The Creative Launcher

ISSN: 2455-6580
thecreativelauncher@gmail.com
Perception Publishing
India

Bhargava, Geetshikha; Chaturvedi, Sadhna

Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=703878251006

How to cite
Complete issue
Scientific Information System
More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal
Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative
 Vol. IV & Issue III (August- 2019) ISSN-2455-6580
The Creative Launcher
An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
www.thecreativelaucher.com

Culture and Society in the poems of Toru Dutt

Geetshikha Bhargava
Research Scholar,
Dept. of English
D.A.V. College, Kanpur, U. P., India

Dr. Sadhna Chaturvedi

Abstract
Toru Dutt, from the very beginning of her life, was under the influence of music and art. She
was born in a well-educated family, already in deep love with literature. She was influenced
by both the west and the east, the deep influence of Indian culture on her poetry, becomes
obvious from the beginning sonnets of ‘Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan’ her
another remarkable collection of poems A sheaf Gleaned In French Fields which consists of
the original translations of the French poems which reflects the influence of the west.

Keywords- Culture & Society, Traditions, Hindu Philosophy

Introduction
Toru Dutt, being an Anglo Indian poetess was very much influenced by western culture and
art. She depicts much about the culture and society of India. The grand work A Sheaf
Gleaned in French Fields is inspired by Edmund Gosse to review it in the Examiner (Journal)
with many favorable remarks,
There are graphic sketches of Indian life and scenery, the forest and beautiful rights of
nature. The beautiful cool night of the Indian forests has been described in an
effective language. Her heart is touched by the beauty of Champak and Lotus
Flowers. She is very sensitive to the sounds and sights of nature. She is keenly aware
of the different aspects of nature. Toru was much influenced by the French and
English romantic poets. Her treatment of nature has no mystic touch like that of words
worth but like Keats, it appeals to our senses. (Prasad)
Toru Dutt demonstrated her full faith in ancient Indian philosophy and wisdom when
she made tell death that the world was transient and all delusion, that all life was entangled in
the ‘Frail and Fair’ web of Maya, that everything was perishable, and “. . . Love cry, Lo, this

46
 Vol. IV & Issue III (August- 2019) ISSN-2455-6580
The Creative Launcher
An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
www.thecreativelaucher.com

is my sun. . .” (67). She then pointed out save her husband by performing them, and that
perfect bliss was an illusion and we must be tried fire like gold. However, she gave vent to
her belief that love was invincible if it was embedded in virtue, duty, and goodness. Since
such was Savitri’s lofty love for her spouse, she was able to argue successfully with death
without making him angry and was able to follow him indefatigably. The lines cited below
fully bring out her sublime concept of love:
No weariness, O Death, I feel,
And how should I, when by the side
Of Satyavan? In woe and weal
To be a helpmate swears the bridge;
This is my place; by Solemn Oath wherever thou conductest him
I too must go, to keep my troth…. (Savitri, P.69)
Yama was greatly pleased with Savitri and told her to ask for a book but the life of
Satyavan. Savitri was very much aware of the discussion between Yama and her. So she said:
Well, be it so. My husband’s sire
Hath lost his sight and fair domain,
Give to his wyes their former fire,
And place him on his throne again. (P.68)
Among all the ballads contained in Ancient Ballads, “Savitri” holds a significant
place by its length and quality. It is a wonderful poetic piece indeed. It expounds, on the one
hand, the ideals of Indian womanhood, and on the other, the essentials of Vedantic
philosophy. It has remarkable descriptions of natural scenes and sights, of the pompous
marriage procession, of the hermitage and its surroundings. Toru Dutt has taken the story
originally from the Mahabharat. Harihar Das thinks that the poem seems to augur “great
future possibilities in the development of Toru Dutt’s genius.” (Harihar Das, 695-96)
‘The Lotus’ poem conveys the marked influence of Hindu religion on her mind though
she was a converted Christian her mind was never free from the Hindu religious beliefs.
Lotus is the national symbol of India and occupies an important place in the Hindu faith.
“Hindu revere it with the Gods Vishnu, Brahma and to a lesser degree Kubera, and the
goddess Laxmi and Saraswati. Often used purity. Vishnu is often described as the “Lotus-
Eyed one.” (Wikipedia.org)
The poem ‘Lotus’ revolves around the pride of Indian’s culture and Hindu religion.
She was never far from her ancestry, through this poem she beautifully conveys her love for
India and wants to make others feel her background.
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 high honor, Bards of Power (172)

47
 Vol. IV & Issue III (August- 2019) ISSN-2455-6580
The Creative Launcher
An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
www.thecreativelaucher.com

