CHAPTER- VI
CHAPTER- VI
BEASTLY TALES FROM HERE AND THERE
Vikram Seth's 'Beastly Tales From Here And There' weaves artistically a progression through a beast fable tradition beginning from 6th century B.C. of Fabularum
Aesoparium right to the 1945 of George Orwell's Animal Farm: A Fairy story'
A Fable is a short story that teaches a lesson. Many fables have animals as their main
characters, who act and speak like human beings. First time readers of AESOP'S FABLES
will be astonished to discover how many sayings still in use originate in animal stories created
some 2500 years ago, by a Greek slave.
We meet foxes, ants and goats- as well as few humans and pagan gods- whose witty utterances and deeds illustrate morals as valid today as ever. Each story is short and to the point,
its primary intent being to instruct rather than to entertain. Aesop probably left the task of
writing his fables down to his noble listeners, and writers well into the Christian era modified
and added to them. They were translated into many other languages over the centuries and
have, by providing enjoyment for both children and adults, kept alive the name and romantic
image of their perhaps legendary slave creator- the first great and still most famous fabulist in
literature.
"The oldest extant collection of framed stories is the fragmentary one preserved in the
WESTCAR PAPYRUS, which antedates the Christian Era by some 16 or 18 centuries."!
The tales are brought forward by the demand of King Khufu or Cheops, that his sons narrate
to him accounts of wonders wrought by magicians.
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Although this Egyptian collection antedates anything of the kind preserved elsewhere,
the actual invention of the framing device is usually attributed to India. The most remarkable
is the PANCHTANTRA. Among the translations and redactions of this is the eight-century
Kalilah and Dimna or Fables ofBidpai from which are descended the numerous European
versions. In many of the tales, the roles are taken by animals which conduct themselves like
men and women. "This collection became especially accessible to western readers through
the thirteenth century Latin version of John ofCapua, entitled Directorium Vitae humanae".2
"Another collection which arose in India, perhaps in the fifth century, is commonly
called 'The seven sages.' This was widely known in Western Europe through translations, the
one in English of the 13th century, presenting the frame and fifteen tales in 4328lines." 3
''Probably oflndian origin also is the best known of all framed collections, the ARABIAN NIGHTS or "Thousand and one nights". The story derived perhaps through a Persian
intermediary is at least as old as the tenth century." 4
"Framed during the latter Middle Ages was another collection derived largely from
official sources, the Latin Disciplina Clericalis composed in Spain by the converted Jew, Petrus
Alphonsi. in the twelfth century" .5.
Another group of fables belong to the 17th century French writer Jean de La Fontaine.
Like Aesop. he took his stories from many sources.
Modem \\Titers such as Rudyard Kipling and Beatrix Potter have written fables especially for children.
Vikram Seth ·s Beastly Tales From Here And There is a modem version of a long
Aesopian tradition- told in a pleasurable manner. mixing morals with mirth!
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India has gifted the human world with Panchatantra. Originally in Sanskrit, these
stories are a lesson in moral science, how to recognize true friends, cleverly overcome difficulties, solve problems and lend a peaceful life despite dissimulation and charade. Vishnu
Sharma, through his stories as told to the princes, gave enlightening lessons in politics,
behavioural science, logic, geography and many other sciences.
Many of the stories ofPanchatantra are even older and belong to the Rig Vedic and
Upanishadic times. With time, they reached Europe, through travellers via Iran, Arab and
Greece. They have been translated into more than fifty languages.
As is apparent, this "tradition" has come a long way and is still growing, as Seth has
evolved it into yet a different form- with his immense versatility. His tool of rhyme-scheme
chisels with perfect humour and satire, the age-long familiar tales and acquire a new sheen
altogether.
From the impish to the brilliantly comic, his animal fables in verse can be enjoyed by
young and old alike. Familiar characters in a new and magical form, such as the greedy
crocodile who was outwitted by the monkey, or the slow and steady tortoise who out-ran the
hare, here take their place beside a newly minted gallery of characters and creatures who are
quirky, comical and always funny. Of the ten tales told here, two came from India, two from
China, two from Greece, two from Ukraine, and two, as the author puts it, "came directly to
me from the land ofGup."
Most of the tales are too familiar to be retold, neither does Seth claim his originality.
The experimentation in his art of story-telling brings it closer to the hearts of modem readers.
Social criticism draws out mild satire directed towards the world of men and animals alike. As
in most of his works, good-humoured atmosphere complete with witticism and vivid imagination make this shine with a light of its own!
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Most of Seth's tales do not sermonize, nor is there much allegorical significance associated with them. But these stories are so well-known, the moral and allegorical significance
so embossed in the rich matrix of the narrative that pronouncing them out concretely would
have only marred the salient artistry:
This is a tale without a moral
I hope the reader will not quarrel
About this minor missing link
But ifhe likes them
He can think,
Of five or seven that will do
As quasi-morals ...."(p.93)
The tales that he depicts reflect the world of nature, man and animals. Human progress
has encroached upon the jungles and hills and rivers; the law of nature treats man and animal
alike. Basic tendencies of greed, kindness, love, friendship, pathos, loyalty, frivolousness,
steadfastness, revenge, cunningness operate in both the worlds alike. And it is through the
writer's imaginative and descriptive skills that the stories pulsate with the basic truths oflife.
He doesn't drive home strong morals, they are implicit and too well-known by the readers.
It is possible to give a new dimension to Seth's 'Beastly Tales' by comparing them
with Chaucer ·s CANTERBURY TALES, Aesop's Fables and nearer home, with Vishnu
Sharma's Panchatantra tales.
Now. Chaucer invented none of his tales. But they came to him through books and
oral tradition. And his freedom in the handling ofhis narratives is determined both in kind and
degree hy the medium through which his stories reached him.
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The tales came down to him, in varying degrees of directness, through long tradition-tales, it may be, which had lived on men's lips for centuries, passing current in every
tongue and worn down to their base nucleus. And that kernel was commonly an incident or a
situation, protean in its potentialities and changing from land-to-land and century to century its
setting through its wanderings.
It is relevant to point out here the line that differentiates between a fable and a tale is
always very thin. There are tales which carry a message, there are fables which do not carry
any message at all and it is possible also to find a blend of both-fable and tale which either
carries a moral or do not have any message at all.
Some of the 'Beastly Tales' may be compared with Orwell's Animal Farm, particularly in respect to the satirical sting on communism. In this biting satire upon dictatorship,.
Orwell, who has been compared to swift, tells the story of a revolution that went wrong. The
animals on a farm, led by the pigs, drive out their master and take over the farm . But the
purity of their original doctrine is soon perverted.
Like GULLIVER'S TRAVELS they can be enjoyed at different levels. For their sheer
apparent nonsense, they are a match for Edward Lear's nonsensical rhymes.
Although structurally the 'Beastly Tales' are independent episodes, thematically they
may be compared with 'THE JUNGLE BOOK' of Rudyard Kipling. He brings the primeval
forest to life -animals with human powers of speech and action, but nature is ever present as
'MOWGLI'. the man-cub is brought up by the wolves of the Seeonee pack, Baloo the bear,
Baghcera the Panther and Kaa the python despite the attentions of Shere khan the tiger!
.. As,, c yoyagc through the Beastly Tales, it suddenly dawns on us that we have come
to len c this world like Mowgli and cannot segregate ourselves from it through a 'dissociation
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of sensibility' despite all the negative forces operating around".6
It is the rush of the positive tendencies that keeps the world alive and going and instills the
faith in us that is essential for existence!
We realize our vicious and greedy natures that want to obliterate the flora and fauna oJ
Nature to meet our narrow ends. "Any attempt to bowdlerize the 'Beastly Tales' as merely a
children's book would be over-simplification. At the end, the judicious reader may feel himself! eft to make his choice between Men and the Beasts - between Timon and the Good
Samaritan and conclude like Gulliver that it will be better to be a horse." 7
Seth evinces his superb art in creating a verse form in fables from the Indian, the
Chinese, the Greek and the Ukranian traditions. These tales in verse are not merely rhymed
doggerels. To fashion them, he has gone to different fabular traditions and in doing so, he
bears resemblance to La Fontaine in using varied verse. This is his sparkling resourcefulness
where he turns these fables to art-constructs.
The stories communicate folk-wisdom. The relevance of these folk-tales in the contexts now results due to the narration and dramatization ofhuman vices, virtues or sentiments
together with a keenly amusing perception of animal behaviour.
These symbols travel from their sources in imaginative freedom in the hands of Seth
where they are modified into a suitable verse form.
Seth ·s interest in animals is first seen in a poem, in the fifth section of'All You Who
Sleep To11igflt". about cats (in the manner of Eliot's poems on the same theme). From then
on. the animal theme persists as a symbol constituting part of an intricate pattern in' The
Golde 11 Gate· as he uses a cat and an iguana as characters in a comic (somewhat absurd)
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context in life. In his later poems, this kinship of man with animal reappears more prominently.
