Dawn at Puri Summary and Analysis PDF

Dawn at Puri by Jayanta Mahapatra
Summary & Analysis

Contents
Introduction
Stanza 1
Stanza 2
Stanza 3
Stanza 4
Stanza 5
Stanza 6
Introduction
The poem Dawn at Puri by Jayanta Mahapatra is set in the town of Puri which is situated in
Orissa (India). In this symbolic and metaphorical poem, the poet talks about the
hollowness of the rites and rituals common in Indian society. The poem consists of six
stanzas having 3 lines each. There is no rhyme scheme.
Stanza 1
The poet is near a famous Hindu temple situated on the bank of a river. He finds numerous
crows making noise. It should be noted that the crowing of the crows is not pleasant at all.
It indicates that there is a dead body that they want to eat. Hence the tone of the poem is
quite a sad right from the beginning. There is a skull in the holy sands.
The word Holy is ironical because during cremation nothing is left except the ashes.
However, the presence of the skull symbolizes the hollowness of rites and rituals of his
community and also the poverty which dominates the poet’s country i.e. India.
Thus the town of Puri here symbolizes the whole country. And if the skull remains intact
after cremation in such a holy and sacred city, the poet wonders what would be the
condition in other cities that are not holy.
Stanza 2
In the second stanza, the poet takes his attention towards the white-clad widowed
Women. The women are white-clad because, in Hinduism, the women have to wear white
clothes till death after their husbands die.
The poet, rather than using “widows” calls them “Widowed women” which points to the
patriarchal norms of Indian society which make the woman widow after the death of her
husband. She has to wear white sarees, give up worldly desires and sexual pleasures.
The women have past the centers of their lives. Centres here refer either to their
husbands or desires. Whatever may be the exact meaning, they are now without
something which was their center i.e. purpose of their lives.
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If the center symbolizes the husband, the line again suggests patriarchial dominance. An
individual’s center is his/her own self. However, in a patriarchal society, the case is
different for women.
They have to become selfless and make their husbands the centers of their lives and thus
without them, they are without identity and purpose.
The women seem to be waiting to enter the Great Temple. The phrase Great Temple is
quite ironical because the poet suggests the hollowness of rituals in the beginning. The
women are perhaps made to believe that the temple is great and they can find peace there
only.
Stanza 3
The eyes of the widowed women are described as austere. Austere here means without
any desire for worldly pleasure and desire. The women after losing their husbands have
given up worldly lives.
The poet says that their austere eyes stare like those caught in a net i.e. being
desireless, they seem to have been caught in a net. Here net is the symbolic net of the
patriarchal society. Like a trapped bird, the women have lost the freedom of their mind and
body.
While standing there to enter the temple, they are hopeful for a peaceful life. Entering the
temple is the only desire left in them like seeing the morning light is the only desire and
hope of a trapped bird.
Stanza 4
Next, the poet describes leprous shells who are ruined and are leaning against one
another. Leprous shells here either refer to the beggars who are always near the temple
asking for money or the low cast people who are not allowed to enter the temple.
Being in masses, and their faces crouched (i.e. upper area of the body bent forward) they
are without names or identity. Again we find discrimination against the beggars who seek
materialistic things in a spiritual and holy land or the low-caste people who cannot go
inside because of their cast.
Whatever the case may be, the lines suggest the hollow and discriminatory nature of the
rites and ritual of Indian society.
Stanza 5
Suddenly, the poet’s thoughtfulness is interrupted by the smoky blaze of a sullen
solitary pyre. The dead body is joyless and alone though being cremated in Holy Land.
The burning pyre reminds the poet of his old mother.
Stanza 6
The poet memorizes his mother’s last wish that was to be cremated here. I think the
second last line continues from the smoky blaze of a sullen solitary pyre. The poet says
that the smoke rising from the pyre is twisting because of the air that comes from the river.
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The air twists the pyre’s smoke that makes the poet wonder the certainty of the dead
person’s eternal peace because, in spite of being burnt in a holy place, the smoke of the
pyre which is perhaps his soul is affected by air. At the same time, the light is falling which
keeps shifting on the sand.
By comparing the light’s uncertain position to the pyre’s smoke, the poet questions the very
belief on which all the rites and rituals are formed and performed. It is thus also uncertain.
Hence there is dawn not only the physical but also metaphorical i.e. poet’s realization that
his very belief is hollow which in spite of being uncertain has trapped the women,
discriminated against some people on the basis of cast and made the people believe in the
afterlife which is uncertain.
The realization can also be found in his other poem Hunger where he realizes the actual
hunger which makes the people commit
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Dawn at Puri by Jayanta Mahapatra

Summary & Analysis

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