In the above lines, Toru’s mingling of the Hindu culture with western culture can be,
seen clearly. She has used the Bards which in reality is associated with Gaelic spiritual power
traditions of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It is the idea used by Toru to create a western
understanding of Hinduism and its culture and its divine faith in the disguise of Greek and
Roman Goddess.
We have another beautiful poem “Our Casuarinas Tree” which propagates the deep
blow on her life due to the loss of her siblings. The poetess records her impressions of the
tree at different times of the day. It is the finest object on which Toru’s eyes rest as she flings
wide her window at dawn. And sometimes in her early light ‘a grey baboon sits statue-likee
alone/watching the sunrise.
She also reflects the acceptance of this tree as her part now, a friend who shares her
sorrows in the form of soft murmur by its branches the tree mourns with her and is equally
dejected with the loss of her childhood companions, this poem again proposes Toru’s
influence of the western poets like William Wordsworth and Keats. The way Wordsworth has
used the few trees of Borrow dale and darkling by Keats, Toru under this influence
somewhere in her mind has symbolically used casuarinas tree:
“With one sweet song that seems to have no close,
Sung darkling from our tree while men repose.” (P.174)
Toru Dutt’s dilemma is being torn because the traditional and the modern, the East
and the West the old and the New emerges in every poem. By examining the tones three
poems, ‘Savitri’, ‘Lakshman’ and ‘Jogadhya’ one witness the poet’s upholding the virtue of
liberty in depicting Savitri’s character on one hand. While on the other she extols the duty of
an Indian woman to follow her husband with a love akin to devotion. Once again ‘Lakshman’
depicts the inability to choose the best path out of the two given options; the trauma wrought
by this tension and the crisis that result from the ultimate choice. It also portrays the conflict
between feminism and masculinism, between dominance and submissiveness. In ‘Jogadhya’
‘Uma’ the poet finds qualities of beauty and an old-world richness in the very simplicity of an
age-old myth. In the very style of treatment of the subject, there is a dialectical trend evinced
by the poet which is the externalization of the inner duality conferred on the artist by
colonialism.
The poem ‘Sindhu’ shows a fundamental aspect of Indian culture that one’s first and
for most duty is towards one’s parents. The filial obligation is a fundamental and crucial
aspect sought for in every Indian character. It is a prime aspect of the close-knit Indian family
system where parents, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, uncles aunts, possess a strong bond –
an affinity one hardly comes across in the west, where the independent streak is more
prevalent. Dutt portrays how old age makes one ill of health and trying in nature. Sindhu is
the only son of such a pair of old parents is their sole prop now, and devoted, he stays at their
back and call, unambitious for worldly cares or fame, amid a forest.

48
 Vol. IV & Issue III (August- 2019) ISSN-2455-6580
The Creative Launcher
An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
www.thecreativelaucher.com

The poem focuses on the ‘Karma’ in every Indian life. For having unwillingly killed a
dove, Sindhu is cursed to be accidentally killed and for having killed Sindhu, though
unknowingly, and for making his parents grieve to death, Dashratha is also cursed to die
unable to bear the absence of his son, Lord Rama. Hence, we can say that the rule of Karma
is that the fruits one’s deeds. Be they good or bad follow one to the deserved goal.
Toru Dutt’s essentially Indian poems mark her as the first notable poet to reach out to native
roots. Dutt had transferred certain incidents of Indian mythology from Sanskrit to English,
her translations, her interpretations, her narrations, were independent, and stamped with her
style of creation.

References
Das Harihar, “The Classical Tradition in Toru Dutt’s Poetry” Asiatic Review (Oct. 1931) P.
336
Das Harihar, Loc. Cit, P. 710
Das Harihar, The Life and Letters of Toru Dutt, P. 8.
Dutt, Toru. Savitri. Ed. J.P. Sinha. Students’ Publishers, 1956.
Gosse Edmund, “Introduction” The Bird of Time. P. 5
Harihar Das, “The Classical Tradition in Toru Dutt’s Poetry” Asiatic Review (Oct. 1931),
P.695-696.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_(attribute) “importance of Lotus in Hindu religion”
Narasimahaiah, C. D. The Swan and The Eagle, Simla, 1969, P. 8
Prasad Amar Nath. Indian writing in English: Critical Explorations. Sarup & Sons; 1st
edition. 2002.
Rajaji, quoted in Iyenger, op. cit, P. 71
Rajyalakshmi P.V. The Lyric Spring. Abhinav Publication, 1977. P. 140
Sengupta, Padmini. Sarojini Naidu. Asia, Bombay, 1966, P. 119.

49