit. Tagore postponed this visit due to
his sudden illness with influenza.
Think of all the people in Tagores Red Oleander, residing perhaps in postindependent India who did not have names and were identified as mere numbers,
21F, 79D, 84M, etc. forming their own party with the assistance of Nandini, the
female rebel protagonist (Ranjan the other rebel protagonist had already been
killed by the King) and challenging the King, the Gosain (clergy), the Adhyapak
(professor) and a host of other sycophants; throw in also the madness and music of
Bishu Paagla (Bishu, the mad one), the carnivalesque anarchism of the multitude
and you have something like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The groaning Paloan drags himself in.

Adhyapak denies Nandinis request to
help the Paloan go home. He departs
when he sees Sardar coming, but
leaves a hint that Nandinis simplicity also might have shaken the cruel
nature of Sardar. Sardar orders the wr
estler to go to his allocated shelter.
Nandini inquires about Bishus whereabouts, and goes into a rage at
Gosains comments that wherever he is, it is for the best. Gosain flees.
Sardar informs that Bishu has been
taken to the court of judgment and
blames Nandini for dragging Bishu to his peril. He also says that she will
never see Ranjan again.
Topic: Samskara : U. R. Ananthamurthy
Q1. Bring out the significance of the title of the novel Samskara with special
reference to the sub-title.
Ans: U.R. Anantha Murthtys Samskara was first published in 1965 and it was
made into a film in 1970. Since then, it had created a lot of controversy in academic
and
non-academic circles. The theme of the novel is the story of a decaying brahmin
agrahara in the old Konkan region. Interestingly enough, the novel incorporates
most of the meanings of the word Samskara in its scope and content. According to
A.K. Ramanujan, who translated the novel into English, the title refers to a concept
central to Hinduism. The sub-title of his translation, A Rite for a Dead Man , is the
most concrete of these many concentric senses that spread through the work.

Write an essay on the significance of the title of Samskara as it relates specifically

to Praneshacharya but also in the more general sense of the term. * Trying to find
the meaning of Samskara in its nebulous form. * Establish definitions and
concentrate on mainly one definition of Samskara that pervades the novel * On a
second reading of Samskara, it becomes evident that the novel opens up with a
double entendre feeling towards Praneshacharya. We understand that the "CrestJewel of Vedic Learning" has married an invalid and set himself up as the
"householder" who considers this act will allow him to "get ripe and ready" .
As Ramanujan states: "Though the word Samskara does not occur obtrusively or to
frequently in the narrative its meanings implicitly inform the action." * Furthermore,
the fact that Praneshacharya marries an invalid portrays that he is arrogant, in the
sense that he has desire and wants to conquer desire. This, therefore implies that
the fact that he wants to conquer desire means that he is still attached to the world,
and has thus not reached the 'householder' stage just yet, but merely the 'celibate
student' level. * Not only did Pranesharcharya's act of committing adultery pollute
his Brahminhood, but his consumption of food from Chandri's hand (before
Naranappa's cremation) .
The central theme of the novel is the death of Naranappa and the complications
connected with the issue of his burial. Naranappa was an anti-Brahminical Brahmin
who spent all his life in defying Brahmin beliefs and lifestyles. He brought a lowercaste prostitute to the agarahara and lived with her in his house. He even invited
Muslim friends to the agrahara and openly consumed alcohol and non-vegetarian
food
so
as
to
insult
the
other
Brahmins.
When Naranappa died, his burial became a complicated issue. The Brahmins did not
want to do the last rites of Naranappa because they were afraid that the guru at
Shringeri might excommunicate them for burying a heretic. At the same time, they
wanted the burial to be over as soon as possible because they were not even
permitted to eat or drink anything while a Brahmin corpse awaited cremation in the
agrahara. Finally they left the issue to Paneshchaarya who was the head of the
village.
Praneshacharya searched all the holy books to find a solution to this problem.
Chandri, the concubine of Naranappa, submitted all her jewels at the feet of
Praneshacharya to meet the expenses of the burial rites. This act of Chandri further
complicated the issue because all the Brahmins suddenly turned greedy on seeing
such a large quantity of gold. Now they all wanted to do the rites so as to get the
gold. Praneshacharya became afraid that the love of gold might corrupt the whole
agrahara.
Pranesha charya couldnt find a solution to the dialemma of the burial issue even
after consulting Manu and other holy texts. So he went to the Hanuman temple and
prayed for some divine direction. But the monkey-God refused to enlighten him in
anyway. While he was returning from the Hanuman temple, Chandri tempted him in
the darkness. He fell to the temptation and made love to her then and there.
The sexual relationship with Chandri totally transformed Praneshacharya. He felt
that he no longer had any moral right to continue as the spiritual leader of the
agrahara. So he refused to direct the Brahmins in the issue of the burial.
Chandri became desperate and she approached the lower caste people to do the

burial. But they refused to meddle with a Brahmin corpse even if she gave them all
eight kinds of riches. Finally she went to the Muslim section and pleaded to Ahmed
Bari.
Although she handed over her jewelry as a compensation of her actions and the
rite, anyone of the Brahmins could have preempted that she was going to perform
the deed. As we see later in she does take control of the dilemma that bewilders
this Brahmin community. * Additionally, it is palpable that the purest of all
characters in this novel is actually Chandri. She, herself the low-caste whore hands
over the gold without any possession for them, cleans after Naranappa's
drunkenness and the other brahmin's vomit as pointed out by them later on: "",
whilst "in the heart of everyone of them flashed the question: if some other Brahmin
should perform the final rite for Naranappa, he might keep his brahminhood and yet
put all that gold on his wife's neck".

Q2. Write a note on Samskara as a specimen of Bildsungroman.

Ans:
Q3. Examine Samskara as a novella.
Ans:
Q4. The central character in Samskara journeys from ignorance to knowledge.
Analyse the character of Praneshacharaya in the light of this statament
Ans:
Q5. Do you think that Samskara is an open-ended novel? Give reasons for your
answer.
Ans:
Q6. Comment on the role played by Putta in Samskara.
Ans:
Topic: The Theory of Analysis and Translation
Q1. Translation is either Beautiful or Faithful. Examine the validity of this
statement.
Ans:
Q2. Is it possible to translate the syntax and the supra-segmental features of a
source language text (SLT) into a target language text (TLT)? Give reasons for
your answer.
Ans:
Q3. What does self-translation mean? What advantages does a self-translator
enjoy? Cite examples to substantiate your answer.
Ans:
Q4. What does Noam Chomsky think of translation? Does Chomskys concept of
Universal Grammar underline that translation is possible?
Ans:

Q5. Human language is culture specific. What is the relevance of culture to the
process that continues in the mind of a poet while he engages himself in the act of
translation?
Ans:
Q6. Translation is a decoding and encoding process. Comment on the
statement.
Ans:
Q7. How is the Reader Response theory relevant in the context of translation
studies? Discuss with suitable examples
Ans:
Q8. Mention the different types of translation according to Dryden, Alexander
Fraser and Roman Jakobson.
Ans: