This blog is prepared as part of a Thinking Activity assigned by Megha Trivedi Ma’am on Unit No. 3 of the paper Pre-Independence Indian English Literature. In this unit, we studied three poems: “To a Hero-Worshipper” by Sri Aurobindo, “Lakshman” by Toru Dutt, and “Dinodhan” by Rabindranath Tagore.
As part of this task, we were instructed to reflect critically on the poems by selecting any two questions from the set of questions provided by Ma’am and present our critical views on them. This blog is my response to the given activity.
What type of social mentality does Rabindranath Tagore present in the poem Deeno Daan?
Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry often reflects a deep humanitarian concern: an empathy with the sufferings of the weak, oppressed, or “deeno” (poor, meek) in society; a critical stance toward social inequality; and a vision for moral, spiritual, and social upliftment not merely political freedom, but inner freedom, dignity, and equality. In Deeno Daan, from what can be gathered and compared to Tagore’s thematic concerns, Tagore seems to depict a social mentality that is at once compassionate, critical, yet hopeful, and which calls for generosity, empathy, and social responsibility.
1. Empathy toward the Vulnerable, Recognition of Suffering
A primary feature of Tagore’s social view is sympathy, an ability to sense and share in others’ suffering and to see the world from the perspective of the socially marginalized. The title itself Deeno Daan (“gift to the poor / the act of giving to the poor”) suggests that the narrator or speaker is aware of poverty, dependence, and need. Tagore often foregrounds the inner life of such people: their dignity, aspirations, their suffering, but also their humanity.
Critical sources on Tagore’s humanism state that he sees compassion as more than charitable pity: it is an ethical imperative. For instance, in The Religion of Man, Tagore argues that genuine sympathy transforms the individual and community. Also, discussions of Tagore’s ideas about how social wealth should have social obligation underscore how he felt that privileged classes should share their wealth and moral duty.
Thus, in Deeno Daan, the social mentality is likely one that elevates the experience of the poor, not ignoring it, but listening, feeling, acknowledging, and being provoked by it.
2. The Duty of Giving, Generosity, and Social Responsibility
Tagore often underscores that those who have more wealth, education, privilege bear a responsibility towards those who have less. Deeno Daan’s title and premise likely invoke not just acts of charity, but the idea that giving is a moral duty, that social inequality obliges generosity.
Critical commentary shows that Tagore saw “a sense of community” as central to healthy society, where “wealth […] losing its social purpose and assuming private character” is a sign of moral decay. So the mentality Tagore presents is not one of passive permission for poverty, but a call for action from those who can help.
3. Critique of Social Inequality, Injustice, and the Moral Blindness of Privilege
Tagore’s social criticisms often target the structure of inequality the way caste, class, status, and social norms perpetuate suffering or impede dignity. The poem likely reflects this critical sense: seeing not just the condition of the poor, but why the poor remain poor, how society ignores them, perhaps how people with means are indifferent or complicit in injustice.
Critics have noted that Tagore’s writings criticize caste divisions, the social ostracisation, and social restrictions that “make men cowards” when they suppress heterodox ideas or difference. Even while writing during colonial times, he looked deeply at internal social prejudices (caste, class, gender). In Deeno Daan, then, the social mentality includes a recognition that poverty is not just a natural or inevitable fact, but one maintained by social attitudes: neglect, apathy, inequalities.
4. Dignity of the Poor, Non-Paternalism
While giving is implied in Deeno Daan, Tagore’s standpoint usually avoids simple paternalism. He tends to portray the poor not merely as passive recipients but as human beings with feelings, rights, perhaps spiritual richness. It is likely that the poem’s speaker does not merely condescend, but respects. Tagore’s humanism always includes humility: those who give are also morally transformed; the giver is not superior in an absolute sense.
This reflects the broader Tagore-view that freedom is not only political, but moral and spiritual. Social and political reform must respect persons. That is, help should not degrade dignity.
5. Hope, Faith in Human Solidarity, and Moral Transformation
Tagore’s social mentality is not one of despair. Even while acknowledging suffering, injustice, and inequality, his poems more often than not carry a note of hope: that human beings can change, societies can improve, generosity can open up new possibilities for self-realization for both the giver and the receiver.
Critical sources point out that Tagore believed in education, culture, and moral values as instruments of social humility and change. For example, his view that “knowledge for the collective good” and culture should nurture moral consciousness. So Deeno Daan likely contains or presupposes faith: that small acts of kindness or giving are seeds for larger ethical awareness in society.
6. A Moral Critique of “Charity as Spectacle” vs. Real Giving
In many of his works, Tagore contrasts superficial charity or symbolic giving with genuine giving that which understands need, that which gives without pride or show. The poem likely carries this tension: giving as a moral need, versus giving to feel good or to fulfill social appearance.
Tagore’s criticism of “conspicuous display of wealth” in colonial / modern society is well documented. In Rural Crisis and Recovering Community, critics note how “conspicuous display of wealth has become prominent” and how the sense of community, austerity, humility are eroded. Thus in Deeno Daan, the social mentality likely includes critique of superficial benevolence and the need for deeper humility.
7. Broad Vision of Social Reform: Beyond Material Aid
While Deeno Daan directly suggests giving to the poor, Tagore’s broader social mentality is that reform must go beyond material giving. There is a necessity for transforming perceptions, breaking down social walls (caste, class, discrimination), educating people, renewing moral sentiment, encouraging social equality, the inclusion of the marginalised, and fostering spiritual dignity.
Critical writings of Tagore assert that political freedom by itself is insufficient if social structures, habits, prejudices remain. “Our real problem in India is not political. It is social.” . So giving (daan) should be part of a larger movement, a mindset of equality, compassion, and change.
8. Interrelation of Inner Self and Outer Society
Finally, Tagore often presents that inner attitudes. of humility, kindness, recognition, willingness to change are just as important as outer acts. Social mentality is formed by the inner self; the state of one’s “heart” matters. In Deeno Daan, one expects the speaker to reflect on their own relation to poverty, perhaps feelings of shame, guilt, or admiration, rather than purely offering.
Tagore’s humanism consistently underlines that transformation begins in the mind. He opposes rigid structures that dehumanize or alienate.
Conclusion
From combining what we know of Tagore’s ethics and social philosophy with what can be inferred from the poem’s title and place among his works, “Deeno Daan” presents a social mentality that is:
- deeply sympathetic to the poor and powerless,
- morally demanding from those who are more privileged, not content with mere token charity but urging genuine giving,
- critical of social structures and attitudes that perpetuate poverty and inequality,
- respectful of the dignity of the poor (not merely as recipients but as human beings),
- aware that inner attitude, humility, conscience, are as crucial as outward material help,
- hopeful that through generosity, empathy, and moral awakening, society can move toward greater justice and compassion.
This social mentality is consistent with Tagore’s larger humanism: he neither blind-folds the inequalities of his time, nor resigns to pessimism; rather, he calls for social awareness, personal transformation, and collective responsibility. Deeno Daan (as the name suggests) is more than a poem of giving it is a critique of indifference and a call to transform both hearts and society.
Write a critical note on Toru Dutt’s approach to Indian myths.
Introduction
Toru Dutt (1856–1877) remains one of the earliest and most significant voices of Indian English poetry. Despite her brief life, she left behind a remarkable corpus of work that reflects her dual inheritance: a deep grounding in Indian tradition and an exposure to Western literary culture. Her poem “Lakshman” is one of the most prominent examples of how she reinterprets Indian myths, especially those from the Ramayana, for an English-reading audience.
Through “Lakshman”, Dutt does not merely retell a mythological episode; she reconstructs it with an emotional, lyrical, and psychological depth that makes the story universal. Her treatment of Indian myths demonstrates her ability to fuse cultural heritage with Romantic sensibilities, while simultaneously addressing themes of love, duty, devotion, and human frailty.
1. The Poem “Lakshman” and Its Mythological Background
The poem “Lakshman” is based on a famous episode in the Ramayana: Sita hears Maricha, disguised as a golden deer, cry out in Rama’s voice. She fears Rama is in danger and insists that Lakshman, Rama’s brother, leave her side to go to his aid. Lakshman hesitates, aware of Rama’s instructions to protect Sita, but eventually, under Sita’s accusations of indifference and cruelty, he leaves her, setting the stage for Ravana’s abduction.
Toru Dutt recreates this moment not as a bare retelling of the epic but as a dramatic dialogue between Sita and Lakshman. The poem’s power lies in how Dutt gives psychological voice to Sita’s anxiety, impatience, and desperation, as well as Lakshman’s hesitation, loyalty, and inner conflict.
2. Humanizing Mythological Figures
One of the most remarkable aspects of Dutt’s approach is her humanization of mythological figures. In the traditional Ramayana, Sita is revered as the epitome of chastity and devotion, while Lakshman is the embodiment of loyalty and obedience. Dutt, however, introduces psychological realism into their characters.
Sita: In the poem, Sita is no longer just the idealized consort of Rama; she is a woman gripped by fear, anxiety, and impatience. Her insistence that Lakshman leave is driven by an emotional turmoil that feels profoundly human. She even accuses Lakshman of harboring impure desires for her a shocking statement within the context of the myth, but one that adds raw intensity and highlights human frailty.
Lakshman: Instead of being a mere symbol of obedience, Lakshman emerges as a conflicted human being. His devotion to Rama pulls him one way, his duty to protect Sita another. He resists, argues, reasons, and ultimately yields not because he lacks loyalty, but because he is overcome by Sita’s accusations.
By presenting mythological characters as emotionally complex and psychologically nuanced, Dutt bridges the gap between the mythic and the modern, showing that even divine figures can embody human emotions.
3. Myth as a Medium of Emotional Drama
Dutt uses mythology not just for its narrative grandeur but as a vehicle of emotional drama. The exchange between Sita and Lakshman is filled with tension, rising like a dramatic scene in a play. Each stanza builds on the previous one, capturing Sita’s escalating desperation and Lakshman’s mounting distress.
This dramatic presentation echoes Romantic poetry’s emphasis on passion and intensity. Dutt, familiar with poets like Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Keats, infuses her retelling with the lyrical cadence and emotive depth characteristic of the Romantic tradition.
Thus, her approach to myth is not static or devotional, but dynamic, dramatic, and emotionally charged.
4. Feminine Perspective and Sita’s Agency
A particularly critical point about Dutt’s handling of the myth is her emphasis on Sita’s voice. The poem foregrounds Sita as the dominant speaker who drives the dialogue forward. Through her urgency and accusations, she compels Lakshman into action.
This emphasis on Sita’s emotional perspective reflects a feminine reinterpretation of myth. Rather than portraying her as merely passive or submissive, Dutt highlights Sita’s authority, passion, and vulnerability. In this way, Dutt recasts Indian myth to foreground female subjectivity, an important intervention given her own position as a 19th-century Indian woman navigating patriarchal and colonial contexts.
5. Fusion of Indian Myth with Western Poetic Forms
Dutt’s “Lakshman” demonstrates her skill in fusing Indian mythological content with Western poetic forms. Written in English, the poem employs rhyme, rhythm, and stanzaic structure reminiscent of Victorian poetry.
The diction is simple yet elevated, evoking both the grandeur of myth and the intimacy of personal emotion.
The narrative technique resembles dramatic monologue, a form perfected by poets like Robert Browning.
Through this fusion, Dutt introduces Indian cultural material to a Western-educated audience, making myth accessible without diluting its essence. She thereby becomes a cultural mediator, bridging East and West.
6. Nationalist Undertones
Though not overtly political, “Lakshman” carries subtle nationalist undertones. By reinterpreting the Ramayana in English, Dutt asserts the richness of Indian mythology to colonial readers, countering the colonial assumption of India as backward or culturally inferior.
Her choice of subject matter Sita, Rama, Lakshman also affirms the vitality of Hindu cultural imagination during a time when India’s identity was under colonial scrutiny. By dignifying myth with psychological depth and lyrical beauty, Dutt’s poetry becomes an act of cultural assertion.
