Original subtitles

Good morning.

I do remember that we have been doing the

lectures on Indian poetry in English.

And my dear friends, you are listening to these NPTEL online lectures

on Indian poetry in English.

The lectures are being delivered by Vinod Mishra.

Prior to this, we have had two lectures where we discussed what Indian

poetry in English means and what actually it means

in a broader way when we talk about Indian literature in English.

We had the other day discussed the historical background

and we had also seen that the first Indian English poet

was Henry de Rosio.

My dear friends, I'm reminded of one very important line

by M .K. Naik in his book where he says that the first

period of Indian English literature or for that matter poetry

came to an end by 1850 now that was the

first period of indian english poetry now in in between

so many things passed off

india at that time was witnessing

the rise of nationalism and of course the east

india company which was ruling India had actually a greater say.

So many of the poets, as you remember, who had started trying their hands,

whether Indian or British, some of them also happened to be British

women poets.

Now in 1858, you are well reminded of the fact

that 1857,

mutiny that is Supai mutiny which was called the first struggle for Indian

independence that actually came to an end in 1858 and the rule

of East India Company was now on its decline so many changes were taking

there were many Indian voices also on the rise especially in the field of

of course many of them Were quite adamant in writing.

Their verses.

In the regional language.

That is especially.

In Bengal.

We had.

And you well remember.

Who had started writing.

In English.

Later on switched over to. Writing in Bengali. And his seminal work.

Had become very popular.

But then.

As the second phase of Indian English poetry starts, we have some very

voices and we can call these people as the path breakers of Indian poetry in

English. They were Torudat, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore. My dear

it has always been seen that whenever there is an opposition, it is not devoid

of its own benefits and that India also witnessed.

India was actually able to rediscover an own identity and it was not only in the

minds of Indian male poets but also in the minds of Indian female poets.

And it was for the first time the Dattas came into limelight

with their composing of the Dattas family album and we will talk

in details about that.

We have to be reminded of how some of the British women poets, they were also

trying their hands at writing poetry in English.

Now, who were these women poets?

Majority of these women poets were somewhere or the other the relatives or

kinsmen of the British officials in India.

They were actually talking about the themes of speciality, I mean the space

distancing. And of course, at times they also talked about the gendered feeling.

Some names that we can take here are Anna Maria. Of course, many of them were

writing under their pseudonyms. They were not actually writing in their true

names. Some of them were still fully publishing their poems.

And Adela, Corey Nicholson, Mary Karsar, Mary Elijah

Leslie, and then Emma Roberts. These are some of the names to be taken here.

And some of these poets who were writing, while many of them had the

landscape on their mind, but there was one voice.

marry Elijah Leslie who was actually born in India especially in a small town

Mongher in Bihar and you know what happened because her upbringing was here

started practicing her verses and in her verses you can find a sort of

linguistic mix both of Indian language and also of British since

these women poets were daughters of the british

officials they had in their mind certain reservations as well because many

of them did not want to be called as poetess and they thought that it was

thought it was a sort of discriminatory word for them because they felt

themselves inferior to and of course the education of the women also helped in

this regard a great deal my different now You might be thinking that since

were the women poets, what were they writing?

Of course, a woman poet is supposed to write poems which actually border

upon domestic life. Many of them were also writing oriental tales.

But then some of them were also writing about the Christian devotional verses.

On the right, you can see here, it is actually a poem by Mary Elijah

Leslie, about whom I said that she was born in Bihar and because of her

background what she does is she actually mixes some of the Indian words. So

Indian poetry in English was also seeing its own vicissitudes through the

voices of some British people.

Now let us have a look at this poem which is entitled Kadambini and if you

the poem in detail you will find how this British a woman poet who

herself does not feel comfortable by calling herself to be a british woman

she writes the raja brings to her child a lovely one with face as mild

as chandra whom some castes address in purnima the hand they kiss

the ladies speak the child came near here is an english pustak dear with

stories pictures too

Now you can find here a blend not only of the regional language, that is, I

mean, Indian language here, and in that part where the words like Chandra,

Purnima, Pustak, and then Bahatkush, these are Indian. So Indian poetry in

English, in it, I mean, in the works of, in the poems of, Mary Elijah

found its own tinge, the Indian tinge.

But then it could have been perfected.

Nonetheless, unless and until an Indian poet who actually belonged to the Indian

soil, to the Indian psyche and also to the Indian land could come to take

her own stride. And that is how Toru Dutt's name here comes into

picture. But who was this Toru Dutta?

And you know, most of us remember the Dutta family album. And this Dutta

album was actually composed by Toru's parents,

especially Toru's father and two of her uncles, namely Gobind Chandra,

Girish Chandra and there was one other relative, Omesh Chandra.

now these people what they were writing they were actually writing about their

own family we'll see but before that let us have a look at who is this toru that

and where was she born now you may well remember that indian poetry in english

could not have its own time unless and until somebody who could work as

if if we get we are reminded of the quote my so a medium of intercourse or

communication and that also resulted in many of the poets writing in english

with the blessings of the british people and at that time there was actually a

craze that children should be sent if possible and if their financial

so actually allowed they could go to england and this is how it happened

So Toru was born on 4th March 1856 in a rich family in Calcutta. And her

father Gobind Chand, that as I said, he himself was a poet and two of

his brothers also were poets.

And Toru was born in a family having three siblings. Toru had two

siblings including her becoming the third.

So Aru Dutt and Abdu. Aru was a sister and Abdu was the brother.

But my dear friends, at times it so happens that Toru had a very crooked

Fine. Even though she was born in Calcutta, the family, because of some

or the other, they embraced Christianity and they left for Europe in 1869. It is

said that they were the first Bengali family to visit Europe.

Fine. And Toru also was the first woman, Indian, Bengali woman to visit Europe.

That left for Europe in 1869.

And then in the society, they felt themselves alienated.

When they went to England, when they went to Europe, their first stay was in

France, where Toru had her schooling.

Fine. And then later on, she also switched over along with her parents to

Cambridge.

Where she could make friendship with Mary Martin who happened to be the

recipient of all her letters.

Fine? All the letters of Toru. But Toru and her siblings had a very

sad, bad and a very crooked fate.

All of them were suffering from some disease or the other.

And you will come to know later that Toru had a very small life.

A life of only 21 years.

first she lost her own brother and then she lost her sister and that

also of consumption and later on she also succumbed to death in 1877

a brief description about toru given by gobind

chandra dutt in a sonnet is purian elf like with disheveled tresses she

willed and sighed self -willed and sighed Intent to pay her tenderest

to bird or cat.

But most intelligent.

Toru Dutt actually was very intelligent right from the beginning. And she had

her passion. She had her passion and sympathies for everything that was

her. It is said that she even wanted a mosquito for her canneries. She had the

same sort of love for the birds. And also at times.

the nature which was around her so toru was witty by nature fine when she had

been living in england she had all sorts of experiences but even when toru's

father had embraced christianity her mother was a very traditional indian

and she was a traditional hindu and most often she filled toru's mind with the

ancient tales of indian scriptures And that actually seemed to formulate the

early years of Toru when she had drawn herself to the Indian legions, Indian

kathas and the Indian myths.

The family moved in 1871 to Cambridge where, as I said earlier, Toru

befriended Mary Martin who happened to be one of the most fortunate beings to

receive all the letters of Toru throughout her life.

Toru actually, it is said by many Indian writers and poets that she was

the one, she was the one who could be considered that she was the first true

authentic Indian voice, Indian voice.

And it is said, I'm reminded of what M .K. Naik says, that from cetacism

to an authentic.

cetacism to an authentic utterance i think this was actually the call of the

second uh period of indian english literature so from cetacism not mere

not mere writing but there has to be some amount of authenticity and In the

beginning, many people considered that Thoreau was a sort of brown English

woman. But no, my dear friend, of course, because of her upbringing, she

started writing only at a very early age, though she was quite fluent in

English. But she exposed herself to French as well and also to Spanish.

And you will realize that the first work that she did was in French.

And the way she has done it, of course, it was a work of translation, as you

will see later.

But then there are different voices.

All the important figures of France, right from Victor Hugo to many others,

were actually translated in her book entitled Asif Glind in Frenchfield.

About Torudatta, what Tricia Luton says is very significant and

all of us should try to understand.

Domestically over -determined, yet culturally alienating, because she was

in England and partly in France.

Toru and Arudatta turns to Western languages help shape an Indian

I'll rather italicize the word Indian literature, even though she was away.

But the themes that were going on in her mind were nonetheless Indian, whose

power seems to spring not from the sight of a monolithic truth and native

authenticity, but from the infinitely more fascinating sight of reinvention

improvisation. You will find that when Toru came back to India, the family came

back to India in 1873, my dear friend.

They came back to India in 1873.

And unfortunately, four years later, I mean in 1877, Toru also died.

And the deaths of Abju and Aru, they had actually a very catastrophic

effect on Toru's psyche.

Of course, that's the family where these people, the poets who belonged only to

one family, and they have included their lyric, ballad, sonnet, but it is said,

that this book, the Dutta family album, which was published in 1870,

could not succeed. Why it could not succeed? Because even though it had a

technical competence and all, there was imitation, but then it could not be

successful, because as in the preface to Dutta family album,

Govind Chand Dutta himself says,

It was actually the relationship had been drawn closer to the holy bond of

Christian brotherhood.

As foreigners educated out of England, they solicit the indulgence of British

critics to poems which on these grounds alone may, it is hoped, have some title

to their attention. But that family album could not do well.

Now, having seen all this, Toru Dutta, right from the beginning, who actually

was influenced by French, and she was a very quick learner, my dear friend, very

quick learner.

So there are only two works that can be credited to her, and those two

works which are written, the first work, Sif Glind in French Fields, these

are all translations, and translations of all these 70 poets, 70

to 100 poets rather, And in this volume, there are 165 pieces out of

which only eight were written, eight were done by Aru and the remaining ones

were done by Torudat.

Later on, Toru also wrote a novel, Bianca or the Young Spanish Maiden.

Now, she also tried her hand at novel and it is said that this was written

in Spanish.

because it was about a Spanish maiden. And Bianca is actually torn between the

loves of her elder sisters, Fiance and Lord, both of whom

wanted to marry Bianca. But the novel could not develop further, and the novel

suddenly got off in the middle.

Later on, Thoreau wrote La Journal de Mme Weisel d 'Arvers. That was actually

in French.

That was...

And here the heroine is Margarita. Margarita has to choose

between the love of Louis and Count Dunius.

Actually, Margarita loved Count Dunius, but Count Dunius,

out of jealousy, he had actually killed his own brother.

And the Count Dunius wanted.

count dunius had his attraction or fascination towards his own maid and it

so happened that not only did he kill his own brother out of jealousy but he

also killed himself and ultimately uh margarita had no choice than uh to

uh marry uh the able and the worthy uh louis so that is all about but

there was one more important thing on which toru's fame rests

and but then the book came out posthumously means after toru's death

was it was found that toru had been writing uh and what the and the book

actually made her so famous as an indian poet was ancient ballads and legions of

hindustan which was published in 1882 i mean after her death

now When Thoreau wrote the first book, that is a safe glint in

French film, it actually had a very good effect even upon many English writers.

And Edmund Gosse, who being one of the great admirers of Thoreau's writings, he

writes, literature has no owners which need have been beyond the grasp of a

who at the age of 21 And in languages separated from her own by so deep a

had produced so much of lasting worth. Actually, he called Toru earlier as

an exotic, exotic voice, exotic, fragmented voice. But there were some

critics also who said that she is very much like a French woman who can

understand our own culture. And that is how Toru had become very popular.

had also been writing and publishing some of her poems in bengali magazine

though they were translations but then majority of toru's poems as i said

earlier since in toru's psyche there was a deep imprint of indian myths and

legion we could find that there was wonderful mixture of a strength and

both in toru toru could not be called merely

an Indian poet, but she was much the same a French writer and on which her

rests.

We find that in the ancient legions, which we had been talking about, which

her ancient ballads and legions, which made her very popular.

There she talks about Sita, there she talks about Savitri, she talks about

Dhrub, she talks about Lakshman, she talks about the Indian King Varath. And

way she has narrated everything, because we find that there is a sort of

narration, there is a sort of drama, there is actually, and you know, besides

all, she had her own voice.