The beastly behaviour does not supplement the human factor in these poems. It represents the complex network of the behaviour of man and beast, bird and insect in quasihuman terms. About his versification, we can say that he has achieved
greater artful-
ness. He has reconstructed the tales ofPanchatantra with a diction befitting the subject. He
amalgamates suitably the manners and gestures with available speech- as in the cat poems of
Eliot or the way Kipling's beasts, fowl and reptile use their voices.
"But you that hold this tale a foolery
As but about a fox, a cock, a hen,
moral, my good men.
Yet do not miss the
For Saint Paul says that all that's written well
Is written down some useful truth to tell.
Then take the wheat and let the chafflie still." 8
This is how the 'Nun's Priest Tale' in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales' closes his beast
fable ofChauntecleer, the knightly but vain cock, his proud and dominating hen-wife Pertelote
and the sly fox.
As Vikram Seth informs us in his book:
"This is a tale without a moral
l hope the reader will not quarrel
About this minor missing link
But ifhe likes them. he can think
Of Five or seven that will do
;\s quasi- morals ..... "
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"The Crocodile and the Monkey" is the opening story of the set of the 'Beastly Tales'
that has taken its course from Ganga's green isle to the modem mainstream and has ever been
successful to amuse the listeners!
The poet aptly describes the huge reptile/amphibian as 'stubby legs' and 'scaly skins'.
A sly, keen hunter, who'd lunge at his prey with a greed to match his hunting skills, was a
dedicated husband.
His prime pleasure was to watch his wife relish the carcass that he so humbly lay at
her feet. Vikram Seth has, with brevity of words, aptly brought out the meek submissive traits
in the 'scaly kins' as against his ferocious hunting and attacking skills.
His friend, the monkey, was as generous in his love for the crocodile and his wife. He
knew how she hungered after those ripe, sweet mangoes! And to that the crocodile answers
in a hypocritical vein that "not the fruit, but your sweet love" slakes her griefs and tears
through passing years- But we know, Mrs. Crocodile loved mangoes equally too.
One day, after gorging on mangoes, she comes up with a strange desire. As an anniversary treat, she wanted something sweeter than those mangoes, something different from
those dolphins, turtles, fish, mangoes that were brought to her by her doting husband.
·I must eat that monkeys heart,'
Scalykins was caught in a sense of divided loyalty. The monkey was his friend and
was generous to him. Mrs. Crocodile, knows that there shouldn't be any problem in making
him a prey.
This attitude is prevalent in the human world too. The noble traits offriendship and
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trust and generosity are twisted and turned- they are used against its owner for their owr
selfish burning motives of greed and lust. A social satire and Seth has skilfully depicted the
avaricious tendencies of an ungrateful heart.
"Oh, my breath grows faint, I fear."
"Let me fan you- it's the heat-."
"No- I long for something sweet."
"Get him here, my love, or I,
Filled with bitterness will die."(p.3)
This is how Mrs. Crocodile has slyly managed the situation to her needs and
Mr. Crocodile - a loyal husband would be only too eager to sacrifice his sense of loyalty
towards his generous friend.
Here they were, the monkey and the crocodile, together, near the tree that showered
on them the nectar oflife! And crocodile persuades him to be his guest- as a special request
from his wife.
"Let us show our gratitude;
Share our friendship and our food."(p.4)
Delighted by such warmth, the monkey accepts the invitation and half-way in the
journey to death. he is revealed the motive of his charming hostess whose
··eyes were the gate to Heaven."
Such a delightful use of irony, is implemented here by Seth that effortlessly draws a
smile from the reader. Kuroop then dangles a choice before the monkey- the mode of death
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"To drown in the Ganga or to be
Gutted by my wife and me"?(p.5)
He will let him choose the end!
No less, the monkey, in an attempt to please the 'noble lady', with great presence of
mind and cleverness, would go back to the tree and collect his precious belongings:
"heart, liver, halfbrain, a fingernail, cufflinks, chutney and spare
tail. "(pp 5-6)
Seth's wit and sense of fun is aptly illustrated in his description of the contents that the
monkey claims to treasure in the hollow of the tree!
The foolish crocodile hastens him to the bank (with tears of thankfulness), over-anxious to please his wife and lets go of the sumptuous meal promised to his wife!
The monkey laughs at his foolishness and 'squishy, rotten and dead mangoes thrown
down upon the reptilian head mark the end of the story!
Ample use of witticism, humour, irony- Seth is adept at creating an atmosphere that is
definitely funny and hilarious! An age old tale is rejuvenated by the author's operative skills!
From the animal world, we now move to the world of insects,' The Louse and the
Mosquito'.
Creep. the Louse lived in the King's bed- her ancestral house! Three decades passed
by and the entire clan pursued a life of endless undisturbed delight- Sir Leap, the mosquito
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enters the scene, examines the setting and 'in a parabolic leap' lands near Lady Louse. She
admonishes him, asks to leave as she is the rightful guardian of that house.
"Sir, Mosquito, flap your wings,
Leave at once. This bed's the king's
"Who may you be, Lady Louse?"
"I'm the guardian of this house."
"House?" "This quilt. Its mine," said Creep.
"There's no place for you, Sir Leap."
"Let me sleep here for one night
And I'll catch the morning flight."(P.l 0)
Poor Sir Leap pleads and his tears melt away the gentle lady's heart. She is tenderhearted and cannot tum down the mosquito's request of allowing him to stay one night in the
King's bed.
Like the camel in Aesop's fables who first requested his master to be allowed to put
his head inside his tent and subsequently his entire body, thus driving his master out of the tent,
the inevitable occurs. Well, the mosquito cannot bite the very same day as he is not trained in
the act as methodically as the Louse family. But he is a persistent one! He is in physical
distress and the learned lore has guided him that royal blood is the bed ofhoney, sugar, spice
-all remedial herbs! He would just bite him once in the hope to cure himself.
!.ad: Louse giYes in.
When the king comes in for a snooze, despite warnings by the Louse, ''the self-willed
humhlcr leapt upon the royal back and deeply dirked the dozing king!"
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Upon close inspection of the bed; the entire Louse clan is mercilessly butchered. Sir
Leap manages to fly away as he foiled detection. Nonchalantly, the mosquito ever can fly
away
"Humming mildly."
The two insects emerge as distinct individuals- Creep is sensitive, cautious, kindhearted and rational; whereas the Mosquito is rash, hasty, over, confident and unthinking.
There is an amusing reference to the old tradition of herbal remedies when the mosquito is
eager to bite the kind whose royal blood containing ginger, honey, cardamom would help him
cure his aches and pains. And the king, with an aura oflethargy and leisure around him, can
only magnify the sting of a humble mosquito as that of ascorpion or a snake in his delicious
slumber. He is pictured as a comic personality 'a do-nothing-nobility' of the Pope's RAPE
OF THE LOCK!
The third tale 'The Mouse and the Snake' eulogizes the mouse- 'the Snake- Defeater'
who not only saves his own life from a
"Gold and shiny, vicious, long
Venom-fanged, hypnotic, strong"
snake through his presence of mind but also succeeds in securing her friend's corpse whom
the snake had devoured. The two dare-devil mice, their jovial feast at the face of impending
danger. their horror at the sight of the snake-- all this is arrested in a picturesque method.
The battle between the mouse and snake has been described in a mock-heroic manner. The mouse is clever and tactful and the snake is mad with rage. And the faithfulness of the
mouse tm\ ards her dead friend. so very rare, is illustrated by the fact that
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"squeaking sadly and bereft,
corpse in mouth, she sobbed and left. "(p.l6)
The poet Chang's lyrical evocation of"The Faithful Mouse in elegiac metre is a justified praise showered upon
'the Snake-Defeater.'
The next story 'The Rat and the Ox' has an elaborate Chinese setting where a Chinese Scholar-deity is assigned to set the Chinese Zodiac in the right track.
"Since the zodiac had swerved
Everything had topsy-turveyed."
It was a discontented world that resented the Gods."
"With undiminished vigour," the deity descended and made and interim report, after three and
thirty years. The report said that the zodiac would resume its former track only if several
animals were selected as guards, each in a particular year.
Here it is- the mix of the modern and the old- gods consulting a psychiatrist- a
brilliant stroke of humour! They read the list only after the psychiatrist confirmed that the
godling was sound in mind. After enforcing it, the godling goes to the world of beasts and men
in order to set things right. This marks an interesting part of the narrative where the placing
of the animals causes a commotion. But, with love and patience
" they agreed to accept
the pressing need to control the zodiac. "(p.22)
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Now, we come to the rat, who on account of his ungrateful nature created a furore:
"Are you trying to ignore me?