7. Universalization of Myth
Another significant aspect of Dutt’s approach is the universalization of Indian myth. By emphasizing emotions like fear, loyalty, doubt, anger, and love, Dutt shows that these myths are not just culturally specific but resonate with universal human experiences.
Sita’s anxiety could be any wife’s fear for her husband’s safety; Lakshman’s dilemma could be any brother’s struggle between conflicting duties. By universalizing the emotions within myth, Dutt makes the Ramayana episode relatable across cultural and temporal boundaries.
8. The Tragic Irony
Dutt’s treatment also highlights the tragic irony embedded in the myth. Sita’s desperate insistence, born of love and fear, leads to the very calamity she seeks to avoid. Lakshman’s obedience to her, despite his better judgment, sets the stage for her abduction.
This irony is dramatized in the poem, making the myth not only a tale of devotion but also a story of human misjudgment and fate. In doing so, Dutt anticipates the modernist interest in irony and the complexity of human decision-making.
9. Language, Imagery, and Romantic Influence
The imagery in “Lakshman” reflects Dutt’s Romantic sensibilities. Nature in the poem often mirrors emotional states: forests, sounds, and silences heighten the tension. The cry of the deer (Maricha in disguise) serves as a natural symbol of deceit and danger.
Her language, though in English, carries an Indian sensibility a cadence of oral storytelling, the directness of dialogue, and the vividness of mythological imagery. Critics have noted that this blending of East and West is her signature style, creating a hybrid poetics that was innovative for its time.
10. Toru Dutt’s Larger Approach to Indian Myths
Beyond “Lakshman”, Dutt’s other works like “Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan” demonstrate her sustained engagement with Indian myths. She:
- Revives neglected myths: choosing lesser-known legends and giving them poetic life.
- Translates cultural ethos: making myths accessible to English readers without losing their cultural distinctiveness.
- Interprets myths through personal lens: imbuing them with lyricism, pathos, and Romantic passion.
Her approach is neither slavishly devotional nor entirely secular; it is interpretive, imaginative, and deeply personal.
Conclusion
Toru Dutt’s “Lakshman” exemplifies her distinctive approach to Indian myths: humanizing characters, dramatizing emotions, foregrounding female perspectives, and universalizing cultural narratives. Her poetry transforms myth into a living, breathing drama that transcends cultural barriers.
In her short life, Dutt achieved what few could: she became a cultural bridge, translating the grandeur of Indian myths into English verse while retaining their emotional and spiritual power. “Lakshman” thus stands not only as a reinterpretation of the Ramayana but also as a testimony to how myth can be reshaped to address timeless questions of love, duty, and human frailty.
Her critical contribution lies in demonstrating that myth is not static tradition but a living source of psychological and poetic exploration. Through her approach, Indian mythology entered the global literary imagination, enriched by her voice as a young woman poet negotiating two worlds.
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References:
Bose, Brinda. Gender and Narrative in the Ramayana Tradition. Zubaan Books, 2004.
Chaudhuri, Sukanta. Rabindranath Tagore: An Anthology. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Das, Sisir Kumar, editor. The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore. Vol. 2, Sahitya Akademi, 1996.
Dutt, Toru. Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan. Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1882. InternetArchive,https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.209165/page/n33/mode/2up.
Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English. Sterling Publishers, 1985.
Mukherjee, Meenakshi. The Perishable Empire: Essays on Indian Writing in English. Oxford University Press, 2000.
Naik, M. K. A History of Indian English Literature. Sahitya Akademi, 1982. Internet Archive,https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218169.
Radice, William. Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Poems. Penguin Classics, 2005.
Rocher, Rosane. “Toru Dutt and the Indo-European Soul.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 104, no. 3, 1984, pp. 591–603. JSTOR,https://www.jstor.org/stable/601631.
Tagore, Rabindranath. Deeno Daan (The Gift of the Poor). In The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore, edited by Sisir Kumar Das, vol. 2, Sahitya Akademi, 1996. Tagore Web,https://www.tagoreweb.in/.
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