Of course, many of her works are suffused with Indian myths and legends.

But then she reminds at times all the readers of Victorian Romantic School,

then not devoid of the use of local color. It was actually

Toru's endeavor to bring Hindu epics accessible to Western readers.

There are, in many of her works, domestic morality through an appeal to

Christian virtues.

Toru did not want herself to be called merely an Indian English poet.

But the way she has written, it is often said that she also tried to

blend the two cultures together. And that we shall see when we will find some

Toru's poems.

For example, the poem which made Toru very popular and this poem, Our

Katsurana Tree, which is actually prescribed in many of the universities

colleges. It is associated with several layers of meaning and the moment a

reader reads it, one can find that while she is talking about the tree, but with

the tree is associated Toru's childhood memories.

While structurally she talks about the tree, but she also talks about the pain,

she also talks about the sweet memories and in a way she is also talking about

the loss.

the despair, the frustration that she had on the demise of two of her

We can read a few lines of the poem in order to understand how Toru was quite

adept at making use of English phrases, but with the same felicity of

bringing some of the Indian words in many of her poems. The poem begins with,

the very first stanza of the poem says, Like a huge python,

winding round and round the rugged trunk indented deep with the scars up to its

very summit near the stars a creeper climbs in whose embraces bound no other

tree could leave but gallantly the giant wears the scarf and flowers are hung in

crimson clusters all the boughs among whereupon all they are gathered bird and

bee and oft at night the garden overflows with one sweet song that seems

no close now see The first stanza simply talks about the tree, the structural,

the objective tree.

But as we move to the second stanza, we can find how Toru moves and how she

unfolds her own memory.

Fine? When first my casement is wide open, thrown at down, my eyes delighted

it rest.

See, at some places Toru has written that she had quite a sheltered life.

And when she came out of her own bungalow or building, there were people

at her. So she had only the opportunity of looking through her own windows. And

where she said, sometimes and most in winter, on its crest, a grey baboon sits

statue like alone, watching the sunrise while on the lower boughs. So Thoreau's

view of the outside world, when she is confined in her own room, living a

sheltered life.

His puny offspring leap about and play in far and near Kokilas hail the day and

to their pastures wend over sleepy cows.

So it is it reminds us of the rural settings of Indian life and at the same

the child's view of the outside world.

But as the poem progresses, we can find Toru is reminded of her own

painful and at the same time sweet sour memories.

So Toru has developed a sort of association with the tree and she says,

the shadow on the broad tank cast by that whole tree so beautiful and vast,

water lilies spring like snow in mass, but not because of its magnificence.

dear is the caturna to my soul why do i love this tree and then she says beneath

it we have played so memory beneath it we have played though years may roll oh

sweet companions loved with love intense so she she gets very

painful she actually gets reminiscent of the days that she had spent with her

own siblings

Loved with love intense for your sake, shall the tree be ever dear?

Shall the tree be ever dear?

And then suddenly she retreats. Blend with your images, it shall arise in

till the hot tears blind mine eyes.

What is that dirge -like murmur that I hear?

Like the sea breaking on a single beach, it is the tree's lament.

And here is speech.

That happily to the unknown land may reach.

Unknown.

Yet well known to the eye of faith.

Ah, I have heard that wail far, far away.

Again, I have heard that wail far, far away in distant lands by many a

bay. When slumbered in his cave the water rate and the waves gently kissed

classic shore of France or Italy beneath the moon.

So trying to blend both the Indian landscape and then also the France and

Italy. When earth lay tranced in dreamless soon and every time the music

before my inner vision rose.

A form sublime. Thy form.

O tree. As in my happy prime.

This prime refers to her childhood.

I saw thee. In my own loved native clime. In my own loved native clime. And

then finally. The last stanza.

Where she says.

Therefore I fain would consecrate a lay unto thy owner.

I would consecrate a lay unto thy owner. Tree.

Beloved of those who now when blessed sleep.

Referring to her brother and sister.

For I repose dearer than life to me.

Alas were they.

So her deep association.

Mayest thou be numbered when my days are done.

Mayest thou be numbered when my days are done.

And see actually also maybe we can find that there is a sort of premonition of

her own death.