Why has this ox been placed before me?
Equity has been denied:
Merit has been thrust aside."(p.22)
All logical reasoning failed to persuade the rat to withdraw his unjustified claim, seeing
this, the deity grants his wish.
Now the cunning rat comes up with another plan. He laments pathetically in front of
the ox regarding his size. The simple, unassuming ox easily agrees and the 'smirking' rat
returns to the deity with the unsuspecting ox's verbal consent that he had no objection if the
rat was increased in size. Now twice in size, he walked proudly along the way, together, with
the ox. drawing all eyes towards him. The ox then pathetically realizes that the centre of
attraction has shifted from him to the rat for all times to come. So, from the chaos, when
"springs were cold,
and monsoons dry"(p.\9)
and all existence growled in discontentment, order and harmony is finally restored. The little
price that had to be paid is that
"the worst Beast of all is still the first. "(p.25)
Here. Seth hits upon the satirical element on communism.
Next.
11 e
move to a fascinating story of 'The Eagle and the Beetle'. It goes on to
pnn c ho" friendship and love may flourish between a beast and a bug and to what extremity
a hug can go. in order to avenge his friend's death.
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Their pleasant friendship comes to an abrupt end when the hare is snatched by an
eagle. Upon beetle's pathetic cry, the eagle proudly 'sneers' and drops off the hare's head as
a token for the friend to preserve. The proud, boastful eagle condescendingly looked down
on the beetle
"As a slow, pathetic
Droning ball"(p.27)
who could pose no threat to the 'great eagle; the great God Zeus's bird.'
The grief in beetle's heart froze into a determined revenge. Then begins her 'Herculean
journey' towards destruction, to find the eagle's nest. She finds "the unguarded nest" and
''rolled out the mighty eagle's eggs with her six short legs."(p.28)
This goes on for a year as the beetle's scrutiny keeps on smashing the eagle's brood,
tirelessly. Mad with panic, she goes to Zeus for help, which she feels is the safest custody. But
the beetle triumphs once again through her cunningness.
She hurls "a microscopic ball of dung into the lap of mighty
Zeus",(p.29)
who while trying to clean his legs dropped all the eggs once again. The eagle now 'past
hope·- died of grief. The beetle, with a loyal devotion to its friend, is able to accomplish the
self-imposed mission and emerges a victor!
The beetle swearing to avenge her friend's death may be a suitable incident in the
Arthurian romances or Jacobean revenge drama; but here it creates both a mock-heroic
etl<::ct as ,,ell a tone of genuineness. This succeeds in heightening the emotional involvement of
the reader.
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Zeus, tripping the eggs at his own foolishness and later spewing "divine abuse" degenerates into a naivish personality with nothing better to do than guard the eagle's eggs and
failing even in that.
Seth, in the end, moralises that the
"strong who crush the weak may not be shown the other
cheek!"(p.31)
What is new about 'The Hare and the Tortoise' is Seth's attempt to modernize the
story and place it in the context of the twentieth century, This is a realistic depiction of the
modern times. Seth emerges as a critic of the society run amuck by folly, frivolousness and
empty- handedness. It is a society marked by shallow attitudes - gossip and rif-raff and
scandal. The friends, vole, mole and the mouse have nothing to do except 'gibble-gabble
everywhere.' Expert in the art of coquetry, they extremely eJ1ioy being popular, to be called
beautiful and to be pursued by all and sundry.
The tortoise is a rational, level-headed and practical creature as against the frivolous
hare. He is sure that he'd defeat the hare-brained hare' who was rash and young with a
mindless tongue because he believes in 'slow but steady.'
Before the race. the tortoise when ready, the hare, flighty and vain, was still
"pouting out her scarlet lips,
sweetly wiggling head and hips
making wolves feel weak inside."(p.36)
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Though the tortoise won the race, all the adulation was lapped up by the hare. She
was not going to be shell-shocked, instead she grabbed all that was due to the tortoise. She
was once again hailed and cheered.
This was a strange fact in the beastly world where hard work and regularity was
over-looked. Seth satirically points out the moral confusion of a society where outer appearances score over steady truths. 1be hollowness and moral confusion predominant in this
beastly world is reminiscent of simiJru ciJif tin•·5s ,)f the human world. one up in tiie 'hctder of
existence' as pointed out by Pope in' The Rape of the Lock. There is moral confusion
everywhere, priorities misplaced.
'Puffs, powder, patches, bible, billet-doux' - the poet
ironically points out how the hare found coverage in the front
page of all the papers including "the sleepy BBC - Beastly
Broadcast Company. ''(p.40)
She sold books and movie rights, bought a manor house and continued exchanging glances and enjoying gossips.
Alteration of the traditional content of the story takes place not only in an adroit use of
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varied rhyme but also in the manner. Details of contemporary experience and speech which
corresponds to these, find their place in the idiom and diction of the poet:
But the tortoise, when he rose,
Daily counted all his toes
Twice or three times to ensure
There were neither less nor more
Next he'd tally the amount
In his savings bank account
And his sermon was the same
"Eddy, Neddy, Freddy- boys
You must never break your toys.
You must often floss your gums.
You must always do your sums.
Buy your own house, don't pay rent
Save your funds at six percent
Major in accountancy
And grow up to be like me.
Listen Eddy, Neddy, Freddy
You be slow- but you be steady.(pp 33-34).
The story line of 'The Cat and the Cock' reminds the readers time and again of
Chaucer ·s. TheN un 'sPriest's Tale with the exception that here the hen has been replaced by
a cat. The two friends. with their days full ofjoy and mirth, live a simple life, unconscious of
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the impending danger that looms large upon them. The cat cautions the cock not to go out
while he is away. To this the cock merely does lip-service "Sure, O.K."
Seized by the fox, the cock can yell for help at the top of his voice, realizing probably
for the first time that the world is not as safe a place as he had previously thought. Now the
clever cat utilizes his singing voice to the best of his capacity to save his friend. Now, the
vixen had gone out after instructing her daughters to make preparations for cooking a stew.
The eat's love-song is too amorously suggestive to be ignored:
"Valentina, heart ofhealthMeet me, lovely maid, by stealth.
Just for you I' II sing a song Come outside, and sing along."(p.48)
One by one, the cat succeeds in drawing out all the four lovelorn daughters, gives their
noses a pluck with the open string and drops them in his sack. The cat saves his friend and
supposes that now the cock has learned quite a lesson. To this, the cock can reply as callously
and indifferent as before "Sure, O.K." That the beastly world is as susceptible to the amorous
intrigues, to the emotions oflove, jealousy and friendship as that of the human world is aptly
illustrated in this tale.
The next story 'The Goat and The Ram' finds the two protagonists driven out of their farm
because of their habit of over-eating. The ram, shaky and a coward, recognizes a protector
in the goat and hides behind her throughout the way. The goat is a picture of ready- wit,
hraYery and stoicism. On their way, when they come across a "huge wolf's head", it is the
~oat who instructs the ram to carry it with them ,as it may be of some use in future. When they
meet a pack of hungry wolves who are all too eager to eat them up, the goat cleverly instructs
the ram to show the wolfs head to these wolves. They pretend to be specialists in killing
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wolves. Frightened out of their wits, the wolves can look with their eye-balls almost rolling
out of the sockets as the ram takes out the same head, time and again, from the sack and
shows it according to the goat's instruction. The wolves, flee one by one, fishing out lame
excuses. The goat, and the ram make the wolves' tent their home and "pass their days,
serenely bored."(p.61)
The last two tales, according to the poet, came directly to him from the 'Land ofGup'. More
remarkable than his recreation of fables from different traditions is Seth's ability to fashion
them on his own. The poems that he reconstructs reflect his extreme precision of choice of
material and search for adequate rhythm and rhyme. In writing these two poems, he draws
directly on contemporary experience in creating fables in verse at par with those from traditions. The word 'Land ofGup' denotes the world of imagination. In Salman Rushdie's
Haroon and the Sea of Stories, a similar allusion had been used, indicating the Imagination
behind all artistic creativity!
'The Frog and the Nightingale' opens with the egotistic frog who is so proud of his
cacophonous voice that he prefers to sing all day, both to the disturbance and annoyance of
all the beasts in the locality. Nothing could deter his determination and
"He croaked awn and awn and awn"(p.63)
But one night, a nightingale enraptured the entire world by her melodies. A discerning reader
may find in this nightingale a successor of Oscar Wilde's Nightingale in the celebrated fairy
tale 'The Nightingale and the Rose"
The literary echo of this fairy can be heard in this beastly tale. The frog, vexed and jealous at
the arrival of nightingale. his enemy, determines to make use ofhis intellect to get rid of the
enemy once and for all. The frog feigns to be an unrivalled singer with a baritone and a
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seasoned music composer and critic to create an awe in the mind of the unsuspecting nightingale:
"In this bog I've long been known
For my splendid baritone
And, of course, I wield my pen
For 'Bog Trumpet' now and then"(p.64)
The frog tells the nightingale that without proper training given by a vocal specialist like him,
the nightingale would soon fade into oblivion:
"You'll remain a mere beginner
But with me you'll be a winner."(p.64)
From then on, the nightingale starts regarding the frog as her guardian angel and at his instruction practices day and night, in sun and shower till he dies out of exhaustion. The poet succeeds in bringing out the pathos and gnawing pain which the nightingale underwent at the
verge of her death:
Day by day the nightingale
Grew more sorrowful and pale
Night on night her tired song
Zipped and trilled and bounced along(p.66)
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This, once again, is reminiscent of Oscar Wilde's Nightingale who similarly is about to die out
of exhaustion:
"But the Nightingale's voice
grew fainter, and her little
wings began to beat, and
a film came over her eyes.
Fainter and fainter grew
Her songs, and she felt
Something choking her throat... "9
Vikram Seth enables his readers to lament the untimely pathetic death of a genius, doomed to
destruction at the instigation of a jealous rival in the guise of a friend.
This is a result of sensitive discrimination between the simple triumph of creative talent
in art as it goes on to express deeply creative urges and failure to cognize the same in criticism
which begins with arrogant assumptions
There is a story that once a pigmy was seen running with a tree on his shoulder. When asked
why he was doing so, the pigmy replied it was in a desperate bid to save the tree from men's
axes. The story testifies the fact that as civilization advances, the forests, the natural habitation of birds, beasts and endangered species, retreats. As the Amazonian or the Brazilian
Rain Forests vanish into thin air, as many a Chico Mendes lay down their lives to save the
nurturing nature, and now, Arundhati Roy joining hands with Medha Patker for 'The Greater
common Good'. We find the emergence of a nature conscious poet in Seth's 'The Elephant
and the Tragopan, who can well pronounce like the romantic poet Cowper:
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"'God has made the country and man has made the town.
The poem opens with a hymn to the paradisal beauty of' Bingle Valley' which reaches
an artistic height in the descriptive power of the poet:
"In Bingle Valley, broad and green
Where neither hut nor field is seen
Where bamboo like a distant lawn
Is gold at dusk and flushed at dawn
Where rhodendron forests crown
The hills, and meander half way down
In scarlet blossom .... (p.69).
The peaceful lives of the beasts in Bingle Valley are threatened by a project taken up by
"The Great, Bigshot Number One
Shri Padma Bhushan Gobardhan"
to construct a dam on the stream and supply water to the town. The project is taken up with
a view to wooing the voters and extracting money from the contractors which is more important in the business of politics rather than the safety and security of a handful of beasts.
The tragopan 's impassioned plea to all the beasts touches them instantly and also
makes his sloppy. slow and lethargic friend- the elephant a rebellious zealous one' The heated
debate of the beasts mirror back to men their own natures-
284
"He is a creature mild and vicious,
Practical-minded and capricious,
Loving and brutal, save and mad
The good as puzzling as the bad
If he is thirsty, we must thirst
For of all creatures man comes first
If he needs room, then we must fly;
And if he hungers, we must die."(p.73)
Seth shows man as an animal capable of reason.
An oblique comparison between the beasts and man shows how vain, brutal, vicious and
greedy human beings really are.
When the beasts march in unison to the 'Great Big Shot', he is at first reluctant to
meet them without an 'appointment.' Estimating that the scale is heavier on the other side, the
bigshot tries to win over the spokesmen of the beasts- the elephant and the tragopan, first
through deceit and tactfulness, then through allurement. He takes his time, alerts the police by
a concealed push button, now leaves aside, all his smoothness. The Big shot's good natured
son's rebellion and his ominous prophecies make him all the more severe. When the guards
appear, he succeeds in subjugating the rebellion through sheer muscle power but not before
he had "wrung the little neck" of the tragopan with his own hand. The Bigshot cunningly
arranges a festive funeral for 'the martyr's self-less sacrifice,' evading thereby the public
censure and indirectly securing his chair for the forth coming election.
Seth prefers to give his poem an open ending. The readers realize for the first time that
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while moving along with these beasts, observing them and listening to their words, they have
come to like the beastly world. He comes to realize the tragic dichotomy between his supposed goodness and actual behaviour like Gulliver and Mowgli. With a humility reminiscent of
Chaucer who can say
"My wit is short, you may
well understand"
the poet says:
Whether the fates will
Smile or frown,
And Bingle vale survive or drown
Is for the world, not me, to write.(p.93)
The simplicity and ease with which Seth draws also on Kipling in coming to such
pleasurable and authentic communication is not unrelated to the pressure of contemporary
Indian experience upon him even in writing a fable of this kind.
It depends on us, the heirs of the postwar 'Green- Revolution' to decide the fate of the
beasts and the associated fate of men in the twentieth century. All we can do is to prepare for
that 'golden future' along with the old major of Orwell's Animal Farm_ _
286
llar~<'n tonr~ I"' lui !rdm~,t'
Ill !Ill' golden hrture tune
Soon or late tht d.l) ,.., ronung
l~ran!
Man ,h.rtl he tl'er thrown
And th.: trwtlul tidd' ofl:n(.(land
Shall he trod hy hea,ts alone. 10
FROM fii<:AVEN LAKE
TI~AVELS
TIIROV<;u SINKIANG AND TIBET won the Thomas Cook Travel Book
Award
This is a travelogue describing the author's hitchhiking trip home to India from China
via Tihct and Nepal in 1981. It is as unconventional, surprising and enthralling as The Golden
Gate. It is an account of his travels from Tibet to New Delhi, with nomadic Muslims, Chinese
officials, Buddhists and others.
By hitchhiking through forbidden areas, not only Seth was able to see and experience
things may off the usual tourist agenda but was then able to turn his remarkable observations
and astonishing prose into an unforgettable reading material. His journey begins when as a
student in China he decides to break away from his keepers and exit the country through
forbidden Tibet to Nepal. From the start of his hitchhiking adventure through his visit to Lhasa,
and ultimately his walking past armed guards into Nepal never sure if would be shot or not, his
audacity excites and his insights amaze no end. A journey that leads us through the most
unknown and mysterious region of Asia. As soon as he crossed into Nepal, he was may be
287
too tired and exhausted to take notice of things around him, and so we get a feeling of haste
prevailing over that portion in the book.
FROM HEAVEN LAKE is a clever piece of construction. We find the elements of
suspense hanging over the fate of the traveller. It is a minute observation, very well-done and
hence Seth enables the reader to see what he does. Seth is, truly, in his narrative form and
energy, here! That's the basic prevailing characteristic of his style. We find many observations
of nature scattered over but it is never landscape alone. He always has portrayed man silhouetted against natural landscape. Those human beings form a punctilious and admirable fabric
for the observations of Seth - and throughout his stay in China, he met with this type of
kindness or obstructiveness. This eye for the typical and the contemporaneous ability to represent it help in convincing the reader of his accounts. This is so because the attributes to
which he refers are conceivable, if not well-known. Like we have the story of the old man of
bureaucratic decisions about the script to be used in one of the ethnic minority languages of
China. His son has learnt a different system at school and hence he is unable to write to him.
This particular bureaucratic absurdity is new to us, but we have the category bureaucratic
absurdity which suggests now we might think about universality in fiction. This is not inconsequential. This example has moved Seth clearly and is significant as this could be the disconnection between father and son who cannot write to each other. Seth is astonishingly free
from the hatred and harmless peculiarities which are the travel-writer's meat. He is constantly
drawn to families especially fathers and sons. This relationship is heightened in his collection
Mappings, finds place in An Equal Music and A Suitable Boy.
These broad categories ofhuman foolishness, gaucheness and resulting ill-effects are
grist to the satirist's mill, but they indeed are broad categories. They are sometimes cliches of
tragedy, like the Tibetans who describe what happened to their families during the Cultural
Revolution. They were the victims of twentieth century cruelty. political dislocation and oppression. Throughout the book. the aftermath of that period occupies him. He sta: cd
288
111
China for the research of his doctoral thesis, learnt Mandarin and was deeply influenced by
the Chinese literature and art. The destruction of the Chinese past and its art, up to half its
cultural heritage, is everywhere apparent to him. Art families, history, Seth is almost obsessed with them. Seth's poetry has vital reflections of destruction of humanity and its creations. He has an anthropologist's eye for ethnocentrism. Chinese pride themselves as the
Middle kingdom and Seth is sharp on that. Seth is a keen observer and those topics which are
of specific interest to an Indian citizen identify themselves. Along the way, Seth meets the
kindness and obstructiveness of people. He judges and describes them from a position which
is not bound by them but is informed by nationality and class and culture. He has the keen
Indianness of an observer and is concerned particularly with the problems that someone from
an overpopulated country would deal with, like the regulation of families and family size. He
also ponders on the bases of society and social control.