With deathless trees like those in Borrowdale, and whose awful branches

pale, fear, trembling hope and death, the skeleton and time the shadow, and

though weak the words, that would thy beauty feign, oh, feign rehearse, may

defend thee from oblivion's curse.

Here she also reminds us of Keats, of some other poets who

had seen death and despair,

Many people often can say that he also reminds the readers of Emily Dickinson

who was also soaked in death like John Key of English literature.

Now what does this poem tell us and how can this allow and

enable us to understand Thoreau as an authentic Indian English voice?

Not only are there the Indian settings and imageries, as you have already seen,

the kokulas, the baboons on the trees, which are a common sight.

But then the beauty of the poem lies in its picturesque quality.

Fine. And it reminds us of the Keatsian romanticism. So not only is Toru aware

of at such an age.

And, you know, Toru shared the fate of John Keats, who also died so early, my

dear friend.

It is a traumatic recollection, but then it is not devoid of the rhythmic

quality and the musicality. So in a way, Katsurana 3, which is one of the most

famous poems of Tauru Datt, not only blends us to the Indian settings,

but also it allows us to enter the inner psyche of the poet

who had preserved

the tragedy who had preserved the sufferings that she underwent after the

of two of her dear and near siblings now one can often

say that toru had the privilege of getting education in a

foreign land but at the same time was she also aware was there a sort of

consciousness that she was an indian of course In one of the poems which we have

taken from the last collection, the ancient ballads and legends of

the poem entitled Lotus.

And in this poem, not only does the poet make use of very beautiful literary

devices called personification, but at the same time, he also refers to the

conflict of religion.

And then she tries to prove how Indian religion or Indian ethics or Indian

settings or Indian psyche had something that can make the world having a sort of

wonder and awe. Let us have a look at the lines of the poem in order to

understand not only the rhythmic quality but the sort of philosophy that she

tries to weave beneath these lines.

love came to flora asking for a flower actually it talks about a flower and and

here love has been personified love wanted to know which is the loveliest we

have been saying that when we talk about poetry in poetry a flower is considered

to be the queen of the garden the lady of the garden fine and something of

delight and here we find How Toru Dutt, in a very exquisite manner,

tries to say that how Indian flower, lotus, has its own

importance. And she says, love came to Flora asking for a flower that would

of flowers be undisputed queen.

The lily and the rose long, long had been rivals for that owner.

Birds of pie.

So when she says lily and rose, she is referring to something else, not India.

Like the pale lily, birds apart had sung their claims. The rose can never tower

like the pale lily with her Juneau mind.

But is the lily lovelier?

Thus between flower factions rang the strife in psyche's bower.

Give me a flower delicious as the rose and straightly as the lily in her pride.

But of what color?

rose red so the flower says uh what color rose red love first

chose and then prayed no lily white or both provide

and flora gave the lotus rose red died and lily white

the queenliest flower that blows so through this poem uh the the poetess

toru datta actually wants to say That the lotus has its own significant

place. Even though it may not. Till now it has not been considered to

be as great as lily and rose. But then and flora gave the lotus rose

red dyed. Which has got both rose.

but then red dyed and lily white it has got the combination of so here we can

find a sort of synthesis uh between uh not only between two sorts of opinion

also between two sorts of culture between two sorts of religion between

and you know he tries to clear this ambivalence so that is why this poem

appears to me one of my favorite ones now Before we come on to assess

Toru Dutt as one very authentic Indian voice, you may well understand

that once when an Indian size was killed and the matters came to the court,

the judge fined the killer only by avoiding a punishment of

two pawns.

And at that, Toru Dutt had responded, you see, How cheap

is the life of an Indian size in the eyes of the British judge?

And you know, since Toru was very witty, at times he gave answers which could

really not only surprise others, but then it was not devoid of reality.

Once upon a time, when an elderly gentleman chided Toru by

asking, why don't you get married?

And Toru had said, I was simply waiting for your permission.

So this was actually the beauty of Adi. So little, so little a girl of 21 years

old. But then she had within her a heart, a psyche, a sort of

poetry which if could have been preserved or if Toru could have lived

She could really have been proved to be an authentic Indian voice, which she is,

but she could have surpassed many.