This book makes for enjoyable reading as Seth is always present in his story and his
voice is aware of being the subject and the object.
As a rhetorician, Seth exercises supremacy in the art but he is also successful in creating an ethos of a thoughtful, good-humoured traveller who also has his share of human
weaknesses. This voice is remarkably the voice of the narrator of The Golden Gate as well
as A Suitable Boy. In both these works, the narrator intrudes at places as a character (besides Seth's other characters), here the overlap of opinion is a rough guide to the poet-traveller's
own opinions.
He confesses his weakness for flute, it appears in Mappings, it appears at
the end of the travel book, and in Dipankar Chatterji, who owns a 'red bamboo flute- which
Dipankar, when the mood took him, played very untunefully and fervently ( \6.3,\ 095). For
Vikram Seth, music is a very important part oflife. Even a bad musician rccci\'cs his S\'mpa-
289
thy. He weaves music and poetry in the novel. 'A Suitable Boy (one of the bunch of devoted
wives, Veena is named after a musical instrument and is deeply into studying classical Indian
music, Varun Mehra who is constantly looked down upon by his brother, finds consolation in
his devotion to some debased population. Music, Kakoli Chatterji is in her own ways committed to Schubert). These repeated strains of emphasis show the aesthetically refined aspects of the self.
Vikram Seth develops an agreement with the audience with the cultivation of a voice.
This book is written in international standard English prose by a man educated both in U.K.
and US but born into neither community. On his journey, Seth was reading V.S.Naipaul 's
India: A Wounded Civilization, a book that moves him alright but disagrees profoundly at
times. There are topics of poverty and the authority required to combat poverty, corruption
and increasing population. In its own may From Heaven Lake may be a reply to topics
raised by Naipaul, topics which a South Asian economist cannot evade.
Seth Hitch-hiked with the driver, Sui, and one feels that he is elevated to heroic status
by his insistence upon friendship. From Heaven Lake ends on an analogy between water
molecules and the spread of private understanding between people. This affinity, can increase,
if it pervades human communities, slowly with time. This self-conscious connection may be
cliche-ridden ,but it identifies the focus of Seth's subject.
Seth is marked as a satirist but of a milder kind. He does not speak with indignation,
his is a gentle comedy. Because he travels so extensively, imaginative sympathy with his subjects is bound to be distanced and mild. He has a literary penchant for argument, allusory
penchant for argument, allusory trend, celebration and inter-texuality (V.S.Naipaul 's ref.).
Our economist is basically and individual who is away from home most of the time. He
has observed many families and this leads him to think of his own. In almost all his poetical
290
works, we find a nostalgic trait, a homesickness, a sense of yearning for a lost home. This is
associated with his family and also with an ideal of rootedness. An example from the travel
book may suffice-
Returning to N anj ing has for me the flavour of a minor homecoming, my room, my
friends, familiar sights. But the moist heat of the city, which even the trees lining the main roads
barely lessen, is conducive to stupor rather than to carrying out the enormous number of
errands I have to cram into one day. I rummage about my room for my passport, a few
clothes, three of four books; cadge a new cell for my camera's light-meter from a friend; cash
a cheque for a few hundred yuan; buy a ticket for Beijing; and examine my mail.
Everyone who returns after an absence of a month to the place where he lives, knows,
as he opens his mailbox, a uniquely bitter-sweet mixture of anticipation and apprehension.
There is no letter from Stanford about my research, but then there are no unpaid bills either.
At least my family has not forgotten me. I read their letter with a twinge of conscience; they
are expecting me to be home by the 25th of August, on a flight from Hong Kong. I write a
cryptic note, saying that I'm going to try to return 'by a more interesting route', I cannot say
more, since it is an open secret that foreigners' mail is read in China... For all the enthusiasm
with which I am undertaking this journey. I am conscious that I know almost nothing about
Tibet... And in one sense my purpose is not to travel in Tibet, but merely to pass through it:
'coming home', as I write to my parents, 'by a more interesting route'(32-3).
Increasingly of late, and particularly when I drink, I find my thoughts drawn into the past
rather than impelled into the future. I recall drinking sherry in California and dreaming of my
earlier students days in England, where I ate dalmoth and dreamed of Delhi. What is the
purpose. 1wonder. of all this restlessness? I sometimes seem to myself to wander around the
world merely accumulating material for future nostalgias.(35).
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Travelling through Tibet, he does not travel into it; just as in the landscape, not of the
land. This is not Odysseus' journey. But it certainly has various reflections on culture of a
nation, multinational cultures, multicultural nationality, of a country which provides a contrast
and compare constantly to India. While doing this, he reflects from a vantage point of strength,
that is culturally and intellectually secure.
Despite his self-questioning, there is a calmness of thought as 'he does not have to
prove anything. There is no envy, no jealousy. Is this post colonialism?
It has politics, but it is not political.
"The observant writer interiorizes others so far as to bring his
own sense of self into doubt, but Seth, like the actor, also
exteriorizes himself into invented characters. The Saeva
indignatio of the conservative, for whom the position of
judgement is a presupposition unquestioned and
unquestionable, is a long way from Seth's tentativeness
understanding and in the end, tolerance.
Everyday moral obtuseness, psychological brutality, even petty
tyranny may make him, rise to the heights of amused
disapprobation, but they fall short of reprehensible
psychological or social limitation, and far below good and evil."
The satire of social comedy, where things are not life and death, is a delicate flower.
In The Golden Gate death comes by accident and consequentiality is subdued. In both the
novels, the precious Joss is a mother, even as in An Equal Music. The pursuit of power for
its own sake is a simoniacal offence as Seth considers. These are the continuities which
define his technique and its limitations.
As usuaL we find the complexities wrapped in simplicity. Unlike Gandhi's desire of
simple life. Vikram Seth's simplicity is a work of art. It has been detailed nicely. His style is
incredibly fresh.
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THREE CHINESE POETS
Vikram Seth is a versatile poet with a formidable scholarship and vast reading behind
him. Although most of his writings are originally written in English, he has also translated some
from various source-languages. He observes,
"works in translations from languages I do not understand have
had as deep an influence on my writing as works I can read in
on.gina!"
.
In some cases, the translations have inspired him to learn the original language of the
work. He confesses that Charles Johnston's "Eugene Onegin", Richard Wilber's "Tartuffe" or
Robert Fitzgerald's "Iliad" enabled him to have insight into the worlds which otherwise he
would not have reached or imagined.
Three Chinese Poets is Vikram Seth's act of thanks giving to such translations! He
selects Three Chinese Poets of a distant Tang dynasty because he was greatly influenced by
their works. They lived in the eighth century, an age of cultural glory and grandeur in the
history of China. But they represent a link in the long continuous tradition of Chinese poetry
stretching over a period of2500 years.
The three poets, selected for translation were nearly contemporaries as can be "sensed,
in many specific aspects of their poetry; for example, their stance with respect to the court
and affairs of state, and the value they placed on friendship in a world of slow transport and
great distances. where parting from a friend held the real possibility of never seeing him again.
There is a large common zone of sentiment among the three- their appreciation of music, their
acute perception of nature. their bent towards nostalgia."
Ho\\cvcr its not the unity of their work that appeals to Vikram Seth. Each poet is
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distinctly individual in his themes, emphasis, style. Vikram Seth says that WANG WEI is
known for his sense ofloneliness and his quiet retreat into nature and philosophy of Buddhism. The music of running waters, the beauty of dawn and dusk, tranquillity without the
interruption of human voices, are the significant characteristics of his poetry.
LI BAI on the contrary is full of zest, exuberance and impulsiveness. Occasionally, his
poetry is characterized by the bombast of adolescence. The recurring images of his poems
are sword, horse, wine, gold, the moon and the milky way. Vikram Seth observes:
"He attempts alchemically to
transmute life through the
intoxication of poetry or
music or wine into delight
and forgetfulness."
DU FU is a learned poet, deep and reflective on the disturbed nature of his society and times.
He reminds us of Confucianism. Vikram Seth says,
"What especially endears
him to the Chinese is wry
Self-deprecation combined
With an intense compassion
For oppressed or dispossessed
People of every kind in
A time of poverty, famine
And war."
294
To Vikram Seth, translation of these poets is an expression of his passionate admiration of their poetry. He is conscious that some of the best effects of the original poetry are lost
in translation. The Chinese poets were writing at a time when poetry was written in several
forms with irregular line lengths. But an eight line poem with eight syllables in each line was a
favourite form during that time. Speaking of the technicalities of versification, Vikrarn Seth
says that the second, fourth, sixth and eighth lines of the octet rhyme with one another, thus
reinforcing the basic division of four couplets within the octet. But then, the Chinese syllables
are not the same as the English syllables. The direction of the tone or the pitch not only
provides music to the syllable but also gives a new meaning to words. Such musical niceties
and semantic shades are lost in translation.