So now, in order to assess Toru's poetic corpus and her poetic qualities, we can

say that Toru was not like her predecessors, and she was not only

course, her education was in the West, but just for some time, but then she did

not forget.

Because she was very close to her mother and mother's stories had really worked

miracles, my dear friend. So, Toru blends personal and cultural dimensions

her own experience.

One poem after another you will find, whether it is Sita or it is Lakshman

or it is the famous poem, the Royal Asiatic and the Hind.

You will be surprised to know.

that toru in in her poem lakshmana she has delineated the picture

of how when sita had been asked to keep herself confined to the line which was

drawn by lakshman and then when marich marich was

hurt and he called oh sita oh lakshman and whatsoever

we find that

she is not happy with Lakshman and she at times felt that Lakshman was not

coming to save her only because Lakshman had an eye on her but then

Toru actually delineates in such a manner later on Sita

the simple woman realizes in the same line we have another episode

when King Bharat Who himself was an ascetic.

And in the forest. When a hind. A pregnant hind.

Was walking.

Fine. Suddenly a lion appeared. And the lion attacked the hind.

And out of fear.

The hind could not control herself.

And the child was born.

Now it was very difficult for the king. What to do. Whether he should listen to

God's voice.

Or he should become human.

So king finally came.

and decided that he should help the little child.

So by delineating this, see actually, I mean, Toru actually wanted to take a dig

on the sort of renunciation, on the sort of such a wife, such a life

which is secluded from the human welfare.

Now the question is, as rightly has been said by Mehrotra in his famous book,

toru's language and vision was crafted out of an individual life and a

sensibility that actually belongs to modern india so people who are still

apprehensive and who are still hesitating of calling toru a real indian

may take a reply from this because toru's vision radiates beyond the

even though what was there in her psyche she could portray and delineate her

through her poems and as we have seen that many of her poems of

the last book that was published posthumously are having a background of

Indian myths and legions.

Of course at times she makes uses of archaism fine and many of her

poems are having octosyllabic stanza and verse forms.

One beautiful quality of one of the poems that the Lotus is, that it is

fashioned in a Petrarchan stanza form, where we find

the lines are patterned in such a way, A, B, B, A, B, B, C,

C, like that. And finally, You find if you go to the poem, you can find how she

tries to maintain the quality, how she tries to maintain the rhythmic quality.

Naik has rightly said about what Naik says about her is really reminiscent

of Toru being a true and authentic Indian voice.

What M .K. Naik says is her best work has the qualities of a quiet strength,

deep emotion.

held under artistic restraint and an acute awareness of the values of Indian

life. So my dear friends, when we access Thoreau as a true

authentic Indian poet, we should also remember how

Thoreau had at the back of her mind the Indian themes working

and rightly has say written, In one of her letters.

To Clarissa Badger. Where she says.

Because she has seen her mother.

Who was an ardent Hindu.

But then.

When the family had embraced Christianity.

She followed. She tore the line.

But she could not leave off. The Indian values.

And the Indian scriptural stories.

And other myths.

So Toru has rightly mentioned.

can there be a more touching and lovable heroine than sita now see toru had her

early life in france and england but still she considers sita to be

one of the most lovable heroines i do not think so when i hear my mother chant

in the evening the old lays of our country i always almost weep

And in one of the poems she says, who is that lady weeping?

Fine, she is not only referring to Sita, she is also referring to her mother.

The plant of Sita, when banished for the second time, she wanders alone in the

vast forest, despair and horror filling her soul. It's so pathetic that I

believe there is no one who could hear it without shedding tears.

And my dear friends, Toru's life also,

was one such that when we are reminded of her, that she produced such gems at

such a tender age, but then she could not survive the heat

and the dust.

And she died in 1877 of consumption.

And that is why I have been saying that she shared her fortune with John Keats.

With this, we come to the end of this lecture.

And through that, friends, I actually wanted to give an elaborate talk, but

is not possible in a lecture of only 30 minutes.

So, my dear friend, I allow you and I think I request you to go more and more

and the pieces of information which I have provided.

will take you to the beautiful corpus of Thorudatta and her beautiful work.

Thank you very much. I wish you all a good day. Thank you.