Vikram Seth is fond of rhymed and metered poetry of the bygone times. He observes
"the joy of poetry for me
lies not so much in transcending or escaping
from the so-called bonds
of artifice or constraints
as in using them to
enhance the power of
what is being said."
Therefore, he maintains rhyme and regularity of the metrical movement in his translalions.
Vikram Seth has no theory of his own regarding translation. So he borrows a theory
from a school of translation which believes that the spirit of the original is more important than
295
individual words and phrases in translation. He observes,
"an approximate rendering,
invigorated by a sense of
poetic inspiration, becomes
the aim. The idea is that
if the final product reads
well as a poem, all is well;
a good poem exists where
none existed before."
He did not intend these translations to be transcreations. He had his mentors in Ezra
pound, Charles Johnston, Wilbur and Robert Fitzgerald. Like them he gave primacy to the
original and attempted fidelity to them. He has not compromised the meaning of the actual
words although he has not rendered literal translation of individual works,
"Even in prose the associations
of a word or an image
in one language do not
slip readily into another.
The loss is still greater
In poetry, where each
Word or image carries
A heavier charge of
Association and where
296
The exigencies of form
Leave less scope for
Choice and maneuvre."
That in brief is the theoritical silhouette of his translation against which the translated
poems are appreciated. However the technical virtuosity of the translation cannot be evaluated without the knowledge of the original, in this case, the Chinese language.
Borrowing Vikram Seth's assertion, we shall only examine whether the end product
reads like a poem or not. In making a critical study of a translation, we are confronted with
one real problem, which is whether we are making an evaluation of the original work and the
ideas, thoughts, emotions and artistic devices enshrined in it or we are making an assessment
of the translation and the technical devices used therein by the translator.
For example, when we quote Edwin Arnold's Translation of the Bhagwad Gita, the
quoted part content is of the Gita and the English lexican, and syntax and rhythm are of Edwin
Arnold. Similarly, Omar Khayyam is often quoted in Fitzgerald's rhythms.
In the study of Seth's Three Chinese Poets, we are honestly confronted with this
dichotomous situation where the thoughts of the original Chinese poets are studied and interpreted in English translations of an Indian writer whose mother tongue is not English.
Vikram Seth's love of ancient Chinese poetry reflects his love of tradition whatever be
its source, Western, Indian or Chinese. His translation of ancient Chinese poets into English
speaks of his creative experiment because the ancient Chinese idiom and melody cannot be
easily translated. in a modern Western language like English. Any attempt to appreciate it is
tantamount to evaluating the success ofhis experiment.
297
The success of a translation is measured in terms ofhow far it recreates the mood or
the emotional chains of the poet, without allowing the jarring Chinese idioms into the English
translations.
The poems of Wang Wei are said to be characterised by his sense of solitude and his
Wordsworthian retreat into lap of nature. These characteristics of Wang Wei's poetry are
successfully recreated in Vikram Seth's translations. Just as Wordsworth hears "the still, sad
music of humanity" in nature, Wang Wei in his poem DEER PARK hears '1ust echoes of voice
of men" in empty hills, with no man in sight.
In "BIRDSONG BROOK," the poet rejoices in the melodious chirping ofbirds in the
quiet night of the stream.
"Still is the night,
empty the hill in spring
up comes the moon
startling the mountain birds-In the spring brook they sing."(p.4)
"LADY XI,"a small poem of four lines presents a beautiful image of silent love. It is a
tribute to a royal personality, a queen and the tenderness of her heart, seeing a flower fills her
eyes with tears. Nothing could efface the memoryoflove she once knew. She bore her love
in grief with reticence. In an elegiac poem, "GRIEVING FOR MENG HAORAN", Wang
Wei remembers his friend. Nature seems to go on unconcerned about the death of his friend.
But to him, the hills and rivers, always seem empty without his friend around.
'"AUTUMN NIGHTFALL AT MY PLACE IN THE HILLS" reminds us of Keats'
298
Ode to Autumn and its sensuous appeal. The evening air is filled with delightful aroma after a
recent rain. The moon shines bright between the pines, the streams and brooks run their clear
waters over the stones. The rustle of bamboos, the soft stir oflotuses appeal to many of our
senses. They suggest farewell to spring and a note of welcome to Autumn. The whole poem
reads like a poetic and highly imaginative description of a scene in nature.
In "ZHONGNAN RETREAT", the poet retreats like a recluse into his lovely house
built in the midst of hills. He loses himself in ecstacy, watching the clouds, sitting at the head
of the stream. By chance, occasionally an old man strays into his company and serves as a
human companion on the poet's lonely retreat:
"By chance I meet an old man and we talk,
and laugh and don't think of going back.(p.l 0)
The material world evaluates the success or failure in terms of material gains but in the
evening of his life, the poet cares only for quiet and tranquillity. He has no promises to the
world, no promises to keep, no long range plans to fulfill. Sitting in a forest, watching the hill
moon, he strums his lute and listens to the songs of the fishermen with a deep sense of contentment. Don't ask him about the success and failure in life.
"LAMENT FOR YIN YAO"
The poem begins with a question, "how long can one man's lifetime last?" The rest of
the poem is a long elegiac and philosophic reply to this question. He talks of death as a return
to formlessness. Distressed at his friend's death, the poet feels that even nature is in a mood
of lamentation. Birds do not sing in flights. The travellers suffer from a deep sense ofloneliness and even the sunshine is not warm without his mend. The poem adumbrates the Buddhist
299
concept of Nirvana- an escape from the cycle of birth and death. Seth uses the word "nonrebirth"---- to express this concept. So the poem is at once an elegy on the death of Yin Yao
and like most elegies in English, it grows philosophical about the meaninglessness of life,
unintelligibility of death and attainability ofNirvana.
"BALLAD OF THE PEACH TREE SPRINGS "is the longest poem in the collection. Described as the ballad, it is the story of a fisherman, who sails up-river among the
beautiful hills in spring. Unaware of the distances, he covers several miles and arrives in a
small hamlet of wood cutters, where he appears to be a sort of Rip Van Winkle. The villagers
belong to an ancient generation long since forgotten. The fisherman is like a visitor in a strange
world. The villagers gather round him to ask him how things were in the outside world. The
poem gradually requires the languid tone of the "Lotus Eaters." Like Tennyson's "Lotus
Eaters," the villagers do not want to go back to their homeland. They think they have become
immortals here and decide to remain here, so blissfully free from human follies.
Vikram Seth's translation of the ancient Chinese poet Wang-Wei is free from Chinese
idioms translated as "calques" from the original. So the language ofhis translations sound
spontaneous and natural. As if he were writing in English rather than translating them from an
alien exotic tonal language.
Vikram Seth observes that Li Bai's poetry sparkles with zest, impulsiveness and exuberance.
It attempts alchemically to transmute life through the intoxication of poetry or music or wine
into a delightful ecastacy and forgetfulness. This aspect is beautifully brought out in translation of two well known poems.
In "DRINKING ALONE WITH THE MOON", there are three characters- The poet who
speaks in the first person. his shadow and the moon. "He, and my shadow and I make three.··
300
The moon does not know how to drink. And the poet's shadow only minds him. But
the poet decides to make the best of the situation,
I'll make merry with them both." (p.27)
As he sings and sways, the shadow moves to and fro. As he dances in inebriate
ecstacy, shadow leaps in, in imitation. In a sober mood he exchanges his joys and he thinks
that they all make a solemn pledge to be friends forever.
"BRING IN THE WINE" is a more candid and direct expression ofLi Bai's love for wine. It
epitomizes Omar Khayyam's Philosophy ofliving in the present.
"Dead Yesterdays,
Unborn Tomorrows
Why fever and fret for them'
If today be sweet."
Li Bai tells himself, "fulfil your wishes in this life,
exhaust your every whim
and never raise an empty golden goblet to the moon .....
let's drink three hundred
cups of wine down in a single measure" (p.28).
He longs to forget himself in the intoxication of drinks:
"Just let me be forever drunk
And never be sober again."
301
In a state of drunken ecstasy, he defends himself, by contrasting the oblivion of the
men of the past with the immortality of the drinkers:
"The sages and the virtuous men
are all forgotten now.
It is the drinkers of the
World whose names alone remain."(p.28).
"IN THE QUIET NIGHT"
The poet sits in his room and looks at the moonlight and hoarfrost spread before him.
Its a lovely sight which can make him oblivious of every thing around, but the poet gets
nostalgic when he doesn't watch this scene.
"I lift my head and
watch the moon
I drop my head and
Think ofhome"(p.20)
It's like Frost telling himself about his obligations when he is in the midst ofbeatiful
scene of nature
"Woods are lovely,
dark and deep
But I have promises to keep.
'THE WATERFALL AT LUSHAN" is a pure nature poem-where the poet is lost in ecstacy in
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watching the sunshine, the purple mist of a distant peak, the silvery streams jutting their way
down the hill. But the central scene of the poem is the description of a far-off cataract which
plunges down three thousand feet. The fall is described in a beautiful phrase:
"The cataract hangs in spray-as if the sky had dropped the milky way."(p.21)
It is interesting to note that Vikram Seth uses here the English word 'the milky way'
whereas in "Drinking Alone with the Moon", he uses the literal translation of a Chinese word,
the silver river.
"THE ROAD TO SHU IS HARD" is relatively a long poem ofLi Bai.
"The road to Shu is hard,
harder than climbing to the sky."(p.30)
these lines serve as a refrain. Its an ambitious poem spanning over long periods, of
pre-history of China. The land of Shu was founded long, long ago by the Kings Can Long
and Yu Fu. Then for 48,000 years it was not linked to the Qin Frontiers, Incidentally, Qin is
original word from which modem name China is derived.
The hills that separated the lands collapsed in an earthquake and thus Shu and Qin
were geographically connected. Thus the poem is filled with topographical images in the
landmarks of precipice, abyss, chasms, cliffs and rocks. Further it has images drawn from the
prehistoric periods of China.
The poem centers round the hardships that the traveller experiences as he journeys
from one part of the country to another. Even the music of nature seems to be sad and jarring:
303
"Mournful birds in ancient treesYou'll hear no other sound
Oflife: the male bird follows
His mate as they fly round and round."(p.30)
Vikram Seth describes Du Fu's poetry as deeply suggestive and as sad reflections on
society, history and his contemporary disturbed times. It also expresses the poet's sense of
self-negation and intense compassion for the oppressed classes of society.
"SPRING SEEN IN TIME OF WAR" succinctly describes the ravages of war on the quiet
beauty of nature. The state lies ruined while the physical landmarks like hills and streams
survive. Even the birds seem startled at the cruelties brought by war. In such a state of
destruction, the only comfort that one gets is
"a word from home
is worth a tonne of gold."(p.36)
"MOONLIT NIGHT"
The poet is far from home thinking of his wife who is perhaps watching the moon
alone at night. His thoughts are filled with sadness for his children. In a mood of intense
nostalgia, the poet recalls to his mind his wife and her
"cloud-soft hair moist with fragrant mist".
He longs for the end ofhis miserable days, miserable times:
"'When will we feel the moonlight dry our tears,
leaning together on our window-sill?"(p.37)
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"THE VISITOR"
This is an image of poverty and generosity of a host. Normally he does not get guests.
But suddenly the gate is open, a guest manifests himself:
"You are the first to come this way"(p.38)
He has no special food to serve to the guest,
"the wine, because we are poor is an old brew"(p.38)
but this poverty is matched by his generosity. He would like to call his ancient neighbour to
share a drink with them.
"IN AN AUTUMN MEDITATION"
Here Du Fu speaks of the failures and successes in forms of the alternate colours on
a chess board. Time has wrought such transmutations that the mansions of princes and nobles
have new lords. But the nature seems to stay unruffled by the changes in history:
"My ancient land and
times of peace
come to my mind"(p.41)
Dreaming ofLi Bai is Du Fu's poetic tribute to the fellow poets suffering in exile. He
describes their situations in terms of the pain oflife's farewells. Ever since Li Bai was exiled,
Du Fu had no news of him. But Li Bai was so much in his thoughts that he often came into his
dreams. Li Bai made a world of difference to Du Fu:
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"You came --the maple woods were green
you left: the past was black with night." (p.42).
"THE OLD CYPRESS TREE AT THE TEMPLE OF ZHU-GE LIANG"
This is a poem full of history and legends drawn from ancient China- with its large
number of independent kingdoms. There are so many historical references implied in the poem
that Vikram Seth felt compelled to append a long note on the thoughts on an ancient site. At
the end of the poem, there is a poignant observation how the great men in history are forgotten, by the succeeding generations.
"Although its bitter heart is marred by swarms of ants,
Among its scented leaves bright phoenixes collect.
Men of high aims, who live obscure, do not despair.
The great are always paid in disuse and neglect."(p.44).
"A FINE LADY" is a pathetic story of a lady matchless in her beauty. She lives in obscure
valley, although she once belonged to a noble family. The ravages of history created chaos in
the heartlands of China. Her brothers were killed by the rebels and their mortal remains
remain unsanctified inspite of their high rank and her entreaties. The tragedy of her life lies in
"the faithless man to whom
she once was married
keeps a new woman,
beautiful as jade-He only sees the smile of this new woman
How can he then hear his old woman weep?"(p.45)
306
"BALLAD OF THE ARMY CARTS" is a poem on the tragedies wrought by war. Its a poem
full of action (ballad is a narrative of action). The first few lines of the poem have the
onomotapoeic touch of the rattle and squeak of the battlefield. As the army marches away to
the battle front, the beloveds, fathers, mothers, children wave a tearful goodbye to them.
The waste of precious human lives is imaged in one line.
"the frontier posts could fill
the sea with the blood of
those who have died (p.48)
But still the greed of the emperor remains unsatisfied. Once fertile lands turn into
barren wastes
"village after village only
thorns and brambles grow"(p.48)
The ruins of war are summed up in the last three lines of the poem:
"The bleached ungathered bones lie year on year
New ghosts complain, and those who died before
Weep in the wet grey sky and haunt the ear"(p49)
Vikram Seth confesses in his introduction to this book that some of the effects of
Chinese poems are lost in translation. Without the knowledge of Chinese language. its not
possible
f(Jr
us to estimate the loss in translation but the norm that Seth lays dov.n for himself
is that the technical errors of translation can be forgiven if the spirit of the original is retained.
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The aim of the translator should be "an approximate rendering invigorated by a sense of
poetic inspiration." If the final product of translation reads like a poem, all is well with the
translation. In Chinese Poets, many good poems are brought into being by the sheer genius of
the translator where perhaps no such poems existed in the original.
ARION AND THE DOLPHIN
In his Arion And The Dolphin,(pub.1994) Vikram Seth weaves a fascinating fantasy out oflegends, myths and fables. The story of Arion And The Dolphin is a Greek myth
often used in European poetry. Shakespeare alludes to this in Twelfth Night while describing
the way in which Sebastian is carried away by the waves of the sea during the storm.
The legendary Arion was a native ofLesbos and by profession was a court musician in Corinth,
ruled by Periander. After winning several awards for his music in Sicily, on his way back to
Corinth, the mariners conspire to kill him and loot his treasure that he had won in Sicily.
Sensing the danger, Arion sought the permission of the mariners to play on his lute. After
hearing his melodies, the mariners were now divided in their opinion. In the meanwhile Arion
threw himself into the sea. Attracted by the melody of his lute a dolphin carried him on his
back safe to the shores of Corinth.
Vikram Seth ·s choice of this ancient legend is due to his love for tradition. It's also possible
that the legendary musician is taken for dramatic treatment because ofVikram Seth's innate
love for music.
308
His creative experiment is in dramatizing and poetizing the legend in the form of libretto or
modern opera.
In this book Vikram Seth weaves a fascinating fantasy out oflegends, myths and fables.
Described as a libretto, the book is an opera or a lyric-drama. The lyric or the musical content
ofthe opera is evident from the life of the musician, Arion, his musical contest in Sicily, in
which he wins a fortune. The rest of the opera is concerned with the dolphins becoming his
friends and virtually his saviours. But the moral content of the opera is in the tyrannical rule of
Periander and the material greed of the sailors who end up as sinners.
Technically, this song-drama is in nine scenes where each scene overlaps or runs on into
another giving an impression of an unbroken continuous action. Periander is a ruthless tyrant
of Corinth (the Sicilians described him as Coriander!)- merging the two words Corinth and
Periander.
In the first scene of the drama, Arion urges Periander to let him go to Sicily to take
part in a music festival. The tyrant of Corinth initially refuses to grant him pennission but finally
gives him a conditional sanction that if Arion does not win in the festival, he will have to die.
During their brief dialogue, Periander reveals his nature, life-history to the audience through
Arion:
"I do not know why I should love you so.
I have two sons, one is a dolt, his brother
Hates me and flees me, claiming I killed his mother.
The rabble hate me, blood clings to my handsThe blood of this, the blood of many lands. "(p.l3)
Thus. he is projected as a monster of a sort whom everyone fears for his tyranny and
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inhwnan cruelty.
The second scene opens with the song of the captain and the sailors which serves as
a refrain of the entire lyric-drama. Arion joins the sailors who are surprised at his uncanny
ability to catch up with their tune. Arion tells them:
"I care about time and timings captain.
It's the heart of my music".(p.l6)
The captain of the ship grows emotional and he gets nostalgic about his wife and
daughters who live away on the shores "for years, in peace time and in war."
"When I return, my wife is at the door
I wipe away her tears.
I soothe her fears
With gifts and practicalities
My daughters laugh to see me.
I chase them and they flee me."(p.l8)
In a gesture of friendship, the captain gifts a conch-shell to Arion and advices him
"to guard it well, it will make music in your ear."
Whenever you choose to hear
The oceans surge its rustling harmony."(p. I 9)
In the third scene. the Sicilians are seen indulging in drunken celebrations. sort of
'Bacchanalian revelry'. The captain of the ship bids farewell to Arion. telling him
310
"But now its business before
Pleasure, I'm afraid. "(p.23)
Arion falls into the Sicilian trap of wine, women and song by twisting these priorities:
"But now its pleasure before
business, I'm afraid."(p.24)
In scene Four, Master of ceremonies, announces the entrance of Arion of Lesbos
whom he describes as
"poet, singer, voice of Apollo incarnate
discoverer of the tragic mode ..... "(p.25)
The Sicilian audience make fun of Arion who is drunk, probably sleeping after his
drunkenness. There is an undertone of irony in the pompous language in which the master of
ceremonies tries to introduce Arion to the audience. The whole ceremony is punctuated with
laughter and cheers from the audience. Arion discovers to his shock that his art has deserted
him and he appeals to the shell to fill his heart with inspiration. He hears the mysterious
sounds of the seas, the cries of dolphins, which gradually inspire him back into "a frenzied
song of virtuosity and emotion."
The Sicilians now realise that Gods have blessed him with their Divine Madness. Arion
castes a spell on his Sicilian audience by his enchanting music. The audience rise and sing and
dance and stomp around with great abandon and frenzy. Arion wins the contest and gifts and
precious objects rain on him as a mark of appreciation. The audience appeal to him to sing
once again and Arion obliges them with a song in a quiet strain which reminds us of the refrain
of the sailors:
311
"Dark restless sea,
Black, green grey, blue,
Over whose waves I flew
To sing in Sicily,
Accept my weight once more
As gently as before
Bear me to Corinth shore
Alive, and safe, and free." (p.28)
The fifth scene of the drama is full of action and conflict. The sailors who mutiny
against the captain decide to rob Arion of all his gifts. Their simple utilitarian logic is why
should Arion be gifted with such huge fortune for a mere song"A single song gave him more
than we earned our whole lives
long with sinew and sweat. "(p.JO)
The captain of the ship resists the mutineers initially but succumbs to them after a
considerable conflict between what's good for man and what is good for him personally.
When the mutineers threaten to kill him, the conflict in the mind of the captain is made very
articulate:
"What shall I do?
What can I do?
Its not the gods
But our own hearts
We need to fear.
312
The evil starts
Against all odds
Not there but here."(p.33)
At the centre of the conflict is the trust of the captain and his love for Arion before
they were buried by gold dust. The sailors and mutineers get divided into two conflicting
groups after hearing Arion's full-throated emotional song. The song is intensely lyrical because of the emotion and partly because of the beauty of nature enshrined:
"0 world so beautiful, grey olive trees
Green laurel bushes, tempest-troubled seas,
I shall not see you or the clouds at night
Or the bright stars or sunset's golden light
Or smell the hyacinth or hear the cry
Of eagle or of wolf before I die."(p.35)
In the midst of the clamor and chaos caused by the two conflicting group of sailors,
Arion leaps off the ship, into the sea. He is drowning and struggling and choking as he sinks
under the waves with his lyre, is suddenly buoyed up by dolphins who danced and played
with him and carried him along. And Arion believes that all this is an exhilarating experience of
death. He tells himself:
"I fear death no more
Death was not hard and slow
But soft and swift."
Arion's experience among the dolphins is one of friendship and love. It appears that
313
the sea animals have succeeded where human beings have failed. During his interaction with
dolphins, Arion knows about the myths of the evil dolphins who kidnapped Dionysius, the
God of wine and sold him to slavery. But the dolphins have a different story to tell. Those
who kidnap Dionysius are pirates who have turned into dolphins. They argue that dolphins are
always good,just as men are always bad. The story oflcadeus, Analeus, Delphii, Apollo
(myths) are interesting interludes in the story. Arion And The Dolphin declare their warm
friendship:
"In air and water both
our voices part and blend
And I/you, who never sought a friend
Have found one in the end."
The friendship between them grows into an emotional relationship when the dolphin
insists that it will remain with him:
"for if we part, we will never meet again,
And I would die ofloneliness and pain."
Arion tells his story to Periander when he is brought back to the shore. But Periander
refuses to give credence to his story and gets Arion arrested for feeding him on fantastic lies.
In the eighth scene, the messenger announces the death of the dolphin
"it glutted and it groaned
it squealed, it moaned
Arion, Arion all day long."
Periander now repents having kept Arion And The Dolphin apart from each other.
314
It is too late now. He seeks Arion's forgiveness, frees him from his prison and erects a tomb for tl
dolphin as a token of expiation for his sins. In the last scene of the play, the chorus sings of the settir
sun and approaching night. Arion is distraught with grief and sings to himself a song of mourning.
Meanwhile, the captain and his ship come home at last and tells Periander a cooked-up sto1
about Arion's fate. Periander orders the captain "to swear on his mother's womb or on the dolphin
tomb."
The captain is unable to swear but the sailors swear placing their palms on the tomb like tl
scene that reminds us of the Ancient Mariner and his sailors, the sailors in the play are struck durr
with horror! The captain is torn between relief and shock, and tells Arion:
I have been thinking of you
Night and day
These nights and days
I have not slept upon the sea
Your voice has crept through
My heart's maze to torture me."
The retribution comes in a different form to the sailors. They also repent telling
"Its not the Gods
But our own hearts
We need to fear.
The eYi I starts
Against all odds
:-.Jot there hut here:·
315
These lines remind us of Shakespeare's lines in Julius Caesar:
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
but in ourselves that we are thus and thus."
The final message of the play, like the moral of the Ancient Mariner is repentance
through retribution.
The irony of the story is that the sea creatures are very humane, loving and loyal while
man is cruel to his fellow human beings. But in the end, the monstrous tyrant and the crew of
sailors are all hurnanised, undergo a change of heart. When Periander orders the ruffians to be
killed, Arion advices him, "
"defer their sentence for a dayand an hour, my Lord- and hear me play
perhaps my words will draw your bitterness away."
Arion casts a spell like The Ancient Mariner and Periander cannot but choose to
listen. The song of Arion speaks of the harmony between the earth and the sea. The Dark sea
protects the Voyagers and warm earth nourishes human beings. With this song, the Dolphin
and Arion lyre are seen as constellations in the sky-
Delphinus and Lyra.
Thus. the entire libretto centers around this myth, in which Vikram Seth has moralized
and humanised.
316
REFERENCE:
BEASTLY TALES FROM HERE AND THERE--(!)
J.H.Breasted, "A History of Egypt" (London, 1906)pp.l22,203;A. Erman,
"The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians"(London, 1927)p.36.Hinckley,
in MLN,XLIX ( 1934) 69-70.
(2)
Edited by J .Derenbourg, Johannis de Capua Directoriurn Vitae humanae
(Paris, 1887, 1889).
(3)
The English text is edited, with discussion of manuscripts and versions, by
Killis Campbell, "The Seven Sages of Rome" (Boston, 1907).
( 4)
R.A.Nicholson,A.Literary History of the Arabs (New York, 19078),pp.456-59.
(5)
The Middle English translation has been edited, with a general discussion
of other versions, by W.H.Hulme (Western Reserve University Bulletin,
Vol. XXII, No.3, (Cleveland, 1919).
(6)
Partha Pratim Dasgupta: Abstract on Tradition and Individual Talent in
Beastly Tales From Here And There; Themes and Preoccupations in
Vikram Seth: p.l.(Lecturer in English,Jhargram Raj College,Midnapore, West
Bengal.Received in response to my 'announcement' ofbringing out
anthology on the works ofVikrarn Seth.
(7)
lbid.,p.l.
(8)
Geoffrey Chaucer:Canterbury Tales Rendered into Modern English by
J.U.Nicolson,The Programmed Classics,p.281.
(9)
Oscar Wilde: The Nightingale and the Rose (A Fairy Tale) The Works of
Oscar Wilde (Spring Books,London, 1965)p.l3.
( 10)
George Orwell: 'Animal Farm: A Fairy Story' (Penguin Books, 1978),p.l3
317